OverWatch v.s. TF2
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It’s a matter of perspective tied to time, lifecycle and support.
TF2 without a doubt has been an impactful in all those aspects listed above, having influenced various market trends and evolved since its release; if it be the free-to-play model, micro transactions for cosmetics and even content creation guidelines. To this day the community is active and continues to create art, videos and more for it.
Overwatch is very much a social shooter, not completely in the same vein as TF2... But there are general overlaps in anything class based. But what has held it together is without a doubt the ability to share and convey the "social" element beyond g-mod and YouTube poops. I am of course talking about the power of social media and streaming!
And I am not even going to touch the porn discussion.Additionally the current market and in turn, money pumped into the gaming sector has tripled since the mid 2000’s. Not even Valve was doing near bi-weekly blogs for TF2. In doing so has allowed Overwatch to invest heavily into various alternative community ventures to ensure its spoke about;
- Whilst failing to provide any map support
- Or variety in gameplay modes
- Just about anything balance wise
- Plus the awful e-sport guidelines and rules
Despite all that, Overwatch has done well. For now! I think it’s overexposure is ultimately the thing hurting it and unlike TF2 which (in part due to Valve style marketing) continues to pace along; Overwatch will grind to a massive halt and either force a sequel (To repopulate) or ultimately burn out like Heroes of the Storm.
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Granted, my perspective is somewhat skewed by not playing Overwatch (never really had the interest even during the height of its popularity), but I enjoy playing through TF2 when I'm in the mood; fair variety of ways to play, customizable weaponry, player-run servers in case I don't feel like dealing with Matchmaking wait-times...and hell, even if it's been a bit, I feel the game still has a lot of charm as a shooter.
EDIT: Seriously, player-ran servers are great. You want to play Goldrush to your heart's content without immediately being booted out/forced to switch maps immediately when the round ends? Find a Goldrush server. Want to play on custom maps with weird rules, like crit-rocket dodgeball or a balloon race? There's stuff like that.
I dunno if it's just my limited experience talking, but it's like shooters nowadays don't do servers anymore, just matchmaking.
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I think both hold their own as hero team shooters or whatever, and I know it might be cliché to say it but I think TF2's spy brings such a unique meta that I think TF2 gets to stand on its own. The spy just makes it a whole different thing, I think because of that it's almost unfair to compare anything else to it without a similar feature.
What's With Games' has a great video about it that I recommend
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Overwatch is more competitive in general due to limiting the number of players per team, more emphasis on strategy, and cooldowns forcing more careful play. If you're looking for a pure competitive experience, Overwatch does better for this reason.
TF2 is better casual. Far, far better due to the excellent map support, higher number of players, and less emphasis on objectives.
I think both fill their niches well enough.
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It really depends on what you're looking for. Overwatch isn't really tailored towards chillin' with your friendos in Discord while sipping a cold one. It was designed from the ground out to be esports fodder, which is NOT a bad thing. I wanna play Overwatch to self-improve and see how far up I can get.
TF2 is a game I go back to, play for 8 hours a day for a week, then take a month long break from because it's that type of game. I wanna rocket jump after a long day. I wanna go on the Daycare server and shitpost in the chat while camping the sewers as engie.
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@Rexford I notice hype for OW2 to be fairly muted after all the China business.
