Whether it's a holiday and you are trying the game during the free play weekends or you just purchased Overwatch, these 6 tips are going to be perfect for any new player who is just jumping in.
1) Customize Settings
Far too often people will jump into the game without configuring Any of their settings. If you have played games like Counter Strike or Call of Duty before there might be a certain sensitivity setting or a certain crosshair that you like to use. So, before you even start your first game be sure to go into the options and change things until you are comfortable with the settings. Mess around with changing the sensitivity and play a few quickplay matches before jumping into competitive play to test out your new settings. Once you have settings changed to cater to your style of gameplay then I would suggest sticking with those settings for at least a few weeks before you keep tinkering with the settings. A lot of the time players will rush to YouTube and search for a pro player settings and they will try to use a player setting that doesn't necessarily match what they like. This is one of the worst things you can possibly do because other players have played with the settings for years so for you to take someone also settings and try to apply it to your own is a recipe for disaster. If you are struggling finding the right settings, then use some tools on the Internet to help you change settings that will fit you and only you.
2) Stick to One Role
There are 3 roles in Overwatch. Tanks, support, and DPS are the 3 different roles available. Make sure that you read up on these rules before you decide of which you want to play. However, once you do make that decision stick to that role until you master that role before you go into selecting a different role. The last thing you want to do is confuse your muscle memory to where you're doing too many different things at once rather than learning one thing very well.
3) Learn to Communicate with your Team
It's no secret that overwatch is a team-based game. Don't try to hop on and do everything on your own. Be sure to communicate with your teammates and understand which heroes work well together. Base your hero selection on other hero selected on your team. if you need help with this do a quick search on YouTube for the best hero pairings. This will help you adjust which hero you play based on what your teammates have selected during that match. Aside from that do a good job of calling things out if you see someone that is hiding behind a wall be sure to let your teammates know. If you need to heal and your health is low, also be sure to let your support know. These are all little things that will help in the long run and allow you to become the best overwatch player possible.
4) Play to Win
One of the biggest problems I've noticed in overwatch is that people tend to love the stats at the end of games. The reason why I see this as a problem is players become obsessed with what their stats are at the end of the game rather than if they are winning or losing. A lot of the times people will look at the damage they've done or the kills they've had while at the same time they lost the game period I highly advise that if you're just starting out in Overwatch, ignore the stats and awards rewarded at the end of each match! Instead focus on winning the game. For example, if you're a support hero then play as a support and help your team. Don't go out and try to get kills so that you can show off how many kills you can get as Mercy. That won’t get the job done. Working together and making sure you stay within your role’s ability will get you much further.
5) Fight as a Team
As I mentioned earlier, Overwatch is a team-based game. Focus on attacking your opposition as a team rather than alone. While carrying your settings from other FPS games might be a good idea it's also a good idea to leave your tendencies in other games behind. In most FPS games you can peek and go off on your own and try to score kills by yourself. In Overwatch you really can't do that period. The hero-based system is there so that each hero has their own abilities and can work with one another otherwise there would be no point in having abilities attached to each specific hero. If you don't like playing with the team then this game is not for you I would look elsewhere.
6) Focus Fire
The term focus fire is probably very familiar to those who have played MMOs like World of Warcraft. However, if you've never really played a team-based game then you probably have never heard of the term focus fire. Focus firing is when everyone targets the same person. This is extremely important especially when you are teamed up with a hero like Zendaya and they've put the increase damage debuff on the opposition. As a team it makes it a lot easier to eliminate your opposition by everyone targeting the same opponent. If this is not done in higher ranked competitive play then you will often find it difficult to take down tanks.
So there you have it. 5 tips to help you out if you’re jumping into Overwatch! If you still get stuck in ELO Hell after this, then purchasing your placement games might be a good idea to help you start in a higher ranking.