Overwatch

In response to what Falrinn said about the stuffs at Vishkar, putting aside my annoyance that it's probably going to be a second banana faction that's either going to be ignored or just serving as a stepping stone for the great freedom fighter... I'm not quite seeing Sanjay as a probable potential character. Namely because of these his design is generic. When I saw him amongst the Talon echelons like Doomfist and Moira, he just doesn't stand out. Blizzard would need extra work to give him Vishkar's hidden toys to make him look appealing for players to play as.

Otherwise, he might look like what happens if you make a character and design him like "Evil Salary Man #34242". 'Evil' alone might not be enough to sell. You gotta stand out first.

edited 24th Mar '18 4:33:23 AM by ChrisX

I guess on related note, apparently Brigitte has voicelines with Symmetra. About time someone decided to talk to her.

I can guess how it happens, based on the discussions here.

• Symmetra: And who're you again?
• Brigitte: I'm you, but better and more viable.

edited 24th Mar '18 5:05:45 AM by ChrisX

Maybe Sanjay gets some cool and unique weapons or gear when he suits up for combat? Just because his hair and face are generic doesn't mean him as a playable character should be, and his hair and face being generic works in his favor in-universe because it makes him less suspicious as a traitor.

x4 Not sure how big of a deal that is. Why would it be harder for them to develop a kit for Sanjay then for a completely new hero?

The only real limit is that it would ascetically it would be hard-light based, but that doesn't put many restrictions on the actual mechanics.

And I wouldn't necessarily put a lot of weight to his look in the comics. Aside from that sort of thing being very subjective (and maybe someone who looks unremarkable at first glance is exactly the intent), he's likely going to look very different when he's fully suited up. Brigitte wasn't exactly running around in custom-built Crusader armor and bludgeoning people with a rocket flail in her first appearance.

Maybe, while Symmetra creates Hard Light turrets, Sanjay is going to run around in a giant Hard Light mech. Talon does need a Tank, after all.

This may be a stupid reasoning, but maybe Brigitte got a pass for one thing (or making her more eligible on "Okay, let's rework this otherwise unremarkable NPC and make her awesome PC.")

Waifu potentials/she has boobs. (Does anybody remember that one 'evil monkey' to counterpoint Winston? Was it 'Hammond'?)

Blizzard would have known what could make a good first impression before getting on to the gameplay.

edited 24th Mar '18 7:51:15 AM by ChrisX

Do not disregard Sanjay like that. Moira used to be "the funny looking joker guy in the talon comic" and now she is a gengu destroyer.

They can easily work a design for Sanjay if they want. The thing is that usually the kit is designed first and then assigned to a character, that's why usually we never really see the heroes before they are revealed (Two exceptions being Ana and Brigitte not counting cameos like Moira)

In fact, Geoff Goodman said that Brigitte and Moira were being worked on around the same time.

Completely disagree.

Turning a background character into a playable hero is at worst, no different then making a completely new hero. Which is something Blizzard has done (Orisa being a primed example where she was built by a never-before-mentioned character based on a never-before-mentioned Omnic design).

Brigitte got a lot of discussion in the community recently because she was featured in the Reinhert animated short with an updated look. If Hammond showed up in an animated short or even just got a reference in a comic, I guarantee you people would be talking about him a lot too.

If you aren't into Sanjay being a playable character, I'm fine with that. I just don't think there are any significant barriers in the way to him becoming playable that wouldn't be there for any other hero.

'Funny/Silly' seemed to have more impact in general than being generic. The poster character in Memetic Bystander can be the testament of how 'standing out a little more, despite looking silly as hell' has a bigger chance to be noticed.

Well I'm not against how Sanjay could turn into a hero, but I just don't see him being turned into a hero in a short time period after the reveal that he was part Talon. In other words, the day may be longer than we thought, Blizzard will need extra time to make sure he stands out when he becomes a hero. Amongst Talon, if I have to say about 'former NPC turned PC', maybe that Talon Omnic, Maximillien (did I spell him right), will get in first before him.

edited 24th Mar '18 9:53:38 AM by ChrisX

'Avoid This Player' returns. Zenyatta and D.Va nerfed. Mei and Reaper buffed.

Sometimes PTR comes at you pretty fast.

If you don't stop and update it once in a while, you could miss it.

edited 24th Mar '18 10:35:02 AM by sgamer82

Should be noted that the new "Avoid This Player" function is "Avoid As Teammate." So you can use it to keep from being teamed up with griefers, but you can't use it to avoid being matched up against players who are really good at countering you. Also, you can apparently only use it on two players at a time.

The rest of the patch notes can be found here.

TL;DR version:

• DVa's micro-missile damage nerfed by 22%
• Mei's primary fire pierces through enemies / can hit tightly-packed groups of enemies at once.
• Reaper's speed boost during Wraith Form was raised from 25% to 50%, and you can cancel out of it at will.
• Moira's secondary fire and ultimate beam effects get more transparent the closer you are to them, so they shouldn't obscure field of vision as much any more.
• Zenyatta's right-click rate of fire is decreased by 15%, which should make it harder for him to instakill.

edited 24th Mar '18 10:51:52 AM by HighCrate

Got worried there for a sec when I heard Zen was getting a nerf. But that's not too bad; Zen's alt fire is powerful, but it's not the main thing he brings to the table. And I'm always up for some Moira QoL changes.

As much as I like shutting down Mr. Skeleton whenever he appears, he probably does need something. Especially as the game's gone on and mobility's become even more dramatic, Wraith Form's gone from 'escape tool' to 'vaguely annoy the enemy team tool'. Yeah, yeah, I see you getting that health pack. The entire team sees it.

Of course the ecochamber is mad zen is nerf. Even though this is a real minor to non-existant nerf to 80% of the zen players.

Like, it felt really bad that Zenyatta could delete a Roadhog with his left click if he aimed very well and i guess the nerf is warranted.

Nerf or not, Genji will still kick your ass.

...This patch has been out for, like, 10 minutes. I haven't seen any reactions to it one way or another, except for the two posts above this one. Who exactly is "mad" that Zen is getting nerfed?

edited 24th Mar '18 11:16:36 AM by HighCrate

OW forums.

They are always complaining so i wouldn't waste my time going there.

Ah. Yeah, I only check the official forums for patch notes, I don't read the user comments.

edited 24th Mar '18 11:26:19 AM by HighCrate

I want Sanjay playable because I like the potential drama to be rung out of a reveal that he's evil. I also want him to be a Tank and pilot a Hard Light mecha (partially because him fighting Symmetra in a mecha could look really cool in a short).

I really hope this is as far as it goes in terms of nerfing Zen, to be honest.

Next patch:

Zenyatta now has the same hitbox as Roadhog.

"We think that Zen is doing too much right now, between healing and damaging, and as such we've decided to remove his healing orb."

edited 24th Mar '18 11:58:34 AM by Lavaeolus

Funny you say that I actually wondered if Zen could be made more interessting if they gave the orbs a limited duration but gave them something akin to a charge system where both orbs would take from.

I feel like Genji as Nash would work better if it was his Blackwatch skin but otherwise this is pretty great.

edited 24th Mar '18 8:49:15 PM by FullMoon

Wow D.va is getting hit hard again, big surprise /sarcasm.