Orisa, the omnic quadruped tank who was introduced as the 24th hero of massively popular multiplayer shooter Overwatch, is finally being brought out of the game's PTR and into the main game for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Blizzard announced that Orisa will be playable in all the versions of Overwatch on March 21 and also released a video featuring a behind-the-scenes look into the development of Orisa.
Orisa Arrives March 21
Orisa, the third post-launch character added to Overwatch after healing sniper Ana and stealth hacker Sombra, is coming to the game on March 21, which gives players about a week to prepare for the tank hero's arrival.
As previously noted in our tips and tricks for Orisa, the tank hero was created as a protective ally like Reinhardt, and not as a disruptive tank such as D.Va and Winston. One of her skills, Fortify, allows her to become immune to effects such as knockbacks, freezing, and stuns while also reducing the damage she takes. Orisa's Halt skill functions like a smaller version of Zarya's Graviton Surge, while her Protective Barrier is reminiscent of the Barrier Field of Reinhardt, but with a cooldown like the Barrier Projector skill of Winston.
The ultimate skill of Orisa, known as the Supercharger, increases the damage dealt by nearby allies by 50 percent for 15 seconds, but the device can be destroyed by opponents. The skill was actually the subject of a bug on the Overwatch PTR, with the Supercharger able to pass through the ground when placed on terrain such as stairs and payloads, making it near impossible for opponents to destroy the device.
Orisa took much longer on the PTR compared to Ana and Sombra, as the Overwatch development team had to make a few adjustments to the character before releasing her into the main game. The magazine size of the Fusion Driver, her primary weapon, was reduced from 200 to 150, and the cost of the Supercharger was increased by 15 percent.
Orisa Behind The Scenes
In a Reddit AMA request for Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan, a Redditor noted that gamers would love to see the process of how the development team creates a hero for the multiplayer shooter. This could include the temporary video and audio used for the character, the progress in the development of the abilities, and more, showing how a hero is designed from scratch.
Kaplan answered the post by simply stating "We have something for you!", with Blizzard then releasing a behind-the-scenes video for Orisa. The video is an interesting watch and gives gamers a good look at what goes into designing a new Overwatch hero.
In the same AMA, Kaplan noted that he is looking forward to seeing the effects of the changes to how barriers work in the game. With the upcoming release of Orisa and the buff on Winston's Barrier Projector, barriers could have an increased presence in the meta. Kaplan also noted that Winston is the least picked hero in Overwatch, which is something that the buffs and the focus on barriers will look to address.
