This is the 2nd feature in a series about my personal quest for Overwatch theory crafting. It's pretty simple: I find nice members of the Overwatch community with access to the game and berate with questions about heroes, strategy and how to competitively play the game. You can find the first feature about how to best play Reaper here.
Who's your main?
Whenever I have a conversation about Overwatch, it always ends up about which hero either party is going to main. I already know that switching heroes is an integral part of Overwatch gameplay, but players will always gravitate towards a certain roles. Everyone gets this.
So when I was given the chance to talk to Blizzard staff and members of the community who have played Overwatch extensively, I was interested in the first hand experience they could share with me. After I gushed about some of my favorite heroes, there was one question that came to mind immediately:
"What types of people are drawn to which heroes?"
Their answers were amusing. From stories of excited developers showing absolutely no mercy in game, to FPS newbies hitting their stride once they found "their" character, the diversity in the Blizzard offices seems to offer a fair estimate of what public access of the game might look like.
From these stories and my own personal experience with the game, I've settled on three archetypes that I expect to see once the game becomes available to the public.
Duelers
Duelers like heroes that are strong in 1v1 scenarios. They get a rush out of outplaying their opponents and want heroes that allow them to do this. Speed, accuracy, mobility; Duelers need these traits in a hero as it gives them a sense of control over a skirmish.
Duelers are usually the more seasoned FPS players and they want to make use of their strong mechanics. They aim to make the highlight reel and might feel frustrated if they feel like their hero can't make big plays. Duelers will seek out enemy players of the same persuasion and it's not hard to guess what happens next. Their thirst for dead enemies set the pace of the match.
Duelers often main heroes like Tracer, McCree, Hanzo, Junkrat and Reaper, enjoying the ability to assassinate individual players if their play is immaculate. The dream of any dueler is to win a 1v2 or even a 1v3 scenario, successfully employing their fragile heroes mobility or stun abilities to run circles around their enemies.
Leaders
If Duelers can be described as micro-oriented players that focus on specifically outplaying individual players, than it is easiest to describe Leaders as Macro players. Leaders look at the big picture and enjoy identifying the larger strategies that will cause their team to lose, or win the game. Leaders enjoy heroes that have a large team presence and rely on wise decision making over twitch gameplay.
Leaders are drawn to heroes like Winston, Reinhardt, Roadhog, Pharah, Widowmaker and Torbjörn. These heroes have abilities that can turn the tide of a team fight when used wisely. Should a Winston use jump pack defensively, or offensively? When is the perfect time to place his shield projector? What enemy targets need to be disrupted?
Which target should Roadhog be trying to hook? When should Reinhardt lead the charge with his shield? What area needs to be covered by Torbjörn's turrets? What target should Pharah knock out of position with concussive blast? The answers to the questions change constantly and Leaders use their big picture understanding of how the opposing teams stack up against each other to make the right decision.
Supports
Support players in Overwatch aren't exactly the heal-bots we might be used to in other genres. Support players need the big picture thinking of a Leader, but also the speed of a Dueler to keep up with the frantic pace of their allies rapidly depleting health bars. Support players need both the discipline to stay back and help their allies, and the confidence to employ their heroes niche offensive capabilities when needed.
Mercy, Lucio, Zenyatta and Symmetra are the obvious choices for support players, and the choice between the four will be largely determined by who best synergies with your other 5 allies. Lucio and Symmetra are perfect for teams that tends to always stick together, where as Mercy and zenyatta are better suited at keeping up with mobile Duelers who accidentally run away from heals.
Novice support players will generally play an exaggerated support style, overvaluing their role as a healer an underestimating their offensive capabilities. This is where veteran support players will really shine, as heroes like Symettra and Zenyatta can dish out significant amounts of damage on their own when played properly. The enemy can't hurt your allies when they're dead right?
So what are you?
I already know I am the Dueler type and will be playing Reaper and Junkrat the moment the game becomes available to me. Outplaying someone else in the most visceral way is what attracts me to gaming, and Overwatch looks to be a perfect game to do just that.
I could see my self playing mobile support heroes like Lucio and Mercy, especially if I was paired up with a Dueler friend of mine over voice comms. What type of player do you fall under?
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