#Blizzard writes Hanzo like he’s in his 50s

[ukiyoebirds]

While broken bonds mend, some things never change.

@krazycat6167 helped workshop the joke.

You may need to click on the image for better quality.

[jorlith]

I’ve made some updates to my fanmade Overwatch Hero.

Hero Number: ?? 

Hero Name: Phoenix

Hero Role: Damage

Hero Health: 250 

Real Name: Kekoa Havika

Nationality: Hawaiian

Occupation: Scientist(Formerly), Researcher(Formerly), Vigilante

Gender: Male

Age: 36 

Base: Kahoolawe, Hawaii (Formerly). Watchpoint: Gibraltar (Formerly). 

Affiliation: Hawaiian Preservation Research Station (Formerly). Nature Restoration Program (Formerly). Overwatch (Formerly).

Relations: Unnamed Family (Deceased). 

Weapon: Flamethrower, named Phoenix Breath, that has two special tanks on Phoenix’s back. Primary muzzle is held in right hand, top of tanks resembles canons. Two exhausts that are shaped like feathered wings stick out of the middle of the tanks. When used too much, overheats and needs to cool down before it can be used again. (The overheat and cooldown is the reload.) 

Abilities: 

Primary Fire:

Name: Phoenix Breath

Type: Beam, fires a beam of flames.

Damage: 40 damage per second. Enemies caught in it receive an additional burn damage of 50 over a period of five seconds. Burn damage does not stack, if an enemy exits and re-enters the beam they do not get “reburned” unless the burn effect already wore off.

Projectile Speed: 20 meters per second.

Max range: 10 Meters

Ammo: 150

Ammo usage: 15 rounds per second.

Reload Speed: 1.5 Seconds

 Secondary Fire:  

Name: Phoenix Breath

Type: Beam. Fires a focused beam of flames, hit scan is smaller and more focused. Phoenix’s movements are heavily slowed while using this attack.

Damage: Instantly deals 120 damage, as well as burning the enemy hit by it. Phoenix’s burn damage deals 50 damage over 5 seconds.

Projectile Speed: 60 meters per second.

Max range: 10 Meters

Rate of fire: 1 shot per 1 second.

Ammo: 150

Ammo usage: 150 per shot.

Reload time: 1.5 seconds.

Casting time: 0.5 seconds.

 First Ability:

Name: Flare

Casting time: 2 seconds.

Damage: 30-60, deals burn damage of 50 damage over five seconds.

Area of Affect: 5 meter radius.

Duration: 5 Seconds.

Cooldown: 10 Seconds.

Details: Phoenix exclaims “Here, hold this” when using. Phoenix throws cone like object, that doesn’t activate until it lands on the ground or an object. Once activated, the cone launches two meters in the air and produces a cone of flames that covers a 5 meter radius. Enemies hit by it receive 30-60 damage depending on how long they remain in the flame. Enemies damaged by Flare receive an additional burn damage of 50 damage over 5 seconds.  

 Second Ability:

Name: Burst

Casting time: 2 Seconds.

Damage: Knockback.

Area of affect: 7 meter radius.  

Max Range: 2 Meters Vertically.

Cooldown: 8 Seconds.

Details: Phoenix exclaims “Back off!” when using. Steam builds up within the large tanks on Phoenix’s back, releasing a burst of pressure from the exhausts. Enemies within a 7 meter radius of Phoenix are knocked back, and Phoenix is launched, at the most, 2 meters vertically into the air.

 Passive Ability:

Name: Phoenix Wing

Details: By releasing small amounts of fire from the exhausts, Phoenix is able to maneuver in the air. While in the air, pressing jump will cause Phoenix to launch himself vertically, working as a second jump. The second jump does not reset until Phoenix has touched the ground again. Holding the jump button while airborne will cause Phoenix’s decent to be slowed, letting go of the jump button cancels this ability.

 Ultimate Ability:

Name: Purge

Type: Linear, Area of Affect, Beam??

Damage: 300 damage per second, burn damage of 50 damage over 5 seconds.

Max Range: 15 Meters.

Area of effect: 7 meter radius.

Casting time: 1.5 Seconds

Duration: 3.5 Seconds

Charge Required: 1500

Details: Teammates hear Phoenix say “Rise from the ashes!” Enemies hear Phoenix say “Ka nalu o ke ahi!” Phoenix anchors his flamethrower, bracing him in place. The tanks on his back move over his shoulders, releasing a wave of fire straight in front of him. The fire travels up to 15 meters in the direction he is facing and covers a 7 meter radius. While using, Phoenix is immobilized, making him vulnerable against aerial attacks and attacks from behind. Useful for area control, or to protect your team if caught in a Zarya’s Graviton Surge. Phoenix’s Purge instantly cancels out, and is cancelled out, by Mei’s blizzard. The Ultimates will instantly end upon meeting, so if there is a second left in Mei’s blizzard and your Purge touches it, both Ultimates end, wasting yours and vice versa. Phoenix passively generates 1% Ult Charge every 3 seconds.  

 A character can get rid of burn by picking up a health pack, healing by support heroes does not remove the burn.

 Skins: 

Classic: Phoenix wears a gas mask over his nose and mouth, the mask is shaped like a beak. Wears armor over a long sleeved shirt, the armor to support the weight of his flamethrower, the sleeved shirt to protect him against heat. A large, armored glove is worn on his right hand, so he can hold his weapon when it overheats. Armored leggings and boots to also help him support the weight of his weapon. His armor and clothes are a faded red and orange, representing fire as well as a Phoenix. 

Rare Skins: 

Ash: Armor and clothes are white. 

Smoke: Armor and clothes are a mixture of silvers and greys. 

Smolder: Black with a red glow. 

Sulfur: Different shades of blue. 

Legendary Skins: 

Cadet Havika: Phoenix is wearing a classic Overwatch uniform/armor, his face is fully visible. 

Secret Agent: Recolor of Cadet Havika, with darker colors. 

Epic Skins: 

Phoenix: Phoenix is wearing a headdress that represents the mythological bird, his mouth and nosed are uncovered with this skin. Multiple feathers run down from the headdress, covering his body in feathers. Has gauntlets and armored boots that represent bird talons. Skin is colored mostly with reds and some oranges and yellows. 

Sun God: Recolor of Phoenix skin that is colored with mostly yellow and has some oranges and reds. Orange suns are drawn on random locations of the armor. 

Fire Dancer: Phoenix is wearing a grass skirt over a tunic, as well as grass like boots and bracelets. A bandanna that appears to be made of grass rests on his head, as well as a necklace of grass around his neck. Grass is dark green in color, tunic is gold. The exhausts on Phoenix Breath look like ceremonial fire dancing staffs instead of wings. 

Uluao: Recolor of Fire dancer, grass is brownish is color, tunic is white with black spots. 

Emotes:

Heroic: Phoenix pulls left arm toward his body, and raises up his flamethrower. 

Exhausted: Phoenix lays down on his back, sprawling out. 

Really?: Phoenix extends left hand forward, looks to his left, confused. Phoenix then looks forward again, extending his hand further. ‘

Research: Phoenix takes out notepad and begins writing in it, before putting it back. 

Technique: Phoenix spins in a circle, making a circle of flames, he then jumps and spins in the air, making a vertical wheel of fire. 

Unbelievable: Phoenix puts his right hand to his forehead and wraps his left arm around his chest. Phoenix then shakes his head and snickers. 

Voice Lines:

Really?

Everything Burns

From the Ash (Mai ka     lehu)

I will get it     done. 

It’s just research

Light it up!

Move (Ne’e)

Play with fire… you’ll     get burned

Relax (Ho’omaha) 

Sounds Good (Maika’i     loa)

 Victory Poses: 

Heroic: Stands with his flamethrower ready. 

Research: Sits crossed legged, reading over notes. 

Purge: Stands with his flamethrower’s canons aimed forward, anchored in the ground. 

Family: Standing to his side, holding a holo-photo of him, his parents and his brother. 

Highlight Intros: 

Heroic: Pulls left arm toward his body, raises his flamethrower up. 

Reason: Looks at picture of family, before putting it away, pulling flamethrower to the ready. 

Burn: Lands on ground from air, anchors into place and activates Purge. 

Phoenix: Uses his exhaust wings to slowly fly toward the ground, aiming his flamethrower at the camera. 

Sprays:

1.       Pixel: Unlocked by earning the “Into the Frying Pan” Achievement/Trophy.

2.       Cute: Unlocked by earning the “Warm Things Up” Achievement/Trophy.

3.       Lei: Circle of flowers or an Hawaiian Lei.

4.       Research: Single page of research notes.

5.       Amazed: Young Kekoa, sitting in front of a television screen, wonder on his face.

6.       Flame: A single flame.

7.       Birds: A group of colorful birds.

8.       Phoenix Breath: Spray is Phoenix’s weapon.

9.       Intense: Focus of Phoenix’s head/torso, with him staring forward.

10.   Hero: Outline spray of Phoenix is overwatch gear.

11.   Family: Picture of Phoenix’s family.

12.   Flare: Cartoonish drawing of Phoenix’s flare.

13.   Exhaust: Phoenix’s “wings” releasing pressure.

14.   Clearing: Detailed Spray of Phoenix spraying fire.

15.   Phoenix: Bird made of flame.

16.   Experimenting: Phoenix wearing goggles, using a blow torch.

17.   Purge: Phoenix’s Phoenix Breath in its Purge state.

18.   Volcano: A volcano with magma spilling out of it.

19.   Ash: A pile of ash with a soft glow in the middle.

20.   Really?: Phoenix with his hand extended, a confused expression on his face.

21.   Not a Morning Person: Phoenix is laying in a bed, sprawled out and asleep.

22.   Declaration: A Poster of Doomfist, that is half burnt, and still burning.

23.   Inspiration: A signed picture of Mei, Mercy and Winston.

24.   Reason: Three gravestones.

25.   Fire Staff: A burning staff used by fire dancers

Character Interactions:

1.       Mei: “I Heard about what Talon did, I’m sorry about what happened to your family.” Phoenix: “I heard about Antarctica, I’m sorry about what happened to yours.”

2.       Mei: “Revenge won’t bring your family back.” Phoenix: “It’ll stop Doomfist from doing it to anyone else!”

3.       Phoenix: “It is an honor to work beside someone I looked up to my whole life.” Mei: “You can honor me by ending this path of death and revenge, and return to Overwatch.”

4.       Winston: “You used to be so happy and carefree, I can’t accept what you’ve become.” Phoenix: “I’ve become a martyr to my beliefs.”

5.       Phoenix: “It may be too late for me, but you are not beyond redemption.” Hanzo: “You know nothing!”

6.       Genji: “You should meet with my master, he helped me find peace.” Phoenix: “There is no peace, only fire.”

7.       Reaper: “You do realize that I killed your family.” Phoenix: “Doomfist killed my family, you are nothing more than a puppet on strings.”

8.       Doomfist: “We both believe in being reborn through destruction, we should be working together, not against each other.” Phoenix: “What I believe is natural, what you believe is evil.”

9.       Phoenix: “You better watch your back!” Doomfist: “I accept the challenge.”

When Phoenix gets discorded he says: “Kuamuamu!”  

When Zenyatta discords Phoenix he says: “You are consumed by your own fire.”

When resurrected by Mercy Phoenix says: “From the ash!”

When respawning Phoenix says: “Phoenix rebirth.”

When selected during a game or when some changes to Phoenix, he says: “Let’s burn them down!” or “Phoenix, flying in.”

When Phoenix eliminates Mei, he says: “It should’ve never come to this.”

When Mei eliminates Phoenix, she says: “Maybe you’ll be reborn happier.”

When Phoenix cancels a Blizzard with Purge he says: “Let’s heat things up!”

When Mei cancels a Purge with Blizzard she says: “You need to chill out!”

When Phoenix eliminates Doomfist he says: “That, was for my family.”

When Doomfist eliminates Phoenix he says: “You were never a real threat.”

When Reaper eliminates Phoenix he says: “Join your family.”

When Phoenix is Nano Boosted he exclaims: “I can feel the fire burn!”

When Phoenix gets hacked he says: “Don’t play with fire!”

When there’s a turret Phoenix will say: “An enemy turret blocks our progress.”

When Phoenix destroys a turret he’ll say: “The turret has burned to ash.”

When an enemy Mercy resurrects an enemy player Phoenix will say: “They’ve been reborn from their ashes.”

When on the Payload Phoenix says: “Payload, ready for transport.”

When capturing a point Phoenix says: “Heating up the point.”

When the payload is being contested Phoenix says: “We need to get that Payload moved!”

When enemies are capturing the point Phoenix exclaims: “They’re on our point, let’s burn them down!”

When time is running out on offense on an escort map Phoenix says: “Our time seems to be coming to a close, we must act now!”

When time is running out on defense Phoenix says: “This Victory will make excellent data.”

When time is running out of offense Phoenix says: “We’re not here to lose, move!”

When Phoenix gets burned by an enemy Phoenix or Ashe he says: “So that’s what that feels like.”

When Phoenix is getting damage boosted by Mercy he says: “Let’s get this fire started!”

Ways Phoenix says hello: either “aloha” or “hey there” 

Ways Phoenix says Thank you: “Appreciated” or “Mahalo!”

Ways Phoenix says understood: either “I get you” or “Ua lohe wai ia’oe” 

When on fire Phoenix says: “I’m on fire… well, they are!”

When asks for healing says: “Medic!” or “Some healing would be appreciated!”

Ultimate Status: When under 90% Phoenix says “My Ultimate is charging” or “Purge charging”. When at 90%-99% Phoenix says “My Ultimate is almost ready” or “Purge almost ready”. When fully charge Phoenix says “My Ultimate is ready” or “Ready to burn them all!”

When saying to group up Phoenix says: “Everyone gather here” or “We need to form together!”

Map Interactions: 

Volskaya Industries: “Good thing I brought some heat.”

Eichenwalde: “This place is a great example of withstanding what should destroy you.” 

Oasis: “I’ve always wanted to come here.” 

Watchpoint Gibraltar: “I wonder if Overwatch would ever accept what I’ve become.” 

Achievements/Trophies:

Into the Frying Pan: Use Burst to knock an enemy into your Flare.

Warm Things Up: Use Purge to cancel out two Blizzard’s in a single game.

Character Lore:

Kekoa Havika grew up in a family of researches, growing up he was fascinated by the way some natural disasters, like forest fires, created new life. Kekoa spent a good amount of time studying rebirth through destruction, but only believed it should be allowed if natural. Kekoa had a great mind, and was good with technology. He had an energetic and carefree personality and joined Overwatch when he was in his twenties. He trained underneath Lena and Genji, while he looked up to researches like Mei, Angela, Winston, Moira and others. Kekoa had a great admiration for Mei and the Ecopoint crew, hoping to one day do research at Ecopoint. When Overwatch was disbanded, Kekoa went back to live with his family. The government was having his family research something that could benefit the unity between the omnics and humans. Talon had managed to gain Kekoa’s home address, and sent their agent Reaper to kill the researchers and steal the research. Reaper had happily taken the job as Overwatch Hero code name Phoenix was on his personal hit list. Kekoa was away from his lab doing personal research when Reaper arrived. Kekoa returned home to find his parents and younger brother murdered, all their research either stolen or destroyed. Upon watching the security footage Kekoa learned who was responsible for the death of his family. Kekoa vowed to destroy Talon and stop anyone from doing what Talon had done. 

Character Introduction: 

Phoenix: “Crime has risen, which shouldn’t be a surprise, given what they did to Overwatch. They disbanded our family, and yet they wonder how organizations like Talon grew to be so powerful. Of course evil people will take advantage of a world that lost its heroes! Which leaves a question, the people in charge of the world, how many of them can truly be trusted? I will kill Doomfist myself, and go after anyone who wants to do wrong to the world. I will make sure that what happened to my family will never happen to anyone else ever again! Talon thought they snuffed the Havika flame, well, didn’t they know, a Phoenix rises from the ashes!

Animated Short/Introduction:

Name: Reason

The story opens on the streets of a city, there are few lights as night had fallen. A group of Talon agents where running in fear, panting loudly as the ran as fast as they could. As the Talon agents came around a corner they say a large burst of flames erupt from down the street, engulfing the street. One of the Talon agents skidded to a stop before turning around, running down an alley. The sound someone flying overhead could be heard. A small cone landed at the end of the alley, shooting upwards and creating a cone of flames. The Talon agent stops and starts to turn around, Phoenix lands behind him no.

Talon Agent: “No, please,” Phoenix walks up to the agents and hits him with his flamethrower, knocking the agent to the ground. Phoenix uses his foot to press the agent against the wall, aiming his flamethrower at the Talon agent. The Talon agents mask had fallen off, the fear on his face fully visibly. Phoenix hesitates as he sees the Talon agent and his mind wanders to the past.

“Kekoa!” A woman called, walking around a research station.  It was a bright and sunny day, the sounds of the tropical island echoed in through the open windows. “Kekoa, wake up!”  

“Good luck with that mom,” a younger man who looked to be in his mid-twenties said, “Kekoa was up all night reading the research papers of Mei-Ling Zhou, and watching videos about Overwatch.”

“Go wake your brother up,” an older man said, he was typing while looking over some research notes.

“Yeah, yeah,” Phoenix’s brother sighed before he walked up some stares. Phoenix was younger and wearing a t-shirt and shorts. He was sprawled out in his bed, various research notes scatted on the desk beside his bed. Phoenix’s brother smiled as he jumped, slamming his elbow into Phoenix.

“Ow! What the?” Phoenix exclaimed as he shot up.

“Come on Kekoa, wake up,” Phoenix’s brother said as he started playfully pushing Phoenix.

“I am awake,” Phoenix laughed as he batted at his brother.

“I don’t believe you,” Phoenix’s brother laughed as he hit him again, “come on, mom’s been calling you.”

“All right, I’ll be down,” Phoenix yawned as he sat up.

“Don’t go back to sleep either,” Phoenix’s brother said as he left. Phoenix slowly got up and walked down to meet his family.

“Look who’s finally up,” Phoenix’s mom laughed, “good morning Kekoa.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Kekoa yawned.

“You got some mail today,” Phoenix’s mom laughed, “from some place called Watchpoint: Gibraltar.”

“What!?” Phoenix exclaimed as he sprinted toward his mom, who was holding a letter. “From Overwatch?”

“Yep,” Phoenix’s mom smiled, Phoenix opened it and pulled out a letter. Phoenix looked over it as everyone watched him.

“I don’t believe it,” Phoenix said, disbelief on his face.

“Aw, what’s wrong Kekoa, they turn you down? They charging you for harassment?” Phoenix’s brother laughed.

“No,” Phoenix smiled as he pulled a round object from the envelope, “they accepted me. I’m going to be part of Overwatch!”

“Congrats!” Phoenix’s mom said as joy filled the faces of all of his family members. Phoenix’s brother walked up to him, and nudged him with his elbow.

“So you might finally meet that Mei scientist you got a crush on?” Phoenix’s brother teased.

“I do not,” Phoenix laughed, “but I am excited, to meet her, and Winston, and all the others. Plus this means big things for the Havika family research!”

“It sure does,” Phoenix’s dad said as he stood up, “you’ll always have your family to call back on.”

“Right,” Phoenix nodded. The world seemed to change as Tracer was walking Phoenix through a base. Phoenix was looking around, amazement on his face.

“No I’m only here for a little while,” a voice called from the back of the room, “yes, Genji has been making great progress. I’m happy to see it, how’s it been in Antarctica Mei?”

“Mei!” Phoenix exclaimed happily as he pushed away from Tracer and ran up to the computer, “it is, you’re Mei! I’ve read all of your research papers!”

“Uh, thank you, who are you?” Mei asked.

“I don’t know who this is either,” Mercy said toward Mei.

“Ohmygosh!” Phoenix gasped in one, quick breath, “you’re Dr. Ziegler!”

“Sorry luvs,” Tracer laughed as she joined them, “this is Overwatch’s newest recruit, Kekoa Havika. He’s huge into research.”

“Mei, we need to exchange notes some time!” Phoenix exclaimed happily.

“Sure,” Mei smiled, “just ask Winston for my contact information, we can keep in touch.”

“Best day ever!” Phoenix exclaimed as Tracer pulled him away.

“Morrison just hasn’t been the same since Rialto,” Winston’s voice called from the room they were walking to.

“Well, can’t say I blame him,” McCree’s voice added. Tracer opened the door and she and Phoenix walked into the room.

“Aw, glad you made it, Jesse, this is our newest recruit, Kekoa Havika,” Winston said.

“Howdy,” McCree nodded.

“It’s Winston!” Phoenix exclaimed, stars in his eyes.

“Kekoa is a genius researcher, and he is quite talented with fire,” Winston said.

“That so?” McCree said as he walked past, “try not to burn the place down kid.” McCree said as he put a hand on Phoenix’s shoulder. The world returned to Phoenix aiming his flamethrower at the Talon agent. Phoenix lowered his weapon and picked the Talon agent up by his collar.

Phoenix: “Tell Doomfist, that Phoenix is coming for him.”

Phoenix let the Talon agent go and he sprinted away from the area. Phoenix walked for a while, eventually reaching a graveyard.

Phoenix: “I got your message Winston, and I agree, some one needs to do something. I can’t come back to Overwatch, I can’t do things they way they do.”

Phoenix pulled his badge out and placed it on a grave, he then turned around and walked away.

[lunamaric]

An overwatch Meta history

I’ve been trying to figure out the history of overwatch’s metas over time, and here are what I’ve discovered. The metas are chronological and with each one I explain how it worked and why it fell.

BETA - The Buff Meta How it worked: Zen’s orbs didn’t require LoS, Sym gave 50 shields and Torb gave armour. Two Zens, Tracer, Genji, Sym, Torb. The flankers would be unkillable and could do w/e they wanted. Why it ended: LoS Zen Orbs introduced, Symmetra nerf to 25 shields. - Hide and Seek Meta How it worked: Mercy’s ultimate range was 40m. Whichever mercy could A. Build ult the fastest and B. Hide the best would let their team win the fight. Finding and killing mercy was often the only way to win. Why it ended: Mercy range nerfed to 15m. - Widowmeta How it worked: Widowmaker was incredibly strong. Whoever had the better widow won. Why it ended: Widowmaker got nerfed so her role was less dominating.

Release - 2/2/2 Meta featuring McCree How it worked: 2 tanks, 2 healers, 2 dps Inc McCree. McCree was a litteral powerhouse and games were won off the back of a good McCree. Why it ended: Kind of did and kind of didn’t. McCree went to shit tier after a bunch of nerfs, but 2/2/2 has hung around in various forms ever since.

Season 1 - Godcomp How it worked: 2 Winstons, 2 Tracers, 2 Lucios. Winstons exchanged barrier duty and Tracer fucked everything over because one Lucio would constantly heal and the other constantly speed boost making her OP. Why it ended: Lucio healing got nerfed, Winston barrier got nerfed to only going on CD once destroyed (this was reverted a few patches later) and hero stacking got removed. - Orbs of Destruction How it worked: Zen got Buff AF. Why it ended: Zen got his balls nerfed. - MADA MADA How it worked: Genji OP. Why it ended: Genji no longer OP.

Season 2 - Meta Boogaloo! No meta dominated at the start of S2. However… - Beyblade How it worked: Ana introduced to the game. Ultimate charged fast and granted +30% speed in addition to other affects. Build up ult, Nano a Reaper and let em rip! Why it ended: Nanoboost nerfed in charge rate and no longer gave speed boost.

Season 3 - Beyblade at the beginning, but once Ana got nerfed, we hit the dreaded…

- TRIPLE TANK META How it worked: Ana OP. D.Va OP. Roadhog OP. Lucio OP. S76 OP. Rein… Balanced, but still necessary. Every match consisted of standing at the choke waiting for Roadhog to get a pick before speedboosting in. Any damage you took would immediately be healed up by Lucio’s massive aura and Ana’s 100% healing boosting grenade. Any pick bar the 6 was a throw pick. Quad tank was also a thing at one point which was even worse. Games were unbelievably slow. Why it ended: Hoo boy. A lot of reasons. Ana ‘nade healing got nerfed and so did her damage eventually, making her less powerful overall. Roadhog went from Hook 1.0 to 2.0 to 2.1 to 3.0 to 4.0, each one making his hook less powerful. (completely broken hook 1.0 to 2.0 broken LoS checks, fixed LoS checks making hook even stronger, 3.0 increasing distance from hog and target when hooked from 2m to 3.5m, and finally 4.0 with the Cooldown going from 6a to 8s). D.va got armour and health switched around and her damage got a minor nerf. Later on, after these nerfs ended TT, Lucio got reworked making speed boost less impactful and S76… remained as a solid pick to the present day, despite a minor nerf to his damage. Regardless, all the changes made TT much less powerful, but it's never gone away completely. Season 3 ended with the meta in a state of flux.

Season 4 - KING META, aka “El Presidente” How it worked: Bastion reworked, completely broken and OP… Why it ended: …For two days, until Blizzard nerfed Bastion’s ironclad passive from 35% to 20%. He’s back in shit tier, the poor robot. - Meta Boogaloo Part 2: Anything goes! Litterally anything goes. The weirdest compositions worked. 2/2/2 was standard but litterally anything was good somehow.

Season 5 - Dive Meta How it works: 6 top heroes but not as rigid as TT - Winston, D.va, Zen, Lucio, Tracer, Genji. Winston got a small buff to his Hitbox , D.va got what seemed like a small small buff to DM but ended being the most impactful change to her kit ever, both are divers, Lucio is the fastest support and can keep up with the tanks/DPS and can actually fight with his increased damage output, Zen has range & discord, Genji & Tracer are fast and bursty. Focused on diving in and focusing down targets in order of importance (Healers, DPS, tanks). Other heroes that worked particularly well in this meta were Pharah, S.76, Sombra, Zarya, Mercy. (Particularly pharmercy.) Widowmaker/Hanzo occasionally find their way in too, having the range to support the divers from afar. The biggest loosers in this Meta were definitely the immobile tanks (Rein, Orisa, Hog(especially since he was shit tier)) who couldn't find a place in many compositions.

Why it ended: as of writing this (3rd September), Dive Meta has 'ended' but Dive compositions are still strong. A few notable changes make dive less viable - Junkrat has been buffed, as has Orisa, Zarya, and Roadhog, all of who have somewhat effective anti-dive tools. In addition, people are more wary of playing Dive with a D.va because of her incoming changes. Season 6: Meta Candidates: Spam Meta & Barrierwatch How they work: Spam has Orisa, Junkrat, Zenyatta, Soldier, and two other heroes. The composition is still forming, but spam looks like it could be a viable strat. Barrierwatch has Rein, Orisa, and 4 other heroes. Again, still a forming composition that is still being developed. But importantly it looks like Orisa could be defining the Meta this season. Stay tuned!

If you have any other metas you think I’ve missed or details I’ve got wrong, let me know!

[lady-ginnie]

Overwatch Questionnaire

I totally forgot I was gonna do this, oops! Here goes:

1. Who is your defense main? Junkrat

2. Who is your support main? Ana

3. Who is your offense main? Uh...Pharah, I guess.

4. Who is your tank main? D.Va, but Winston’s becoming a fast favorite.

5. Who is you MAIN main? Ana

6. Which character have you played the least? Orisa

7. Which character do you want to learn how to play? McCree

8. Which character do you dislike the most? Soldier: 76

9. Which character’s background story do you like the most? Ana’s

10. Which character’s background story do you like the least? I like them all, but I’m honestly getting tired of the “the world thought they were dead but PSYCHE! they’re not” background. Mix it up a bit, Blizzard.

11. Which map is your favorite? Eichenwalde

12. Which map is your least favorite? Dear God, Oasis.

13. What Arcade game type is your favorite? No Limits

14. What Arcade game type is your least favorite? Capture the Flag

15. Do you prefer quick play, competitive, arcade mode, or custom games? Quick Play.

16. Which map type is your favorite? Assault, escort, assault & escort, control, or arena? Assault and Escort

17. Which map type is your least favorite? Assault, escort, assault & escort, control, or arena? Whichever one KotH is, lol.

18. Which event map was your favorite? Junkenstein’s Revenge

19. Which event map reskin was your favorite? Christmas in King’s Row!

20. Which event was your favorite? Junkenstein’s Revenge and Uprising

21. Which event legendary skin was your favorite? SANTA TORBJORN!

22. Which event was your least favorite? Anniversary was pretty disappointing, just because of how expensive it was for things that should just be added in permanently anyway.

23. Which event legendary skin was your least favorite? Most of the skins in the Anniversary event were terrible, but special mention goes to Soldier: 76′s awful skin.

24. Which event non-legendary skin was your favorite? American McCree

25. Which event non-legendary skin was your least favorite? D.Va and Torbjorn’s Summer Games skins were...not so good.

26. Which event item do you most regret not getting? Junkrat’s Halloween RIP pose!

27. Did you beat the Uprising event on Normal, Hard, Expert, and Legendary? Normal, and Hard, thanks to some help from friends! ^_^

28. Do you have Sombra’s “Power Outage” achievement? YES!

29. Do you have Widowmaker’s “Smooth as Silk” achievement? YES! I got it on accident by scoring a lucky headshot while I fell off a table!

30. Do you have Lucio’s “The Floor is Lava” achievement? No, sadly.

31. Do you have Zenyatta’s “Rapid Discord” achievement? Nope

32. What was the first achievement you got? Junkrat’s Roadkill acheivement

33. Did you get the “Not A Scratch,” achievement on Junkenstein’s Revenge? No. :(

34. What has been the hardest achievement to get for you? Finishing Uprising on Hard mode

35. What’s your current SR score in Competitive Mode? Haven’t finished my placements

36. What the highest you’ve been in Competitive? Gold. I suck.

37. What’s the most amount of placement matches you’ve won? 7 out of 10

38. How many gold guns do you have? None.

39. Which was the first gold gun you got? Uh...see above.

40. Whose gold gun do you currently want? Ana’s

41. What role do you usually play in Competitive? Support

42. If you don’t play Competitive, why not? Honestly, if I didn’t want Ana’s gun so badly I wouldn’t play it at all. It’s frustrating, time consuming, and not worth the effort.

43. What kind of theme event would you like to see in the future? Anything lore related!

44. What type of character would you like to see in the future? Talon needs a healer, yo!

45. Who needs more (or better) skins in the future? Hanzo. The only good skin that man has is his Halloween skin.

46. What country would you like a new character to come from? Uh...Italy, I guess? I dunno.

47. Favorite voice line? “You’re on my naughty list.” Ooooh, Reinhardt tell me more, love.

48. Favorite player icon? Golden Ana

49. Favorite emote? Ana’s Candy and Junkrat’s laugh emotes

50. Favorite spray? Eh, none

51.Favorite victory pose? Junkrat’s Lunar New Year pose and Reaper’s shrug pose

52. Favorite highlight intro? Junkrat’s Summer Games intro, and all of Ana’s.

53. Characters you ship the most? Ana and Reinhardt. <3 <3 <3

54. Characters you ship the least? Sorry, Gency shippers, but no. I can’t get behind that one.

55. Characters you wish had more in-game interactions? ALL OF THEM

56. Character you wish had a comic about? I’d love to see more from Lucio, honestly

57. Favorite comic released? Going Legit and Old Soldiers

58. Favorite short released? Dragons and The Last Bastion

59. Favorite new character released? Orisa is ADORABLE

60. Overwatch, Blackwatch, or Talon? Overwatch, of course.

61. Pro-Omnic or anti-Omnic? Pro-Omnic!

62. Favorite character that isn’t a playable one? (Ex: Emily, Brigitte, Gerard, Efi, etc.): Brigitte. In fact, I’d love to see more from her, honestly.

63. Character change (nerf, boost, work around) that you liked the most? Decreasing Winston’s head hitbox size. A sniper counter shouldn’t be able to be so easily sniped!

64. Character change (nerf, boost, work around) you liked the least? Removing Reaper’s healing orbs. I don’t feel the difference except now I die faster. I also don’t like the HUGE decrease to Roadhog’s damage.

65. Best ultimate? “HEROES NEVER DIE!” Seriously, that can make or break any game.

66. Worst ultimate? Widowmaker’s.

67. Most kills in game? Like...25, I think? I’m a mean D.Va.

68. Most heals in game? Well over 20,000

69. What character do you think needs a nerf? Hanzo

70. What character do you think needs a buff? Jesus, just put Roadie’s damage back up to what it was already!

71. Have you ever rage quit in the middle of a game? ...yes...

72. What’s the fastest you’ve won a game? About 40 seconds.

73. What’s the fastest you’ve lost a game? ...about 40 seconds.

74. Your best Overwatch-related story? An enemy Widowmaker main, ranked in diamond in comp, with a golden gun and over 200 hours of Widowmaker, took an entire game to give me pointers and advice, all the while totally kicking my ass. When I finally killed her, I was elated and when the game ended, she told me I was good and to keep practicing! Really made me want to play Widow more!

75. Weirdest thing that happened to you on Overwatch? Putting an enemy Roadhog to sleep before he hooks me, only for my teammates to wake him up (because OF COURSE) and the invisible hook drags me over to the Roadhog anyway. I mean, what???

76. Platform you play on? PC

77. Do you stream? ...occasionally.

78. Do you normally play solo or with friends? Friends

79. Have you made any friends because of Overwatch? YES!

80. Have you cosplayed a character from Overwatch? No, but I would love to.

81. Have you ever wrote fan fiction about Overwatch? I’m writing one now! One Man’s Treasure, Another’s Curse. People love it!

82. What’s the lowest you’ve been in Competitive? Like, low silver.

83. In “All Brawls,” if you get “Charge!” do you play Reinhardt or do you pick the Lucio role? I try for Lucio, but usually get stuck as Reinhardt (I’m a shit Reinhardt).

84. In “All Brawls,” if you get “One Shot, One Kill,” do you play Ana, Hanzo, or Widowmaker? Widowmaker, actually.

85. In “All Brawls,” if you get “This is Ilios,” do you pick Lucio or Roadhog? Lucio.

86. Team Genji or Team Hanzo? ...um...neither? In lore, team Genji. Seriously, Hanzo, why you gotta kill your brother like that, bro? In game, I hate them both. Shimada mains are the worst kinds of Overwatch players, especially to support mains like myself.

87. Be honest! Do you usually get on the payload? Yes!

88. Does your team? Not always, no. And it’s annoying.

89. What’s the longest session of Overwatch you’ve played? About 30 minutes, during the Death From Above brawl. IT WAS AWESOME.

90. No Limits, Mystery Heroes, or Total Mayhem?  Total Mayhem.

91.Most cosmetics you have for one character? I think Mercy?

92. Least cosmetics you have for one character? Orisa

93. Have you ever made your own custom game? Yup!

94. Best D.Va skin? Lunar New Year or Anniversary skins

95. Best Mercy skin? Don’t make me choose!

96. Best Tracer skin? I like the Sporty skin best, honestly

97. Zarya’s Industrial and Cybergoth skins: *Russian accent* I have no problem with these.

98. Do you want more animal character, robot characters, or human characters? Just...more characters. In general. I love the lore behind them.

99. Is there are character you’d get rid of completely? No.

100. What do you think Sombra’s real name is? I don’t know...Maria?

[pandaandkittyblogs]

Overwatch Anniversary Update Skins Review

Kitty here! I started playing the newest update the second it updated at 11am EDT. I loved (and hated) many of them. So here’s my opinion on the newest skins.

Warning! This post is extremely long and has a lot of pictures in it.

Bastion- Dune Buggy

I generally like the skin. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite though. I think they made a huge mistake by not turning Bastion into an actual dune buggy during his ult or while he’s in turret mode (on second look I guess it kinda does). Also Ganymede looks a little odd but not bad. I like the nice little touch of the license plate on turret mode spelling out “DNBGG1″. It’s a decent skin in general.

D.Va- Cruiser

I love this so so so much! I love the 50s style to it. The mech looks so cute and the little dice on the pistol is an adorable touch :3 Watch out cause I might do a cosplay of this soon since it’s a simple, but cute, outfit. The first thing my boyfriend said when he saw the skin is “it’s cute, I could see you wearing that”. I do wish there was some little backstory like on the scavenger and junker skins but oh well.

Genji- Sentai

Oh boy. When I saw this skin I cracked up so hard. Like why is Jenga trying to be a f*cking power ranger? I’m sorry I can’t take this seriously, it’s horrible. The weapons look pretty bad too. The shurikens shapes are so odd and the little spikes on the katana make the it look horrible. I’m sorry but this one is a no from me. 2/10 for no nipple showing.

Hanzo- Cyberninja

Well… at least it’s better than Genji? I feel like Genji is the superhero power ranger and Hanzo is the evil villain. Probably how Genji felt too when Hanzo tried to kill him. Anyways the skin would look nicer with a better color scheme. I rate 4/10 for no nipple showing.

Lucio- Jazzy

I love it so much. Froggie looks so snazzy in this skin. I love the colors (gold is my favorite color) and his new hair and all of it omg. It also has a bit of a steampunk feel and I’m a sucker for steampunk. All in all I can’t get enough of this skin.

Mei- Beekeeper

I took an immediate dislike to this skin. It just doesn’t look all that pleasant to the eye; however, I must admit I love the little touches on this skin. The little bee Snowball is so cute, the little jar of honey on her side, and the little stingers on her shoes and gun. It has many good little details but I just don’t like it in the big picture. Oh well.

Pharah- Bedouin

I don’t think it’d be right for me to really comment on this one. I hadn’t heard of Bedouins before writing this post. I googled it and what showed up is “a nomadic Arab of the desert”. While researching I didn’t really find any pictures that looked like the skin but I’m sure there is a reason for the style. I’ve heard this skin is labelled as appropriation but due to Pharah’s nationality I don’t think that is correct. I’ve always appreciated how Blizzard goes out of their way to include characters from all over the world.

(Look at how cute this girl is I found by searching Bedouin woman. Here’s a link to the photographer who took this picture and many other beautiful ones.)

Soldier: 76- Cyborg 76

Side note: I didn’t know Soldier’s heal thingy changes slightly with skins until just now.

The first thing I noticed when I saw this skin (other than the ugly colors) are those feet. First Genji’s Blackwatch skin and now this? It just generally looks really bad. There are weird syringes coming from his shoulders. He kinda looks like Marvel’s Cyborg and Cyclops combined. And finally, I don’t like how he looks shaved.

Symettra- Oasis

For a second I disliked this skin, but it grew on me fast. I love the colors, the little details, and most of all her weapons and teleporter’s new looks. Her skin is so her and it reminds me of our new-ish Oasis map we got not so long ago. I think the best parts are the little details such as the blossoms around the teleporter and the cute pattern on her weapon. It’s an overall beautiful skin that makes Symmetra a veiled goddess.

(I couldn’t find a good picture for this one)

Tracer- Graffiti

Everyone’s favorite Overwatch lesbian looks so adorable in this skin! I can picture Tracer as a rebellious, energetic little teen spraying graffiti on things. This skin has a strong Splatoon vibe to me too. I love the little nod to Winston too on the spray paint.

Zarya- Cyberian

There’s not too much to say about this skin. I feel bad for Zarya mains since most of her skins are really ugly. I feel like she would be teaming up with villain Hanzo in this skin.

That’s it! If you read the whole post or at least skimmed through it I want to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. I spent hours looking at the skins, researching them, and typing up this post. Most of it was written at midnight and I’m horribly tired so I apologize for any errors. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Send me a message or whatever with any comments, concerns, or if you just want to chat ^^ Have a great day!

[puckish-saint]

Heya! I was wondering i would like to hear your opinion on how ahem mr. chu write the lore do you think he is doings a good job? Ps. Plss mr. chu don't make anything that will cause another shipwar btw you really are doing a good job I really like the dominant reader!! *kisses*

Hon, you asked the right person because I have capitalised Opinions.In the interest of fairness though, I have to say this.I talk a lot of shit about Chu (and Kaplan and all the other writers for Overwatch) but I do think they would be better writers with a different employer.For Blizzard as a video game developer the lore is wrapping for their new expansions and gameplay developments and they don’t give a flying fuck if it’s good. The writers work long hours (like anyone in that industry) and I don’t know how much they get paid but I doubt a significant portion of Overwatch’s budget went to them.Basically they get told by Blizzard: Hey guys, we want to make an FPS that we can market world-wide in professional e-sports but that attracts casual players as well. Do something with that.Reaper was gameplay first, character second. And the fans often aren’t making things easier. We as a group have some incredible insights and ideas that would in my opinion greatly benefit the lore as a whole, but there is also a very vocal portion of the fanbase who sees ‘the Lore’ as a tool to make their ships canon. Personally, I would hate to have any canon ships before all the characters individually had their chance to shine.Like, I would do unholy things for a Lúcio/Symmetra endgame but I’d much rather have them get character development and stories first, get the major plot (another omnic crisis! Vishkar! Talon! whatever!) out of the way before we whip out the romance.For all that I accuse especially Chu of putting out bad writing, he has an extremely challenging job putting it all together and keeping it together for any amount of time. 

That said, it’s still bad writing. And he and his team could do a lot better. 

Their characters and plot-lines are clichéd and bland and they don’t seem to be interested in changing that. They have their favourites and the other characters are left out in the rain.We have a ton of content for Genji. He has already two meaningful relationships with other characters through his backstory (Hanzo and Zenyatta). Now we have the questionable decision of Gen/cy, before Mercy was ever shown to have her own plot or agenda. In contrast, we have other characters with almost no content.Mei is vaguely hinted at having known Winston before she got deep-frozen but she isn’t really connected with the characters. We don’t even know if she knows about the recall or answered it or how she feels about Overwatch coming back (or how she feels about its fall from grace for that matter). We don’t even know how exactly she got unfrozen.Lúcio, same thing. Does he know Overwatch is a thing again? Would he join up given the chance? The game isn’t canon and so far he hasn’t met a single person of the entire cast.D.Va. We know she fights kaiju in her Jaeger sorry, omnic sea monsters in her MEKA every few years and that she’s a pro-gamer. But that’s her career. What does she want? What are her motivations, her sorrows, her fears and hopes? Is she going to join Overwatch or does she see them as a nuisance, old ghosts who should let her do the job they couldn’t?And that’s just a few. All three of them are incredibly interesting characters but so far the writers have done little to nothing with them. And even the characters they like aren’t really thought out.Why does McCree dress like a cowboy? For that matter, why does Hanzo dress like he just escaped a historical reenactment of 15th century feudal Japan?And Reaper, god Reaper. He’s on his best way to become an all-evil no-redeeming-qualities B-side villain with no further motivation than R e v e n g e. 

I realise they don’t have the time or budget to give us intricate well-plotted animated shorts about every single character, plus comics, plus 50 additional in-game voicelines. Some characters are going to have larger roles than others and they need to focus on combining Overwatch the game with Overwatch the lore. And I do realise they’re never going to put out Lin-Manuel Miranda levels of writing because if they could, they’d be idiots to waste it in the video game industry.But at the end of the day, the lore has a lot of potential that gets swept aside in favour of trite storytelling and some definite streaks of Mary Sue-isms.