Overwatch: Mad Scientist Hero Sigma And 2-2-2 Role Queue Coming To The Game
Sigma's bare feet break the internet and Jeff Kaplan promises Zenyatta lore.
Recently announced and already available on the PTR (Public Test Region), the newly announced Dutch Mad Scientist "Sigma" has been making waves in the Overwatch community, partly for his intriguing and unnerving origin story, but also because everyone keeps asking why this fully armoured main tank is barefoot.
Foot fetish jokes aside, Sigma has fans excited for many reasons, including his status as a Talon tank, Jeff Kaplan's insistence that he is a main tank rather than an off-tank, and his backstory adding a layer of dread and intrigue to his already threatening character. There's also the little details, such as the piano music that plays whenever he's chosen from the hero roster, and the way his projectiles are a smooth marriage of Genji's shuriken with the surface bounce mechanics of Junkrat's bombs.
Head developer Jeff Kaplan was joined by popular streamer and former pro player Brandon Larned, aka Seagull, over at Blizzard's HQ for Brandon's birthday, and the pair discussed the upcoming role queue that's changing the way the game will be played, and how players will be ranked and queued into games.
Some of the things he mentioned involved MMR (matchmaker rating), or the way players are ranked based on class play (ie, their level when they play tank, healer, and damage), and how that MMR will help devs judge the level at which players will be ranked in role queue.
Unlike the previous iteration of the game, where there's one SR (skill rating) per player and they stick to what they're best at, players can now play on appropriate ranks for their tank play, healer play, and damage play. Having different SR for different roles will allow players to feel less anxiety about switching roles for different games. There will also be separate leaderboards across all three main classes for high level players, with an average leaderboard acting much like the original SR ranking system.
Some other exciting news from Jeff also involves the long sought out Zenyatta lore, which he assures is in active development, and may come soon - though he clarified that it's a "blizzard soon", which means development may take time.