State of the Agents - September 2021

Hey everyone! Welcome back to another State of the Agents, apologies about the delay on this one...time is weird right now.

JETT

As you can see from Patch Notes 3.06, we believe that Jett brings something very unique to the table, and we want to preserve this space for her on the roster. At pro play/different MMR ranges we’re seeing patterns of play that fall far outside the space we carved for her as a Duelist. Our goal with Jett is an Agent that is used to capitalize on high mechanical skill outputs via precise gameplay. Currently though, we’re seeing the Bladestorm right-click/alt-fire having an outsized effect on rounds without the need for pinpoint execution, for which it should require.

As we also mentioned in the notes, the number of Cloudburst smokes she had was making it easier than intended to bail out of risky situations. Reducing the number of smokes is intended to force Jett to use each smoke sparingly, with more calculation in mind. Ultimately, we believe this change should sharpen her identity. We know for some this is a welcome change, and for others may cause pain—once these changes go out we will keep an eye on them to see if follow up adjustments are needed.

We know there are many angles to consider around Jett, and her current state; once these changes go out we will keep a close eye on her, and evaluate if any additional adjustments are needed.

KAY/O & SKYE

In some ways, even the smallest tweaks can result in big differences when it comes to the impact of flashes. So, as you’ll see in the Patch 3.06 changes, we provided a few light touches on these two Initiators.

The goal here is to increase KAY/O’s viability, and reduce some of the frustrating parts of playing against Skye (like how fast she can capitalize on her flash). If these tweaks are not enough, we’ll move the needle around until they are in a good spot. Promise.

BALANCE OUTLOOK

We just came off the heels of watching Stage 3 Masters (YESSSSSSSSSS IT WAS AWESOME), so now is the time we take to digest all of the playstyles, strats, etc. from the tournament and see what changes could or should be made based off of those high-tier games.

ABILITY EFFICACY EXPLORATION

This note here doesn’t have anything in the immediate future to discuss, but more giving y’all visibility on some ways we are updating our thinking. Currently we are doing some deep dives into ability efficacy.

• This is stuff like once a flash is used, how often do people take an angle?
• If fragile is applied how often does that lead to damage being dealt?

Ultimately this helps us sharpen our thinking around what Agents do currently, to support and strengthen our thinking around future balance/agent/map work.

YORU

We know what we want to do on the design front with Yoru, and we’re in the middle of gathering additional resources needed to support these changes. I know, not the most exciting update, but we wanted to let you know that Yoru isn’t collecting dust in the shop somewhere. Apologies to our Yoru mains, we really appreciate your patience on the delay here.

CTRL+F NEXT AGENT

It’s been a bit since our Robo Boyo KAY/O has been out neutralizing Radiants. While he's been out there adding to our pool of flashes, we've been refining our upcoming Agent.

We took a step back and thought about different ways to provide another Sentinel to the roster. A Sentinel that focuses on mechanical outplays, with an additional focus of gunplay into the mix for an extra flourish. We won’t reveal much more, just know that once you achieve that dream moment, it will be magnifique!