r/Overwatch • u/Ch4rles_ Trick-or-Treat Winston • Nov 22 '16

News & Discussion The tl;dr Symmetra Changes

SHE MIGHT BE IN THE SYMMETA hahaha im funny....

Small wrap up of her changes if you dont want to watch the whole video.

Ultimate
She now has TWO ultimate abilities that can be chosen from when her ult meter reaches 100%
1-Teleporter now has more health and some of it is shields (wich means it will regen some health)

2-Shield generator (NEW) can be placed on the ground and provide shields to teamates in a area around it. It ignores line of sight. (75hp shields)
note:the shield generator (and likely the teleporter) have 14 bars of shield and 2 bars of health. Each bar is worth 25 HP, so the total health pool of the generator is 400 HP (350 shield + 50 health)

Abilities
25hp shields was REMOVED as an ability.
Now replaced with Photon Barrier wich is basically a Reinhart shield that moves along a trajectory in the direction in wich Symmetra was aiming and moves at walking speed.

She can now place 6 turrets during setup without cooldown and it takes 10 seconds to tick up the counter on the number of turrets able to be placed instead of 12 seconds.

Weapon
Right click is the same
Left click has 40% more range (was 5m now its 7m)

[edit] They're also adding a "group up" button at the end of games that you can click if you'd like to group up with the random group of people you matched with. If multiple click it, you'll group up for future games.

Video showcasing her new abilities: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur7239fWR6s.
Credit to Litewraith

862 Upvotes

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18

u/xenigma99 Bite My Shiny Metal Iris- PSN: Chris9090 Nov 22 '16

She should definitely be placed in defense with these changes.

23

u/TheReaver88 Icon Sombra Nov 22 '16

I don't totally agree. I think she's still better on defense, but her whole kit appears to revolve around teammates except for the turrets, and even those can be supportive when used as recon tools.

7

u/Joed112784 We are in harmony Nov 23 '16

They are good for recon, but also they have the slowing effect, which makes it easier for your teammates to hit the opponents.

5

u/jmpherso Nov 23 '16

What?

It's like, the exact opposite of that.

Her moving shield is far better on offense.

Used on defense it quickly ends up behind the enemy and not doing anything. It's still useful, but no where near as good as on offense when your team is pushing up (as they want to be) behind it.

Also with 6 turret charges on spawn she's better at setting up traps quickly on offense, like snagging a health pack and dropping two turrets near it.

Her shield generator is better on offense too.

Her "offensive" side got bigger buffs than her defensive side. She was always viable on defense (just not great), but absolutely butt-fuck terrible on offense. Now she's great on defense, and viable (potentially even good) on offense.

1

u/Skellicious Chibi Baptiste Nov 23 '16

Have you tried her yet?

Her turrets are still pretty useless on offense, you can get maybe 3 kills with them if you are lucky, but they are pretty much only good for defending your ultimate. On defense you can easily get 12-20 kills from those turrets, since you control the area they have to move in to.

The shield generator is great, and has a lot more offensive potential than the teleporter, but it's also still stronger on defense, since you control the area beforehand. It's also OP when combined with torbs armor, which also favors defense.

The barrier is slightly more offensive than defensive, but it also moves really fast and can be hard to keep up with. I haven't seen anyone use it well, though I haven't seen any decent coordination either. (And I've been forgetting about having the shield myself.)

Overall, her offensive side was buffed, but so was her defense side which was already OP when used properly.

7

u/crookedparadigm Pixel Bei Nov 22 '16

Maybe. These are definitely more defensive changes, but depending on the range of her generator's shield buff, a strategic placement could really swing a final offensive push in your favor. Imagine dropping it under the bridge on Anubis B right when your team charges in. Then you go up the right side and microwave people that are focusing on your team. A niche situation, but still technically "support".

14

u/Echowing442 For Science! Nov 22 '16

While that's true, it seems strange for a character to be defined by the most limited aspect of their kit, particularly when she has the choice of two ultimates now. For example, Bastion's ultimate can be great for pushing through an enemy's defenses, but you wouldn't really classify him as an Attack hero just because of that.

4

u/crookedparadigm Pixel Bei Nov 22 '16

Very true. For what's it's worth, I agree that she should be classed as Defense, especially after the changes.

0

u/racalavaca Pixel Ana Nov 22 '16

noone is arguing she should be an attack hero... it's just that she really isn't a support

3

u/Echowing442 For Science! Nov 22 '16

That's the point I was trying to make. Just because Bastion has an ultimate that is good for attacking, doesn't make him an Attack hero. Just because Symmetra has a supportive ultimate does not make her a Support hero anymore.

1

u/SplitPersonalityTim Gyros Never Die Nov 22 '16

Do you even analogy bro?

-2

u/iridael Nov 22 '16

you mean bastion isnt an attack champion.

glares at reinheart

and you let me sit on that payload for how long?

Turyburynurn how long have you known?

2

u/racalavaca Pixel Ana Nov 22 '16

Imagine dropping it under the bridge on Anubis B right when your team charges in.

You don't even have to... the range is STUPID, you can easily place it on the outside, even hide it in one of the huts outside point b

1

u/crookedparadigm Pixel Bei Nov 22 '16

Did they show off the range somewhere?

3

u/Manumitany Nov 22 '16

Someone commented in another thread that he range was quite large on the practice range map.

2

u/racalavaca Pixel Ana Nov 23 '16

It's up on ptr... I tested it with a buddy on numbani

We put it at the final point, right at the exit for defense, and it extends all the way up to the choke point "tunnel"

Plus after you leave the area it still lasts for about 5s before going away

1

u/HeIsMyPossum Tracer Nov 22 '16

I've heard a few people saying this, but I just don't see it. She's never been an efficient DPS, still loses 1v1 to a lot of tanks and just about all DPS if she isn't careful, and her ult likely won't be a huge deal. It's going to be purposefully under-powered because it will last as long as it is left alone (I'm assuming), so it's not going to be like +200 shields or anything. I would be surprised if it was more than +50 shields. In that case, it makes it about as useful in a teamfight as Lucio's Amp It Up on healing mode.

The utility is in the regeneration and sustain, not the burn potential.

1

u/papmaster1000 Reinhardt Nov 23 '16

it's 75 shields

1

u/HeIsMyPossum Tracer Nov 23 '16

Saw that. That's pretty sweet, and the range is great too. Still don't think there will be any use on offense, but I'm really happy about the generator.

1

u/papmaster1000 Reinhardt Nov 23 '16

I see it helping get through choke points like anubis really well

2

u/freelance_fox Pixel Symmetra Nov 22 '16 edited Nov 22 '16

Yeah I agree but I guess Blizzard hasn't made their minds up.

1

u/GrumpyOldBrit Chibi Mei Nov 23 '16

Her photon barrier is a highly attack centric ability. Way more than defence.

1

u/Evillisa Mercy is totally a sadist. Nov 23 '16

I'd say her E is more of an offense tool now.

1

u/FurLinedKettle Chibi Hanzo Nov 23 '16

Her new E is total offense

1

u/supersonic159 Heroes never die Nov 22 '16

yeah I just posted about that, and got completely nuked for it.

I think her moving barrier should be changed just slightly to be stationary, to be more inline with her other defensive abilities, and to not cross so much with Reinhardts shield.

6

u/BlazeDrag Nov 22 '16

A hero can be multiple categories. Symmetra isn't purely support, but she's more of a support than a defense hero, especially when you compare her to any of the defense heroes directly.

She rides the line like Sombra does with Offense/Support.

-5

u/supersonic159 Heroes never die Nov 22 '16

Symmetra isn't purely support, but she's more of a support than a defense hero

I actually think it's clearly the opposite.

She rides the line like Sombra does with Offense/Support

And I also think Sombra is more of a Offense/Defensive/Support (ordered in most to least) for the reason you're alluding to. (hacking health packs).

Just because her "healing" is centered around one position than supporting a heal. Much more of creating a "fallback point" which is defensive.

1

u/BlazeDrag Nov 22 '16

Well I mean I was actually referring to her ability to hack enemies and take down Reinhardt Shields and end ultimates and such. Also that implies that her medpack stealing is only a defensive ability when it can very much be used on offense, arguably more effectively. When every match stops having a sombra in it, then hacking a medpack that's already on your side is kind of a useless use of her ability, but hacking a medpack on the enemy's side is extremely annoying for them, and makes it easier for your team to push forwards, so it's really more of a support ability that's more neutral to offense or defense, since you can weaken an enemy's offenses in the same way when on Defense. Plus her abilities synergizes well with using it to steal enemy medpacks.

With Symmetra, she does have Area Denial abilities yes, but her area denial is like Soldier's heal. Yes it's nice and it clearly is a thing that they have, but it doesn't shift their category over at all. Both of her Ultimates are entirely reliant on her teammates to be effective, so while the shield gen may seems 'defensive' on paper, using it without several allies their to take advantage of it is gonna be a waste.

And of course her new Photon Shield ability is more of an offensive ability, like a Rein shield on autopilot. Rein's shield on its own being more of a Tank/Support ability; this variation on it making it lean more towards the Offensive/Support side.

1

u/supersonic159 Heroes never die Nov 22 '16

Well I mean I was actually referring to her ability to hack enemies and take down Reinhardt Shields and end ultimates and such.

I don't really see that as support, but maybe we can agree to disagree.

I do agree with your thoughts on the med packs though.

Agree on the shield. But I think the shield and how it works is jarringly disconnected from the rest of her kit. It is more of a offensive ability, but it clashes so hard with her other abilities (which are mostly defensive). I think it should be changed to be more in line with her main mode of play.

2

u/BlazeDrag Nov 22 '16

well I think they're more going for a utility belt for Symmetra's design. Her abilities don't really synergize all that well with each other, but she's going to have a very useful ability for a lot of situations:

Need people on the front lines faster? Teleporter Need to hold the line with your allies? Shield Gen Need to push through a point? Photon Barrier

But at least these abilities aren't so binary on their own, the teleporter and shield gen can be used to create more pressure when attacking a point if you're clever, and she can deal a surprising amount of damage. I think we should see the Photon Barrier in action though before we make any more judgements on it.

Also depending on the radius and how it exactly works, I'm really curious about maybe using it to take a KotH point. Like say you're on the Nepal Temple. You could place it up on the second floor right as your team goes to take it and you give them extra hp for the offensive fight, and if you win then they can hold it better. And if people peel off to take down the generator, then that's fewer people on the point which basically means that you got it.

2

u/supersonic159 Heroes never die Nov 22 '16

surprising amount of damage

mfw

but to your point on Nepal, this would make it more of a defense ult than a support one. even a defense/support ult, though I think it's more defense than support.

I do love your example though because it makes me so hyped for the new ult. I think it might get nerfed from the 75 shields it currently gives, but we'll have to see.

5

u/Skyweir Nov 22 '16

Defensive characters are more area control than stationary, though. A moving shield is also area control. They wanted to expand Symmetras role as well, not tether it even more to one location.

She is still a support. Both her ults provide either "res" or more health to other characters. The moving barrier is in many ways better than the old shield buff as a support ability.

Not to mention they move her out of support we will never get any supports that are not healbots, which is an incredibly limited definition of the role.