Freja is pretty fun to play. When things are going well, she feels really smooth to play, but when things aren’t going well? Something just feels off.
For some background: I don’t often get to play DPS as a flex player. When the game offers me battlepass xp to play DPS, I do. When there’s a new DPS hero, I do. I never queue tank because I’d rather go flex which usually gives me tank anyway.
Some of these may just be bugs or intended design choices, not sure. It generally feels like Freja feels very smooth WHEN I’m playing her how she wants me to play her. I know that’s an odd thing to say, but it feels rigid in playstyles for a character I’ve been hearing is high skill-ceiling. Is this supposed to be different from high skill expression? I’ll try my best to put my thoughts down here.
Primary fire: Decent damage when the shots land. High spread after the first few shots. Projectile speed feels oddly slow, but that could just be how it feels to me. It’s not enough damage to deal with characters in your face and it’s a bit unreliable to hit moving targets at longer ranges. Feels best in the midrange, but lacks follow-through. I treat this like a better Widowmaker primary fire.
Secondary fire: The slowing effect being tied to only this ability and only when it is ready to fire feels off. Getting used to it though. Close range is great and fun. Midrange is great. Longer ranges is difficult for me. Damage is really good and resetting it with dash is fun. Sometimes it feels like it is doing a lot of damage and sometimes it feels like it isn’t doing as much as it should be. The explosion damage is okay, but suffers from a small radius. I’d like to see this radius become much larger with good falloff for the damage.
Sometimes it gets stuck. It’s not instantly ready after using a dash. I have seen it “cramp” where I try to do a dash reset 2-3 times in a row within very quick succession, but it did not fire. While the primary fire is reloading, the secondary fire can’t be used which is odd because they don’t share the ammo pool. It also can’t be used immediately after quick-melee as in nothing happens; it doesn’t ADS, slow you down, or load a bolt.
Ability 1: The UI element for this takes up a lot of space, but feels good to use. Makes good distance. I think it would benefit from just a smidge more distance when used vertically (no directional input). Extremely fun to use as a reset. I like having to choose between saving charges for movement or for damage.
Ability 2: Lengthy cooldown which is understandable given how much air time it allows. It feels like I should be able to use Secondary fire 2 times for how much space it gives me, but it never quite does. I wouldn’t mind exchanging some vertical distance here for vertical distance on Ability 1 and shortening this cooldown slightly in compensation.
Ultimate: Ultimate is okay. Risk to reward is okay. Feels inconsistent in the damage it deals and the effect it is supposed to apply. I understand it has high uptime combined with passive so it can’t be too strong. I have some ideas.
Passive: The passive struck me as odd. Overwatch 2 is a team-based hero shooter that should, at the minimum, have some sort of reliance on team play. Personally I prefer this to be expressed not through eliminations which makes the requirement being final blows even more jarring to me. And it gives ultimate charge. It rewards a Freja player who is already doing well to do even more well. This makes Freja feel more like a FPS shooter character than a team-based hero shooter character. Why not just allow her ultimate to naturally have a lower ultimate charge requirement? This would free up her kit. Also, the UI element for this takes up a lot of space.
General sentiments: Super fun but can feel clunky when not played in the intended ways if that makes sense. Leans towards encouraging solo play instead of team play.
Some ideas: Some sort of random ideas on how to round out her kit in what I feel like would be more in line with Overwatch 2’s gameplay style as well as my own personal taste.
Change the passive: Make her ultimate charge low cost. Her new passive gives her a refresh on secondary fire after any ability use (including ultimate).
Ability 1 and 2: Give Ability 1 much more vertical distance when used without a directional input in exchange for Ability 2. Somewhere along the lines of costing both charges to give the same vertical distance as Ability 2.
Move ultimate to Ability 2. Same cooldown as original Ability 2. Lower damage, of course. Does not explode unless it hits the enemy.
Now there’s room for a new ultimate if needed. Could be a giant exploding arrow. Could be a self-enhancing ability. Could be a more substantial version of one of her already existing abilities.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Hard to express thoughts down on paper. I hope whoever reads this understands what I’m trying to say as I may have gotten a bit off-topic. I may not have said everything I felt or have properly conveyed the feelings on Freja so I apologize in advance for any gaps.