Vendetta, the new character, was the talk of the town in Overwatch and the audience’s reaction was not, but in one word, WOW. One tweet from the many that were sent out to announce the character release included, “Nobody’s safe.” together with the sword and wolf emojis. Honestly? They are correct. Vendetta’s Hero Trial, which is for a limited time only, was made available on December 1st, and the community has already been divided into two equal parts. A few players are going crazy for her while others are already requesting nerfs too quickly. It’s that kind of launch—
The excitement was there and visible from the start. The user ‘TheKrueger1428’ was so happy that he couldn’t contain himself, and he proclaimed ‘She is so much fun! Definitely my new main!’ On the other hand, ‘relimors’ was just as happy, saying ‘She is so cool, won 7 games in a row on her.’ Quite a good start for a character. ‘ilBakii’ said ‘Character is so freaking fun, really rewarding but a fun as ever kit.’ In general, positive first impressions about the character from the players are very much that they love her play style!
Nonetheless, the opposite side is always there. The first signs of balancing issues arrived almost right away. User ‘SkaVorah’ asked, ‘Can we nerf her already? Cuz what is that damage and triple spin perk?? Was she playtested at all??’ That’s quite a strong and direct complaint. User ‘daltonsherm’ mentioned some figures that sound almost… worrying. ‘When she has nano her ult 1 shots thru rein shield, hazard block and does 600 damage to a nemesis form ram block. It’s overpowered.’ If the numbers mentioned are true, then it does indeed sound broken. Can they be so careless in their designing that they mess up this badly?
The discussion around counters became quite heated too. User ‘RTX_Retzi’ confidently asked the community to ‘name 1 counter. I must know’ to which ‘Pochita’ replied with a list of ‘Ana, orisa, cas, zarya, mauga, most tanks. Its not that hard to fight her off your back line.’ So, it looks like there are different views about her having counters or rather that she is just running free. Typical stuff from the Overwatch community; everyone seems to have his own view on the balance of the game and that’s what makes the discussions lively.
One of the funniest reactions of the community is from ‘nach0blue’ who simply posted, ‘I hate her already’ with a crying emoji. The mood is how we feel, honestly. ‘GalanFour’ had problems related to connection issues and expressed his frustration saying, ‘I would love to, but my 3-minute queues go on for 10+ minutes with no games starting. I have tried half a dozen times today and no luck :/’ and this is what always happens when there is a new release – everybody wants to experience the new thing at the same time so the servers get flooded.
For the creator community, they have already started collaborating with Vendetta. ‘wendywufanpage’ put up what they called a ‘Lore accurate potg’ while ‘GrimSnax23’ did ‘The flash my opponent sees before their death’ along with a bright flash image, which is just a joke. People are really getting into the new dark and edgy heroine’s style. ’97XGHOSTY’ is already counting down to season 20 with her, which some players see as planning to really invest in this character.
There was even some… strange suggestions. ‘SeilahAngelFT’ asked for an ‘Erza from Fairy Tail collab’ which would be very appropriate considering the whole sword theme that Vendetta has. Then ‘spiceeed’ just out of the blue insisted ‘Bring back MHA’ which, of course, is the same energy but a totally different topic.
The official Overwatch account was quick to respond to the situation and was actively interacting with the players, replying to ‘Dmanrocks’ by saying “It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s VENDETTA! 🗡️” which is a very effective community management. They also acknowledged ‘PimProoOff’ who was probably ‘cooking already’ with the new hero.
However, there is a possibility that the comments regarding the actual gameplay experience might be the most worrying ones. ‘NeenDumb’ exclaimed ‘I cant really play the game now, can her trial ends early pls!!’ which suggests that the user is having such a bad time playing against Vendetta that they would like her to be removed or changed first before they play.
What is quite fascinating is the speed with which the community has divided. On Overwatch 2 and other Blizzard titles, the PlayStation and Xbox communities often react similarly to new content releases.
