One of Overwatch’s least played characters, Symmetra, is receiving a complete overhaul, including becoming the first character to have two ultimate abilities.
Symmetra’s new ultimate ability is a shield generator, which puts a substantial shield on all her teammates within a big radius, and doesn’t require line of sight, meaning she can hide the generator just like her teleporter.
Players on the other team will need to prioritise taking out the generator, otherwise it will be an uphill battle against a team powered up with the shields, especially if that team is defending a point.
The changes came as Blizzard felt she was overly situational, meaning she would often only be used in the first area of a map in defence, or specific choke points. After which players would immediately change to another character, or not be effective for the rest of the game.
This was particularly an issue in regards to here ultimate teleport ability. So Symmetra will now have a choice of her two ultimate abilities, her original teleporter and now shield generator, at all times during a match. When her ultimate meter is full, players will be able to toggle between the two choices.
However, Blizzard also found players were often in panicked rushes while playing Symmetra and felt like they were completing chores at the beginning of games. Which has lead them to overhauling a majority of her abilities to make her more fun and influential throughout the entirety of a match.
This includes replacing her Photon Shield, with a Photon Barrier, which acts as a large moving shield for teammates to move and advance behind, which could be a useful ability when you don’t have Reinhardt as your tank.
The cool downs on her turrets have been reduced, and she can place all six immediately, after which the cool down will begin. And her primary fire Photon Beam’s distance has been increased as well! Overall, Symmetra sounds a lot more badass, fun and should be a lot more useful across every area of maps and modes.
Along with these changes to Symmetra, game director for Overwatch Jeff Kaplan, gave new details about the new map Oasis, which is set to be released early next year. And a new social feature, called “Stay with group”, which allows players to party up and stay with a team of strangers they are currently playing with, if they are enjoying playing with each other. Its a nice feature and adds a new way for players to possibly make new friends, through one of the game of the year nominees.
Check out all the details about the revamps to Symmetra and details on the new map, from the Blizzard developer update in the video below.
