https://www.google.com/amp/s/comicb...06/07/overwatch-2-left-4-dead-2019-announced/
This is the closest thing I could dig back up that mentions the "Left 4 Dead" line but it's undisclosed as to when Blizzard made this comment... the articles about it were published in June, but afaik it's a report with no actual date on it beyond when it was circulated. I might be confusing it with a different game's report altogether. Idk
I do know that they cancelled a Starcraft project in order to focus more resources into Overwatch 2 and Diablo (
https://www.google.com/amp/s/kotaku...-starcraft-first-person-shoote-1835285125/amp)
TBH, I would be a little more forgiving if the people developing Overwatch was some indie company with not too much help, but they aren't. It's a big company owned by an even bigger one trying to do too much at one time, which leads to cancellations of other projects (usually when they realize a little too late there isnt enough to go around) to develop others of higher interest. Maybe they got ahead of themselves and realized that fans actually want a story and doing it through 10 minute shorts wasn't efficient to do so past exposition/introductory stages. And neither are the comics: those were out of chronological order and generally have no context around them except for a handful that were for fun. My favorite one would be the Zarya/Sombra comic since it does follow up to Infiltration, but that is the only one I think... I do like the halloween comics but it's for the event. Retribution was the lastest entry and I personally found it completely redundant, it easily could've been converted into a few lines of dialogue as part of the opening sequence for the in-game event. And seeing as we have not gotten a comic since last year, they might not be using it as a storytelling medium anymore. The written stuff is okay enough to have gotten us up to speed for like... 5 characters, but I don't think they are pursuing book publishing either. However, the person who wrote the story for Baptiste's entry has a much better narrative style than Michael Chu... if they continue with written installments with her, I'll gladly read them.
After 3 years of this game being out, I don't have a lot of patience waiting for Blizz to push the story barely past its prologue phase at a snail's pace anymore (taking all the departments into account). I have nothing against the artists and people who actually make and code the assets of the game with what they have; they no control over such things because they are freelancers given deadlines and are not the focus of the branch of Blizzard that I'm criticizing. I'm more miffed at the people above them who are the ones making the decisions to do so many things at once and inadverdently dug themselves into a hole doing it. I can't pretend to know shit about any of it, but the least they should be capable of doing is managing their time and resources properly instead of spreading themselves so thin they have to backtrack afterwards.
That being said, I treasure the fun I have playing it and theorizing about stuff when given things of substance, I just wish they would be better at how they deliver story stuff so that when they DO release supplementary content until a story mode is(?) out, it feels worth the wait.
There aren't new PvP modes for events anymore, they just recycle it. For the crowd expecting a story to be advanced eventually, new hero patches, esports, and MAYBE OW2 are really the only things helping them maintain engagement right now because Blizz likely realized that shorts and comics are not a viable substitute to illustrate a low sci-fi/action/high-octane conspiracy story where its characters were designed for a FPS game (and some don't shoot... they might freeze you or use a kamehameha). Role Queue seems to have caused an uptick in general buzz though.
But I will say that the shorts have never really disappointed me; the production quality is up there with Pixar (nobody knows how much they spend on each short, oddly enough) and they are really good for getting you to become attached to the characters and gives you motivation to expect something more from them in future story-related content. Now that nearly everything has been set up, they can use the traction and market Overwatch 2 to the people that want to explore the setting deeper than a few voicelines about each map in PvP matches. Almost a year ago Jeff himself said that
a fleshed out story mode requires it to be a game all on its own because the engine they are using to develop Overwatch was strictly designed for PvP (player v player). It's so difficult for them to develop PvE events doing things from scratch each time that it takes them literal months to complete them, and the newest one feels shorter than its previous ones from my observations. Or at least, if gets more linear each iteration.
While speaking with
Fran, a streamer for the Overwatch League team of the
Atlanta Reign, at Blizzcon 2018, Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan explained that the creation of PVE (player versus environment) content for the first person shooter is difficult. The reasoning for the difficult nature of creating PVE content is due to the development team having designed the title's engine to focus on PVP elements. This means that when Blizzard creates PVE pieces of content, such as the limited timed event of Retribution, that they have to create it from scratch and this process take a considerable amount of time.
However, Jeff Kaplan clarified that this does not mean that a story mode will not be developed, but that it would be a very difficult and lengthy process to create a story mode for the title. Jeff Kaplan ended his addressing of a possible story mode for Overwatch by stating that a story mode like feature for the game's universe would likely be a completely new game set apart from what we know as Overwatch.
It looks as though that the esports title from Blizzard Entertainment will not be getting a complete story mode in the near future, but hopeful fans of a deeper PVE experience will be happy to hear that Jeff Kaplan has stated that this kind of addition is not out of the realm of possibility.
So the idea is still on the table, we'll just have to wait for a long while for them to develop the PvE engine that is likely from scratch
Animated shorts were shown to help advertise the game and increase interest before release, but it seems to me that they proceeded with PvP development without fully deciding yet on how much they intended to use shorts and the game itself to festure storytelling elements.
Above all else, I don't think they really have a focus group... they want to appeal to anime fans (all the girls have anime eyes), esports fans, casuals, and people who play story-driven games all at the same time. And I think that's hindered their focus even more on top of balancing the game each time a new hero shows up. It doesn't help that Overwatch isn't actually that entertaining as a spectator sport... at least in my opinion.
Overwatch 2 is most likely this projected story mode Jeff referenced last year... and even then, this is assuming they actually go through with it to completion. And they're sticking to their word of keeping a tight lid on projects until they reach a state of certainty in developmental stages to be worth speaking about to the public. Until then, we'll hear a lot of rumors about what OW2 is supposed to be that will be unconfirmed for a while.
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But to answer your question, yes, you can queue into comp by selecting 2 or 3 roles before pressing Ready. At least, it worked for me when playing RQ Beta. I pressed 'X' for 2 or all 3 roles and then just went in. The matchmaker just throws you into a game but you still are restricted to one hero class once you join a match. If I pick DPS and Healer, I'm most likely to join a match only as Healer because DPS will have a far longer wait time. If you pick all three, it's really just based on which role can get you into a game the fastest because you technically are saying you don't care what you get as a role.
If I'm right, XBone and PS4 run Overwatch at 60fps without factoring lag that drops the framerate. That's kind of an oof... I mean, maybe it isn't, I will have to try it on my PS4's video settings to really know. There are some videos of people playing at 30fps, but they are a couple years old and don't reflect the patch they had us download for the engine's update to improve things like Mei's ice texture and the models themselves. I probably won't get it on the switch without a pro controller first, and that's if I don't mind working my way back up to all the cosmetics I've earned.
But imagining a Reaper main using them to shoot and throwing them on the floor as a reload gesture is really funny to me!
McCree: "You weren't given those Joycons to toss 'em around like trash!"
Reaper: "They're drifting..."
