OKAY SO at half time in Overwatch League tonight, Jeff appeared to give some announcements so I’ve vaguely cleaned up my live updates from a Discord chat to present here.
Retribution is a new PvE mode, Blackwatch vs Talon
The map for the event is called Rialto, and it will at some point make its way to the PTR as a payload map, as well
There was an intro short for Retribution and the voice over began with Jack asking Gabe what the hell happened on the Venice mission
that mission being this event, and the moment that Blackwatch was revealed to the entire world. looks like the squad fucked it up, badly.
the Venice mission is mentioned in Moira’s bio
there was a lot of Gabriel voiceover too, going “Do you really want to know?” so I have deep hopes for lots of pre-Reaper voice Gabe through this event
there was a brief bit of Mccree talking at the end, with Jack next asking him what the fuck happened on the mission
New kinds of enemies to fight against in Retribution
Talon snipers, assassins, heavy units, that sort of thing
All Heroes mode Retribution will have some differences than classic Blackwatch team mode
unlike Uprising where it was the same objectives whichever mode you played
Jeff specifically mentioned that they got this feedback about Uprising and decided that they would make things different
NEW REAPER SKIN
skin will be “Soldier: 24″ – that is, Gabriel way back when he was in the soldier enhancement program, before Overwatch, with Jack. Goes with Jack’s Commando skin, perhaps
best quotes from Jeff that I was able to jot down:
“PvE gives a chance to play heroes you might not normally play. Like I usually play tank or support, since it seems like my team always needs them”
“When we were making this event, I learned how to play Genji at a higher level. … I also know how to spam ‘I need healing’ now.”
also Jeff was wearing a shirt with the Blackwatch logo. new merch?
and that’s the main points! or the main points I managed to absorb while simultaneously screaming
I know a lot of people are reading this as “disapproving”, because Jack is turned away from Gabe, but I think it’s Not Insignificant that Jack is looking at the rows of fallen soldiers he just finished putting flags on. I don’t read this so much as “Jack is opposed to what Gabe is doing” as “Gabe is steadfast in his plan to operate off the books while Jack is left to reflect on how his tether to protocol is accomplishing nothing but racking up casualties.”
Especially how it’s juxtaposed with the text bubble talking about Overwatch’s limits, as well as how Jack doesn’t really at any point in the narrative disapprove of Gabe’s plan, just tells him he can’t “officially” sanction it. To me, at least, this doesn’t communicate a fight, it’s showing the mounting frustration and helplessness that led Jack to break international law and send troops into King’s Row a year later, and eventually become a masked vigilante smashing heads in alleyways after Zurich. I think it certainly communicates a divide, but I see it more as Jack concerned Gabe is going somewhere he can’t follow, and wondering if he wants to follow, than a gesture of hostility.
Stop talking and start doing: My Fallout Shelter for my Tumblr blog 