History BrokenBase / Overwatch

* Just about everything regarding Mercy's Season 6 rework[[labelnote:explanation]]Moving ''Ressurect'' to being a weaker basic ability and giving her a new SuperMode ultimate that greatly buffs her mobility, utility, survivability, and damage[[/labelnote]] is wildly contentious. Fair, considering she could undo a pentakill with just the press of a button in her old playstyle? Or highly hypocritical, considering most offense heroes' ultimate amount to "press a button for potential TeamKill"? Is her new ultimate a fair compromise that makes her gameplay more interesting but remains stable, or is it just making her pander more to players that just want to play DPS and makes other heroes (like Zenyatta or Orisa) redundant?

* D.Va's also in a questionable place, since her kit seems caught between two worlds; one of being a rocket-boosting, close-range diving brawler, or a mobile tank with an extremely powerful shield in ''Defense Matrix''. Blizzard can't quite seem to find a definitive place for her, and she's been all over the place as a result, having been an imperative JackOfAllTrades, [[TierInducedScrappy at least dominant and making other tanks/DPS heroes superfluous]], and a MasterOfNone[[note]]As of writing in August 2017, D.Va's a very powerful ''Defense Matrix''-based tank, and [[https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20758746118?page=2#post-30 there are internal tests of nerfing it in place of a completely new offensive ability to make her more aggressive again,]] which itself is already shaping to be a point of contention[[/note]]. As a result, players have been strongly debating exactly what unique identity she has within the game and how to properly tweak her, and also whether Blizzard is simply reacting to the new problematic contexts she's ending up in, or are just flat-out contradicting themselves and are going to make make more balancing mistakes.
* Mercy's Autumn 2017 rework, which changed her ultimate to a basic ability (with a 30 sec cooldown, and only applicable to one player at a time), boosted her damage, and gave her a SuperMode ultimate that gives her much greater mobilty, regeneration, damage, and the ability to chain heal/damage boost, the reasoning given that ''Ressurect'' was unfun to play against. Fair, considering she could undo a pentakill with just the press of a button? Or highly hypocritical, considering most offense heroes' ultimate amount to "press a button for potential TeamKill"? Then there's also those disappointed that her new ultimate seemingly cater more to the Offense players and makes her more generic, make Orisa's ult useless, Zenyatta completely redundant etc. There's also the fact that the iconic line "Heroes never die!" will no longer be in the game, despite being one of the most memorable lines in the franchise, which has also upset fans.

* Hanzo is in a similar camp as Pharah, being that he is considered to have a less-defined story and personality, and is overshadowed by a relative. He's often overlooked (when he doesn't have a MemeticLoser status for the derogatory insult "Hanzo mains"), and tends to get overshadowed by his younger brother Genji. Partially, this is because his CyberNinja design helps him stand out more compared to Hanzo looking mundane by contrast, but also the fact that Genji is much more active and involved with the current story of ''Overwatch''. He's a former Overwatch/Blackwatch agent with all sorts of adventures, has a more developed character arc with more relations to other members such as [[TheMentor Zenyatta]], [[ShipTease Mercy]], [[SociallyAwkwardHero Winston]], Tracer, [[BashBrothers McCree]], [[BrokenPedestal Reaper]], and Doomfist, and was part of the Overwatch recall when the organization was reinstated, giving him even more potential for future stories. In comparison, Hanzo hasn't really done much after "killing" Genji besides leaving his clan, and canonically Genji is the only main character he's interacted with thus far. All of this is despite the fact that he is technically the ''main focus'' of ''Dragons'', considered one of the best shorts. But again, Genji completely stole the show in the short that Hanzo was supposed to be the star in as well as the fact that said shorts doesn't paint him in the most sympathetic lights doesn't help (see his entry in UnintentionallyUnsympathetic). However, as with Pharah, he is [[LGBTFanbase wildly popular]] in certain [[BaraGenre ships]].

** Mei's Uprising Event spray [[https://res.cloudinary.com/pvplive/image/upload/fl_lossy,f_auto/article_images/mei_ow_summer_games.jpg seems to further confirm that she's relatively slim]].

* Hanzo is in a similar camp as Pharah, being that he is considered to have a less-defined story and personality, and is overshadowed by a relative. He's often overlooked (when he doesn't have a MemeticLoser status for the derogatory insult "Hanzo mains"), and tends to get overshadowed by his younger brother Genji. Partially, this is because his CyberNinja design helps him stand out more compared to Hanzo looking mundane by contrast, but also the fact that Genji is much more active and involved with the current story of ''Overwatch''. He's a former Overwatch/Blackwatch agent with all sorts of adventures, has a more developed character arc with more relations to other members such as [[TheMentor Zenyatta]], [[ShipTease Mercy]], [[SociallyAwkwardHero Winston]], Tracer, [[BashBrothers McCree]], [[BrokenPedestal Reaper]], and Doomfist, and was part of the Overwatch recall when the organization was reinstated, giving him even more potential for future stories. In comparison, Hanzo hasn't really done much after "killing" Genji besides leaving his clan, and canonically Genji is the only main character he's interacted with thus far. All of this is despite the fact that he is technically the ''main focus'' of ''Dragons'', considered one of the best shorts. But again, Genji completely stole the show in the short that Hanzo was supposed to be the star in as well as the fact that said shorts doesn't exactly paints him in the most sympathetic lights doesn't help (see his entry in UnintentionallyUnsympathetic below). However, as with Pharah, he is [[LGBTFanbase wildly popular]] in certain [[BaraGenre ships]].

* Hanzo is in a similar camp as Pharah, being that he is considered to have a less-defined story and personality, and is overshadowed by a relative. He's often overlooked (when he doesn't have a MemeticLoser status for the derogatory insult "Hanzo mains"), and tends to get overshadowed by his younger brother Genji. Partially, this is because his CyberNinja design helps him stand out more compared to Hanzo looking mundane by contrast, but also the fact that Genji is much more active and involved with the current story of ''Overwatch''. He's a former Overwatch/Blackwatch agent with all sorts of adventures, has a more developed character arc with more relations to other members such as Zenyatta, Mercy, Winston, Tracer, [=McCree=], Reaper, and Doomfist, and was part of the Overwatch recall when the organization was reinstated, giving him even more potential for future stories. In comparison, Hanzo hasn't really done much after "killing" Genji besides leaving his clan, and canonically Genji is the only main character he's interacted with thus far. All of this is despite the fact that he is technically the ''main focus'' of ''Dragons'', considered one of the best shorts. But again, Genji completely stole the show in the short that Hanzo was supposed to be the star in. However, as with Pharah, he is [[LGBTFanbase wildly popular]] in certain [[BaraGenre ships]].

* Hanzo is in a similar camp as Pharah. He's often overlooked when he doesn't have a MemeticLoser status for the derogatory insult "Hanzo mains", and tends to get overshadowed by his younger brother Genji. Partially, this is because his CyberNinja design helps him stand out more compared to Hanzo looking more mundane by contrast, but also the fact that Genji is much more active to the current story of ''Overwatch'', being a former Overwatch/Blackwatch agent with all sorts of adventures, has a more developed character arc, and was part of the Overwatch recall when Winston reinstated the organization. In comparison, Hanzo hasn't really done much other than being the catalyst that started it when he "killed" him. All of this is despite the fact that he is technically the ''main focus'' of ''Dragons'', considered one of the best shorts. But again, Genji completely stole the show in the short that he was supposed to be the star in. However, as with Pharah, he is [[LGBTFanbase wildly popular]] in certain [[BaraGenre ships]].

* Mercy's Autumn 2017 rework, which changed her ultimate to a basic ability (with a 30 sec cooldown, and only applicable to one player at a time), boosted her damage, and gave her a SuperMode ultimate that gives her much greater mobilty, regeneration, damage, and the ability to chain heal/damage boost, the reasoning given that ''Ressurect'' was unfun to play against. Fair, considering she could undo a pentakill with just the press of a button? Or highly hypocritical, considering most offense heroes' ultimate amount to "press a button for potential TeamKill"? Then there's also those disappointed that her new ultimate seemingly cater more to the Offense players and makes her more generic, make Orisa's ult useless, etc...

* The fact that the lore is spread around in many different places. Some are happy with it, as they feel the game is still extremely fun on its own, while others feel that, considering how much emphasis there is on the characters and the story, having to search and sit through different websites, interviews, shorts, twitters, etc. is too tedious and would prefer the plot and lore to be more centralized. Compounding onto this problem is due to the game's extremely large character roster, focus can never be given equally to all of them without bouncing focus all over the place, a problem exacerbated by the fact that the character roster is still growing. As of writing (August 2017), the game's present-day story still hasn't progressed terribly far in the since launch, taking nearly a year and a half for any sign of Overwatch PuttingTheBandBackTogether in any real sense, as thus far NONE of the original Overwatch members outside Tracer and Mei have been confirmed to have responded to Winston's summons (the latter of which took nearly a year-and-a-half after ''Recall'' was released to get definite confirmation, as she initially wasn't one of the agents that received the recall), Talon seems to only JUST starting work on their evil plan with Doomfist at the helm, and several characters, such as D.Va and Lúcio, still have no actual links to any of the rest of the cast.

* The fact that the lore is spread around in many different places. Some are happy with it, as they feel the game is still extremely fun on its own, while others feel that, considering how much emphasis there is on the characters and the story, having to search and sit through different websites, interviews, shorts, twitters, etc. is too tedious and would prefer the plot and lore to be more centralized. Compounding onto this problem is due to the game's extremely large character roster, focus can never be given equally to all of them without bouncing focus all over the place, a problem exacerbated by the fact that the character roster is still growing. As of writing (August 2017), the game's present-day story still hasn't progressed terribly far in the since launch, taking nearly a year and a half for any sign of Overwatch PuttingTheBandBackTogether in any real sense, as thus far NONE of the original Overwatch members outside Tracer and Mei have been confirmed to have responded to Winston's summons, Talon seems to only JUST starting work on their evil plan with Doomfist at the helm, and several characters, such as D.Va and Lúcio, still have no actual links to any of the rest of the cast.

* Sahr Ngaujah as Doomfist. While most will say his performance is good, there's a divide in the fanbase due to the fact that Doomfist isn't played by Creator/TerryCrews, the guy ''everyone'' wanted him to be played by. Some say that Sahr's voice acting fits Doomfist better, giving him an applicable accent and a [[ColdHam stone-cold yet bombastic performance]]. Compared to Crews' audition which was [[LargeHam very hammy]], [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent but lacked the accent]]. They also argue that it avoids turning Doomfist into another "meme character" like D.Va and Mei, given that his characterization is as one of Talon's leaders, they say it would be hard for him to be taken seriously if played by Crews. However, Crews was [[OneOfUs such a]] [[BigNameFan big fan]] of ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' and was so passionate about the idea, that many feel it was a missed opportunity. Not to mention that Crews is proven as an actor and would be likely be able to capture Doomfist's character. In any case, Crews congratulated Sahr for his performance on the role, so it evidently doesn't bother him.

** Mei's new spray for the Uprising Event [[https://res.cloudinary.com/pvplive/image/upload/fl_lossy,f_auto/article_images/mei_ow_summer_games.jpg seems to further confirm that she's relatively slim]].

* As with any work with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, you'll have fans arguing with each other about whether or not a character receives [[SpotlightStealingSquad too much focus]], [[OutOfFocus not]] [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter enough]], or a balanced amount of attention. Of further debate is whether or not any of these outcomes are a problem. The characters that have been accused of taking too much focus so far include Tracer[[note]]for her prominence on the game's promotional works, being in a confirmed relationship, having legendary or epic skins in every event except for "Halloween", having her own Origin video, and having a major role in two animated shorts (The original reveal trailer and "Alive") and two comics ("Reflections" and "Uprising")[[/note]], Genji[[note]]for being closely connected to Overwatch, Zenyatta and Hanzo, and for having major ShipTease with Mercy[[/note]] and Ana[[note]]for having extensive history with all of the original Overwatch team members and several others, ShipTease with several other characters, her own Origins video and a major role in three comics ("Legacy", "Old Soldiers" and "Uprising")[[/note]]. Those that have been cited as having too little focus so far include Lúcio[[note]]for not having any role so far in any of the comics, animations, or in-game story events, and for having a small number of event-based skins (until the Anniversary event, at least)[[/note]], D.Va[[note]]for the same reasons, although her Lunar New Year Skin, [[FairCop "Officer D.Va" Skin]], and "Cruiser" Skin were all well-received and helped alleviate the problem[[/note]], and Zarya [[note]]again, for the same reasons, [[WTHCostumingDepartment especially regarding the quality of her skins]][[/note]]. Ironically, a number of these characters HAVE received focus...in Heroes of the Storm.

* The fact that the lore is spread around in many different places. Some are happy with it, as they feel the game is still extremely fun on its own, while others feel that, considering how much emphazis there is on the characters and the story, having to search and sit through differents websites, interviews, shorts, twitters,etc... is too tedious and would prefer the plot and lore to be more centralized. Compounding onto this problem is due to the game's extremely large character roster, focus can never be given equally to all of them without bouncing focus all over the place, a problem exacerbated by the fact that the character roster is still growing. As of this writing, the game's story still hasn't progressed terribly far in the since launch, taking nearly a year and a half for any sign of Overwatch PuttingTheBandBackTogether in any real sense, as thus far NONE of the original Overwatch members outside Tracer and Mei have been confirmed to have responded to Winston's summons (the latter of which hasn't reached Winston yet as far as we know, and which was revealed a year after launch), Talon seems to only JUST starting work on their evil plan with Doomfist at the helm, and several characters, such as D.Va and Lucio, still have no actual links to any of the rest of the cast.

* The fact that the lore is spread around in many different places. Some are happy with it, as they feel the game is still extremely fun on its own, while others feel that, considering how much emphazis there is on the characters and the story, having to search and sit through differents webbsites, interviews, shorts, twitter,etc... is too tedious and would prefer the plot and lore to be more centralized. Compounding onto this problem is due to the game's extremely large character roster, focus can never be given equally to all of them without bouncing focus all over the place, a problem exacerbated by the fact that the character roster is still growing. As of this writing, the game's story still hasn't progressed terribly far in the first year since launch, which took nearly a year and a half for any sign of Overwatch PuttingTheBandBackTogether in any real sense, as thus far NONE of the original Overwatch members outside Tracer and Mei have been confirmed to have responded to Winston's summons (the latter of which hasn't reached Winston yet as far as we know), Talon seems to only JUST starting work on their evil plan with Doomfist at the helm, and several characters, such as D.Va and Lucio, still have no actual links to any of the rest of the cast.

* The fact that the lore is spread around in many different places. Some are happy with it, as they feel the game is still extremely fun on its own, while others feel that, considering how much emphazis there is on the characters and the story, having to search and sit through differents webbsites, interviews, shorts, twitter,etc... is too tedious and would prefer the plot and lore to be more centralized. Compounding onto this problem is due to the game's extremely large character roster, focus can never be given equally to all of them without bouncing focus all over the place, a problem exacerbated by the fact that the character roster is still growing. As of this writing, the game's story still hasn't progressed terribly far in the first year since launch, with no sign of Overwatch GettingTheBandBackTogether in any real sense anytime soon, as thus far NONE of the original Overwatch members outside Tracer have responded to Winston's summons, Talon seems to only JUST starting work on their evil plan with Doomfist at the helm, and several characters, such as D.Va and Lucio, still have no actual links to any of the rest of the cast.

* As with any work with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, you'll have fans arguing with each other about whether or not a character receives [[SpotlightStealingSquad too much focus]], [[OutOfFocus not]] [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter enough]], or a balanced amount of attention. Of further debate is whether or not any of these outcomes are a problem. The characters that have been accused of taking too much focus so far include Tracer[[note]]for her prominence on the game's promotional works, being in a confirmed relationship, having legendary or epic skins in every event except for "Halloween", having her own Origin video, and having a major role in two animated shorts (The original reveal trailer and "Alive") and two comics ("Reflections" and "Uprising")[[/note]], Genji[[note]]for being closely connected to Overwatch, Zenyatta and Hanzo, and for having major ShipTease with Mercy[[/note]] and Ana[[note]]for having extensive history with all of the original Overwatch team members and several others, ShipTease with several other characters, her own Origins video and a major role in three comics ("Legacy", "Old Soldiers" and "Uprising")[[/note]]. Those that have been cited as having too little focus so far include Lúcio[[note]]for not having any role so far in any of the comics, animations, or in-game story events, and for having a small number of event-based skins (until the Anniversary event, at least)[[/note]], D.Va[[note]]for the same reasons, although her Lunar New Year Skin, [[FairCop "Officer D.Va" Skin]], and "Cruiser" Skin were all well-received and helped alleviate the problem[[/note]], and Zarya [[note]]again, for the same reasons, [[WTHCostumingDepartment especially regarding the quality of her skins]][[/note]].

* The fact that the lore is spread around in many different places. Some are happy with it, as they feel the game is still extremely fun on its own, while others feel that, considering how much emphazis there is on the characters and the story, having to search and sit through differents webbsites, interviews, shorts, twitter,etc... is too tedious and would prefer the plot and lore to be more centralized.

* D.Va's also in a questionable place, since her kit seems caught between two worlds; one of being a rocket-boosting, close-range diving brawler, or a mobile tank with an extremely powerful shield in ''Defense Matrix''. Blizzard can't quite seem to find a definitive place for her, and she's been all over the place as a result, having been an imperative JackOfAllTrades, [[TierInducedScrappy at least dominant and making other tanks/DPS heroes superfluous]], and a MasterOfNone[[note]]As of writing in August 2017, D.Va's a very powerful ''Defense Matrix''-based tank, and [[https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20758746118?page=2#post-30 there are internal tests of nerfing it in place of a completely new offensive ability to make her more aggressive,]] which itself is already shaping to be a point of contention[[/note]]. As a result, players have been strongly debating exactly what unique identity she has within the game and how to properly tweak her, and also whether Blizzard is simply reacting to the new problematic contexts she's ending up in, or are just simply contradicting themselves and are going to make make more balancing mistakes.

* D.Va's also in a questionable place, since her kit seems caught between two worlds; one of being a rocket-boosting, close-range diving brawler, or a mobile tank with an extremely powerful shield in ''Defense Matrix''. Blizzard can't quite seem to find a definitive place for her, and she's been all over the place as a result, either being an imperative JackOfAllTrades, [[TierInducedScrappy at least dominant and making other tanks/DPS heroes superfluous]], or a MasterOfNone[[note]]As of writing in August 2017, D.Va's a very powerful ''Defense Matrix''-based tank, and [[https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20758746118?page=2#post-30 there are internal tests of nerfing it in place of a completely new offensive ability to make her more aggressive,]] which itself is already shaping to be a point of contention[[/note]]. As a result, players have been strongly debating exactly what unique identity she has within the game and how to properly tweak her, and also whether Blizzard is simply reacting to the new problematic contexts she's ending up in, or are just simply contradicting themselves and are going to make make more balancing mistakes.

* Following massive damage nerfs to Roadhog in June 2017, just about everybody agreed that it was too much and he needs to be fixed, but there's been a heated discussion about how to go about it in regards to [[MechanicallyUnusualFighter his unusual design philosophy and place in the meta]][[note]]Unlike every other hero and especially other Tanks, he acts as an extremely beefy one-shotter whose threat comes not from shielding abilities, but kill potential [[DrawAggro and drawing attention]]. Several feel that without his kill potential, he effectively just becomes [[TheLoad a damage sponge for enemies to farm ult charge off of]][[/note]]. What abilities should be buffed in compensation? Were his nerfs ever necessary and should they be reverted? Or should he just be overhauled altogether?

* Reaper, the game's DarkerAndEdgier hero, has several divided camps. There are those who unironically appreciate his edgy design, those who appreciate it from a [[NarmCharm cheesy-but-effective perspective]] or an unintentionally-hilarious perspective, and those who find him obnoxious and annoying.

* Junkrat became this after the Orisa Patch buffed him so that he no longer takes damage from his own explosions. Prior to this his detractors might have considered him annoying, but relatively balanced. But after the buff, he is now either a fun character with a kit that allows him to deny area very well, or an overpowered mess of a character who had one of his main balancing factors taken away and deals way too much damage for the amount of skill required.

* Following massive damage nerfs to Roadhog in June 2017, just about everybody agreed that it was too much and he needs to be fixed, but there's been a heated discussion about how to go about it in regards to [[MechanicallyUnusualFighter his unusual design philosophy and place in the meta]][[note]]Unlike every other hero and especially other Tanks, he acts as an extremely beefy one-shotter whose threat comes not from shielding abilities, but kill potential [[DrawAggro and drawing attention]]. Without his kill potential, he most of the time, he effectively just becomes [[TheLoad a damage sponge for enemies to farm ult charge off of]][[/note]]. What abilities should be buffed in compensation? Were his nerfs ever necessary and should they be reverted? Or should he just be overhauled altogether?

* The reveal that Tracer [[BadassGay is a lesbian]] has led to a few broken bases: Before the reveal, Blizzard had released the fact that (at least) a character was gay for quite some time. The fact that it turned out to be Tracer has led to a few major camps: those that are ecstatic that the fact that the face of the franchise (rather than a relatively minor one) is the character in question, making a huge point for representation; those that are disappointed that the reveal is that the character is the [[LipstickLesbian young, attractive woman]], claiming that it's a relatively "safe" choice and it can be pandering to those that think GirlOnGirlIsHot rather than actual representation; and those that are upset because for the opposite reason as the first group, and believe that the reveal is pandering to "social justice." Overlapping with all three groups are [[DieForOurShip shippers]] who have mixed feelings about Emily herself, making her a BaseBreakingCharacter. Depending on where you are, the reveal has been received very differently. The [=US=] forums were lit aflame, with dozens of topic created to discuss it, argue for/against, etc. The [=EU=]'s forum reaction? "Cool, and what about gameplay updates?"

* Mei gets a lot of both love and hate before she was even released for a variety of reason (see below), but this problem intensifies after she was released. In gameplay, she's seen as simultaneously a nuisance and a benefit to both teams. If she catches an enemy unaware with her freeze ray, they'll usually be frozen before they can escape (even the ninja brothers have their wall-climbing disabled while being frozen). Her icicles can snipe almost as well (and in some cases ''better'') than Hanzo's arrows or Widowmaker's ''sniper rifle''. And her Blizzard is one of the better team-killing attacks, doing a similar job to Graviton Surge except enemies can't attack while affected by it. And finally, her Ice Wall gets hate from ''both'' sides, because it not only hinders the enemy but allies as well. Her ambushes in particular are so infuriating that a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/WatchMeiDie subreddit]] [[ComedicSociopathy specifically dedicated to videos of her being killed]] garnered 5000 subscribers.

''Videogame/{{Overwatch}}'' has enough divisive [[Brokenbase elements]] and [[BaseBreakingCharacter characters]] to warrant a page of its own.