So we know Sanjay is a member of Vishkar, and judging by this passage in Symmetra’s hero info:
”Satya approached hard-light manipulation differently than her peers, with their more procedural, mechanical constructions, instead weaving her constructs in the motions of the traditional dance of her homeland.”
We can assume that if Sanjay was a hero, he’d probably have more “mechanical” builds than Symmetra.
The passage is a bit vague, and is open to interpretation. “Mechanical constructions” could refer to machinery, or perhaps building stairs, doorways, bridges etc.
Sanjay could create robots that aid the team, or perhaps stations that empower allies/debuff the enemies.
I’m not sure, just spitballing! What do you think Sanjay could be like?
I think by character he could be an off-healer dps hybrid. Who creates mobile turrets that hover above allies and heal them while simultaneously dealing low damage to nearby enemies.
Personally I tend to think Sanjay as a whole isn’t that great of a character to add due to him effectively being just male symmetra. Yeah we know he was at the table of talon, yes hardlight is practically limitless in design potential so we could speculate for days what he may actually end up looking like but from what we know for absolute fact, he just seems so… bland? Sanjay is one of those characters that we know could exist one day as a character but I can’t help but think there are other characters that would be more beneficial to the game’s lore and marketability than him.
If Sanjay were to be a talon tank, why not add mauga instead? He’s got a far more visually striking design, character wise he’s overflowing in personality, and beyond all of this, people actually want him in the game.
All of this is really just a side tack to what your speculation is but I think it needs to be said. I see Sanjay brought up every now and then and I always think the same thing about him. I realize he’d be more fleshed out with a proper backstory and all but I’m just going based on what we’ve seen. Even the vague characters from the comics that have been added in the game later have been more interesting than him. Would it be good for fleshing out vishkar? Yes. Is he going to bring more to the game, developmental time and money taken into consideration, than other characters? I just don’t think so.
I guess I just see it more from a monetary point of view but I just don’t see the appeal to a rather bland Indian man who technically functions as symmetra does but male. The abilities are so ambiguous that forming a character around the abilities is almost an impossible task and takes away from the entire concept of hardlight being that it can become just about anything. That’s what all the characters in the game have that define them and mold them, their abilities. I think that’s one of the reasons blizzard has had such a hard time with making and balancing symmetra. There’s just so much they can do with her that no option is ever suitable.
Now take this into consideration, imagine Sanjay does become a character, what do you think the symmetra mains will talk about immediately? They’ll say, “Sanjay is just a better symmetra. This is the rework we’ve wanted but as a new character!” God forbid he be locked behind a paywall initially too. Imagine the posts about how he’s so much better than symmetra and is pay to win. That part is complete speculation but entirely possible all the same.
Ok so for abilities to humor the main question lol. Just like symmetra, he’s capable of wielding hardlight just as well as she can if not better depending on what is being made (do correct me on that one it’s been a while since I’ve read the obscure symmetra comic). He’s pretty much so ambiguous as I’ve stated that speculating abilities is incredibly difficult. Though if the mechanical aspect hold true, logical structures as opposed to symmetra’s “whimsical” creations would be how they are differentiated. Of course symmetra’s current ult is about as mechanical and overtly useful as I think you could possibly get. Nothing shiny or fancy to it just a straight up wall. They really need to reconsider her kit as a whole if they want to show true differentiations but I digress, I’d be willing to bet you’d see things such as symmetra’s old deplorable shield return along with other very functional abilities. Hardlight drones? Some apparatus that when passed through grants shields? How about what you said with stairs but you could keep making them in front of you to climb as high as you can reach to act as mobility? You could even make it a skilled ability where it wouldn’t build on its own but where it would have to be timed properly and calculated so as to make it best used for the given situation. Hardlight should live up to its name and be used as armor therefore I would expect him to be a tank probably more akin to Zarya at 200hp 200 shields. This would allow for a good mix of dps capabilities along with useful tank abilities.
It’s just hard to delve in much with Sanjay. I just think he’d not be welcomed compared to other characters is all.