There's one archetype of character in a hero shooter that this game is missing so far, and that's the Soldier 76-like. As in, the extremely simple and noob-friendly "Call Of Duty Man" whose powers are familiar to people who have played more traditional shooters, who also has built-in healing as a hand-holding way to help new players recover from mistakes. Wraith is probably the closest the current roster gets to this and even she's got some weird mechanics to her, plus she's not durable. Having a character like this will be even more important for the game's health than in other games, because the MOBA mechanics make it difficult enough for a novice to get into.
With all this in mind, here's my attempt at making a Soldier 76-like character, one who is easy for a newbie to pick up and play while still retaining a certain niche in the meta that makes them valuable even at the higher skill levels.
The Gurkha
Visuals
In a nutshell, the Gurkhas are badass soldiers from India. In the time this game would have taken place, they looked like this:
So this character probably wouldn't be too different from a typical soldier. Give them just enough visual flair that they won't be confused with Warden at first glance.
Why Gurkhas? Well, they're pretty badass, and they're underrepresented compared to badass soldiers from other countries. I only know about them because of Age of Empires III. They're an unusual enough choice to stand out among other games with generic soldier dudes.
Lore
In our world, over 200 thousand Gurkhas took part in World War I as part of the British Army.
The World Wars did not happen in Deadlock's alternate history, but it does mention "secret occult wars" happening instead. Perhaps our hero is a veteran of one of these? During one harrowing battle, he was possessed by a spirit of war, which is the source of his third and fourth ability. Since the unreleased hero Mirage is also from India, he may have a connection to him as well.
Gameplay
The Gurkha's weapon is a Sten submachine gun, like what the British Army used during World War II. High damage, high accuracy, and iconic. I believe the trademark sideways grip magazine will give The Gurkha a more unique silhouette, since he has to hold it differently from every other gun in the game. He uses the iconic kukri knife for his Heavy Melee animation.
1 - Concussive Blast
Fire a rocket from the barrel underneath your gun. The rocket travels forward in a straight line and explodes when it gets close to an enemy hero, doing light damage and knocking them back.
Upgrades:
1 - Reduce cooldown
2 - Blast interrupts channeling abilities
5 - Blast silences enemies for X seconds
Notes: Simple to aim and understand skillshot that helps keep enemies away from The Gurkha so he can keep holding down LMB on them. Upgrading it to stop channels and silence enemies means less having to worry about enemy abilities a new player won't understand, and it allows him to counter infamous noob-killer Seven.
2 - Hunter's Instinct
Passive: Enemies that you shoot are briefly highlighted, allowing you and your entire team to see them through walls.
Upgrades:
1 - Increase duration of highlight
2 - Highlighted enemies take X% extra damage from your gun
5 - Enemies below X% HP are permanently highlighted
Notes: Giving everyone you shoot a big bright effect visible through anything helps with tracking when aiming. Vision is important in any strategic game, so this effect will allow him to contribute to the team just by shooting people. I haven't decided whether or not it should reveal invisible enemies, but if it did, that would be another class of noob-killing ability that he can counter. Heroes revealed by the 5-cost effect will have a notification on them while revealed that says something like "Revealed By The Ghurka - Heal to Remove!".
3 - Endurance
Passive: X seconds after not taking any damage, you heal X HP/second and gain movement speed.
Upgrades:
1 - More movement speed
2 - Activates X seconds sooner
3 - Healing increased by a percentage of your max HP
Notes: The Gurkha is the only hero to have two passives. Less buttons to remember to press that way. This is a pretty standard self-heal, easy to understand, always useful.
4 - Unleash
For several seconds, your gun has infinite ammo, shoots faster, and your bullets create a shockwave, dealing spirit damage in an area around where they land.
Upgrades:
1 - Longer duration
2 - More damage on shockwave
5 - Reduced cooldown
Notes: A "super mode" ultimate is easy to understand for a beginner: Just turn this on when you're about to have a fight and murder everyone. The shockwave on hit means that The Gurkha doesn't have to be completely accurate to do damage, and infinite ammo means no ammo management for the duration.
With all this in mind, here's my attempt at making a Soldier 76-like character, one who is easy for a newbie to pick up and play while still retaining a certain niche in the meta that makes them valuable even at the higher skill levels.
The Gurkha
Visuals
In a nutshell, the Gurkhas are badass soldiers from India. In the time this game would have taken place, they looked like this:
So this character probably wouldn't be too different from a typical soldier. Give them just enough visual flair that they won't be confused with Warden at first glance.
Why Gurkhas? Well, they're pretty badass, and they're underrepresented compared to badass soldiers from other countries. I only know about them because of Age of Empires III. They're an unusual enough choice to stand out among other games with generic soldier dudes.
Lore
In our world, over 200 thousand Gurkhas took part in World War I as part of the British Army.
The World Wars did not happen in Deadlock's alternate history, but it does mention "secret occult wars" happening instead. Perhaps our hero is a veteran of one of these? During one harrowing battle, he was possessed by a spirit of war, which is the source of his third and fourth ability. Since the unreleased hero Mirage is also from India, he may have a connection to him as well.
Gameplay
The Gurkha's weapon is a Sten submachine gun, like what the British Army used during World War II. High damage, high accuracy, and iconic. I believe the trademark sideways grip magazine will give The Gurkha a more unique silhouette, since he has to hold it differently from every other gun in the game. He uses the iconic kukri knife for his Heavy Melee animation.
1 - Concussive Blast
Fire a rocket from the barrel underneath your gun. The rocket travels forward in a straight line and explodes when it gets close to an enemy hero, doing light damage and knocking them back.
Upgrades:
1 - Reduce cooldown
2 - Blast interrupts channeling abilities
5 - Blast silences enemies for X seconds
Notes: Simple to aim and understand skillshot that helps keep enemies away from The Gurkha so he can keep holding down LMB on them. Upgrading it to stop channels and silence enemies means less having to worry about enemy abilities a new player won't understand, and it allows him to counter infamous noob-killer Seven.
2 - Hunter's Instinct
Passive: Enemies that you shoot are briefly highlighted, allowing you and your entire team to see them through walls.
Upgrades:
1 - Increase duration of highlight
2 - Highlighted enemies take X% extra damage from your gun
5 - Enemies below X% HP are permanently highlighted
Notes: Giving everyone you shoot a big bright effect visible through anything helps with tracking when aiming. Vision is important in any strategic game, so this effect will allow him to contribute to the team just by shooting people. I haven't decided whether or not it should reveal invisible enemies, but if it did, that would be another class of noob-killing ability that he can counter. Heroes revealed by the 5-cost effect will have a notification on them while revealed that says something like "Revealed By The Ghurka - Heal to Remove!".
3 - Endurance
Passive: X seconds after not taking any damage, you heal X HP/second and gain movement speed.
Upgrades:
1 - More movement speed
2 - Activates X seconds sooner
3 - Healing increased by a percentage of your max HP
Notes: The Gurkha is the only hero to have two passives. Less buttons to remember to press that way. This is a pretty standard self-heal, easy to understand, always useful.
4 - Unleash
For several seconds, your gun has infinite ammo, shoots faster, and your bullets create a shockwave, dealing spirit damage in an area around where they land.
Upgrades:
1 - Longer duration
2 - More damage on shockwave
5 - Reduced cooldown
Notes: A "super mode" ultimate is easy to understand for a beginner: Just turn this on when you're about to have a fight and murder everyone. The shockwave on hit means that The Gurkha doesn't have to be completely accurate to do damage, and infinite ammo means no ammo management for the duration.
