There are some characters which can be simply pure evil. Diablo from the Diablo collection. Deathwing in World of Warcraft. Jetpack Cat in Overwatch – what, have been you anticipating Reaper? The mischievous little feline meowed its approach into the FPS recreation with Season 1, Conquest, and has been nearly perma-banned in ranked ever since. Initially I assumed she was cute: she’s a cat with an enormous blue jetpack, what else do I have to say? However her spectacular mobility and skill to select up different characters and zoom them throughout the map has confirmed nightmarish, made worse when her perks kick in. These deceitful little meows now hang-out my desires, and I am not alone.
I’ve performed lots of aggressive video games upon my return to Overwatch, and Jetpack Cat has been banned each time bar one. The cheeky little feline’s minor perk, Claws Out (which empowers fast melee assault harm for six seconds and induces a 30% gradual) has confirmed an absolute menace. Mix that with Territorial, which damages close by enemies for 50% of Purr’s total therapeutic performed, and the furball begins to look extra like a DPS than a help. Whereas she did take a few nerfs this week (Claws Out’s cooldown has elevated, whereas Territorial’s harm has decreased), she’s nonetheless an extremely highly effective help.
Chatting with affiliate recreation director Alec Dawson – lamenting the numerous instances Jetpack Cat has despatched me to my grave – I ask what the staff’s plans are for her. “We liked the response [to Jetpack Cat],” he laughs. “She’s had her personal ‘second,’ so to talk, and gamers have positively been gravitating in the direction of the cat lots. They’ve additionally been banning the cat lots, too – it is the best banned character within the recreation for the time being.
“We love the cat, however we’re going to tone down somewhat little bit of her aggression,” he continues. “When she will get each her minor perk, Claws Out, and her main perk, Territorial, the mixture permits her to be an absolute menace that is diving backlines and taking 1v1s. So we will tone that down just a bit bit and see how that goes, however the cat will not be scratching as a lot as she is presently.”
Once I ask if there are any main feline-shaped bugs that want squashing – or, alternatively, if there are any bugs that bought via as a result of they have been an excessive amount of enjoyable – he notes that “the opposite day I noticed somebody put a Mauga cage on high of a Mei ice block with a Jetpack Cat and simply took everybody off the map – a few of these is perhaps bugs,” he laughs. “However with Cassidy or Orisa and a few of these shock ultimates, it is like: ‘what’s the restrict for some of these things?’ That is one thing we’re nonetheless discussing.
“We needed to come back into Season 1 and ensure gamers felt like their creativity wasn’t [restricted] by us earlier than they bought to strive every part. It has been actually thrilling to see what they have been doing with the heroes, however we’ll see over time: how a lot of that will get somewhat bit outdated somewhat too rapidly.”
I ask about Blizzard’s common strategy to steadiness – Dawson has confirmed plans so as to add a brand new hero per season, in spite of everything, and as videogames swell I usually discover that evens out the enjoying subject and prevents energy creep turns into extra complicated.
“We used to lean on this philosophy of protected, measurement, robust,” he tells me. “So, once we had hero releases, we would ensure that they have been fairly excessive up [performed well] in regardless of the position can be – tank, DPS, help – and they might be very, very aggressive. We’ll pull again on that somewhat bit: when a hero comes out, we do not need them to be perma-banned. We would like the hero to be impactful, however don’t need you to enter Aggressive and by no means be capable to play them. So we’re looking for that proper touchdown zone the place they’re nonetheless impactful, however they are not the most-banned character within the recreation, like Jetpack Cat is true now.
“We even have lots of safeguards in place,” he continues. “I do suppose that hero bans coming in final 12 months has given us much more flexibility, and for the neighborhood to say ‘hey, we do not need to play towards this factor.’ It offers us a while to react and see why and truly make changes as wanted. I believe all of these together permits us to really feel somewhat assured about when heroes might be launched, however on the identical time, we will be attempting some wacky stuff all year long – in the case of releasing extra heroes, there are extra probabilities to take dangers.”
For all my Jetpack Cat hating, I do suppose that Season 1’s newcomers are nice additions to the ever-expanding roster of Overwatch characters. I’ve turn out to be an in a single day Mizuki major, and as a Sombra participant I get pleasure from Anran’s flanking playstyle and speedy motion. It appears like essentially the most various slate of characters we have seen shortly, even when I additionally constantly ban Domina and vehemently hate Emre’s ult. It is an thrilling time to be an Overwatch participant, particularly understanding that the cat’s claws are rather less sharp. Take that, Jetpack Cat.
