Overwatch's Orisa Goes Live Today, But Not for Competitive

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Overwatch's Orisa Goes Live Today, But Not for Competitive

Orisa goes live on all platforms today, but won't be available in Competitive Mode.

Blizzard unveiled the 24th character coming to the Overwatch roster earlier this month, and today she's available to play on all platforms.

Orisa, the four-legged robot tank created by Numbani child genius Efi Oladele, was previously only available on PC on the game's PTR, but even though she is available to play now, Blizzard has stated that she won't be available in the game's Competitive Mode for a bit.

"When patch 1.9 releases tomorrow, Orisa will not initially be available for Competitive Play," wrote principal designer Scott Mercer on the game's forums [https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20753657091#post-1]. "We want to give players some time to learn about and play Orisa before she's placed into the crucible of Competitive Play."

"She'll still be immediately available in Quick Play, the Arcade (including custom games with the competitive ruleset), and Play vs. AI," Mercer added.

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Overwatch's Competitive Mode is currently in Season 4 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/169692-Overwatch-Season-4-Competitive-Play-Changes-Skill-Rating-Top-500#&gid=gallery_7005&pid=1], and brought with it changes to the Skill Rating system, the ways in which the top 500 and bottom 500 list works, a respawn time delay that's activated when the attackers outnumber the defenders on a contested point, and more.

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[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Oh umm...neat. Didn't know that game was still a big enough deal to warrant another character

 

[Neverhoodian]

Oh God, No Limits is going to be a madhouse for the next few days. Orisas everywhere.

Well, they'll no doubt be needing a healer. Come Mercy, we must away!

 

[TilMorrow]

I still can't take it seriously with the bananas on the side of it's head.

 

[Broderick]

Oh umm...neat. Didn't know that game was still a big enough deal to warrant another character

Overwatch has over 25 million players registered. Even if only a 5th of them are playing concurrently, that's still a lot of people. Interest for the game has waned sure, but holiday events, new game modes/maps and character releases help keep interest up.

On another note, been following her progress in the ptr for a while now. I think she's in the position that Sombra was, where she isn't quite powerful enough, or has much utility to replace many of the tanks right now.

 

[Paragon Fury]

HOLY SHIT.

Blizzard listened and did the sane thing?

Or did they just have too many people ruin their matches when Sombra released and didn't want to experience that again?

 

[Poetic Nova]

I still can't take it seriously with the bananas on the side of it's head.

Blizzard rarely has good character design, if you ask me.