#practice range

A lot of people automatically assume that Mercy’s “base of operations” represents where she worked for Overwatch.  This is not true.  For almost all of the Hero Profiles, “base of operations” represents where the character is currently.  When a hero does NOT currently live/work there, the profile says “(formerly)”.

For example, Zenyatta’s profile lists the Shambali Monastery, but also says (formerly).  Interestingly, Genji’s does not, which is indicated by his room in the Village map.  As another contrast, Brigitte’s says: “Gothenburg, Sweden (formerly)” - this is because she’s currently traveling with Reinhardt.

It is certainly possible that the “Swiss Base” was located in Zurich.

But I have defended - and will continue to defend - that the “Swiss Base” was located near the real world United Nations regional headquarters in Geneva:

Though this map is very small, the dot of an “active investigation” on Jack’s situation display appears closer to the French border than Zurich. 

(Before people ask, no, it is not referencing Chateau Guillard.  Widowmaker did not live at the estate, she was a ballet dancer in Paris.  In fact, she did not purchase the estate until “very recently” (post-Recall, likely post-“Masquerade”).  Chateau Guillard has one of the missing Aphrodite statues from Ilios as well, making it mostly contemporary in time with Ilios, Rialto (post-Masquerade), Petra (the map), and Ayutthaya).

As another intriguing detail:

Between the open beta period and the final live release of Overwatch, the developers specifically changes the environment of the Practice Range. During the beta period, it used environmental assets found in Watchpoint: Gibraltar, including depicting what appears to have been an open sea or open ocean.

The current practice range is now on a land-locked, semi-frozen lake surrounded by high mountains.

The practice range currently has Winston’s log in set up on the “active” PCs in the Hero selection room.  The Hero selection room also appears to be in a state of semi-disarray, and has a wide-variety of “official” Overwatch documents scattered on the ground:

The practice range also has what might be the most obscure little “environmental story-telling detail” in the entire game:

Someone has brought what appears to be several bottles of hard alcohol - maybe whiskey - and a magazine about current events to the very top of the left-most tower.

...I’m gonna take an educated guess and say it’s NOT Winston or Tracer.

It IS the exact same “bottle of whiskey” and exact same magazine that can be found in Soldier: 76′s room in Necropolis:

Closer shot:

...Interesting.

As an aside, the practice range is - as far as I know/am aware of - the only map with a “weight room.”  And Soldier: 76 somehow has a dumbbell with him in the Necropolis of Giza, of all places.  

As part of his entire “renegade vigilante” backstory, Soldier: 76 is also actively raiding old Watchpoints for supplies - he even took his new Heavy Pulse Rifle from Watchpoint: Grand Mesa.

Soldier: 76 has not joined Recalled Overwatch.  In fact, he actively thinks the entire concept is a bad one, and expresses this in his interactions with Winston and in his voicelines on Watchpoint: Gibraltar.

What exactly is he doing in “the practice range” of an unknown Watchpoint while possibly getting drunk (or attempting to do so) as he reads about the current state of global affairs?

And lastly - whether it is simple oversight from when the beta practice range was part of the Watchpoint: Gibraltar map or not - all the boxes and crates are labled:

WP-G.

A lot of details points to Jack entering whatever Watchpoint the practice range is set in, possibly getting full-on drunk as he reads about how crime is getting worse and his former agents are being targeted by Talon and governments alike, and then taking a ton of supplies from the remains of the base.

The Soldier: 76 Origin video shows what appears to be the complete destruction of the main part of the headquarters, but obviously, some buildings and other parts are still standing in the background.  If the practice range IS part of the base, then it may have been sheltered from total destruction by being built into the side of a mountain.  Granted, the video itself was made in 2015, and likely existed before the developers fully conceived of the practice range itself.  The final “layout” of the Swiss Base might be completely different at this point.

While the practice range is obviously set at or around Recall, it’s interesting that the emphasis is on how cold and frozen it is, especially when it is contrasted with the scenes from Uprising, where it is clearly warmer, possibly in the springtime (wherever it is set).

There is a time-span between Ana’s “death” in “Legacy” and the explosion of the Swiss Base where we know effectively nothing about what was occurring inside Overwatch.  We don’t even know if Genji and McCree left before or after Ana’s “death”, nor do we know when Reinhardt was pressured into retiring (possibly as a consequence of his leadership during Uprising).  We also don’t know when exactly Akande’s arrest occurs, but it is before Genji leaves (but possibly after Reinhardt retires, since Winston is on the Strike Team).

I continue to hope that an eventual Archives mission will be a co-op mode between Jack and Gabriel as they attempt to flee before the Swiss Base explodes.

Asymmetric gameplay has actually been experimented with by Blizzard in the Yeti Hunt mode and the different Deathmatch modes: it would be relatively interesting to have a few small teams of “allies” (e.g. Jack and Gabriel (??) vs Talon agents (??)) attempting to either smuggle the bomb in (Talon side) or attempting to get out (Jack and Gabriel).  A major constraint to this concept is that if it occurs inside the Watchpoint, it would be very “linear” in physicality, which is something Blizzard disliked about Uprising.