Overwatch Character Guide: Zarya, Genji, Reinhardt
While I don’t have all the details of the underpinnings of the matchmaking system, because it’s incredibly complex, we have a really talented engineer on it. He did all the matchmaking systems for all of the other Blizzard games, so he’s really good at doing what he does. However, our values as a team are to avoid that as much as possible. We want the game to be as balanced and as fun for everyone as we can possibly make it.
If you’re looking to dig your teeth into a hero with an exceptionally high variance between high and low-level play, then look no farther than Mei. If you were to take a poll of everyone’s favorite and least favorite characters, assuming that you’re speaking to players who have sampled each of them, then it’s likely you’ll find equal amounts of Mei-haters and Mei-lovers. Her main weapon, the Endothermic Blaster, has two distinct firing modes that can take out even the strongest enemies when used in combination. By clicking the left-mouse button (or pulling the right trigger), she can continuously fire a stream of frost, which will both do damage to enemies and eventually freeze them in their tracks. Its secondary firing mode charges up a massive icicle, which does an insane amount of damage upon contact. Needless to say, the Endothermic Blaster has the potential to be ruthless against long-range foes while also making it relatively easy to deal with faster characters like Tracer and Genji.
No, Jeff Goodman had a big hand in designing Tracer. He’s our lead hero designer, and she was the first hero that we designed on the project. There’s just something about her abilities that just worked together, and how different she feels when you’re playing as her compared to a lot of other games. When we implemented her, and got her into our first map (which we were developing at the same time), we started getting guarded enthusiasm about the game. With one hero and one map, we were having a ton of fun.
Bastion is different from most of Overwatch comparison‘s heroes in that his main ability alters his main weapon. His standard configuration, Recon, allows him to move freely and gives him a moderately powerful assault rifle designed for medium range encounters. His Sentry configuration is his most useful, and potentially most frustrating, setup. In this mode, Bastion is completely stationary, but has a turret that can do insane damage at close, medium and long range. Needless to say, running straight into Bastion when he’s hanging out in his Sentry configuration is straight up foolish. Add this to the fact that his other ability, Self-Repair, allows him to heal himself, and it’s easy to see how Bastion can be frustrating for those who just bumrush an objective without thought. Oh, and let’s not forget that Bastion’s ultimate, Tank Configuration, not only makes him more mobile and gives him a powerful rocket launcher, but it also decreases the size of his hitbox significantly.
Still, defeating Bastion is actually pretty simple. When he’s in his Sentry Configuration, he actually gets a second critical hit zone on his back, so any character that can sneak behind him is going to be able to make short work of him. Needless to say, Tracer and Reaper, with their Blink and Shadow Step abilities, respectively, are awesome against Bastion. In addition, characters like Junkrat and Pharah are really awesome at causing massive amounts of explosive damage to Sentry Bastion. Finally, if you have a coordinated team, you can certainly use Reinhardt’s massive shield to absorb Bastion’s gunfire while other teammates unleash chaos on him from safety.
If you can go out of your way to make something (that could be deduced as) rather bonkers — knowing full well when and where to walk that perilous line between genuine and forced humour — you can at least walk away knowing players will credit you with falling into the «they made it even though they didn’t have to» sub-section. And believe me, alongside «surprisingly addictive» mini-games, 2D backgrounds and actual reflective mirrors, humour is another opportune asset that can go a long, long way to appreciating what said game actually stood for at the given time. Away from the regular check-list on what specifically to critique. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having a game that’s entirely, unapologetically dry, perhaps perceived initially as far from comedy as one can get — narratively or otherwise. But, ironically, this is why a «one last thing»-type of satire or bit on the side, works far better than when it’s already wrestling for attention amidst a game that not for one second takes itself seriously and is instead its own fuel for fun and folly. Even if it is for the intent to promote something else entirely (video game-related or not) I will commend any developer who’s willing, for example, to throw together the good guys, the bad guys and the in-between guys into some surreal comedy skit-meets-daily life send-off to a game’s campaign .
Genji’s first ability, Swift Strike, allows him to dash in whichever the direction the reticle is facing, doing damage to anyone caught in his path. This particular ability has a unique hidden modifier, as its cooldown is instantly reset whenever Genji eliminates another player, thus allowing for a series of potentially devastating killstreaks. His second ability, Deflect, is the single best method for taking out Bastion (for those of you who think that everyone’s favorite robot is completely over-powered and unstoppable). By pressing the appropriate command prompt, all incoming fire is immediately deflected in the direction in which Genji is facing, which allows you to do as much damage to enemies as they hope to do to you. Genji’s ultimate, Dragonblade, is also insanely powerful when used correctly. In a nutshell, Dragonblade allows him to whip out his sword and do massive damage to enemies at close range over a duration of ten seconds. The main thing to keep in mind here is that enemies can still kill you when you’re running up on them, so simply bum-rushing into chaos with your ultimate activated is a complete waste.