Overwatch players want Jetpack Cat euthanized as she terrorizes ranked matches

Overwatch players are sick of Jetpack Cat.

After years of begging from the Overwatch community, the Jetpack Cat concept that was revealed in 2017 was added to Overwatch “2” as part of the massive Season 1 overhaul. Along with four other heroes, Jetpack Cat arrived as a support with insane mobility and the ability to carry around other players.

And in true gamer fashion, the Overwatch community wants her gone after just a few days.

Should Jetpack Cat be banned?

For the past few days, Overwatch players have been expressing extreme frustration with Jetpack Cat, calling her “game-breaking” and demanding that Blizzard do something since she gets continuously banned in Ranked matches.

Jetpack Cat is a pretty easy hero to learn due to her low skill ceiling and low focus on aiming. Being able to heal allies or damage enemies with the same key feels pretty mindless to competitive players. That, combined with her insane mobility, makes her quite a nuisance — sort of like a fly buzzing around your ear that you can’t seem to swat due to her small hitboxes.

Meanwhile, Jetpack Cat is flying around the map, pinging the locations of enemies for unfair intel and near impossible to flank.

But perhaps the most egregious part of her kit is her ultimate, allowing Jetpack Cat to instantly kill her target. There is almost no way to escape Jetpack Cat’s grasp — most healing and shields won’t let you loose.

“Jetpack Cat takes Overwatch and turns it into some kind of a RTS/bloons mobile game meme,” ranted one Overwatch player. “The cat is so frustratingly, game-breakingly, fun-ruiningly horrible to play against that I honestly think the only explanation is that this hero was not planned or tested and was rushed out as a part of this update on the demands of some Redditor marketing exec to pander and build hype.”

Jetpack Cat was not tested enough at all

Whether you feel Jetpack Cat is a breath of fresh air, offering a break from generic hot female heroes, or find her to be a game-breaking, sloppy design that ruins the game, one thing is for certain: Blizzard rushed her out.

It truly does feel like Jetpack Cat was part of a Hail Mary from Blizzard as it struggled to remain relevant. It feels like devs saw the popularity of Jeff the Shark in Marvel Rivals and wanted to unleash their own cute little guy. And I honestly respect it. Making massive changes to a shooter is a huge risk and it largely paid off.

However, why wasn’t Jetpack Cat tested? No betas, no trial periods, nothing. In the past, heroes spent a few weeks on Quick Play before getting added to competitive, but Jetpack Cat seemed to bypass this process and arrived right into the ranked game.

As a result, competitive players are banning Jetpack Cat at an alarming rate. You can yell “skill issue” all day, but that doesn’t make Jetpack Cat less annoying to deal with. That doesn’t make Jetpack Cat a better, balanced hero design.

There are rumors going around that Blizzard banned Jetpack Cat from competitive to rework her, but devs haven’t actually confirmed anything. They’re too busy posting Valentine’s Day stuff. And honestly, maybe Overwatch players should spend some time with loved ones rather than rant about this stupid cat.