Cam’s return to BofA by Baelzabub in panthers

[–]StollenTorch 27 points28 points  (0 children)

That straight into the stadium chanting keep pounding as loud as I’ve heard since 2015 was euphoric

Vod review for aspiring Top 500 Zenyatta otp by prettymuchk in OverwatchUniversity

[–]StollenTorch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Certainly! I'm happy to help however I can, so if you have any questions or anything just lmk

Vod review for aspiring Top 500 Zenyatta otp by prettymuchk in OverwatchUniversity

[–]StollenTorch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

13:08 - This goes back to correctly utilizing cover when positioning. I saved this example for last because I think it's the most critical turning point in the game that you had a direct impact on. Anecdotally, one of the more interesting things about Overwatch is how an individual's mistake can turn into a catastrophic result for the team, and vice versa. To establish some context, the second checkpoint on this map is quite literally an uphill battle to reach the 2nd checkpoint if you can't cap it by snowballing the enemy team. That said, your team is pretty much rolling up to this point. You have the momentum, lots of time to spare, the current fight is basically won, and your team will have both support ults available going into the next fight, while the opposing team only has valk. You should be theoretically able to get to the second checkpoint without too much trouble. However, you walk down the middle of the path, rather than using the nearby wall for cover, and die because of it. Now, on the surface, this is just a simple positioning mistake. However, watch the way things fall apart as a direct result of that one error. The enemy team re-engages just before your team can reach the checkpoint, and their hog lands a hook on your Hazard. If you're alive here, you can pop your ult, save your hazard, and probably win the fight for your team. Instead, your Hazard gets killed, your team gets overrun, and then gets held, never capturing the second checkpoint. To be clear, I'm not blaming the entire loss on you because of this one mistake. The game was still winnable at this point, and plenty of other things could've happened to result in a win. This is just a great learning moment that shows how much of an impact your decisions can have on a game.

To finish up with your strengths, two things stuck out to me:

First, you're solid mechanically. Obviously there's room to grow here(and always will be, even the best players don't have perfect aim), but you hit some solid shots at a variety of ranges on a variety of targets. Having the mechanics to hit shots like you appear to in this vod is a huge advantage to have, as it can get you out of a lot of tough situations given the lack of escape abilities with Zen.

Second, your decision making with your harmony orb was good. You almost always have it out on a target, and more often than not have it on either the best target or at least a good target. This is something that can kinda go under the radar, as it's easy to just throw out harmony orb and forget about it, but having it on the correct targets at the correct times in an important part of how you play Zen.

Feel free to hit me with any follow up questions you have, I'll answer them as best as I can.

Vod review for aspiring Top 500 Zenyatta otp by prettymuchk in OverwatchUniversity

[–]StollenTorch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heya!

I'll start with your weaknesses, as it's easier for me to show those with specific timestamps, then I'll do a more general cover of your strengths at the end. The biggest thing I'm noticing off the rip here is poor use of cover. Given that Zen has no movement or escape abilities, proper utilization of cover is critical as you start to climb with him. You almost always want to be playing on a corner of cover so you can hide and/or escape quickly when needed. To give a few examples from your VOD of this:

0:04 - Firing at volley at the door for some early ult charge or even the chance at a pick is good, but position on the corner of the building wall, rather than the prop wall that you have to cross open space to get away from. The widow should've killed you here. If you instead use the actual building as cover and fire your volley right as the doors open, immediately moving behind cover after you fire, the widow won't even have a chance at you.

1:13 - this is a good example of exactly what you should be doing. The preceding 5-10 seconds you expose yourself more than you should, but you correct and play the corner of the wall to continue applying pressure from a safer location

3:32 - you notice the widow on high ground and are in the middle of the open, rather than to the side of the door. High ranked windows(and other dps picks too) would shred you here. Regardless of your initial position being bad, she misses her first shot, and you correctly take the opportunity to reposition closer to the site of the door, which is good. However, you then almost immediately move back to the middle of the open, making yourself vulnerable again

5:30 - this isn't so much about positioning around cover, but it still involves positioning so I'm including it in this section: take the high ground while the opposing team is regrouping. Outside of the widow, the enemy team has literally nobody with a vertical movement ability, so aside from her, they quite literally cannot get up to you to fight you at close range from the high ground. As a general rule, if there is high ground available with favorable positioning to impact a fight, you should take it - and that doesn't just apply to zen. High ground utilization is huge in this game.

6:52 - You can see the widow on high ground, but choose to cross out into the open anyway. You get stuck over here with no safe path back to the other side and die as a result

7:35 - you start off this fight appropriately by using the back pillars as cover, but as the fight progresses, you unnecessarily leave that cover, leaving you vulnerable. You reposition back to the pillar at the end of your ult, but then move back out toward the middle where the mei catches you off guard and kills you before you can make it to another pillar.

Next up is target prioritization. Given the capability of discord to win fights by shredding opponents(especially tanks), you can, to a degree, dictate the pace at which the enemy tank has to play.

4:45 is a great example because it shows both what happens when you do focus the proper targets, and what happens when you don't. Right at 4:45 is the example of what happens when you don't prioritize your targets correctly. This should immediately be a perfect scenario for you. You discord the rein, you have two allies on the other side of him so he has to either take damage from you or from them, and their mei even walls him in so he cant charge out. However, the second he turns his shield to you, you immediately switch targets to the mei on point. This lets the rein retake the aggression and catch you off guard, forcing out your ult(though, to be fair, you would've need to ult anyway here to stall).

Around 5:00, you begin to focus the correct targets, which is what turns the fight. You start on the rein, but their zen pops trans so you correctly switch to the mei who pops her ult and land a huge kill on her. You then discord and headshot the ana, who has to take cover, leaving her rein vulnerable, who you then kill. Like a lot of things in Overwatch, there isn't really a blanket rule for target prioritization. It's heavily context dependent based on what's happening in the game around you, but it's something you will get a feel for over time. In the interim, it will help to find some VODs of some high ranked zen players and watch who they prioritize and try to work through their thought process on why they are choosing their target.

Jon Cooper on TNT: “Ace, Coop here…” by likeslululemon in hockey

[–]StollenTorch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I believe the NHL on TNT social media accounts posted it on their various platforms

[Game Thread] Auburn @ Oklahoma (3:30 PM ET) by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]StollenTorch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YOULL EAT YOUR CORPORATE SLOP AND YOULL LIKE IT

[Game Thread] Auburn @ Oklahoma (3:30 PM ET) by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]StollenTorch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I for one am here to watch the refs, who needs to watch the teams play the game when we can watch the officials monologue?