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Blizzard revealed the newest hero to hitch the ever-growing roster of its shooter Overwatch 2 at Blizzcon 2023. Throughout an interview on the conference, Polygon obtained extra particulars about Mauga, what gamers can count on from him, and the method of making a brand new tank.
“Mauga is a damaged-based tank, and the way he sustains himself and his crew is thru harm,” mentioned lead hero designer Alec Dawson. He was designed primarily based on his weapons, together with his talents centered round doing as a lot harm as doable. The designers hope this give attention to harm will make him extra interesting to new gamers.
The crew needed to make sure his talents felt good when utilizing each chain weapons, however in addition they needed to ensure gamers couldn’t “wipe individuals out instantly.” To fight that, Mauga has a giant unfold on each of his weapons. On the similar time, this makes him a menace in shut quarters. “You don’t need to play with Mauga up shut until you’re going to take him out,” mentioned Dawson.
Mauga’s Overrun charging potential makes him just about unstoppable, even in opposition to sleep darts. “He makes use of it to get the place he desires to go,” mentioned Dawson. For a pleasant cherry on high, each time Mauga immediately hits an opponent whereas utilizing Overrun, he’ll slam them to the bottom, beautiful them whereas different close by opponents shall be despatched flying.
Picture: Blizzard Leisure
Mauga’s final, Cage Struggle, creates a zone that traps opponents and blocks therapeutic from the surface of it. What makes his final much more harmful is that Cage Struggle stays lively even when Mauga dies. Assist hero Lifeweaver can pull Mauga out of the final word, however the enemy gamers will nonetheless be trapped inside till the flexibility runs out.
“We at all times kinda knew that he was going to be a tank with two huge fundamental weapons”
Though he’s a tank, Mauga can do extra harm than some DPS heroes, mentioned Dawson. To counter that, opposing groups can assault Mauga whereas he’s reloading or has burned by his talents. “He’s such a giant physique that he actually wants help. He wants a excessive therapeutic output to maintain him up at instances.”
When it got here to creating Mauga, the dev crew labored intently with a tradition marketing consultant crew to make sure the studio displayed him in a means that may be respectful to the Samoan neighborhood. “We labored with a conventional tattoo artist from the Samoan tradition to information us. We tried to get as genuine as doable and as near actual as our engines may deal with. And it turned out nice,” mentioned hero design producer Kenny Hudson.
Picture: Blizzard Leisure
When Mauga was first being examined, the crew initially had one iteration the place his proper gun solely dealt crucial harm to enemies within the air to assist tanks struggle flying-based heroes. As time went on, the crew scrapped that, and now the proper gun offers crucial harm each time an enemy is about on fireplace first together with his left gun. However the thought to have him use two huge weapons was one thing the dev crew at all times meant to do. “We at all times kinda knew that he was going to be a tank with two huge fundamental weapons, and we needed to make them simply as necessary and simply as helpful to gamers as the opposite one. We didn’t need one to outshine the opposite,” mentioned Hudson.
“The crew actually needed to take some extra time to get the equipment good”
One of many challenges the dev crew confronted was making the visible cues noticeable to gamers when Mauga makes use of his Cardiac Overdrive potential, which permits Mauga and his crew members to heal each time they harm an opponent. So the dev crew revisited an outdated thought the place Roadhog’s potential would heal everybody round him. This helped them discover the “candy spot” of not overwhelming the participant with an excessive amount of happening display screen. “We don’t like throwing issues away. Even when it doesn’t work out for a sure hero, it may well come again in a while for one more one,” mentioned senior check analyst Foster Elmendorf. To assist additional show their level, Elmendorf defined how Mauga’s final was initially D.va’s, which concerned her making “a dome of lasers.”
The crew has been engaged on Mauga for a while. Initially, he was speculated to be launched in season 2 as an alternative of Ramattra, “however the crew actually needed to take some extra time to get the equipment good,” mentioned Dawson. Pushing Mauga again allowed the dev crew to shine him up and guarantee his talents performed easily with each other.
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