Symmetra Rework: Defense or Support?

[wit-21479]

or just be able to preposition her turrets much more easily/quickly.

Death beams aside, I like not having to jump shift, then jump shift then jumpshift got it.

[Shadow-1556]

That said, we are playing with a new way her turrets deploy. Instead of having to stick them directly onto a wall herself, she can now fire an un-deployed version like a projectile, which sticks to walls/ceilings/etc. Once it sticks, it will unfold like it does on the wall currently when she builds them.

I mean this is great and all, but how about her survability?
A 10s CD for personal shield is pretty insane.

Unlike Zaraya she doesn’t have 400 hp

[holytoledo-1721]

Reducing their mobility for a mere second can make a huge differences in a fast pace game like Overwatch.

[McCrow-11518]

Ikr? If it moves slowly then its more likely to be target and destroyed easy, might as well not give her this ability!

[Lazypeon-1469]

Are the turrets instantaneous

Probably not, since Geoff described them as a projectile. Need to know the speed though still.

How good is setting up turrets behind people really going to be?

It’s a lot easier to set up turrets as you advance to a point from the side or some other area to lock down. They don’t have to necessarily be behind the enemy. The other (and more important imo) benefit is that she can set them up faster.

Current time to set up = Run to set up location, set up turrets, get back to fray and hope you didn’t die while setting up.

New time = Set up turrets from afar, join fray rather than take your time running to go set them up.

It reduces her set up time by quite a bit.

The “moba” accusation is very prudent if it’s just Sym setting up turrets behind people while a fight is going on. At least flankers and others have to physically position themselves behind you.

Sure, this can happen. But this game is and always has been a mix of different genres. The complaint about it being too much of a moba because of sym strikes me as a bit silly rather than prudent. If you don’t want your FPS game to have moba aspects to it, overwatch isn’t the game for you considering there’s the ult economy, team compositions, healers, etc. There’s a lot of aspects to this game that simply are not present in other FPS games.

The projectile speed isn’t super fast though so enemy players can see them coming. They can’t currently shoot them out of the air though, but we’re still iterating and may allow this.

That’s also interesting to note.

[Arcadium-11882]

Excellent, lots of us predicted the throwable turrets and it will add some much needed flexibility and thought to her kit.

Can’t wait to see what else is in store.

[Ryan-111758]

I wonder if they will change her basic gun primary/secondary fire. It seems to frustrate many players on how much DPS her hardlock gun does and it leaves Sym players with a short range gun yet zero mobility. And the secondary fire orbs are great for spamming chokes but inconsistent in actual fights.

[GeoffGoodman]

No, there are other changes to her turrets as well. We’ve lowered the max number to 3 (both that she can hold and that can be deployed), but we’ve increased their damage and slow potential. They also have 30 health currently, though that number will probably change over time as we test. They still die quite easily but there is a significant difference between dying to any damage and just having very low health.

[SonnyTater-1204]

Im actually curious? Are you guys running out of ideas or something?

Cuz I have a super cool idea!

But maybe you already changed it… with that picture you posted of the Sym card you got

[balonium239-1492]

Awesome! It’s great to get an update on this. Thanks, Geoff!

Do the turrets arc through the air like a Junkrat grenade, or do they travel in a straight line? How far away is “too far” to be able to set up a turret? Will they travel faster than her Photon Barrier?

Currently they will travel effectively infinitely in a straight line. (think of them like Pharah rockets). The projectile speed isn’t super fast though so enemy players can see them coming. They can’t currently shoot them out of the air though, but we’re still iterating and may allow this.

Can you make them shoot out of her fingertips while she does her sassy little chuckle?

[Jo3L-1953]

Why can’t Sym heal with her turrets? Have her attach the healing turrets at the back, up to 3 targets with a 15 seconds duration.

[Lynx-13811]

No, there are other changes to her turrets as well. We’ve lowered the max number to 3 (both that she can hold and that can be deployed), but we’ve increased their damage and slow potential. They also have 30 health currently, though that number will probably change over time as we test. They still die quite easily but there is a significant difference between dying to any damage and just having very low health.

Oh joy, so you’re just making her even more hateful to play against?

[Companion-11466]

Is it too early to hear about the teleporter changes Jeff hinted at?

[Sofrito-1878]

That said, we are playing with a new way her turrets deploy. Instead of having to stick them directly onto a wall herself, she can now fire an un-deployed version like a projectile, which sticks to walls/ceilings/etc. Once it sticks, it will unfold like it does on the wall currently when she builds them.

This is definitely interesting. Wonder what the range on that would be.

[Elusive-11899]

We’ve lowered the max number to 3 (both that she can hold and that can be deployed)

As a Symmetra main with close to 100 hours on her I am very very disappointed to read this.

Sure the extra damage and slow will be nice but spreading them out to see where enemies are coming from wont be as effective which depending on the situation can be very helpful.

In fact one of the main things that first made me want to play Symmetra was the fact she could place 6 turrets which would allow me to use different strategies and placements.
Less is just disappointing even if they are more effective.

[Shnobz-2604]

So what about her other skills and weapon? New “projectile turrets” sound like they could fit as her alternate attack rather than Shift skill.

[PepeTheLucio-1586]

Why only three? How are we supposed to stop the enemy team on eichenwald now?

[Malmström-1389]

This is definitely interesting. Wonder what the range on that would be.

Currently they will travel effectively infinitely in a straight line. (think of them like Pharah rockets). The projectile speed isn’t super fast though so enemy players can see them coming. They can’t currently shoot them out of the air though, but we’re still iterating and may allow this.

Already answered here.

[WalkingDead1-11351]

Oh no… Did I create the next Stylosa/Your Overwatch/Overwatch Central/BTC video?

JK, love all y’all.

[SonnyTater-1204]

Can you share more info on the Tele? About that card you posted?

Is it anything close to what I suggested?

@SonnyTater-1204

So, a while back I created a post about how Sym should have the ability to create a hard light bridge. This would allow Sym to literally “support” her team as she allows them to move across map areas that they couldn’t without her.

I haven’t let that idea die, but I did rethink it a bit. Why not just reuse art that is already in the game to essentially accomplish the same thing but in a different way. (arguably a more balanced way as well)

Here is the original post - pictures included:

https://redd.it/7ge857

So…going off of that post, what if we just moved the Tele from ult and into a new ability. Sym would be back to having only 1 ult, Shield Gen.