Did you know one of Overwatch’s handiest PvE features can be enabled in Overwatch 2’s PvP?
If you played any of the seasonal events in the original Overwatch and enjoyed hearing when your teammates were offed, read this.
There have been some fairly unpopular changes to the way Overwatch 2 does its UI. Whether its the options menu being moved to a more difficult-to-find place on the main menu, or the lack of feedback cards at the end of a round, it’s safe to say Blizzard hasn’t really nailed the landing with UI and UX on the new game.
But for all the teething problems, there are some bonuses, too. Take the option to enable the "Play Sound When Teammate Eliminated" setting in the audio options. It might sound horrible (spoiler: it is!) but when you’re ankles-deep in the melee around a control point, sometimes you just need the short, sharp trill of an emergency siren to let you know that ‘yep, that Tracer is down again’.
I picked up the tip from PC Gamer yesterday, and after playing a few games last night, I have to say: this could be game-changing for me! I primarily play support (thank me later), and knowing that the tank I had just been healing is finally down the second I turn away without having to do the little radial scan of the screen is great. It frees me up to instantly start buffing that Widowmaker I know has an Ult nearly ready to go.
Take a look at the screen below to see where you can find it in your menu.
Previously, this death klaxon would only be available in limited-time PvE events (like Bride of Junkenstein in the now-maligned Halloween Terror event that just kicked off this week in Overwatch 2). By making it available in PvP, too, it frees up your eyes and reaction times and liberates you from relying on the kill feed quite so much when – frankly – you’ve got more important things to be dealing with.
For many players, the siren itself will be a rallying call to fall back; a quick, easy-to-hear bleat that says ‘oop, this push has failed’. Even if you don’t think it’ll help that much, I encourage you to try it out for a game or two and see whether it makes a difference for you. No matter your role – tank, support, DPS – it’s a handy little bit of bonus feedback that can really do you a favour in those moments when every second and every ounce of your focus counts.
If you need some more Overwatch content to tide you over whilst you wait in queue for a support to join, why not read about what kink all the heroes probably have, how how NVIDIA Reflex could change the game.