Worgen said:
Are you kidding? Look at her face, shes got a round baby face with huge eyes and glasses, plus she looks very coy in her animations. Plus plus, awhile back people found out she had a very shapely butt.
At best, I could call Mei "cute." That's it.
Come on, are you honestly suggesting that this:
https://blzgdapipro-a.akamaihd.net/media/artwork/mei-concept.jpg
Is more waifu material than this:
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/262723759226691874/E004DB96CABD7C2D2593CBF3E6294F0D0B830B36/
Worgen said:
Evie does have a back story but its bcannon for now since its not in the game. The wiki has back story for some characters.
"Prodigy to the archmage of Stonebriar, Evie defied her master by using Soul Magic to bind the Ice Wraith Xerses forever to her. Gaining great power and becoming immortal, she was outcast for her unholy act. Wandering the north for time untold, no one knows why she has come to Crosswind Hold, and no one dares ask."
Its more than just her battle sounds, its what she says when the match starts, its her taunts, her jokes, even her curse.
So, Evie is one of the few (keyword on "few") champions that has a backstory. Huh.
Even then, the only common thread is that there's a place called Crosswind Hold that some of the champions have gathered at to do...something, and I don't even know what Crosswind Hold is. I certainly can't tell you what soul magic is, or what kind of person Xerses was, or what an ice wraith is bar the fact it exists, or where or what Stonebriar is. Characterization is hampered when it lacks context.
But fine, let's go by this. From this, I can gather that Evie is "defiant," arguably "power-hungry" and...that's it. There's a bit of a character there, but still a thinly sketched one.
I mean, comparing character summaries from both games, here we have something like Cassie:
"Raised in Cobalt Keep and daughter to the legendary huntmaster Arturos, Cassie snuck away from home to find adventure and freedom. Armed with her Father's crossbow and joined by her childhood companion Zigs, Cassie enters the lands of Crosswind Hold ready for any challenge."
From this, I can gather that Cassie is a good archer, has a bird friend named Zigs, possibly has an adverse relationship with her father, and is adventurous. That's a bit of a character, but not much, and it doesn't help that there's no information on Cobalt Keep itself, or what kind of man Arturos is. In contrast, let's look at Tracer's backstory, confining it entirely to her hero page:
Real Name: Lena Oxton, Age: 26
Occupation: Adventurer
Base of Operations: London, England
Affiliation: Overwatch (formerly)
The former Overwatch agent known as Tracer is a time-jumping adventurer and an irrepressible force for good.
Lena Oxton (call sign: "Tracer") was the youngest person ever inducted into Overwatch's experimental flight program. Known for her fearless piloting skills, she was handpicked to test the prototype of a teleporting fighter, the Slipstream. But during its first flight, the aircraft's teleportation matrix malfunctioned, and it disappeared. Lena was presumed dead.
She reappeared months later, but her ordeal had greatly changed her: her molecules had been desynchronized from the flow of time. Suffering from "chronal disassociation," she was a living ghost, disappearing for hours and days at a time. Even for the brief moments she was present, she was unable to maintain physical form.
Overwatch's doctors and scientists were stumped, and Tracer's case seemed hopeless until a scientist named Winston designed the chronal accelerator, a device capable of keeping Tracer anchored in the present. In addition, it gave Tracer the ability to control her own time, allowing her to speed it up and slow it down at will. With her newfound skills, she became one of Overwatch's most effective agents.
Since Overwatch's dissolution, Tracer has continued to right wrongs and fight the good fight wherever the opportunity presents itself.
I mean, the difference isn't just in size, it's also in content. From this, and nothing else, I can gather that Tracer is altruistic, a skilled pilot, is suffering from "chronal disassicoation" (the side effects of which are explained), is a former Overwatch agent, is anchored to the present via a device given to her by Winston, can manipulate time to her own ends, and remains altruistic even after the end of Overwatch. It also helps that in this text, enough lore exists to tell us what kind of organization Overwatch is, who Winston is, how Tracer's device actually functions, and there's even artwork of the Slipstream itself.
By these standards, I can call Tracer a character. The majority of Paladins' characters lack any backstory, and even with someone like Cassie or Evie, their characters remain broadly sketched, bereft of context. Their emotes do add to this true, but Overwatch's emotes have the characters not only making general comments, but specific comments when paired with certain characters, and when they appear on certain maps. Far as I can tell, Paladins is bereft of this as well.
For instance, looking at Tracer's emotes, I can summarize that:
-Mei was an inspiration to her.
-Dislikes Widowmaker.
-Likely likes Lucio.
-Has a good relationship with Winston and Jack.
-Likely has pro-omnic views; at the least, Mondhatta was a figure she admired (backed up by her animated short)
-Used to live in King's Row (we actually know that she does live in King's Row)
-Used to be stationed at Watchpoint: Gibraltar.
-Has an adverse relationship with Sombra due to the latter stealing technology similar to her chronal accelerator (datamined only)
Now, looking at Evie's emotes, I can summize that:
-Likely dislikes everyone (or is fooling around, I can't tell)
-Wants to live a normal life without having to "blow everyone up" (though she could be sarcastic here)
-Likes shiny things.
And that's it. She does have some specific emotes to some characters, but I can't say if they're based on any pre-history, or whether she simply has a barbed tongue (which is characterization in of itself, admittedly).
So, yeah. Paladins is still lacking in the characterization department. It's not at the standard of Overwatch, and it's not even a standard that Overwatch pioneered for multiplayer-only games (TF2, LoL, etc.)