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Paladins Has Really Hooked Me

I'm really, really shocked how much I'm digging Paladins. Graev and I are able to play together seamlessly on the Switch by simply forming a party via Nintendo friends. So slick to just pull out the Switch while on the go and jump into a match.

Now that I have nearly a week under my belt, I have some more feedback on the Switch version. 

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Load Times

Yes, the loading times are slow. At first I wasn't bothered, and they're really not the slowest loading screens I've experienced, but they should be sped up significantly. I'd also like to see champion previewing load quicker.

Voice Chat - Did Nintendo Get it Right?

Paladins on Switch has no voice chat capabilities. This is a little tough for a team arena shooter. Not being able to communicate makes for some really frustrating matches. I know it's possible to add voice chat because Fortnite on the Switch lets you chat by simply plugging in any headset. 

Last night and today I had some seriously agonizing matches where I wanted to scream at my team. I wanted to spew out my toxic hatred all over them. Maybe Nintendo is on to something here? Unable to rage at my team for literally going nowhere near the objective, I was left with two options: (1) Sit there quietly and cry, or (2) Quit and throw my switch across the room. Since 2 was obviously out, I 

But those idiots on my team will never learn, never be guided toward becoming better, and will never know just how much I hate them for all sitting back with sniper rifles doing nothing -- Yeah, you, tank champion I'm talking to you dude who never went within 100 yards of the other team!

Card Loadouts

These loadouts are really something. They let you customize play styles of a hero by altering how certain abilities perform. This can result in some great variable play.

For example, this one healer character I'm growing to like has a card loadout Graev showed me where she can dart around invisible a whole lot faster, making her really versatile. The turtle guy Malkoa has a loadout we made that makes his shell ability really good. There's just lots of ways to adjust heroes to make them your own.

In addition to changing cards in your loadout, you can allocate a set number of points to level up those cards in the loadout, meaning you can allocate how powerful those cards are in each loadout. 

Better Than Overwatch

Maybe this will get some hate, but I like Paladins a lot more than Overwatch. I thought that on the first day I played, and I still think that a week later. The maps in Paladins aren't quite as good, but the champions and gameplay make up for it. I wanted to maintain the whole "they're different types of games" mantra, but really there's enough crossover that I wouldn't play both in a day. That means I'd have to choose, and I'd choose Paladins.

  • I agree that Paladins is a better game than Overwatch. The customization with the card system and in game buying system adds so much to the game, while not being too confusing. Over watch has ZERO gameplay customization, every time you play a hero, it plays the same. No custom skills, weapons, abilities or ability leveling, it’s pretty boring. Fanbois will say that the fun is in “getting better at playing” but that can be said of any video game and is a pretty low bar rofl. The Overwatch design team designed a game for super casuals (no customization, nothing anywhere close to confusing) and also for pro players (low tick, pro scene, maps). They did a good job there, but they missed the mark in satisfying all the players in between those two extremes, and honestly their player counts reflect this as it should have much higher player counts for being a Blizzard game than it currently does. Ahh well, this is “new blizzard”, just look at the total disaster of Diablo 3 🙁

    • Separate consoles. He has a switch and I have one. The friends list on the Switch is integrated into the game and you can simply invite any friends online to join you.