Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan shares some interesting facts surrounding the support heroes in the game. Meanwhile, the anniversary event will officially launch tomorrow.
According to PVP Live, Kaplan has recently had an interview to help ramp-up the excitement of the game's upcoming anniversary event. There, he shared some of the unknown facts surrounding the iconic support heroes in the game. These tidbits of information range from their names to some of their abilities and concepts that were scrapped during their development period.
Firstly, Ana Amari was originally known as The Alchemist - a character that could brew together many concoctions in battle. She was already developed as a sniper, but Kaplan stated that he did not want anyone to "step on Widowmaker's toes." Eventually, Geoff Goodman suggested for her to become a healing-sniper instead.
Mercy, on the other hand, was actually Pharah's original name. The support hero was meant to be called Angelica which was later incorporated into her real name -- Angela Ziegler. Meanwhile, Pharah's original name became Rocket Dude to Rocket Queen and finally her in-game name.
Lucio had a completely different ultimate ability during development as he could slow time for both teams except for himself. During that short phase, he could attack enemies or boop them off the cliff before time turned back to normal. However, the development team noticed that players who emerged from spawn also suffered the same problem and they felt that it was too annoying for them to deal with it.
Incidentally, Symmtera's original teleporter ability was more complex than it is now. Aside from making an exit, players would also need to set up the entrance which led to more tedious but interesting setups. However, Blizzard noticed that players were not making the most out of this feature, so it decided to simplify her ability instead. She also used to wear yellow as her default color instead of blue and white.
Finally, Zenyatta's original codename was Cyber Monk and was the second healer designer overall. In line with this, he was created to heal the constantly-moving heroes like Winston and Tracer. Sometimes flanking characters would often head to areas that Mercy could not handle; hence, why Zenyatta was made.
Forbes shares that the anniversary event will go live tomorrow and will include new things like skins and emotes. Blizzard has already teased some of the new features like characters dancing, several voice lines, and even new arena maps.
The game will also be getting new things like animated shorts and heroes in Year 2. There have been several leaks hinting at three upcoming heroes and another short coming soon. Fans can play Overwatch on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
