Unpopular Opinion: Paladins is More Fun and Better Experience Compared to Overwatch

[NeoRaider]

First of all i want to say that i've been playing both games since day one basically and i am still playing both, even tho. i am usually just playing Overwatch during the 3 weeks long events now.

I know that Paladins is not as polished as Overwatch and it will never be. But for me personally it is 5 times more fun to play compared to Overwatch. Paladins is getting constantly updated with new content like new characters, new or reworked maps and cosmetics. Currently Paladins has 47 characters and last character we got in Overwatch was Echo, almost one year ago. Also last few Paladins characters like Yagorath, Vora or Io are probably the most fun and unique that i played in any MP game. Blizzard is sadly just not doing it like them.

Paladins has talents and cards/loadouts system, that are changing the way your character can be played. You don't feel like something is holding you back if you decide to play a Support in Paladins, you don't feel like a healing bot, you feel like you are having an impact on the match and not just by healing your teammates. Queue times and match quality is another big problem for Overwatch, yesterday for example i was waiting for 9 minutes in a queue for Casual DPS game, just to be steamrolled by other team in two minutes and this is happening way too often.

Like i said Paladins might not be the most polished game ever, it's probably far away from that but in 2021 Paladins is a better and more fun game for me. Overwatch just feels so dry and stale. From one of my favorite and most exciting games ever it turned to one of the worst live-service experiences in just 2 years.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Paladins having cross-platform play is already a big positive step over overwatch. I feel a lot of their matchmaking issues would be a bit more alleviated if they implemented that, even if it was just PS4 & Xbox (Not sure how switch works).

How do the Paladins characters stack up the to Overwatch crew design wise tho?

 

[Westbahnhof]

How many hot older characters does Paladins have?

 

[Discontent]

Last time I played Overwatch was about when Echo was released and although I really enjoyed playing as her I'm surprised there's no new characters since then.

 

[Niosai]

Last time I played Overwatch was about when Echo was released and although I really enjoyed playing as her I'm surprised there's no new characters since then.

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They said no new characters after Echo until OW2, but I assume they expected it to be smooth development before COVID happened. Hoping they change their minds.

Note that what I'm saying below is all my opinion and lots of OW vets will disagree.

Honestly, Overwatch came out right before all of the innovations in sociality happened in gaming. Cross-platform and cross-progression play wasn't at all a standard (and you could argue it still isn't) and the game has to be balanced separately from PC to console based on just how differently it plays. They'd have to probably completely revamp their Ranking system to be able to include PC/Console players together. I would argue that they really need to go cross-platform, though.

I also think they have this issue of constantly rebalancing heroes rather than just biting the bullet and reworking them. Zenyatta needs to be a DPS, Mei needs to be Tank, etc. They also pander way too much to the competitive scene, which I can't blame them for because of how much they put into OWL. Some of the balance updates heavily benefit high-skill players and screw over newbies/casual players which has lead to people I know personally quitting.

I could probably write a bunch more, but the TL;DR is that the game has a lot of potential to be better, and hopefully OW2 fixes some of the game's current issues and brings it up to par with something like Paladins.

 

[JahIthBer]

Overwatch has gotten pretty boring to be honest, they are making the same mistake they did with SC2, balancing the game around top tier play & removing the fun.

 

[Finaika]

47 characters?!

 

[Niosai]

Overwatch has gotten pretty boring to be honest, they are making the same mistake they did with SC2, balancing the game around top tier play & removing the fun.

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Yuuuuuuuuup. The vast majority of their audience are not competitive players, but the balance updates sure make it seems like they are.

 

[NeoRaider]

47 characters?!

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Yes, 47 characters. They just released Yagorath like one week ago, and they are releasing 3 more this year. Also their last few characters are really, really cool looking, different and fun to play.

 

[DryCreek]

.

 

[Discontent]

Haven't really played Paladins that much tbh but I can literally choose any character in overwatch and have a good time. That's why I loved Mystery Heroes so much. Going against three Bastions was always lolworthy though.

 

[LelouchViBritannia]

Paladins is awesome. I recommend all of you try it

 

[NeoRaider]

They are slightly different games for different purposes. paladins is much closer to a game like TF2 than overwatch is. if overwatch was closer to what you describe here id be totally turned off by it.

having changing loadouts destroys player readability, if you no longer know the capabilities of an enemy hero then you can no longer reliably react to them or plan for them. this makes it worse as a competitive game and it makes it harder to co-ordinate with other players the entire point is that every character always plays the same in overwatch so that everyone is a known quantity.

if you feel like a heal bot then maybe play one of the other healer characters? most of the support characters in overwatch have other utility and its only really mercy that plays how you describe.

Also 9 mins for a dps queue? are you not taking advantage of the new priority pass system, i can actually play as dps sometimes when i want to now thatks to that system? Id agree OW has a problems with queue times with certain roles (dps) this is largely due to the playerbase and im not sure how you combat that, a lot of people just want to play for personal glory in a game that is very much a team play focused game.

content release cycle is slower for OW but it is a paid gass game as opposed to a f2p one, and the dev team probably arent as dependant on pushing their monetization. the recent dropoff has been due to them focusing on overwatch 2. Also i kind of prefer bilzzards focus on quality over quantity.

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They are both 1st person hero shooters. And are probably the two most similar games currently.

Having talents/loadouts for me is probably the best thing about Paladins and what makes it so fun. At any time during the match you can check your enemies talents and loadouts. It's not anything hidden.

What kind of utility does Moira have? What is her utility except for providing healing or doing (low) damage? Same question for Zenyatta.

Yes, 9 minutes long queue for 2 minutes long game, without the priority pas on EU servers. Even tho. it said thay it will take 6 or les minutes before i started the queue. I literally went to the shooting range and was jumping around because of how bored i was, i wanted to fall asleep.

 

[Dash Kappei]

Paladins having cross-platform play is already a big positive step over overwatch. I feel a lot of their matchmaking issues would be a bit more alleviated if they implemented that, even if it was just PS4 & Xbox (Not sure how switch works).

How do the Paladins characters stack up the to Overwatch crew design wise tho?

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Wait, so NSW OW matches are only between NSW players, no crossplay whatsoever?

 

[Noppie]

Overwatch is definitely in a lull right now, development of Overwatch 2 has eaten way too many dev resources way too fast. Really hope something concrete will come out of Blizzconline because the game needs it.

Wait, so NSW OW matches are only between NSW players, no crossplay whatsoever?

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No cross-platform play whatsoever.

 

[ghostcrew]

I fucking love Paladins. I think it's such a high quality game, it's one of those examples of looking at something and being in disbelief that it's F2P, when directly compared to similar games that are full price.

I don't know if I'd quite go as far as to say a better experience than Overwatch but there's not a lot in it. If you like Overwatch but have maybe played enough or you wanna play with friends cross-platform then you should definitely give Paladins a look. It's a great game.

 

[TheGhost]

I forgot overwatch was a thing. Wasn't there supposed to be an overwatch 2?

I don't care about sexiness or characters so Paladins was great for me. Allowing you to customize your perks between deaths and giving you ways to get back to the action faster with the horse was a plus for me.

 

[Shan]

Paladins was fun when me and my friends played it. We stopped shortly after a character, whose name I forgot, was released. He looked like a statue wielding a big axe. Think he released some times after Lian, some healer dude whose ultimate goes through wall, etc. We stopped around the time they were gonna introduce some update that people really hated.

But yeah, while I had fun with OW (stopped aaround the 1 year anniversary) Paladins was much more fun. It was pretty much pick whoever and that's that for the match, no constant switching for counterpick and stuff.

 

[NeoRaider]

I forgot overwatch was a thing. Wasn't there supposed to be an overwatch 2?

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Yes, but it's not releasing until 2022. And they basically abandoned OW except for recycled seasonal events.

 

[Dunlop]

I forgot all about Paladins, I remember buying cheap on Steam just so I could transfer to PS4 (my PC sucks).

Time to see if I can transfer now to Xbox lol

 

[Jakisthe]

Nearly a year since the latest OW character; I assume all the resources are on making OW2 feel like an visual upgrade with an incredibly dull single player campaign based on level design which only barely works for PvE and wave based encounters to make it feel like it's 2012 all over again.

Also the balance of OW was *ridiculously* bad - at any one time, it felt like they were balancing around all of 1/4th of the roster and having the other ones be completely overlooked. Not helped, of course, by the fact that they slowly sucked out the soul of the original premise, first by limiting hero dupes and then by limiting roles. Just a fundamental misunderstanding of the value of speed vs damage vs health in an FPS, really.

 

[ARobotCalledV]

The problem here for me is that Overwatch just has the superior art, the gulf between their character designs is pretty big. I just don't like any of the characters visually from what I've seen of Paladins. I am open to trying it, there just needs to be something to grab my attention. There was a time I similarly dismissed Brawlhalla but their IP crossovers managed to pull me in and now I greatly enjoy it.

I'll also add, as a healer main, I never feel like a 'bot' or that I'm having little impact on the match in Overwatch. I don't need to be wiping the other team to feel like my gameplay is meaningful.

 

[NeoRaider]

Nearly a year since the latest OW character; I assume all the resources are on making OW2 feel like an visual upgrade with an incredibly dull single player campaign based on level design which only barely works for PvE and wave based encounters to make it feel like it's 2012 all over again.

Also the balance of OW was *ridiculously* bad - at any one time, it felt like they were balancing around all of 1/4th of the roster and having the other ones be completely overlooked. Not helped, of course, by the fact that they slowly sucked out the soul of the original premise, first by limiting hero dupes and then by limiting roles. Just a fundamental misunderstanding of the value of speed vs damage vs health in an FPS, really.

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I feel like 2-2-2 lock and balancing around OWL/Pro scene is what sucked out the most fun out of OW. They want the game to be played casually and have younger fanbase, but are balancing the game around Pro play and OWL which doesn't make much sense. They destroyed Moira's fun and dynamic playstyle, they nerfed Brigitte 20 times in a row, removing one thing that was separating her from other Supports, they reworked Mercy, they can't make Symmetra and Bastion to not be a niche, throw picks... So many questionable decisions.

 

[Arsene no Kiseki]

I can't stand Paladins. It feels really weird and floaty, a cheap copy like pretty much everything else from Hi-Rez.

I'd rather play TF2 or OW

 

[Z-Brownie]

you're not alone in this ... i feel more invested in Overwatch characters, but gameplay wise, i think the more soft and loose gameplay of paladins and the fact that is crossplay makesit feel more fun

 

[Tbm24]

Yuuuuuuuuup. The vast majority of their audience are not competitive players, but the balance updates sure make it seems like they are.

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Funny enough I feel they stopped doing this over a year ago. OW's balance has been in such a good spot for a long time and I'm not even close to a pro.

 

[signal]

Do bad teammates ruin Paladins like they do in OW

 

[JankyNedelko]

Paladins may not have the looks (character designs are widely inconsistent), but it was a blast to play during the first year it released on Switch.

Haven't played the game in a while, though. I might re-install it to see what's up.

 

[Diogo Arez]

Always thought that, after around 50h on both I got over the genre but I preferred my time with Paladins

 

[Jahranimo]

Paladins is a lot of fun. Still not sure why I gravitated towards that vs Overwatch years ago when it came out.

 

[wars]

Sorry but no.

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Paladins is the superior hero shooter.
On gameplay terms, the loadouts you can have for each character and the talents you buy in-match make that game far far more customizable than OW.

The only thing OW has over Paladins is art direction.

In character creativity, quality and gameplay Paladins is so much superior.

 

[Brazil]

Don't disagree with you there. Overwatch is way too chaotic. Paladins is more manageable and, therefore, less stressful.

 

[deathsaber]

Absolutely agree. Yes Overwatch was a "slicker' product, better looking, etc.

But Paladins was more fun, better community- has been supported for years with new characters/skins, at a much more consitant clip

 

[SunnyD]

Yuuuuuuuuup. The vast majority of their audience are not competitive players, but the balance updates sure make it seems like they are.

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Balance should absolutely be tailored to competitive play, especially for an E-sports game. Just look at any other competitive online multiplayer game.

 

[TheApatheticOne]

Timely thread! I recently just dove back into Paladins, and agree with pretty much all you said. I can't deny that Overwatch is more polished, and trust me... between PS4/XB1, I've put a ton of time there. At the end of the day though - I have way more fun with Paladins. I haven't played or dove into it enough to learn all the new characters since last time I played, and Im sure some are better than others, but almost every character feels playable - which is impressive as there's a lot!

 

[tarman76]

Paladins is a good time with a low bar for entry. No reason not to try it.

 

[NoKisum]

Paladins having cross-platform play is already a big positive step over overwatch.

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Gonna have to disagree with you on that one. Gaming community seems to be against the idea of cross-platform play.

Source: Any and every thread about or involving cross-platform play.

 

[Niosai]

Balance should absolutely be tailored to competitive play, especially for an E-sports game. Just look at any other competitive online multiplayer game.

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Competitive play, sure. But seemingly catering to the top 500 only is a ridiculous prospect.

 

[NeoRaider]

Gonna have to disagree with you on that one. Gaming community seems to be against the idea of cross-platform play.

Source: Any and every thread about or involving cross-platform play.

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You can enable/disable cross-play based on the input method. Like controller only, if you are on console and want to play with other console players only. Cross-play/cross-progression is always a (big) plus.

 

[Freedonia]

I only played Paladins for a single weekend since my friends refused to try it, but I liked what I saw. I liked how the mount system let players get back to the fight quickly, and I enjoyed how the loadout system gave some flexibility to every character. If you didn't have a healer you could just upgrade your character so they got health back through dealing damage or some other way, and that would be a viable way to survive and win matches. I had been playing a lot of Overwatch at the time, so I really appreciated that level of player agency and not being completely tied to your team

 

[Platy]

Yeah, paladins should have won this simply because of crossplay and 60 fps on the switch

How many hot older characters does Paladins have?

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Champions

Champions are the playable characters in Paladins. Each one has their own unique abilities and fighting style. There are currently 60 playable champions in the game. Champions are organized into 4 different classes: Front Line, Damage, Support and Flank. Every champion has a unique weapon, 4 or...

paladins.gamepedia.com

not much. I mean they have a few characters with white hair but actually old are very little and there is one is mostly "cute grandpa" old

but it does feature 2 weirdly horny chirstmas skins

and furry characters for all tastes

hell, the fox one even has a "fox with boobs" skin

and yes you CAN pet the 2 headed dragon

 

[Chackan]

Indeed, as much as OW is more refined and polished, I played much more of Paladins.

 

[CaptainBojangles]

I played a bit of Paladins in 2017, and I really did not enjoy how the game actually felt to play. I don't know exactly how I would describe it, but om console it never felt good to play compared to Overwatch. The weird card system and mounts also did nothing for me, so the core of the game just felt like a worse-playing, worse-looking version of a game I already enjoyed.

i try to keep an open mind on talks like these, but to this day I don't understand how anyone could have argued that Paladins was a better game than Overwatch in 2017 for any reason other than maybe balancing, and I only say that because I might not have played enough of it.

 

[SunnyD]

Competitive play, sure. But seemingly catering to the top 500 only is a ridiculous prospect.

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I think it makes sense to balance around the people who invest in/develop the meta the most and care the most about balance the most as a result. In any competitive game a small number of people are going to optimize the meta the most and know what needs tuning and what doesn't. Any competitive player is ultimately working to get to the point where they know the game to the extent that they are good ( theoretically a part of that small pool who can best evaluate the game and its meta) at in which it makes the most sense that balance should trickle down. They have an entire game mode for those who don't want to engage with the meta (quickplay) or even the normative structue of the game (no-role quickplay).

 

[hikarutilmitt]

I would just like to say:

Thanks to this thread I've grabbed Paladins to download to my PS5. I remember playing a beta what feels like forever ago and feeling like I didn't spend enough time with it, because it felt like, well, OW with some modifications. I've been bounced off OW for a long, long time and only ever play it when the wife really insists on wanting to play (she plays it constantly) and trying this again but being able to change some aspects of a character so I don't have to rely on my team as much or even plan for my team working against me (which I swear happens more than not).

 

[Jroc]

I feel like the only person on the internet who is largely satisfied with Overwatch. I'd like some new maps, and I think they need to spice up the Tank gameplay a little bit, but 9 times out of 10 I have fun whenever I play. I could see it being frustrating though if you only play a specific class, or don't have a group to consistently play with.

It sounds like Paladins is less punishing when the team isn't synergized.

They are both 1st person hero shooters. And are probably the two most similar games currently.

Having talents/loadouts for me is probably the best thing about Paladins and what makes it so fun. At any time during the match you can check your enemies talents and loadouts. It's not anything hidden.

What kind of utility does Moira have? What is her utility except for providing healing or doing (low) damage? Same question for Zenyatta.

Yes, 9 minutes long queue for 2 minutes long game, without the priority pas on EU servers. Even tho. it said thay it will take 6 or les minutes before i started the queue. I literally went to the shooting range and was jumping around because of how bored i was, i wanted to fall asleep.

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Zen has some of the highest damage output in the game. He's a glass canon, but his projectiles have no damage dropoff over distance. His discord orb is also one of the only debuffs in the game and is extremely powerful. A well-placed discord orb during a team fight can absolutely melt high-HP characters like Dva and Roadhog. It's essentially the same as giving every teammate a Mercy damage buff against a single character.

Moira's main utility outside of healing is being able to do consistent collateral chip damage with her purple orb. She also has one of the best mobility moves in the game, so her survivability is high. Even her main attack is viable as an off-DPS choice since it's undeflectable, doesn't require aiming and is almost guaranteed to make every hit.

All of the healers play really differently:

-Brig: AOE healing activated by damaging enemies, has a shield, can stun enemies, boop enemies and wack through enemy shields, melee-based
-Lucio: Passive AOE healing OR passive AOE speed boost, can wall run and boop enemies, speedy
-Mercy: Pure healer and buffer with no damage potential, can resurrect dead teammates
-Baptiste: Active AOE healing, manual healing, accurate Halo BR style gun, can literally make teammates immortal temporarily, jumps high
-Ana: Healing sniper that is hitscan while scoped, has an AOE healing nade that can HEAL BLOCK enemies, can put enemies to sleep (best stun in the game)

Yeah they all "heal", but going from Ana to Brig is going to feel like a completely different game.

 

[jokkir]

Paladins is pretty fun and is surprisingly, I think, my second most played game on the Switch somehow (I think right below BOTW) at 200+ hours :| I don't even know how I played it that much but I think the smooth performance + fun game helped. I don't even play a lot of characters other than Viktor or Moji

 

[ApeEscaper]

All we really need is Team Fortress 3
Valvepls

 

[Stoney Mason]

I prefer paladins to Overwatch also.