Tsang noted that they gave the character a unique silhouette to stand out from a distance, and they tried a giant two-handed "spray cannon" with a tube connecting it to a large backpack.

[4] As a result, the design team took a step back to consider what type of weapon the character would use and a wider variety of appearances,[4] including a male martial artist with a large left arm, a sleek woman in a bodysuit, and a short green man with a gun and tubes extending into a backpack.

[4] The character development team additionally worked anime references into her design and movement to help give her a more dynamic and distinctive feel amongst the cast.

Electronic equipment is overlayed on her waist, arms, and ankles that have small spikes protruding from them, while a half-circle shaped device rests on the back of her head at ear level.

In particular, her "Oasis" skin represents her time as a geneticist in a scientific community, implementing science themes into the design while also trying to follow the color scheme of the in-game stage with the same name.

When the beret drew some criticism, the Overwatch social media account on Twitter edited various headwear over the image such as a clown wig, bunny ears, and wizard's hat in response to the tweets, asking in a tongue-in-cheek manner if the new look was "better?

Tsang noted the tubes were also modified, with the liquid inside meant to appear akin to lava lamps, and considered it one of his favorite skins to make for her.

First appearing in the 2017 tie-in comic "Masquerade" as an unnamed member of terrorist group Talon's inner council, she was introduced in an update to the game later that year as a playable character.

[12] A scientist from Dublin, Ireland, after being ostracized for her controversial scientific methods which often took significant risks including experimenting upon herself, she was enlisted by the global peace keeping force "Overwatch" for its black ops division, "Blackwatch".

In interviews however Overwatch executive producer Jeff Kaplan has labeled Moira as a "hybrid" character: categorized as a healer, but also able to deal a high amount of damage.

The second, "Biotic Orb", fires one of two types of large sphere projectiles depending on player choice: a yellow one that will heal allies it passes through or by, or a purple one that will harm enemies in the same fashion.

[16] Early in development this move was called "OPAF" (an acronym for "OverPowered As Fuck"),[21] and originally would have both surrounded her a ball of swirling energy while also removing the cooldown period from her activated abilities during its duration.

[23] Upon her unveiling at BlizzCon 2017, Moira was positively received, with Kotaku's Cecilia D'Anastasio noting that she was picked far higher by players over other post-release Overwatch characters.

She elaborated that Moira's gameplay felt "intuitive", and opined that the character "immediately feels like she's meant to be in Overwatch, something other new heroes' designs didn't quite manage.

[30][31][32] Polygon's Cass Marshall described Moira as having a "completely awesome visual design", and further added that while "not perfect", they felt the character was a step in the right direction as "she's sleek, she's decadently evil, and she looks just as dangerous in a lab coat".

[36] Michael Leri attributed this to the fact the character's design did not "subscribe to the shallow and overused extremes of both sides of the gender spectrum", calling it refreshing not only in Overwatch but gaming as a whole and a positive for people who could identify with her.

[29] Mic journalist Tim Mulkerin noted that during her reveal, many people questioned if the character would be transgender or perhaps gender non-conforming, in part due to her appearance in the Masquerade story but also her similarity to Bowie.

However, he added some fans voiced concerns over such a portrayal due to her association with Talon, feeding into the "all-too-common trope of depicting those who exist outside the gender binary as evil, mysterious tricksters" commonly seen in media.

[32] Ana Valens of The Mary Sue described her as "butch, incredibly androgynous, and has that perfect level of queer-coded villainess energy that infiltrated so many of our favorite cartoons as baby gays", further adding that her transhumanism obsession led many to assume she was transgender, or at the very least bisexual, and called her a "sleek addition to the Overwatch universe".