Overwatch introduces new character Moira, new map and heaps more

Posted on November 4, 2017

It’s BlizzCon 2017 and with great BlizzCon comes great Overwatch news, and boy did they drop the hammer load! During its opening ceremony Blizzard just announced the arrival of its newest character for Overwatch a support healer called  Moira O’Deorain, who looks to be a valuable addition to the already impressive lineup of playable characters.

A biotic Moira is able to either heal her team with her incredible beams or turn them to damage the enemy, this makes her an impressive addition to the lineup and a danger on the field if left unchecked.

Moira’s addition to the Overwatch lineup also fills in a valuable piece of missing backstory (as is the way with every new morsel of Overwatch news we get) and her origin story video shows off her dark path with Blackwatch and Talon. A controversial genetic scientist with radical and wild ambition, Moira was shunned and held back by Overwatch for her experiments. Turning to Blackwatch and Talon to further her work she can be seen in her origin video placing her hand on Gabriel Reyes (otherwise known as Reaper) a mercenary for hire with no allegiances, Reaper has previously been seen working with all organisations. This image and cinematic seems to fill in the missing link in Reaper’s bio about where he likely got his powers.

In other BlizzCon 2017 news Blizzard also announced the addition of a new map entitled “Blizzard World”, essentially its Blizzards very own virtual theme park. If you have an image in your mind of what an actual Blizzard theme park might look like then you’re probably in luck, including throw-ins to other Blizzard titles like Hearthstone, StarCraft, and Diablo – it’s everything a Blizzard fan could want and more! Sadly it will be a little while yet till we can take a digital frolic through Blizzard World to kill each other as the map itself wont be available till early 2018, however you can enjoy this video in all its glory right now.

Speaking of Glory, the last bit of Blizzard/Overwatch news we have for you in this bumper news post is to do with the lovable German tank Reinhardt. In a new animated short called “Honor and Glory” which was also debuted during the opening ceremony at BlizzCon 2017 we got to see a much younger Reinhardt. Although much more nimble, he’s clearly the same lovable Reinhardt we know and love however he’s yet to learn the valuable lesson of how a true tank works.

Like a lot of Overwatch’s shorts Reinhardt‘s ends up full of emotion, and we are finally given the answer to how Reinhardt becomes the tank he is today and how his fellow Crusader and old friend Balderich von Adler loses his life. As emotional as this short was I also found myself smiling in a coy way as Blizzard also managed to somehow make cannon every Reinhardt player’s first time out of the gates, so to speak. Zoom, smash, Reinhardt, Reinhardt, Reinhardt!!!

Lastly Blizzard have added a bunch of new skins and emotes that will be added to the regular loot box system in early 2018. Announced in a post on Twitter and during BlizzCon 2017 the video showcases a variety of skins which are:

  • Immortal Orisa
  • Magni Bronzebeard Torbjorn
  • Nova Widowmaker
  • Blackhand Doomfist
  • Barbarian Zarya
  • Butcher Roadhog
  • Crusader Reinhardt
  • Ecopoint Mei

During the BlizzCon online show Jeff Kaplan also stated that “Those skins are just a small preview of a big update that’s coming next year”.