Blog Post: Five Character Types I'd Like to See in Overwatch Next


Overwatch is just a plain fun game. With fast paced, objective based action, a slew of Heroes to choose from, and even more on the way, Overwatch offers just about everyone something to like. From Cowboys to Hammer Wielding Knights, Robotic Monks to Turret Building Dwarves, there's a wide variety to the cast, gameplay and world of Overwatch.

And the first two new additions since launch have kept with that tradition. With a sniper who can heal her teammates and a hacker who can cancel abilities, Overwatch has proven that they can take the FPS concept to new levels, and that they already have. But I feel that they could still do a bit more.

So that's what I'm gong to talk about today. Simply put, the following are a few select Heroes "Types" I'd like to see added to Overwatch. Some are fleshed out ideas I've had in my head since the game came out, while others are silly, simple concepts that I thought might garner a laugh or a thought provoking "Huh..." So here they are, Five Characters Types I'd Like To See In Overwatch Next!

A MORE MELEE FOCUSED FIGHTER

Overwatch has almost any type of FPS combat you can think of. Heroes wield Sniper Rifles, Six Shooters, Weaponized Speakers, Machine Guns, Grenade Launchers, Giant Mechs and more. But we have a lack of in the game is true Melee focused fighters.

Sure, the game offers us Heroes like Reinhardt and...well, if you count Genji, that's well and good, but to me, Reinhardt is the only TRUE Melee Hero on display. He's the only one whose main weapon doesn't directly fire a projectile when the attack button is pressed, whereas Genji still has his Throwing Stars. Sure, every Hero has a "Melee" attack, but Reinhardt is built for basically JUST Melee, aside from one ability that launches an easily avoidable concussive wave.

And that's understandable; Overwatch is a First Person SHOOTER, after all. Making a well balanced Melee fighter is hard enough without the fact that every other Hero in the game can just shoot him before he gets close enough. But that doesn't mean it can't be done, and Reinhardt is the perfect example of this.

To make a good Melee fighter in an FPS driven game, you need a few things;High Health and Damage, Slower Movement Speed, and Maybe a Projectile Based Secondary ability. It also helps if a new Hero has some ties to the narrative of the game (Which is a stretch given how Lore and Cannon are handled for Overwatch, but whatever), and i feel I know just the man for the job.

DOOMFIST

The Savior. The Scourge. The Successor.

Three words describing the three men who have wielded the power of a massive gauntlet. One a Hero, One a Villain, and a third who is still out there...waiting.

Why not make Doomfist the next Hero in Overwatch? He has a backstory, connection to the games Lore, and a clearly defined weapon. His main attack could be a series of punches that deal high damage, with a secondary ability that launches either him or the gauntlet forward. The other ability could be a number of things; a health pack like Roadhog, a barrier like Winston or something new like a powerful kick that knocks an enemy back. For his ultimate, turn him into a tornado of punches, where the players speed is slightly increased and they spin around rapidly, knocking enemies back while dealing high damage like with Winston's Rage mode!

Okay...that was a long one, but I promise that's the longest I have. I've worked on that concept for a while (Seriously Blizzard, just give me some sort of credit and I'm cool with you using all these ideas) Let's move on to something less silly, shall we?

A PYRO, OR OVERWATCH'S EQUIVALENT OF ONE

Fire is just plain fun, and I feel it could be even more fun in Overwatch. We already have a few heroes who use explosives and one who freezes enemies, so why not one who dishes out Fire?

Obviously, there would be a LOT to balance about a character who uses flames; Do you have a burn effect on enemies that deals damage to them after they are out of the main weapons range? How do this new Heroes abilities counter other Heroes, like Mei? What Secondary Abilities would this person even have? What kind of weapon would they use?

Honestly, I don't know. I'm more here to talk about what COULD work. So, with that in mind, See below:

THE PYRO

To avoid confusion with TF2, let's assume this Pyro doesn't use a flamethrower as their main weapon, but rather something more akin to Ana, who uses poison bullets. Replace poison with fire, and BOOM. You have potential pay dirt. The problem here is once again Balance. What kind of weapon fires these fire bullets? How much damage is dealt initially? Overtime? For this Discussion, let's use a Shotgun. Partly because I think a fire shooting Shotgun sounds cool, and it could potentially add to the balancing.

With a Shotgun, you get a small range, meaning you have to fight slightly sneakier. With Ana, you can pick people off from a distance, but with this Pyro, you need to be more up close like Roadhog or D.Va to be effective. One of their abilities could turn a portion of the ground into hot coals or lava for a brief time, causing damage to anyone who steps on it and acting as a unique barrier that enemies might avoid. The other ability could simply be an incendiary grenade or molotov, causing a small area to burn for a short time after it's thrown.

For me, the tricky part is the Ultimate. You don't want to make it too strong or similar to Mei's, but you also can't make it too weak. So I feel missile strike or something would fit here. It only targets a specific area, leaves behind some patches of fire that enemies get hurt by if they are on, and could work into a potential former soldier/ military person or the character, giving them more than the simple Mysterious identity that TF2 gave their hot headed fighter.

Is this idea perfect? No. Could it be put in the game? Well...it seems more likely than the next entry, anyways...

A TWO PERSON HERO

Arguably, this concept is filled by D.Va. who is essentially two different people in and out of the Mech. What I'm proposing is more akin to Shayne and Aurox from Battleborn (See Above), Iggy and Scorch from Paragon or even Falstad from Heroes of the Storm to get a Blizzard example in here.

Think of the Two Person hero as more of a Hero with a Mount or Two personalities that have to work together, whether they want to or not. The possibilities here are rather expansive when you really think about it.

How about a fallen soldier who was brought back to life by an Omnic medic, one that he hates but sympathizes with? Or maybe an engineer like Torbjorn, but instead of building Turrets, he rides a mech much like D.va (Difference being he can't leave it/ explode it). Or even the possibility of a cavalry member who fires from atop an animal of some sorts? Probably not that last one (for a variety of reasons) but I think you get the idea.

CONCEPTUALIZED!

For this example, I'm going to use the Torbjorn wanna be. Let's call him...Bjorntor!

Bjorntor could be an Engineer who worked alongside Torbjorn for years before Tor was accepted into Overwacth but Bjorntor was not. As a way of getting some sort of revenge, Bjorntor starts building robots he can pilot ,and eventually crafts the perfect one, seeking revenge on both Torbjorn and Overwatch!

Ugh...these names are getting confusing...I'll just refer to them as T for Torbjorn and B for Bjorntor from here on out. Okay? Okay.

So, B could have built this impressive mechanical mech, one that fires a  machine gun, slashes away with some sort of weapon (Maybe an Axe?) and dishes out damage while taking a bunch himself. The robot (Let's refer to the Robot as R for Robjorn!) would have to be a bit heavier built to support B, making him slow but durable. One ability could see B stop the mech to throw something like a small explosive. Another could be the robot swinging it's non-gun arm to knock enemies back. Another STILL could be a powerful jump to allow B to get into the battle faster on R.

His ultimate could not only work as a potential counter to T, but also a story element for B; a way to quickly take out T's turret/ deal damage when T is not present. A large missile or special projectile that deals damage. If not that, maybe R can shift his form like Bastion and have a new weapon accessible for a short time. The possibilities here are nearly endless!

While I do like that one personally (Again, Blizzard. Even just a "Hey Thanks McNutty!" and this concept is yours!), I do have two more slots to fill on this list...so here we go!

ANOTHER ANIMAL

With the diverse cast of heroes we have, I think the most diverse has to be Winston, the super smart, somewhat snarky and easily angered gorilla scientist. H's a giant Ape for crying out loud! But that got me thinking; are there more animals like Winston?

Now, in the official Cannon of Overwatch, Winston was a genetically altered gorilla sent into space to help test out the effects of long term life on the Moon. But little ol' Winston proved to be super smart, and eventually grew up to join Overwatch as one of it's top scientists.

Who's to say that Talon, Overwatch or other organizations weren't running experiments of their own, giving us new animals to work with? I've seen quite a few neat ideas, like a Hammerhead shark with robotic arms and legs, but what I have in mind is more...silly.

A CONCEPT, EH?

Ah, Canada...you've given the world much in the way of humor, and here, I'm going to botch it.

In a secret underground bunker underneath Toronto, a weapons development program starts injecting Moose with super soldier style serum, making them stronger than they already are. Fitting them with rocket powered robotic legs and back mounted missile launchers, Canada prepares for the Omnic invasion with their army of half-Moose, Half-Robot warriors.

His main fire could be the missiles on his back, much like Pharah but without the vertical advantage. He secondary could include dropping a bottle of syrup to slow enemies, charging forward and pushing people aside with his antlers, or maybe he just gets everyone a doughnut or something...

For his Ultimate...We go All Out Canada, bringing in Mounties, Hockey Players, Beavers, Micheal J. Fox and more doughnuts, forcing the enemy team to stop in their tracks and begin singing the Canadian National Anthem.

Told you mine was sillier...

MORE OMNICS

This one is less silly than the last, I promise. But, like the previous one, it's less about a play style and more about a type of character, specifically the Omnics.

In game right now, we have two major Omnic characters; Zenyatta (The robot monk and only TRUE omnic) and Bastion (The bird loving living turret). Both are great to play as in their own rights, but as it stands, they are the only Omnics in Cannon I can think of outside of the ones we see beaten up or killed in the animations. So why not fix that?

The story of Overwatch (What little we have to go off of) tells us of the problems people have with these Omnics. We here in game dialogue from characters about how Omnics are terrible beings. We hear some good stuff too, but there's no anti-Human talk. Zenyatta is too at peace with everything to talk about Humanity in such a way, and Bastion just gives us a bunch of bleeps, bloops, and wacky sound effects! I'd love just once for a conversation between Junkrat and an Omnic where the Omnic wins in the end!

ROBOTIC CONCEPTS

This one is a much more open in terms of ideas, because you can make just about anything with robots, so here's I'll push more of a play style type I think an Omnic could inhabit; the Spy.

Yes, once again I pull from TF2, but with as much as this game pulled from it, can you blame me?

Let's have a character that can imitate the enemy to try and trick them. Instead of giving him a series of masks that somehow change his whole body, this new Omnic Hero could have special holographic projectors on their body, allowing them to turn into any of the opponents team members, but with slight glitches to the visuals to tip off the enemy. They could strike from behind, disrupt enemy turrets and teleporters, and be a general annoyance for anyone having to deal with them.

Their Ultimate would probably be more passive, like Widowmaker's or Symmetra's, where instead of just dishing out a massive amount of damage, they show case the entire enemy team, provide a teleporter, or something new, like Sombra's EMP. I don't know what it would be, but it could be fun.

CONCLUSION

Regardless of what Blizzard does next, I feel that these ideas are not entirely out of question for new content. Some of these are fleshed out enough that, with some tweaking from people who know what they are doing, could become actual characters someday, while others are simple ideas that could be a starting point if anything. Hopefully something comes down the pipe line soon...

Anyways, that's what I got for you today. Thank you so much for reading, and if you enjoyed this list and want more ideas, please shoot me a message. I have enough fun with Overwatch I'd love to come up with more! And keep an eye out for more articles in the future. I post as often as I can, which admittedly isn't much, but I'll be trying to do better, so keep watch!

Thanks again!

McNutty