“That’s a nice ult you’ve got there,” Blizzard essentially said when it changed the way Overwatch ult interruptions work last month. “It’d be a shame if something were to happen to it.”
Ever since the big Halloween update on October 10, Overwatch‘s ults have worked a little differently than they used to. Prior to the update, dying or getting stunned as you used your ult would deplete some, but not all, of your ult charge.
Now, death of the body means death of the ult meter as well — your entire ult charge now disappears upon death. In addition, many ults now end the instant you die or get stunned, even when they involve projectiles that should, if we’re applying principles of realism to a world full of cyborg ninjas and Bowiemancers, continue flying forward and detonating.
This can lead to some pretty glaring weirdness. In the clip below, courtesy of Squidbit, Mei’s ult disappears after it’s been thrown.
In this play by eskaNot, D.Va calls down her mech, only to get hooked by a Roadhog, forcing her to watch as her mech vanishes into the ether along with her entire ult charge:
This instance is indicative of another problem players have with the new ult interruption system: some characters are significantly more affected by losing their whole ult charge than others.
Blizzard seemingly made this change in response to complaints that some characters, such as Genji, didn’t suffer enough for dying or getting stunned mid-ult, but now some characters have to deal with the opposite problem.
“I can understand losing a bit of ult for a badly timed [Lucio] Sound Barrier, but 100% of it gone is garbage because you’re so vulnerable,” a player named pandapoops2 said in a huge thread about ult cancels on Reddit.
“Immediately losing all ult charge on every hero is garbage because it’s not the same for everyone. One size fits all was NOT the solution whatsoever.”
“At first I thought it was fine just because, you know, to be fair to everyone,” said a player named AzshFayd on Overwatch‘s forums, “but Tracer/Mei/Hanzo/Lucio/Rein losing their ult charge when it’s clearly gone off is BS.”
Sometimes, Overwatch players warm to controversial changes after they have been in the game for a bit, but a month later, this one is subject to more scrutiny than ever. I reached out to Blizzard to ask if it’s re-evaluating ult cancels, but as of publishing, I had yet to receive a response.
Comments
3 responses to “Overwatch Players Are Sick Of Ult Interruptions”
IMO, if you die whilst using an ult that your controlling, you lose the alt. (i.e. Genji, Lucio, etc)
If the alt is ‘deployed’ ala Mei, Pharah, etc, the projectile or item should still be in play.
That may sound harsh to the Genji’s of this world, but when you deploy your alt, you become target numero one, and if you flubbed your deploy, you should be punished for it.
there is certainly some weirdness on Tracer currently, I was watching a Surefour video and like always, when something doesnt go his way he whines about it how everyones elses fault, so when in the same game his throws his pulse bomb it just disappeared (no deflects or anything close), then there was this time he was whining about his rewind not firing. I didnt think much of it, then the last few weeks I have had a few lost pulse bombs, which just disappeared and times in which I hit rewind and it simply doesnt fire, yet it is there.
it doesnt happen enough to be able to prove it, I always forgot to hit record.
Sometimes people whine over unimportant changes that just mean you have to adjust the way you play. This removes entire levels of strategy and flow though and the outcry is well justified. I have seen many battles where someone’s last ditch ult has been the lynch pin of a breakthrough or a saving grace but now it’s just pointless to even try. Bad design choice on Blizzard’s part.
I think it’s one thing to say “if you interrupt someone’s alt it feels bad to have them use it once they respawn” but with the current system I’ve been killed or flash banged before getting the “h” in “hammer down” (that is to say, immediately after pressing Q) and it’s a bit shitty. If the enemy could not have known you just pressed Q before you were killed/interrupted, maybe you shouldn’t lose the charge.
There should be a grace period, however small, is what I am suggesting.
Hahaha ah well.. don’t muck it up then!