Recently Jeff Kaplan graced our screens with another Overwatch developer update starting off with his usual “Hey guys, Jeff from the Overwatch team” intro. In the latest update, Papa Jeff discussed the highly anticipated social features, endorsements and ‘looking for group’.
Endorsements
Endorsements give players the opportunity to recognise certain gameplay behaviours in the match. Of course, this system is fairly similar to the honour system currently featured in League of Legends. Players can commend a teammate at the end of a match.
There are three areas that you can endorse a player in:
- Sportsmanship: If another player has been respectful and positive throughout the match. A direct quote from Papa Jeff, “Maybe they said, “Nice shot when you killed me that was really awesome. I like the way you did that.”
- Good Teammate: Only applies to your team. Recognising teammates that are playing the game as a real team player in a highly effective way. The example Jeff gave is “doing something along the lines of a Hanzo player switching over to Mei and winning the match”.
- Shot caller: Only applies to your team. Players calling the shots in a respectful and effective way. Also, the person who’s calling the targets and when to go in and out of the battlefield.
The endorsement system will be public. Also, the system will make sure that you maintain the endorsement level with a decay system to ensure consistency. If you’ve been actioned in any way, ‘silenced’ or ‘suspended’, all endorsements will be lost. Players can earn rewards by endorsing and being endorsed by other players.
Looking for Group
The Looking for Group system will allow players to create a group with an exact specification. So, if you’re a very particular group leader, you’ll have complete control over the role selection of the players you recruit. Name your group, set a mic requirement and create a flexible team. The choice is yours with this new feature.
This feature is to give players more control over their gameplay. With Looking for Group, players will be able to find other like-minded players to group up with. This will help create a better gameplay experience.
Other Overwatch Updates
- A single role ‘Damage’ will be a merge of offence and defence roles.
- Horizon Lunar Colony map will be seeing a rework.
- You will be able to set your player profile to private, friends-only or public. Jeff refers to this change as a way to “give you control over your gameplay experience”.
Symmetra rework hits PTR
In addition to the announced social features, the reworks to Symmetra are now available for players to try in the PTR. Symmetra will no longer be classed as a support hero but will now be entering the new damage role. For a full breakdown of Symmetra’s rework, you can visit the Blizzard PTR Forums.
If you’re interested in more Overwatch content, check out Freddie’s take on Overwatch League.
