She has a line about there “having to be some advantages to her curse” (I think it’s in reply to something about her moving really fast) which could be the ‘curse’ she has in canon or something different for magical flavour. Need to play more of her to hear more of her dialogue though!
Okay but wil-o-the-wisp tracer is such a good skin idea, why not make it blizz?
Look obviously this makes sense from a when they came up with what characters thing and there’s also a good amount of suspension of disbelief going on that Reinhardt/overwatch in general have any idea who roadhog and junkrat are (and junkrat’s what? 19 tops here?) But it’s wierd that given nearly everyone else in his story are people he knows and who are at his party (and also hanzo is there…okay hanzo doesn’t make any sense either) that Reinhardt chooses to make up a mad scientist when overwatch/blackwatch apparently at this point have/had a really good candidate for the role in Moira.
Ooh so there’s a line about this (it’s something about the gunslinger and the countess putting asside there differences for this fight?) That was at least recorded but not used – there’s a bunch of extra junkenstein narration if you haven’t heard it? (I can’t find the thing on my phone I can do it later from laptop if you are interested?)
I’d love to see it! I don’t usually play Junkenstein because it’s just so long, and I get impatient with it, and the wikis don’t have all the lines for it.
It does seem strange to me that there’s dialogue between the Countess and the Gunslinger because they’re in different Junkenstein parties? Soldier/Alchemist/Archer/Gunslinger vs. Viking/Countess/Monk/Swordsman
I found the stuff!
ah, so if you haven’t played it the new mode from last year endless you have the choice of eight characters (the four original and the four new ones) so you can indeed have McCree and Widow on the same team.
The line I was thinking of is actually a narration line from Reinhardt that’s “Long had the gunslinger pursued the countess but their battle would wait for another day” (you can hear it here at around 16:30ish – part 1 of that video is here also, I think its just ‘here are the new voiceline files in this patch’ mostly junkenstein stuff and a few other random things)
The rest of those videos are also quite fun for that reason but it’s like an hour long total, the conversation bits are out of order (cause they are mostly in chunks of one person’s lines – most if not all of them are actually in the game though) and a good chunk of it is eight different characters going ‘the tires on the left’ and such. So a lot of its fairly mundane. But other highlights include Jesse asking if “y’all ever tried smiling?” (which I think I may have heard play in game); The other two interesting widow related lines are “the countess had slain the witch as she had sworn many years before” and “the alchemist had no love for the countess but tonight they had common cause”; Poking fun at high noon (”the gunslinger knew that ‘the time’ was coming”); Reinhardt seems to have lines for basically all the abilities which I’ve never heard in game (I assume the action moves to fast to actually use them) most are fairly straight forward description but the sleepdart one is followed by “…but her ally quickly woke it” which is such a playing Ana mood; anything where Rein goes “if only they had a shield”; similarly “if only the alchemist had a valent knight to boost”; The witch offering the adventurers stuff (offers to McCree to fix his arm, Hanzo to bring back his brother, I think); A line about Hanzo realising who the swordsman is; at least two references to a ‘darker power’ than the witch which might proove to be important idk? etc
Ah, I’ve seen a lot of these lines actually! Just for some reason, a lot of lists leave out the Rein narration. I feel like I’ve heard the lines about the Witch offering the adventurers something played in-game (she tells Hanzo his brother is alive, because he thinks he’s dead but he’s not. She cannot undo what never happened sort of thing.)
I do sort of wonder how many of these are actually in-game, because to me, they don’t properly count unless you can actually trigger them in-game.
But, anyway, it’s nice to hear that I’ve landed on it properly.
Have to listen out for what triggers this time round – I find this mode so hard to actually hear lines in though tbh, there’s a lot going on and quite a lot of other noise. I think I’ve heard some and not others (I’m like 90% I’ve heard at least the smiling line and Rein going “The adventurers lamented their lack of a shield” for example – but its been a while) also probably played less of endless for the stuff specific for that.
but yeah the Countess-Gunslinger connection is definitely something someone at blizz also at least thought of enough to record a voiceline and have in the comic? so interesting if nothing else!
Ooh so there’s a line about this (it’s something about the gunslinger and the countess putting asside there differences for this fight?) That was at least recorded but not used – there’s a bunch of extra junkenstein narration if you haven’t heard it? (I can’t find the thing on my phone I can do it later from laptop if you are interested?)
I’d love to see it! I don’t usually play Junkenstein because it’s just so long, and I get impatient with it, and the wikis don’t have all the lines for it.
It does seem strange to me that there’s dialogue between the Countess and the Gunslinger because they’re in different Junkenstein parties? Soldier/Alchemist/Archer/Gunslinger vs. Viking/Countess/Monk/Swordsman
I found the stuff!
ah, so if you haven’t played it the new mode from last year endless you have the choice of eight characters (the four original and the four new ones) so you can indeed have McCree and Widow on the same team.
The line I was thinking of is actually a narration line from Reinhardt that’s “Long had the gunslinger pursued the countess but their battle would wait for another day” (you can hear it here at around 16:30ish – part 1 of that video is here also, I think its just ‘here are the new voiceline files in this patch’ mostly junkenstein stuff and a few other random things)
The rest of those videos are also quite fun for that reason but it’s like an hour long total, the conversation bits are out of order (cause they are mostly in chunks of one person’s lines – most if not all of them are actually in the game though) and a good chunk of it is eight different characters going ‘the tires on the left’ and such. So a lot of its fairly mundane. But other highlights include Jesse asking if “y’all ever tried smiling?” (which I think I may have heard play in game); The other two interesting widow related lines are “the countess had slain the witch as she had sworn many years before” and “the alchemist had no love for the countess but tonight they had common cause”; Poking fun at high noon (”the gunslinger knew that ‘the time’ was coming”); Reinhardt seems to have lines for basically all the abilities which I’ve never heard in game (I assume the action moves to fast to actually use them) most are fairly straight forward description but the sleepdart one is followed by “…but her ally quickly woke it” which is such a playing Ana mood; anything where Rein goes “if only they had a shield”; similarly “if only the alchemist had a valent knight to boost”; The witch offering the adventurers stuff (offers to McCree to fix his arm, Hanzo to bring back his brother, I think); A line about Hanzo realising who the swordsman is; at least two references to a ‘darker power’ than the witch which might proove to be important idk? etc
art activity: design a character based entirely around making them as much your friend’s type as possible, then gift it to them. half gesture of friendship, half call out.
This is an EXCELLENT way to unfunk your art block and also do something nice-but-terrible for/to your friends.
It’s mainly due to the fact that no other character in the original Strike Team can heal (except Gabriel, who can slowly heal himself).
The Biotic Rifle was invented by Torbjorn using Mercy’s technology like, well into Overwatch’s existence. We’re talking close to the fall of the organization.
(Note who the blueprint is addressed to: J. Morrison AND G. Reyes)
Additionally, Ana in her own comic says that she was a fully committed sniper up until her “death”.
When we consider “Crisis era” Ana, we need to think of her being a conventional sniper using a conventional sniper rifle. She’s not a healer – she was, in fact, the primary “overwatch” unit: she would snipe enemies and also provide cover fire, ostensibly for Reinhardt and Jack.
The structure of the original Strike Team matches descriptions of typical Special Operations Forces squads, albeit with a lot of “future” sci-fi elements like Reinhardt’s shield. Specialized SOF units can actually operate with 5-6 people (usually under extreme circumstances), and while a lot of SOF soldiers are cross-trained, they typically have something they are “an expert” in. Ana is the sniper or the weapons specialist. Torbjorn is the combat engineer. Gabriel is, of course, the commander and lead operator. Reinhardt again is a little bit unique, but he’s essentially another lead operator or breaching unit.
This leaves Jack, who is “the most standardized” unit in the group, but also is the sole carrier of the only healing device in the group:
The Biotic Field.
The timeline of Overwatch’s concept of futuristic biomedicine is actually a pretty interesting one: the biggest “breakthrough” in biotech didn’t occur until after the Crisis, when Angela “Mercy” Ziegler created the Caduceus Staff. As I wrote in that post, Soldier: 76 is actually pretty detailed as a DPS-support character, having very team-focused voicelines for his Biotic Field. The Biotic Field itself is a pretty hefty healing ability/technology, just that it also has a pretty hefty cooldown in-game. As a 76 main, I’ve actually played a ton of QP and PVE like Uprising and Junkenstein as the sole healer. It’s tough but do-able.
It just critically and notably impedes on 76′s high movement ability.
From a canon lore/story perspective, I wouldn’t say it “underutilizes” Jack’s enhanced physicality to “force” him to be a medic. Like I said in the SEP post, I believe Jack was pretty willing to be the team’s medic. He knew his role and he was willing to follow Gabriel into Overwatch to support it.
It also gives credit as to why Overwatch as a whole organization was so devoted to medicine and science development outside of the militaristic aspects of the org. Combat medics see some absolutely surreal and horrifying stuff: Jack being a medic fits his overall character and his dual nature.
Is he a medically-trained commander of a peace-keeping organization?
Or is he a soldier-vigilante at heart?
Two things to add:
1) Note that this was before Retribution. If I had to make a change to this timeline, I would say that Gabriel actually had self-healing as early as the Crisis or shortly after it, whenever his full “Reaper” condition kicks in. He’s asking Moira’s help to remove the condition, not enhance it further.
She very obviously does not do that.
2) Don’t ask about Liao.
Liao hasn’t been mentioned by a developer or any canon material since the game was launched.
Liao wasn’t even mentioned by name when “First Strike” was canceled.
While they probably still exist as a character concept, I can offer literally nothing insightful about them. Not their age, gender/sex, full nationality (Chinese-origin name but from where?), their abilities, or their relationships with the rest of the Strike Team. I think it is unlikely they will fully exist, but who knows.
The other issue with Liao is that the entire plot is steadily moving forward without them: yes, it’s slow, but even the plotlines for HLC, Junkertown, and Vishkar are progressing. The longer we go without fully introducing Liao, the harder it will get to actually “write them into” the main plotlines. Plotholes that Liao can fill are slowly being closed, resolved, or advanced.
We are basically bound to get a Crisis PVE mode at some point. The easiest version of it would offer four players as Gabriel, Jack, Reinhardt, and Torbjorn, with Ana as an AI or a narrator/voice on the comms. It’s legitimately just “Uprising” in gameplay, except that you swap Tracer for Reaper and Mercy for 76.
And it’s doable.
Given that 4 out of 5 playable Strike Team members have Crisis-era skins, the last character who is missing one
Is Soldier: 76.
With the biotic field: I also thing it’s reasonably likely that mercy’s “breakthrough in applied nano-biology” in her bio is the biotic field itself (or the teh that allows the field to work) not the staff and during the crisis they had more rudimentary healing tech (here meaning: not ‘sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic’ healing in the present day overwatch timeline is). Mostly, I think it makes her story more interesting if she is the originator of the base tech not just an application of it. But also, she seems to have more ownership over the tech in general than coming up with a good application of it would imply. And the original biotic rifle concept is basically a biotic field strapped to a sniper rifle and Angela replies to it with “I don’t like this delivery method very much” implys to me the thing they are delivering in her tech tbh and the delivery method Angela herself comes up with in the staff (after the field which is the most ‘basic’ method of delivery we’ve seen of this healing tech).
76 as medic (which makes sense to be his strike team role) being the one of them picking up this improved tech (but after the crisis) then also makes a lot of sense
fearlessstateofmind backup 