Per Kotaku, Blizzard has just unveiled their first new character for Overwatch since the game's release. Named Ana, a sniper that is focused on support and healing, she is the mother of a another character, Pharah.

What do you duders think?

#MomsAreTough

Awesome! Love the idea of a support sniper and it's great to have an older woman in the roster.

The most fun part about Metal Gear Online was always putting people to sleep, so I'm a big fan of this.

Curious to see how that buff works, seems like that's her ult. And is that pistol a sidearm? I'm guessing the sniper has a damage fire and an alt healing fire, which means she's got 2 weapons and one with alt fire which is cool cause I can't think of characters with that many abilities. Exciting to see more gameplay

I'm choosing to take this a reference to the very silly opening of FF 13 and that makes me very happy.

On topic: Even though I'm not in on Overwatch yet, this is the pace that updates are gonna need to happen for me to finally buy in. Though, more than new characters I would like to see new maps and game modes. But really they should just hurry up and release map making tools.

Also, here's a story trailer for those who are curious:

I don't even play the game but one of my favorite things is watching everyone on my TL lose their shit over cool OW stuff so this is great. Also can't wait for more fan art. Is Mercy really only 5 years older than Pharah? Huh.

I'm curious how she compares to Widowmaker. My first response was "if she's a sniper as well as having those support tools, why would you ever use Widowmaker instead of Ana?". Widowmaker is probably better close-range, but if that ever happens, you've already fucked up. I guess Widowmaker's ult makes the difference, that thing's pretty neat.

Total MILP.

Judge if you want but I stand firmly behind this post.

Seems like a cool character but I'm also disappointed because it's another sniper I'll never use.

Apart from the sleep ability, she doesn't look very novel.

Did they give a date on when she's added?

As a support main player it is time for me to learn to snipe good because she looks rad as hell

According to Gamespot she is going live on the PTR today so people can try her out there

I like her artstyle and more importantly she seems to have some pretty cool abilities. Her basic function is also just what I hoped it would be (she both heals and kills via sniping).

What’s with her voice work though? That slight lisp will drive me crazy if I have to hear it hundreds of times.

YASSSSSSSSSSSS

Cool, really hope to get the details on her abilities soon.

She won't have Widowmakers charge on her sniper rifle, which is a major thing that makes her so deadly. I suspect even a headshot with Ana won't kill most heroes.

Ana has a pretty typical accent for an older Egyptian woman.

Line of sight is a major obstacle in a lot of maps. I'm betting Ana will have a small health pool so putting her in a position to potentially heal her whole team will leave her pretty vulnerable to enemies. It's not hard to hit a sniper from far away with a non-sniper character. I'm excited to try her out nonetheless.

@gkhan: A huge part of what makes Widow so dangerous is her huge damage output with her charged shots, meaning that she is always a threat to be conaidered. Without charged shots Ana will not only not insta kill most heroes, she might be even bullied into retreating by long range heroes such as Pharah or Hanzo that are traditionally very weak against Widow. On top of that the lack of the spider mine and the smg means she's much less viable as a solo threat.

@gkhan: We also don't know what her movement options are yet. Widowmaker may end up being a lot more versatile for maps with sniper spots unreachable without the grapple (or jumpjet or other vertical boost). Maybe she'll just have a Hanzo clamber or something?

Really interested to see how she works out, especially in relation to Widowmaker. I feel like Ana may be a really great asset when playing with an organized team using voicechat and whatnot.

Just a heads up but Gamestop is currently doing an Ana based stream. Apparently you can play as her on the PTR right now.

To be honest, my first reaction to the news was "why?". Was there anyone out there thinking "I really like Overwatch, but it just doesn't have any/enough characters I like" ? Like, there's nothing wrong with it, but it's one of the last things that would get me excited to jump back into the game.

There are characters I like to play, but I can't say there are any healer/support I really love to play. (Unless you count Zarya.) So I absolutely welcome more options in that regard. If she was just another offensive sniper I'd be much less interested.

Anything that gets more people to try playing a healer is a good thing for the game.

Yeah she's in on the public test region right now. Her primary fire and grenade heal team mates and damage enemies. It's not an alt fire thing. Played a few matches with her in the PTR Brawl (Only Ana and the Tanks are available). She definitely feels support focused. Not sure how her damage rates, but it doesn't feel too low. All the same you're not very mobile so rather than get in a fight you're going to want to hit the sleep button and get away. Also her ult seems like it could be really powerful. It reduces damage taken and ups damage so pairing it with a tank is a natural fit.

I really like her overall. It's be cool to see how she fits into the game after a week or so when she's more of a known quantity. I hope she's played because I think her abilities are really cool and feel surprisingly flexible.

She's like a female, Egyptian version of Big Boss. Tranq gun, eye patch, and grizzle voice. I can't wait to give her a try.

Oh, okay. I’m not familiar with Egyptian accents at all, so I didn’t notice it, but there’s still a slight lisp there. I mean that’s not part of the accent right?

Yeah the game needs more options at support IMO. I love playing both Mercy and Lucio, but I play them A LOT because rarely do other people solo queueing want to play support. It just gets boring after awhile.

I think the more important thing is the change to zenyata who is already very fun to play but wasn't very viable in most matches because of his health pool.

Played some Ana can't say she really seems that fun but im not a fan of snipers in general. That stun is so long if no one hits you, seems like 5 or more seconds...

@sessh: It isn't unheard of for people from Middle Eastern and South Asian countries to have a slight lisp when speaking in English. A prominent example is Pakistani-American comedian Kumail Nanjiani.

Man, she is Metal Gear as a heck!

@darth_navster: Huh, interesting. You learn something new every day. Thanks for letting me know.

I wonder if she will have any mobility tricks like wall-climbing or a higher jump.

Nothing about these sexy as fuck patch notes?

I need to take a shower after seeing those D.Va buffs. I could already put in work with her when she was "bad," but now... Prepare for the Waifupocalype!

Edit: Went ahead and started a new thread for the notes.

I absolutely love the character conceit and welcome more support characters to play.

Gotta admit, she looks like really tough to play well though.

Well this certainly makes the Pharmercy weird.

A nice overview of the new character just popped up in my you tube subscriptions, so I thought I'd share it here.

Looks like a fun character. I especially like the idea of putting opponents to sleep.

Weirder I'd say. Also (source unknown):

I had no idea what that word meant, so I had to turn to google. Yeah. That's not exactly a word you'd find in the dictionary.

So who is wanting this sort of thing from these characters, anyhow? Straight men who think the whole girl-girl thing is hot? Actual lesbians? A mix of both?

Call me crazy, but I've never been one to create backstories or relationships for video game characters.

@spaceinsomniac: started out as a useful gameplay tip where a Mercy paired with Pharah can use her ability to practically fly across the map, covering Pharah with heals/damage. Then of course the internet fandom decided to escalate this pairing and now it has its own niche in head-canon for some people. I don't get it either, but that goes to show you how popular this game's gotten that there are actual identifiable sub-sets of Overwatch fandom now.

@spaceinsomniac: Actually I see queer OW shipping, of Pharmercy in particular, from all sorts of people across the gender/sexuality spectrum.

The feels.

https://twitter.com/jitterycricket9/status/753085103019008000

Wonder what happens if you kill one as the other? >:)

Courtesy of @kohquette

how old is she suppose to be? I know people who are 35 who look worse then her

In her 50's I would assume.

I like the look of the character so far: both mechanically and design wise. Now we just need a new map for two.

so it's a fantasy