Overwatch has evolved significantly over the years. And its new “Overwatch” era is no different, now with Overwatch Season 2: Summit. Season 1 brought Blizzard’s tentpole back to basics, stripping away all the complications that came with its sequelized launch. Season 2 expands on that: not too many updates, but a new hero and a reworked map definitely help shake things up.
What the new Overwatch has brought is greater consistency in in-game storytelling. The overarching “Reign of Talon” story is continuing this season, this time from the perspective of the Overwatch operative, Sierra. Not only a new playable hero, but the focus of the current story surrounding the Talon attack on Overwatch’s Watchpoint, Grand Mesa, as we saw in the Sierra reveal trailer (Where she got completely owned by Freja and Emre). If you care about the story, the new event “Operation: Grand Mesa” does a better job compared to season 1.
Summit still has the slowly unlocking cinematics, motion comics, and more. It also tells a story as you complete event rewards, with status reports from Sierra. This is a nice change of pace to build on the world of Overwatch, in-game and through numerous methods that can attract different players. Granted, the story still feels secondary. But if you are into Overwatch lore, you’re going to go nuts with all the hints and teases about what can be introduced in the future.
Sierra is a great new hitscan addition to the damage role.
Okay, so about Sierra, the new Overwatch operative. She is ultimately a great new hitscan addition to the damage role. Sierra is a Recon operative, which suits her flanking and long-range capabilities. Her primary is also similar to Soldier 76’s weapon.
Sierra uses the Helix Rifle, an automatic assault rifle. What’s distinctly different is the firing rate, accuracy, and pattern. Soldier’s was a simple assault rifle. Sierra’s Helix Rifle feels more modern. Shooting from 2 barrels in a spiral pattern that improves accuracy over sustained firing. In other words, shorter bursts are pretty discouraged with her.
While she doesn’t have too much base movement passively, Sierra can be quite nimble with the use of her Anchor Drone (cutely named Dorothy). The Anchor Drone can be fired wherever you aim, up to a short distance away from Sierra’s location.
Sierra’s ultimate, Trailblazer, can annihilate a wide breadth of the battlefield.
Once set, you can grapple with the drone twice. In other words, grapple up, maybe move up, get some shots in, then pop back away to escape. The Anchor Drone can also quickly become a nice recovery source for Sierra with some of her perk picks.
For her right click, good Sierra players can quickly outshine other hitscanners. The right click is Tracking Shot. Landing it, all of Sierra’s bullets will automatically fly to and nail the target. It just doesn’t last too long once you lose line of sight of an enemy. But if you’re good at landing this attack, you can pick off even the tank with some good flanking.
However, nothing seems as strong as Sierra’s ultimate, Trailblazer. With the explosiveness of D.Va and the width of Hazard’s ults combined, Sierra can annihilate a wide breadth of the battlefield. Yet its power isn’t from the sheer damage and area it conquers; it’s from how quickly the explosives detonate. Without good movement, self-shielding, or simply high health, you’re basically doomed if you’re caught right in the middle of Trailblazer’s effect.
In addition to the Play of the Game, a new MVP screen has been added.
What’s most astounding is how hard it seems to counter Trailblazer. Even two weeks in, Sierra, if not picked off right away, or even suppressed, is a menace in each match. Sierra is simply asking for a big nerf. But her big negative is that any nerf could make her much less effective than other hitscanners.
Her approachability is a great intro to hitscanners for newer players who want to try a new archetype of damage heroes. Granted, her minimal sustainability (depending on which perks one picks) is a great way to balance things out.
Finally, one item that seemed minimal at first has been a great boost to player morale. In addition to the Play of the Game, a new MVP screen has been added. This highlights two players from each team for good gameplay. Accolades range from damage dealt, eliminations, to even players saved and raw healing numbers. Then, players vote for the match MVP among the four selected players. This is a great addition to recognize good play outside of the PotG snippet. Rarely do supports get recognized for playing well, and this does just that.
Sierra is asking for a nerf with how deadly she is in Overwatch Season 2.
Similarly, for tanks or DPS who did stuff other than making one big play, the MVP screen allows the players to give their laurels to the one they thought did a significant amount to change the course of the match. One evolution of this that would be nice is adding bonus accolade points—or even a lootbox—after X MVP votes, in addition to the normal accolade voting and ranks. It’s a nice way to encourage voting instead of leaving a match right when it ends.
Season 2 of Overwatch didn’t bring too many changes with it. Yet the ones it did have were welcome. Sierra, though, is asking for a nerf with how deadly she’s been.
Overwatch has needed a new damage hero to introduce hitscanning, and Sierra serves that exact purpose. She takes a lot of great aspects of popular heroes and mixes them into a nice, approachable skill level that still has her own weaknesses. But dear god, her ultimate is so overpowered.
Overwatch Season 2: Summit is available now wherever you play Overwatch.