Blossom Thoughts: Ashe First Impressions

Since Ashe’s release about a month ago on November 2nd, there has been a lot of discussion around her abilities, character, and especially her ultimate, B.O.B. This is the first ultimate that is actually less of an ultimate and more an introduction of another hero, one that can contest the point and personally receive healing. Now that the Death Blossoms community has had some time to play with Ashe in Quick Play and Competitive modes, it’s time to see what the ladies think. Is B.O.B overpowered? Does Ashe’s dynamite need a nerf? Is her character design just another lazy clone of Widowmaker? Keep reading to find out the Blossoms Thoughts on these questions and more!

To begin, let’s focus on Ashe’s design and personality. Stardust, the Death Blossom PUG moderator, appreciates Ashe’s sassiness. “To me, Ashe has a bit more spunk and attitude to her personality than the other heroes, specifically the female heroes. She reminds me a lot of McCree so I think it’s fitting they have a history of knowing – and dealing with – one another.” EU member Tabby also loves Ashe’s look. “I love the hair/eyes combo. It definitely makes her stand out from the others, so she’s got her own space. I love the fact that she is a middle-aged lady as well and not a super young’un.” EUcalyptus team member Whatanot agreed, noting that Ashe’s model even has bags under eyes, unlike the younger female heroes such as Widow.

“I love the hair/eyes combo. It definitely makes her stand out from the others, so she’s got her own space. I love the fact that she is a middle-aged lady as well and not a super young’un.” — Tabby

A more contentious topic was Ashe’s dynamite ability. Dva main Akra lamented the difficulty of eating Ashe’s dynamite with her defense matrix ability. “Ashe’s dynamite should DEFINITELY have some kind of color indicator (like Moira’s orbs do) for friendly vs. enemy tosses; it’s hard enough to spot in the air without also having no idea whose Ashe it belongs to most of the time. It could also be eatable on the ground until it explodes, or get a damage nerf.” Blossoms Team Coordinator and Aris member Jodem agreed. “It’s pretty easy to get 2-3 kills with dynamite if you place it properly, and especially if you shoot it in the air so it explodes immediately. It’s easy to lob it over a Reinhardt shield and shoot it before it dips under the shield, and its area of effect still makes it hit everyone standing behind Rein that high in the air.”

Not only was the issue of seeing the dynamite problematic, but there was also lively discussion surrounding the fact the fire continues to cause damage long after the dynamite has gone off. Flex player Iris felt that some of the healer abilities could deal with the issue. “I think Moira orbs and Ana’s grenade should cancel it. Mercy should have a way to cancel it too, so it’s not a Mercy nerf.” Wolfsbane captain Zadca said she would be okay with an Ana grenade, but proposed another option as well. “I just want the fire [damage] to have a threshold that leaves you with 1 hp from burning as opposed to killing you outright if your Zen refuses to heal you.” Then, of course, a lot of Blossoms members felt that there should be a way to shoot Ashe’s dynamite and cancel the explosion.

“I just want the fire [damage] to have a threshold that leaves you with 1 hp from burning as opposed to killing you outright if your Zen refuses to heal you.” — Zadca

Last but not least, there is B.O.B to discuss. Stardust had some mixed feelings about him as an ultimate ability. “I have to admit, from the start I thought it was weird that her ultimate would be essentially a 7th player on the team. It isn’t completely unexpected, though, because Torb’s old ultimate with his turret was similar, especially if the enemy placed it in a spot that was difficult to contest.” Amna, one of Blossoms Admins, felt that B.O.B could use some adjustments. “I think either his health or damage output needs to be lowered.” Team Wisteria member Eternaforest felt similarly. “B.O.B definitely feels overpowered. I won’t say [Ashe] is an overpowered hero but she definitely has a lot of pros and very little cons.”

Nearly all of our DB ladies who shared their opinion on the hero seemed to conclude that, though they liked Ashe’s character and mechanics overall, she still needed a bit of work either in the form of a nerf to B.O.B or the ability to more easily spot and shoot Ashe’s dynamite. Perhaps surprising to some, there was more discussion around Ashe’s dynamite than her ultimate ability, even though most members expressed some concern about game balance with both.

“If we’re playing on a dark part of the map I straight up can’t see [the dynamite] flying towards my team and then, bam! I’m on fire and my Rein is on fire and everything is on fire and there is only one health pack nearby… and it’s hacked.” — Whatanot

This is because, as Akra mentioned, a lot of characters have the ability to shut down B.O.B, but this is not so with Ashe’s dynamite. At the end of the day, nobody summarized the frustration of dealing with Ashe’s dynamite damage as well as Whatanot. “If we’re playing on a dark part of the map I straight up can’t see [the dynamite] flying towards my team and then, bam! I’m on fire and my Rein is on fire and everything is on fire and there is only one health pack nearby… and it’s hacked.” With any luck, some of the suggested changes from our community will be taken into account and Ashe will become a more balanced hero soon, and we can pray that fewer things will be on fire (though probably that health pack nearby will still be hacked!).

Overwatch and Disabled Players: A Discussion

Inspired by the lovely Women in Overwatch panel, i set out to interview disabled Overwatch players and gain their insight. The people I interviewed are Ironicgodtier and Cascadia, who are Death Blossoms, Mia, a member of Athena, Waterysalt, a member of Ganymede’s Girls, Momoxmia, Graduate Assistant and researcher at USC and freelance writer, Makayla, Death Blossom, Andromeda member and player on Team Sol, MightyenaBoy, my personal friend and former teammate, and me, Cloud, Death Blossom and writer of this post.

Q: What is your disability?

Ironicgodtier: I have minor hearing problems and of course sight problems. though I do also have minor anxiety and ptsd.
Cascadia: PTSD / Major Depression
Mia: High-functioning autism (Aspergers), emetophobia, depression, OCD
Waterysalt: My diagnoses are Depression, PTSD, and Autistic Spectrum Disorders.
Momoxmia: Deafness, bilateral vestibular hypofunction, and TBI.
Makayla: I’m green-red colourblind.
MightyenaBoy: I am hearing impaired/legally deaf.
Cloud: I have autism and cerebral palsy causing poor fine motor control in my left hand.

Q: What does disability mean for you?

Ironicgodtier: It means anything outside of the norm, something where the person has to try even harder in order to succeed
Cascadia: A person who has a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.
Waterysalt: For me, it is having mental impairments that limit me in my day to day life
Momoxmia: Thinking of my deafness, I subscribe to the disability social model. Meaning, my disability is created through a social construct. However, I frame my latter two disabilities through a medical model, meaning that they are something I have to manage on a daily basis.
Makayla: In my case it’s something inconvenient but I really have to just find ways to adapt because there aren’t a lot of concessions made for colour blind people. Just because it isn’t really seen as a “real” disability.
MightyenaBoy: Disability doesn’t have to make you ‘below’ other people. Disabled gamers or disabled humans are capable of most of the same feats as ‘ordinary’ people, bar things such as physical feats like walking in some cases. A disabled person is able to think as clearly and sophisticated as any other person.
Cloud: It means I can’t do things the same way as abled people, if I can do them at all, and whether or not they believe me is up in the air.

Our interviewees have a large range of disabilities and different viewpoints on disability, but the main thread between these viewpoints is doing things differently and having difficulty doing things like the average person does.

Q: How does disability affect or enhance your gameplay?

Ironicgodtier: It has affected it by me not properly hearing callouts, or even forgetting/not hearing what was recently said in a small time span. It especially sucks when i can’t get in vc and then i can’t properly hear which direction the enemy ults are coming for or where my team is.
Cascadia: I have known memory issues. I frequently need to ask how I know someone from and sometimes what the latest thing I’ve told them about myself. As for enhanced, I have username amnesia in that I don’t hold onto grudges and get over stuff quickly.
Mia: As an autistic person it’s been a way to connect with people and practice my social skills in a safe environment – I’ve always felt more comfortable online than in real life. The double-edged sword of being an autistic gamer is that it’s very easy to immerse yourself and get lost in games, but you forget that it’s not real life, or that you need to do real life things like eat and sleep.
Waterysalt: Sounds and light effects bother me a lot. A lot of times I will play music over the game sounds if the game allows for it. There are certain games where that can be problematic, so I will monitor the sound channels very closely to pick out which ones seem to be bothering me the most.
Momoxmia: Mostly my deafness does. A lot of games rely on sound cues, which of course I do not benefit from at all. Because of TBI I get chronic migraines, so I can’t game for long periods of time which is obviously very tragic for me haha.
Makayla: The enemies are outlined in red I didn’t know that until a month or two ago when I saw a post by kolorblind describing her issues. It’s noteworthy that the in game filters at that time weren’t helpful so I had to run an additional colorblind filter on my desktop to make the outlines visible. Once I got those outlines the game became immensely easier.
MightyenaBoy: Me being legally deaf has its setbacks. I often have everyone at 200% in discord calls or max volume in OW voice chat, even then it can be difficult to hear people clearly, or hear people over another person. Also, ultimates and voicelines in general are an absolute pain to hear ingame, even with max volume!
Cloud: Playing with one hand has its limits. Even with my mouse, I only have space for 17 buttons, and six of those I use for WASD. So things like the tab key are off the table and I have to rely on teammates to check for me. Also it can be hard to press a bunch of buttons at once so things like Mercy jump tech are extremely difficult.

With Makayla being colorblind, I specifically asked her for her opinions on the updated colorblind settings.

Makayla: They’re a step in the right direction. Lime green is the best colour for enemies in my opinion but unfortunately I can’t use that when I’m grouped up because it looks exactly the same colour as your group mates. The inability to change the colour of your group limits the number of colours I can use for enemies to only a few. But the settings are helpful because I can play without washing out the game with the actual filters.

Q: What in your setup is different than the average abled gamer’s?

Ironicgodtier: My setup isn’t really different, i just have friends who help me along by sticking super close with me in games so that i don’t get lost or confused.
Momoxmia: I use cochlear implants for competitive games (cause they aren’t accessible at all). I use a mini mic directly plugged into my computer and a remote that connects me through wirelessly.
MightyenaBoy: As I am now, there isn’t much different since, for hearing impaired gamers, the only thing you can add in is an extremely good sound card, even then the change is barely noticeable.
Cloud: I play games entirely one-handed using an MMO-style mouse.

With varying disabilities, these players all have different methods for playing Overwatch. Important to note is many of them don’t have drastic differences in their setup.

Q: How often do you play Overwatch?

Ironicgodtier: I play it as often as I can, sometimes I’m just too anxious to play it so I’ll be off of it for a week or longer until I can deal with it again.
Cascadia: 2-4 times a week. Much more while playing Tournaments with my Team, Lotus. Much less if I’m having a rough mental health week.
Mia: Several nights a week, although I go through phases of not playing at all sometimes.
Waterysalt: Everyday hehehe. and it is a lot, but I have been playing video games all my life and for the most part it has become second nature to just adjust things as I need to.
Momoxmia: If I’m honest, probably 10-15 hours per week. I take long breaks though, sometimes up to a month. Yay for being a full time student and employee.
Makayla: Most days now probably a few hours a day
MightyenaBoy: I play Overwatch mostly whenever my friends do or when coaching in things such as Scrub Cup. Tournaments I participate in are also times I play it.
Cloud: 3-4 sessions of 2-3 hours per week. More during events or if I feel like it.

Q: How does your disability affect you socially? Do you run into ableism?

Ironicgodtier: It’s not so difficult, I don’t talk unless I’m in a group with my friends, I would rather have people not yell at me for minor ptsd reasons.
Cascadia: It limits how much I speak in groups. I discussed above some of the things my brain meats likes to do. I tend to be one of the more quiet ones. I don’t have much to contribute to discussion. When doing Tournament matches, I can be forgetful of strategies or counter picks to gain an edge over the other team… (on the subject of ableism)… It’s a meme to comment that they want to kill themselves, their depression and, of course, how you should kill yourself and sometimes in intricate details of how you should do so. This trivializes depression and depressed people who say these things and mean it.
Mia: I am a bit more likely to misunderstand or require further clarifications than most people, and I get overwhelmed/stressed easily which can be a problem in a game as fast-paced as Overwatch. (And) …“autistic” has become a go-to insult especially in the gaming world and I often see it thrown around in chat. The few times I’ve mentioned being autistic myself the responses have been pretty toxic.
Waterysalt: A lot of times people will ask me to get into team chat and I cannot, this is either met by silence or ridicule. I have even been reported. I am a strong support of the Stop the R word movement. My hope is that people will be more aware and compassionate for their disabled teammates.
Momoxmia: In terms of friends, not so much unless it’s hearing friends. I join discord but I can maybe understand 30%. In term of the community, folks are chill unless I don’t join voice comms for ranked games. Players lose their minds! If I say I’m deaf they don’t even believe me or if they do, they treat me like crap.
Makayla: Not so much socially because I don’t bring it up that much. I kinda put it on myself to make adjustments such as calling positions that don’t rely on colour. That said I’ve made some obvious mistakes irl that have been embarrassing and really highlighted it. There have definitely been times where due to similar colouring I’ve popped offensive ults/attacks on my teammates.
MightyenaBoy: I rarely play solo-queue in Overwatch since I can hardly hear people. In order for me to hear people best, I need to get accustomed to their voice, tone/pitch, and manner of speaking. Not only this, but my lisp (due to my hearing and other things, I developed a lisp), I get made fun of consistently.
Cloud: Overall I’m not particularly affected socially, although I do run into casual usage of the r word and autistic.

The general language of the community, as well as the usage of slurs and insults is a common thread between most of the folks interviewed.

On the topic of general accessibility in Overwatch, the consensus is that it’s better than a lot of games, but could always be improved.

Ironicgodtier: Like most games I think they’re still trying to help people, like with the color blindness setting, but there isn’t a whole lot games can do for everyone.
Cascadia: Overwatch has done their research when it comes to working with people who are colour blind. I expect nothing less from AAA company. Overwatch has keyboard mapping controls which is essential for people who need alternative button selections for devices.
Mia: Could be better – what appealed to me about Overwatch was that unlike most multiplayer PVP games it felt like they wanted to have characters that anyone could play, regardless of aiming skills, and I’m worried that they’re steering away from that the more Overwatch becomes established in e-sports.
Waterysalt: My favorite feature is the chat wheel. being non verbal, I can still communicate with my team effectively and that feature helps tremendously. And although I am not colorblind, I hear it has great support for that as well in the game settings.
Momoxmia: For DHH, it needs work. Big things like sound cues and sound bars (pictured below) need to be addressed. I can’t always rely on the damage directional bar. But even small things, like Blizzard doesn’t even caption their shorts. Last I checked, the tutorials don’t have captions either. Such easy solutions that costs the company nothing and they still don’t do them! It’s a shame. (Author’s note: Blizzard has started subtitling their shorts’ dialogue, but it’s nowhere near the required closed captioning.)

(Screenshot of sound bar from Fortnite at work. Credit to Momoxmia.)

Makayla: I feel like the new colourblind settings benefit the general population more than it does specifically colourblind people. Which is a shame because we’ve been waiting since launch for something that works for us. Afaik there’s no reasonable way for the hearing impaired to get the sound cues that the rest of us have and that should be a primary focus.
MightyenaBoy: Accessibility in Overwatch is decent. The game devs have things such as color-blindness mode which helps a large majority of the population. However, due to game balance, things such as subtitles unfortunately won’t be possible, which is upsetting but understandable. Overall I think Overwatch is doing good so far.
Cloud: It could always be better. We lack a really good colorblind mode, subtitles, and a lot of heroes who were less aim-dependent are being worked into aim-dependent heroes, which isn’t a direction I particularly like.

Q: What would allow Overwatch to be more accessible for you?

Cascadia: I would love the ability to adjust the particle and UI effects. I feel like they get me tired quicker from the stimulation than in earlier versions of the game. The halo of healing icons is brain draining.
Waterysalt: more control of sounds. Currently there is not much you can do about the beeping noise that happens during overtime. That sound is so distressing to me. I am pretty sure I have lost a few games just by being disoriented by that sound.
Momoxmia: A sound bar, similar to the one in Fortnite. Captions for tutorials, etc.
Makayla: If I could adjust all of the colours such as group, but also if the thickness of character outlines was adjustable.
MightyenaBoy: The only thing I can think of is subtitles, but again, due to game balancing issues it can’t be implemented.
Cloud: Give me even more control over keybinds, especially if I could double up. The main one I want is that Hammond’s Piledriver could also be bound to Space.

Q: What part of gameplay is problematic for your disability, but can’t be worked around?

Ironicgodtier: I guess the hearing could be worked around, but I can’t have sounds up too loud, it’s just bothersome, so I do miss out on some lines and tips to help me identify where an enemy is.
Waterysalt: I think the most problematic thing would be people that spam voice lines. I have to have the voice volume up (for characters, not the voice chat). But that can be worked out by asking them to stop, although that doesn’t always work.
Momoxmia: I don’t think there is. Folks say deaf people would have too much of an advantage if there was a sound bar or captions; “it would lose it competitiveness!!” But that is not true, it works for other games.
MightyenaBoy: Callouts and ability voicelines are a pain to hear and comprehend, and can’t be worked around even with full volume.
Cloud: Blizzard keeps adding more and more buttons you need mid-fight and I’m out of room. Without crouch, I can’t superjump as Mercy really well, and I can’t get information from the tab screen unless I remove my hand from the mouse, and… you can probably guess why I don’t do that.

I next asked about what change they would want in Overwatch and got answers ranging from characters to accessibility options.

Ironicgodtier: a heavily less toxic community for a game people bought to have fun with.
Cascadia: A way to reduce the amount of particle and UI effects on screen.
Mia: More characters with disabilities in their backstory. Symmetra means a lot to me as the only hero with autism in any game I’ve ever heard of, but I’d love to see heroes with other mental disabilities as well.
Waterysalt: I think it would be cool if there were an option to auto mute everybody with an open mic.
Momoxmia: Sound bar for sure. Captions are great, but sound bar would make the game actually playable.
Makayla: It’d be nice if Blizzard took accessibility more seriously. It’s been years to get to even this point.
MightyenaBoy: Perhaps a way to increase volume for certain things (100% overall volume, plus ways to make certain things louder).
Cloud: I’d love an option where Guardian Angel doesn’t prefer beam target, but if you aren’t looking at anyone, you fly to the beam target.

Finally, I asked about any closing remarks and anything they want abled players to know.

Ironicgodtier: We’re all people playing one game, we’re here to have fun not be cussed out at because people don’t know how to take things less seriously.
Cascadia: I’m on DB to play games and get away from RL garbage. I appreciate when people shut down toxicity and ableism. I’m not here to be a teacher about Disability or a “representation of my peoples”. What we do need is more allies.
Mia: Don’t use “autistic” (or “retard”, while we’re at it) as an insult, and don’t let other people get away with using them either.
Waterysalt: I want them to know that using Autism as a meme or a slur is very hurtful and they should report anybody doing it. Video games provide relief for many people with disabilities of all kinds, and they deserve to feel safe in the communities they call home.
Momoxmia: Disabled folks are people to—we deserve equity in gaming.
Makayla: I mean if we as a community could just lower the general toxicity of the game I think everyone could have a more positive and comfortable experience.
MightyenaBoy: Be patient with disabled players. They’re in the same rank or MMR as you, so they must be doing something similar to you/something right to have gotten there!
Cloud: We’re here now, and here to stay, so our needs should be addressed as well.

Accessibility is always an issue when it comes to disabilities, and as it is improved, and the mentality around disabled gamers as well, the better the experience will be for all players. So next time you think about what Blizzard needs to do next, consider our needs as well.

You can find Cascadia on Twitter and Twitch as CascadiaQueen, Momoxmia on Tumblr at deafgaming, and Waterysalt on Twitter and Twitch under waterysalt.

Pensive Petals and Halloween Terror

While visiting Annecy in Southern France, I decided to visit the famed Château Guillard. After learning Amélie Lacroix had taken over ownership to her family’s beautiful castle on the water, I was curious how it had changed.

I had to travel to Château Guillard by boat, and as I approached an eerie feeling overcame me. I was nervous, but my curiosity was far stronger so. With my camera in hand, I begin exploring the vast castle. As I walk by a beautiful statue, covered eerily by crows, and continue straight as I enter one of the main halls. Everything is dark, overrun with cobwebs, as I notice a large spider above me. Without missing a beat, I hear “The party is over”, and I see Widowmaker herself perched above me in her pink and black spider outfit, intensely staring at me. I sneak a photo, and quickly dart down the left hall, hoping to escape before I upset her. Before I can calm my nerves down, I see Soldier: 76 walking towards me in a terrifying Slasher outfit, his axe in the door beside me. “Knock, knock” he says calmly, his unbreaking gaze upon me. He’s walking slowly, at an even pace, and I know I can sneak in a picture while I plan my escape. I notice a path to my right, take my photos and run, then it brings me to a familiar courtyard. Instead of turning left, and potentially upsetting Widowmaker by showing my face once more, I decide to follow the upper path across to further explore. I am afraid of what I may come across next but determined to fully uncover the mysteries of Château Guillard. I noticed to my left there were bright pink lights flashing, so I decided to look at what was happening. As I approached, I see Sombra laying on a table… but she doesn’t look like herself. She has a tattered pink dress on, bindings on her legs, and her hair is styled differently. I can see she’s lifeless, so I take as many photos as I possibly can while trying to understand the situation. She’s suddenly shocked to life by the pink lasers, and begins trying to break loose from her restraints. I take this as my cue to leave, snap one more picture, and run up the stairs to my left. I see a room filled with beautiful, floating candles and can’t help but walk over to admire just how peaceful it is in the otherwise chaotic castle. As I approach, camera in hand to take a picture of the amazing sight, a suit of armor that was propped up in the corner comes to life, glowing a beautiful teal color. Before I can react to what I’m seeing, Pharah asks me “Are you frightened?” I stumble backwards to a safe distance because I know I can’t leave without a picture of something so magical, then walk across the back hall of the château, quietly reminding myself I’ve almost explored every chamber. I see a pumpkin patch ahead, with two friendly faces rummaging through the jack-o-lanterns. Reinhardt picks up pumpkins without a second thought and begins smashing them with his hammer, while Winston gingerly picks up a single pumpkin and brings it to life. I crouch down and slowly walk towards them with a relieved smile on my face. When I finally reach them, neither pays me much mind, and I walk around to the right to sit down and watch their antics while snapping as many pictures as I can.

Reinhardt then notices he has uncovered a very large jack-o-lantern and has a determined and excited look on his face as he tries to pick it up so it can serve as his next target. As he gets a good grip on the pumpkin and begins to tug on it, we are all surprised to see Hammond pop out of the top, and the jack-o-lantern transforms into his recognizable mech. Startled by this unexpected discovery, I walk backwards, taking as many photos as I can, and accidentally land onto a jump pad. I’m thrown over a wall towards the enchanted room of candles. Upon landing, I hear a splash in the water and see Doomfist emerging, looking identical to the swamp monsters that I’ve heard protect the castle on the lake. In utter amazement I take a picture, and wonder if my friends will believe me when I show them. At this point, my curiosity has been sated and I know I need to head back to my boat. As I walk back into the main castle, I see Sombra standing next to Junkenstein himself, but they aren’t alone… Junkenstein’s monster is creepily standing motionless next to the table. I decide I can’t risk walking through this room undetected and take the stairs down into the cellar to try to escape instead. As I reach the lower floor, I am met by a zombie Bastion and Ganymede walking towards me with their arms outstretched, and I know I have nowhere to run. In a stroke of good luck, Brigitte storms in and bashes the zombie Bastion with a smile on her face. She turns to me and cheerfully asks, “You’re not… scared, are you?” I weakly grin and walk away, turned around by the recent happenings. I see a glowing, foggy cage with a coffin inside, and decide I need to get away quickly. I pick up my pace but almost immediately I run into McCree standing next to a cauldron. My eyes widen and I turn around again, knowing I’ve gone too far, and as I turn around McCree says “It’s your funeral.” I realize I didn’t take his picture, and because I wouldn’t dare leave without one I pull out my camera and the flash goes off. Suddenly banshee Moira appears, obviously perturbed by my presence. I panic and drop my camera, causing the flash to go off, and Moira shrieks. After momentarily vanishing, giving me enough time to pick up my belongings and find my footing, she reappears and I take my most prized picture of the entire trip. As she is disoriented by the flash once more, I flee, able to make it back to the dock where my boat is waiting. My heart is racing, but I know once I show these unbelievable pictures to my friends back home, it will have all been worth it.

I arrive back at Death Blossoms Island, pictures in hand and begin passing them around. The response is just as wonderful as I’d hoped.

LynndaLynnda immediately grabs for Moira’s photo and can’t contain her excitement:

BANSHEE MOIRA BANSHEE MOIRA!

Goon, however, is quick to swoop towards the photo herself, her eyes wide and full of stars:

I’d sacrifice myself to her

Kristen, Kikoia, and Rose quickly join LynndaLynnda and Goon in gushing over Moira, who has clearly struck awe and adoration in these ladies’ hearts.

Lego, however, is captivated by Widowmaker in her unique spider outfit:

It’s beautiful.

Competing with Moira for the biggest reaction was Pharah, with many of the ladies gushing over the incredible sight:

Somecatfish “I’m dying over that skin I can’t think straight!”
Luna (Woona) “THAT SKIN!”
Juniper “IT’S SO GOOD!”

As the ladies flipped through my photos, excitedly discussing their opinions and thoughts on what they saw, they came across Hammond:

Eternaforest “That was meant for dva!”
Goon “AAAA YES!”
Kristen “Ahhh I love it!”
Ph03nix “It’s a nice skin for the Hammy Boi!”

They next saw McCree, in his very different look than they are used to the cowboy wearing. Not everyone was so sure it was the best costume choice for him:

MiddiMidori “He cute, his buckle is ‘Dead Ass MF!'”
LovelyPop “I don’t know if I like it or not!”
Kristen “I don’t like it too much, but I also don’t like it? I guess I’m indifferent.”
Zadca “I want an option without that bandanna up, it looks tacked on as an afterthought.”
Cloudninedreamer “I’m meh on McCree. He has Van Helsing, and what’s better than that?”

There was a gasp from Rainmonkey when she noticed the picture of Sombra I’d taken

Sombra is BEAUTIFUL!

After hearing how excited Rainmonkey was, the other ladies took a look for themselves:

Kristen “I officially NEED bride sombra!”
Churro “Her hair is amazing”
Cloudninedreamer “I like her dress, it looks so cool and ragged. I also hope there are or will be comics of Sombra being made as Roadhog’s bride and she just says ‘Uh, no.'”

Creature had a giggle with me over seeing Bastion and Ganymede zombified, and we chatted amongst ourselves how excited we were that it was introduced as an emote for him. The chatter continued late into the night as we all dreamed of what our lootboxes would hold in store for us the next time we logged on.
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I hope you enjoyed reading this creative telling of Halloween Terror 2018! Thank you to EVERYONE in Death Blossoms who allowed me to share their reaction to the skin, emote, and highlight announcements! Best of luck in completing your personal collections this year. Check back again soon for more content here at the DB blog! Until then, please check out our Twitch, Twitter, and application if you are interested in becoming a member of Death Blossoms.

Blossoms Thoughts: Raedimus on Reinhardt

Like all gamers, Overwatch players have to contend with bugs, patches, changes, balance, and meta shifts. We see heroes go from top tier to bottom and back again all the time. The devs squash one bug and another pops up. That’s just the nature of gaming.

When those changes affect your main hero, you notice them more. But not everyone is as meticulous about testing and tracking those ups and downs as Death Blossoms member Raedimus, known affectionately among the community as “Budget Fragi” for her aggressive style of Reinhardt play. She was kind enough to talk to us about the most recent Reinhardt changes and about playing main tank in general.

How long have you been playing Reinhardt, and why Reinhardt in particular?

I’ve actually only had the game for about eight or nine months now. When I first started, my friend took me into a lot of custom games to get me used to the ebb and flow of the characters and put me on Reinhardt almost immediately. It was just super fun! I’ve stuck with him ever since.

As far as why I like him so much, I think it’s because he can do it all. He can be aggressive, he can be defensive. He can protect his team, he can take hits. It’s a good way to play all around, so you if need more DPS, you can play aggressively, but if your DPS are doing a good job, you can stay back and defend your healers. It’s nice to have that kind of flex with one character.

So, bugs. Reinhardt has always been buggy.

Oh, my gosh, it is a nightmare! Apparently, most of them have been there since the game launched!

There are so many videos just showcasing Reinhardt bugs. One of my favorites is this one, which is a montage of Reinhardt bugs set to “It’s a Hard Knock Life.”

There’s always been interesting bugs. Recently, when a Junkrat mine launched you into midair, your ult would go off before you hit the ground again. There’s also the one where the Philadelphia Fusion Away skin, the shield wouldn’t show any cracks. It’d be full health and if you weren’t watching the shield’s health bar at the bottom, you’d have no idea it was breaking until it broke, and obviously the cracks are the only way your team can tell it’s breaking!

Then his pin has been buggy forever. There’s one where if somebody was standing behind you and you charged, you’d catch the person behind you instead of whoever you were aiming for, and it wraps around walls sometimes. Sometimes you flip 180 degrees when you try to firestrike after dropping your shield. The list goes on! Why do I play this character?!

Then when Hammond came out, it just got funnier and funnier. There are even more videos that are, you know, kind of meme-y, but they’re also seriously trying to ask for help with this character.

What did this patch fix and what didn’t work as intended?

Well, they didn’t fix the bug where you’d spin around after dropping your shield. They tried, and it didn’t work. It feels like it’s happening less, though. It’s like it comes and goes as they patch other things, it’s a little weird.

From what I’ve seen, though, they’ve touched up the charge a lot. You don’t tend to “suck up” enemies as much as you used to, so you’re more likely to hit who you were aiming for.

The Earthshatter rework is phenomenal. I tested it for two and a half hours the night it came out on all the maps, and it landed where I wanted it to something like 90%-95% of the time. I took tons of notes on where enemy Reinhardts need to stand on the payload in order to block it. It is a little odd, though, because it goes both under the payload and over the payload now.

That’s interesting. So, there were some payloads it would go under before, but now it will also go over them.

Yeah, exactly.

I’ve tested it every patch and I have notes showing how inconsistent Earthshatter has been in the past. You could shatter over some payloads, and stun whoever was on the payload, like a Bastion in turret mode. It wasn’t every payload, though, and even then, someone would tell you that you could do it on Numbani, and you’d try it, and it didn’t work. On hybrid maps, sometimes you could shatter over it while point A was being contested, but then you couldn’t shatter over it once it started moving.

I’d test corners, I’d test sides, I’d test standing on the payload, I’d test it standing off the payload. I have so many notes!

This change really helps a lot with dealing with harder compositions, like pirate ship or a turret on the payload. It splits around corners and goes up stairs now, as well. That’s just huge. Having it be consistent is a bigger deal than you’d think.

Earthshatter also doesn’t have the “rolling” effect like it used to. It used to be where, if we were playing Rein versus Rein, if you shattered, I blocked it, and then dropped my shield too quickly, I’d still get stunned, because the cone would stay for a second. Now, it happens pretty much instantly. You can’t walk into it after you think it’s been blocked, and it’s easier as the defending Rein to bait it out and take advantage of doing so.

As a person getting shattered, you’d think you were safe, you’d move, and suddenly you’re on the ground. It’s nice that that’s not the case anymore.

Absolutely! I think people will complain for a little while because the travel time and where it will go is different now, like the corners, and up the payload and stairs. Overall, though, I think it’s so much better. It feels good.

People get very upset in this game when things don’t work exactly the way they used to work.

Yeah, yeah. The traveling around corners thing, that’ll mess with a lot of people. I saw someone on the forums complaining about how they’d been trying to hide behind a wall and don’t trust the devs anymore. I was like, no, it’s doing what it’s supposed to do.

So, the 180 spin isn’t fixed, that’s still on PTR.

Right. It’s one of those things, it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but if you have your shield up and you go to shatter, suddenly you’re facing the wrong way and you’ve wasted your ult and opened your team up to being shattered.

The thing is, though, it’s nice to know that they’re working on it. There’s been a lot of radio silence as far as Reinhardt is concerned. The players have been making threads and videos for all this time talking about the problems with Reinhardt, only to get no feedback. Then, all of a sudden, it’s this series of fixes. I’m just glad to know it’s getting worked on.

I’m glad they’re working on it, personally. I play a lot of Zarya, so I hated the dive meta. I want Reinhardt in the game!

I hope it brings a lot of Rein mains back, just knowing that he works close to as intended.

And it’s hard when you’ve only got seven tanks in the game and three true main tanks, and one of them is so buggy, you’re going, “What am I supposed to do?!”

The first couple days of the Hammond patch, Reinhardt was completely unplayable.

Another thing they did change is they took out some of his animation cancels. You used to be able to drop your shield and swing immediately, but now there’s this brief one-second delay, where the shield has to drop fully and finish animating before you can swing. It makes dealing with things like Reaper and Tracer harder.

They also nerfed the shield hop. Moving with the shield up is slower than moving with it down, so you used to be able to sort of flick your shield and hop to keep your momentum up while still maintaining protection for you and the team. That doesn’t work anymore. It’s still good to do, to block damage, but you’re much slower doing it than you used to be.

It’s crazy what you don’t think about, when you don’t play a hero. I’m a DPS main, so playing with Reinhardts and being around them, I knew he had issues, but it’s wild how much micro-play is affected by what seems like a simple bug.

It’s very true.

Some days, I just can’t play Reinhardt. I’ll get on, I’ll spin around too many times, and I have to switch to Winston because I can’t deal with it.

Winston’s good. But he’s not Reinhardt.

He’s not. Getting used to the tickle cannon has been a chore.

Give Winston a hammer!

Can you imagine?!

Overall, it’s just nice to see it from both sides. I’ll never discount a pin, but when it was someone behind me, you know, it doesn’t feel good, so it’s better for both sides.

Thank you, Raedimus, for your time and input! Keep fighting the good fight!