It takes Overwatch fans mere minutes to churn out fanart for each newly-released character, but a few long weeks or months to welcome them into their competitive mode teams. But for maybe the first time ever, Overwatchâs newest hero, the mad scientist Moira, has been immediately accepted into the gameâs competitive community with wide open arms.
Overwatch has seen five new heroes since its release in May, 2016. After each release, the heroes suffer through varying levels of Overwatch meta purgatory. Players took about a month to stop condemning teammates who chose Orisa and Ana in competitive matches. Doomfist andSombra have been less lucky and, in most levels of play, are considered risky picks. Crows of âchange plzâ and ânoooooooooâ greet players who choose heroes looked on as iffy.
Why the hesitation? Like suspicious cats eyeing a visitor from a dark corner, competitive Overwatch players donât easily take to new things, and especially when those things can compromise their competitive ranking. So shaming teammates who make rogue hero picks into submission is just a part of the culture.
That didnât happen with Moira, a support hero who equally heals teammates and drains the life out of enemies with a beam and an orb. A week after Moira became available in Overwatchâs competitive mode, her pick rate on PC was an inspired 7%âmany, many times more than Doomfist (.6%), Orisa (2%) and other newer heroes in the same time period. It also helps that she wins slightly over half the games sheâs played in. Overwatchâs community has loved Moira since the day she was born.
Why? Moira is intuitive to play. She feels like the evil brainchild of Zenyatta, who both heals allies and damages enemies with his orbs, and Symmetra, whose high-damage laser locks onto enemies. Her teleporting moveâwhich, by the way, gives her great mobilityâlooks like others weâve seen in the game, too. Picking her up, I had reference points for how evasive I should be, how far behind tanks I should stand while I healed and what risks to take when killing enemies with my beam.
Moira immediately feels like sheâs meant to be in Overwatch, something other new heroesâ designs didnât quite manage: Sombraâs hacking and sneaking techniques at face proved difficult for kills-focused DPS players to grok and Doomfist essentially plays like a fighting game character (in part, thatâs why he has one of the lowest pick rates in Overwatchâs competitive mode). Moira is a very, very safe bet when skill rating is on the line.
Moira also added something Overwatch desperately needed: another very competent healer who doesnât depend on aiming. After the gameâs main healer Mercy received a very righteous buff, games without her were rare, in my experience. Other healers averaged about half of what Mercy does on averageâuntil Moira came along. Moira now the second most powerful healer, an attractive alternative that energized the competitiveâs support class meta. Also, since her attacking and healing rays lock onto targets, and her orb literally bounces all over the place, nobody has to stress about not clearing some invisible skill barrierwhen it comes to aiming (And, so far, I havenât heard of too many players condemning Moira for being low-skill).
When Iâm queueing up for an Overwatch match, I often suffer low-level anxiety about which heroes teammates will pick. Itâs nothing a doctor would prescribe something for, but itâs there. Thatâs because some picks can compromise my ability to perform wellâfor example, if we donât have a tank to absorb damage, itâs harder for squishy DPS heroes to get kills without dying. Moira hits that perfect, gratifying balance between helping me mow down enemies and healing me along the way. A few times, Iâve been standing out in the open, steamrolling two or three opponents with with lighter attacks before realizing that, actually, a Moira was standing behind me dealing half that damage. Thatâs the ultimate support.
Designing with an eye for how a hero can echo well-loved designs and fit into lots of common situations may seem less exciting than putting out another Doomfist or Sombra every few months. Designing with an eye for competitive play in general could be stifling to players who just want to have fun and chill. Itâs good that Blizzard takes risks with new Overwatch heroes. Sometimes, itâs the communityâs reticence to risk-take thatâs the most damning for them. With Moira, perhaps her relatively safe design will whet playersâ palates for some more left-field ones.
