Overwatch 2 voice lines are an integral part of team communication, combining with the Blizzard sequel’s new ping system – arguably one of the best Overwatch 2 changes introduced for the follow-up FPS game – to help you more easily and accurately coordinate big plays and let your teammates know when you need help with that Reaper in your backline. However, one particular foible of the system is making it difficult for players to simply group up – often one of the simplest and most effective ways to quickly tighten up your team’s play.
The ‘group up’ voice line was also present in the first Overwatch, and it’s most commonly used in two specific cases. The first is when you have an ultimate ability ready that benefits from everyone getting close-knit, such as Brigitte’s Rally or Lucio’s Sound Barrier. The other is when you lose a long team fight and you’re desperately trying to encourage your teammates not to drip-feed out one by one from spawn directly into the line of enemy fire, leading to a slow and painful defeat as your team gets endlessly staggered.
In Overwatch 2, however, the ‘group up’ voice line is contextual, meaning that it can offer different shout-outs depending on the situation and who or what your character is currently looking at. For example, using it as a healer while looking at a hurt ally will tell them to “come to me for healing,” while using it while facing a full-health ally instead calls out “I’m on my way.” The first is potentially quite useful, but the latter seems particularly egregious given that it almost implies the reverse of the likely intent most players will have when calling for teammates to group up.
Mercy players have an even rougher time – if you happen to be looking at a dead teammate when you select ‘group up’ then the Swiss support shouts, “I’m going to resurrect them, cover me!” As one Overwatch Reddit thread remarks, this can be precisely the opposite of your intent – suggesting that you’re ready for a potential fight with the quick tempo swing that a clutch resurrection can offer, when in reality you may be just stepping out of spawn and hoping to urge your team to make a temporary retreat to safety.
In theory, the change offers plenty of flexibility for how you can communicate – but, coincidentally, this functionality isn’t well communicated to players by the game, leaving many Overwatch 2 players potentially perplexed as to why their heroes are coming out with all manner of (seemingly) unpredictable phrases instead of the one they expected.
Perhaps Blizzard might consider adding a toggle allowing players to enable or disable contextual voice lines based on preference; the Overwatch 2 settings already offer plenty of ways to tweak controls to your personal tastes, after all. In the meantime, your best bet is to look down at the ground to ensure you get the actual “group up” shout-out you were actually hoping for, or just opt for the ‘fall back’ prompt instead.
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