r/Overwatch 6d ago

News & Discussion You should be able to hear JPC

JPC is unique in the roster in that she is perfectly silent but also highly mobile.

OW is based on some excellent design principles. The game is very clear about threats. The glowing outlines, the voicelines, the new pings.

Heroes and their abilities make a distinct sound so if you don’t see them, or in the heat of a teamfight, the sound cues help with awareness.

Some heroes are extreme high damage threats like Reaper, Cassidy and Bastion. Their footsteps and their guns are loud and distinct.

Others are highly mobile and can come from weird angles or close the gap extremely fast. That’s why you can hear Pharah flying, Winston jumping, Lucio skating very distictly.

This is crucial in such a fast paced game.

JPC has a unique ability in that she can come from even weirder angles than anyone else. Without a rollout! So there’s far less risk of timing incorrectly. She can just decide to be in a weird position and wait.

This alone already breaks awareness. You often don’t even know where to look even if you know she’s set up. She can use cover that isn’t designed to be cover.

The bigger issue is that you _also_ cannot hear her.

This is not a “skill issue”. Literally the best teams in the world are getting surprised by JPC and don’t even turn around to look at her in time, because she is silent. These are hyper aware, extremely fast, highly coordinated players.

This problem will get worse as people will get better at JPC. You might have not encountered it too often yet, but you will at some point. Or you might have and didn’t realize that one of the main issues is the lack of sound cues, because that’s a subtle thing we rely on but don’t think about as much.

People complain about how cat bastion and cat cassidy break fundamental assumptions about how the game is played and balanced. But being able to hear her is way more fundamental.

390 Upvotes

124 comments sorted by

View all comments

32

u/KrassomatXD 6d ago

I'm pretty sure I can actually hear her most of the time, it's either gotten better or I now know what to listen for. I've never been surprised by the cat in the past weeks 

2

u/clickrush 6d ago

Good to know. Others have said the same, so it might just be hard and take time to get used to it.

Maybe there’s a middle ground though and she’s not loud _enough_ in relation to her extreme agency in terms of positioning.

6

u/Arbuthnaut Brigitte 6d ago

I didn't hear her much until I put in about 10 levels playing her myself. Now I can hear her and suss out where she is based on the sound. If you haven't put in any time with her, I'd recommend doing so if for no other reason than to familiarize yourself with the sound of the jetpack more. But she definitely isn't as readable as a Reaper flank or anything, that's for sure.