To say that Overwatch revolutionized the face of gaming would be an overstatement. However, to say that Overwatch was a culmination of years of great games into one package would be right on the mark. Combining aspects of a battle arena with a first-person shooter, Overwatch entices many to pick it up and give it a try. Plus, the addition of snazzy characters with personality does not hurt either.
Of all the characters (and there are many great ones in Overwatch's roster), Tracer is the one that fans are most familiar with. She has become Overwatch's icon. Similar as to how Pikachu is the face of Pokémon games, Tracer is the face of her game. And I can't honestly picture any other character taking up that mantle. Tracer's extraordinary in-game abilities are unique and intuitive. Playing as her reminds me why multiplayer games can be so much fun. (Pharah is usually my jam, but dang, I just can stay on the ground with her.) Tracer's joyful personality creates an even more gleeful experience when I play as her.
One of the things that makes the characters of Overwatch so brilliant is the time the game developers spent making backstories for them. (If you haven't checked out the lore for Overwatch, you are definitely missing out.) Tracer has her own backstory too, and, as with any fictional origin story, there are some flaws in it. Read on if you want to check out some insane nitpicking on Tracer, her fictional bio, and her gameplay.
25 How Old Is She?
Tracer's abilities, Recall and Blink, rely on the concepts of teleportation and time travel. Her entire back story is taken up with how she had a bad encounter with an exploding teleportation matrix and she almost got lost in space and time.
In order to survive, she has to wear a device that keeps her fixed in time. If the device functioned in that manner, wouldn't she remain the same age for as long as she wore that device? She would never get any older.
24 Survival Of The Timeliest
Tracer's harness is called a chronal accelerator. It is this device which gives Tracer control over time. If she was not wearing it, she would lose the ability to remain steady in space and time.
However, despite this being common knowledge, Tracer has lost the harness a couple times and managed to be brought back. Now, I'm not saying I want Tracer to be lost forever. But consistency in how her condition works would be nice. Is the harness able to come off at all or is it stuck there permanently if she wants to live?
23 Her Favorite Saying
While playing Overwatch as Tracer, she will chirp out a, "Cheers, love! The cavalry's here!" This has become one of her signature lines. As it turns out, the grim engineer of the team, Torbjörn, is the person responsible for giving Tracer that line.
When he was welcoming her onto the team, he mentioned how the cavalry is now here. Tracer must have liked the sound of that so much that she now utters that all the time on the battlefield. Thanks, Torbjörn. Thanks a bunch.
22 Merry Christmas, Tracer
Tracer has a girlfriend named Emily, and in an Overwatch comic that was released, we find out that Tracer forgot to get Emily a holiday gift. The comic shows Tracer zipping from store to store trying to find the right present.
Tracer has time powers. Are you telling me she couldn't go back in time a bit and get a present that way? Many of the stores she visited were just closing. Going back a minute would have allowed her to purchase something. And honestly, she waited a tad too long to buy a present in the first place.
21 Escape The Frost
Mei was created to serve as a counter to characters like Tracer. Her freezing abilities are meant to slow down or halt completely characters that are strongly movement-oriented. However, the encounters between these two characters are always a strange sort of toss-up.
Tracer can always Recall away before she's frozen completely, but there is the possibility that Mei will catch Tracer off guard and land a headshot. But if you step back and look at this situation from a fictional standpoint, you have ice powers versus time powers. There should be no contest.
20 The Irony Of Time Powers
Lag is an issue that affects all video game characters negatively, but I find it to be sweet, sweet irony that it especially affects a character like Tracer.
When you play as Tracer, timing is absolutely vital.
(We would expect nothing less from a character wearing a chronal accelerator.) But lag completely throws that off. It is almost funny to see a character who should have total control of time be derailed by an accidental stuttering of the game's time.
19 Quicker Transportation
Tracer's backstory states that she got her powers when she was test-flying a jet that had a teleportation matrix. The matrix malfunctioned, catching Tracer in the explosion.
I won't even begin to question how an exploding matrix could make someone become lost in time and space. But I will question why in the world someone thought it would be a good idea to have a teleporting jet. A jet is already moving at the speed of sound. Why not make a teleporting chair?
18 Artificial Support
The conflict in the world of Overwatch revolves around the advent of artificial intelligence. the Overwatch team was created to combat this menace of unchecked robots. Tracer was born during the Omnic Crisis, the height of robot hostilities with mankind.
Despite being brought up during this tumultuous time, Tracer apparently harbors no ill-will toward robots. She even attended a speech by Tekhartha Mondatta, a monastic omnic who preached equality and peace.
17 The Blink Charge
As part of gameplay, Tracer has three charges of her Blink ability with which to use. When she Blinks, she teleports rapidly in whichever direction she is traveling. It's a handy way to avoid enemies or to circumvent them.
But given how her powers were bestowed on her by an exploding teleportation matrix, you would think that she wouldn't need to have a charge in order to Blink. You would think that she could do it naturally. This is where necessary gameplay functions mess with a credible story.
16 Beware Cliff Edge
Sometimes, it is player agency that messes with a game's fiction. As a character, Tracer is known for having precise control over her abilities when she uses them in combat. When players take control of her, events can take a turn for the imprecise.
If Tracer were in total control of her actions, she would never Blink herself off of a map. Of course, without those little mistakes, Overwatch would not be as fun a game as it is. In fact, it wouldn't even be a game if Tracer had control. So own those mistakes with pride.
15 Why Was Tracer Nerfed?
During Tracer's development, adjustments were made to her character in order to make her a character that would fit well with the others. One of the actions taken towards her character was a decreasing of her health pool.
Originally, Tracer was a beefier character in terms of health.
Nowadays, if she takes a hit, it matters so much more because of how little health she has. This decrease makes Tracer a lighter, get-in-and-get-out kind of character, but it does not quite match up with the attitude she displays of approaching situations headfirst, guns blazing.
14 Tracer's Condition
After Tracer's accident in the jet, she was not seen or heard from for several years. That entire time was spent flitting in and out of time and space. When she was finally located by the Overwatch team, they labeled her condition; Tracer suffers from chronal disassociation.
Taking these words apart shows that Tracer suffers from a disconnection from time itself. With such a term for her affliction, it makes me wonder if there are others who suffer through the same thing. Maybe now they'll stop messing with teleporting jets.
13 Relationship Blues
Tracer's relationship with Emily has brought the couple under fire. It first appeared in the Overwatch comic "Reflections." It was the first time that Tracer had been confirmed as a member of the LGBTQ community.
As is unfortunately expected in cases such as these, there has been some vocal backlash. Luckily, there has also been vocal support for Tracer's relationship with her girlfriend Emily. Let's hope that prejudices don't plague the Overwatch community forever.
12 Dreaming Of Reality
When Tracer was lost in time, she is quoted as saying that she had visions of being a kitchen maid in a large country house. Fanboy fantasies aside, many believe this to be a reference to Tracer's voice actress, Cara Theobold.
In one of Theobold's previous roles, she played a kitchen maid on the television show Downton Abbey. It's strange to imagine that Tracer kind of pulled a Deadpool and broke the fourth wall. I guess floating around in space-time allowed her to see her own voice actress.
11 The Lost Shoulder Pose
As a reward to triumphant players, Overwatch allows them to select a victory pose for their characters to assume. One of Tracer's poses caused a bit of a controversy. Her Over the Shoulder pose was considered too provocative and out-of-character for Tracer.
Complaints reached a high enough pitch that her Over the Shoulder pose was altered. Nonsensically, the changed pose is similar to the old one except that in the new one, Tracer has lifted one leg in the air.
10 The Perfect Distraction
Perhaps it's just my opinion, but I feel as if Tracer is best used as a quick distraction. Her low health pool means that straight-up offense is off of the agenda, and her Recall and Blink abilities make it perfect for her to get into and out of hairy situations quickly.
It's a shame that the best way to play her runs counter to her demeanor.
Tracer is not exactly the cavalry if she has to bail with things get dicey. She's more like the scouting party, not the vanguard.
9 A Bubble In Time
The harness that Winston made for Tracer, her chronal accelerator, lets her control a time bubble around her. She has complete control over the rate of time within this area. How does that work exactly? I can swallow the fact that the harness serves as an anchor for Tracer to remain in the present.
But how does Tracer gain control over time?
She never seems to press a button or pull a lever when she Recalls. She just does it. So is the ability to go back in time just innately within her?
8 No Lasting Trauma
When Tracer's jet accident occurred, she was a part of Overwatch. She was testing the jet for an Overwatch flight program. The way she describes the sensation of "existence" after the jet accident is spooky. I would have thoroughly understood if she had bowed out of being a part of the Overwatch team ever again.
But she stuck with it. Despite the harrowing experience of her accident, Tracer was willing to stay in the team. It makes no sense, but it sure makes her a hero.
7 A Peppy Spirit Through It All
Tracer is one of the most gleeful video game characters I have ever had the pleasure to play as. There is no bringing down her gung-ho attitude. It is actually one of the appeals of playing as her. Color me bored, but I'm a tad tired of playing the grim hero or tough sniper.
However, part of what is so strange about Tracer is how giddy she can be in the face of peril and destruction. Her foes could be perishing all around her and she's as joyful as they come.
6 An Unbalanced Character
In Blizzard forums, the argument rages on about whether or not Tracer is an unbalanced character. To be an unbalanced character, Tracer would have to be immensely overpowered or immensely underpowered. It's like a seesaw of abilities that game developers have to keep in mind.
To the layman, it might make no sense. But to avid Overwatch players who play the game as ardently as I breathe oxygen, every tiny issue with a character matters.