If there's no new patches before 2/2/2 hits Ima be salty because if they just use the role queue as a way to hide the balance issues with the heroes that will not go over well.
There's not really much point to dropping a big patch before role queue, because there's no way to predict what impact a change as big as role queue is going to have on a large scale. Like they could make a bunch of changes, only to immediately discover that 2-2-2 breaks the character in some unexpected way because of those changes.
It would be like them making major changes to characters right before instituting the 1-character limit. It's such a big change, you just need to see how things shake out first (other than a couple characters that could probably use work no matter what, like maybe reigning in Hanzo a little bit at high tiers).
Also, if role lock does "hide" the balance issues, as in they're no longer noticeable issues, that kind of solves the problem, doesn't it?
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
I meant hide the issues as in Blizzard just brushing them off as teamwork issues because hey, at least it's not goats or 4 DPS, right?
Like, I still think you need to do something with Hamzo right now. And Bastion. And Sombra. And Orisa, regardless of 2/2/2.
The inability to flex outside of a role mid-game is gonna suck.
And. It just flex outside your role but flex to the hybrids. I'm not sure it's impossible for Blizzard to maintain the spirit of awesome hybrids like Hog and Ham, but I'm worried that homogenising them will be the easiest path to 'balance'. And if we agree that a GOOD reason for 2/2/2 is the ease of balance, well, why stop there?
The thing is, my three mains and my fave tanks are all hybrids: Hog, Ham and Orisa. They bring damage and kill potential in ways that are borderline dps. It's not that I have never mained the other tanks and don't want to be a good little indian. It's just that, as an example of why I love the hybrids, when my two (soon to be forced) dps lock in Widow/Genji then you have no barrier break whatsoever.
And SURE I'm onboard with trying to make the comp work as intended. I love being a cog in a well-oiled machine! But when there's another cog that wants to show off and do their own thing like make sick flanking plays - like a Reaper who doesn't see or care that all of our barrier break is attached to his shotguns, well...
I'm not gonna spit the dummy. I just want the option to fix the problem. And all of the best solutions to inappropriate dps picks and/or plays - at least the ones within the tank role - are all of the heroes that will be nerfed or at the very least changed come 2/2/2.
And those matches where I know where we could have win if our Reaper just walked forwards with the rest of us? Or if the Widow just switched to something useful? Those are the matches that make me switch the console off and play something else. I genrrally deal with the problem by picking the heroes that best help with that. But if those heroes are sacrificed at the altar of 2/2/2, then I'm done with this game for good.
The inability to flex outside of a role mid-game is gonna suck.
And. It just flex outside your role but flex to the hybrids. I'm not sure it's impossible for Blizzard to maintain the spirit of awesome hybrids like Hog and Ham, but I'm worried that homogenising them will be the easiest path to 'balance'. And if we agree that a GOOD reason for 2/2/2 is the ease of balance, well, why stop there?
The thing is, my three mains and my fave tanks are all hybrids: Hog, Ham and Orisa. They bring damage and kill potential in ways that are borderline dps. It's not that I have never mained the other tanks and don't want to be a good little indian. It's just that, as an example of why I love the hybrids, when my two (soon to be forced) dps lock in Widow/Genji then you have no barrier break whatsoever.
And SURE I'm onboard with trying to make the comp work as intended. I love being a cog in a well-oiled machine! But when there's another cog that wants to show off and do their own thing like make sick flanking plays - like a Reaper who doesn't see or care that all of our barrier break is attached to his shotguns, well...
I'm not gonna spit the dummy. I just want the option to fix the problem. And all of the best solutions to inappropriate dps picks and/or plays - at least the ones within the tank role - are all of the heroes that will be nerfed or at the very least changed come 2/2/2.
And those matches where I know where we could have win if our Reaper just walked forwards with the rest of us? Or if the Widow just switched to something useful? Those are the matches that make me switch the console off and play something else. I genrrally deal with the problem by picking the heroes that best help with that. But if those heroes are sacrificed at the altar of 2/2/2, then I'm done with this game for good.
Roadhog is the only one of those I'd call a hybrid. Orisa is a proper anchor tank and Hammond's a proper dive tank. Your mains will be fine. Especially Orisa with the (relatively) recent rise of bunker.
The only hero I think will really suffer from 2-2-2 is Brig and that's just because they've nerfed the hell out of her in their efforts to break GOATs. Now they'll be able to bring her up some so she's a reasonable pick as one of two supports.
The inability to flex outside of a role mid-game is gonna suck.
And. It just flex outside your role but flex to the hybrids. I'm not sure it's impossible for Blizzard to maintain the spirit of awesome hybrids like Hog and Ham, but I'm worried that homogenising them will be the easiest path to 'balance'. And if we agree that a GOOD reason for 2/2/2 is the ease of balance, well, why stop there?
The thing is, my three mains and my fave tanks are all hybrids: Hog, Ham and Orisa. They bring damage and kill potential in ways that are borderline dps. It's not that I have never mained the other tanks and don't want to be a good little indian. It's just that, as an example of why I love the hybrids, when my two (soon to be forced) dps lock in Widow/Genji then you have no barrier break whatsoever.
And SURE I'm onboard with trying to make the comp work as intended. I love being a cog in a well-oiled machine! But when there's another cog that wants to show off and do their own thing like make sick flanking plays - like a Reaper who doesn't see or care that all of our barrier break is attached to his shotguns, well...
I'm not gonna spit the dummy. I just want the option to fix the problem. And all of the best solutions to inappropriate dps picks and/or plays - at least the ones within the tank role - are all of the heroes that will be nerfed or at the very least changed come 2/2/2.
And those matches where I know where we could have win if our Reaper just walked forwards with the rest of us? Or if the Widow just switched to something useful? Those are the matches that make me switch the console off and play something else. I genrrally deal with the problem by picking the heroes that best help with that. But if those heroes are sacrificed at the altar of 2/2/2, then I'm done with this game for good.
Roadhog is the only one of those I'd call a hybrid. Orisa is a proper anchor tank and Hammond's a proper dive tank. Your mains will be fine. Especially Orisa with the (relatively) recent rise of bunker.
The only hero I think will really suffer from 2-2-2 is Brig and that's just because they've nerfed the hell out of her in their efforts to break GOATs. Now they'll be able to bring her up some so she's a reasonable pick as one of two supports.
Orisa is the main tank with the highest dps, and can help with barrier break in a way no other main tank can. You can often pick her in pub games in place of a Rein when you need more barrier break. Which in the world before Orisa was almost exclusively the job of dps. So she's a main tank that can take on a dps responsibility that no previous main tank could do. She also has a higher solo kill potential on heroes beyond kissing range, which is something Winston COULD do, but it's still more a dps job. We can go back and forth about her exact classiication, but within solo queue her strengths make her very good at picking up the slack of a poor dps player or two. That makes her a hybrid.
Besides being a main tank doesn't make it impossible to have dps or supoor-like qualities, just like Hog can be an off tank and a stealth dps AND lighten the load on your healers.
Hammond is much more obviously a hybrid than Orisa. He's such a hybrid that the community has taken over a year to even agree what kind of tank he is.
Though I'll admit that when I started hybrid I might mean something like "oddities" or "weirdos".
Anywho, I could be wrong. We'll get to find out with the first few patches under 2/2/2.
I think Orisa is just the anti-Rein stationary anchor. Rein's shield is way better but Orisa can melt his shield pretty good and force him to try to melee her.
She's got halt to stop his advance and that and Barrier both screw with shatter, and she's got the one of the only 'Haha you can't charge me' abilities in the game.
What's Rein got? A far more dynamic barrier and a way, way better ult.
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
Playing Brig in 2-2-2 requires your team to be very aggressive. If you do that thing where your team sits in chokes all day and trades shields then you're going to lose to attrition from lack of sustained healing.
At least at the highest levels/pro play, I'm expecting to see Brig/Ana as a dedicated anti-dive support duo. Especially if paired with a Hog off-tank and/or any number of self-sustaining DPS, that would provide more than enough healing and a good amount of peel to keep Ana safe.
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
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BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
edited July 2019
Forced 2-2-2 while going a long way to improve the general consistency of competitive, is basically Blizzard admitting defeat that they can't organically resolve goats being noticeably stronger than other compositions through current game balance so they have to help enforce arbitrary rulesets
This is all dependent on whether or not this is actually a sure thing, of course, but I find it funny that Overwatch League is somehow the straw that breaks the camel's back and I imagine if they had never invested in ~ e-sports money ~ and were afraid of losing viewers to the homogeneity they probably wouldn't have given a shit
Forced 2-2-2 is blizzard's equivalent of "if you kids can't get along then i'll make you get along."
Really the people this would hurt the most are pre-mades that actively already got along in the current setup, and the people that can come together and work as a team without being forced to do things. A relative minority i'm sure.
But as long as it stays out of QP i have no strong feelings either way with it.
McMoogle on
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
so long as junkrat is correctly tagged as all 3 roles the system will be fine
Forced 2-2-2 while going a long way to improve the general consistency of competitive, is basically Blizzard admitting defeat that they can't organically resolve goats being noticeably stronger than other compositions through current game balance so they have to help enforce arbitrary rulesets
This is all dependent on whether or not this is actually a sure thing, of course, but I find it funny that Overwatch League is somehow the straw that breaks the camel's back and I imagine if they had never invested in ~ e-sports money ~ and were afraid of losing viewers to the homogeneity they probably wouldn't have given a shit
The funny thing is the most recent OWL stage was won by a team running 2-2-2 and triple DPS. They rolled through all the best GOATs teams.
A new Overwatch patch is currently in development and now available for testing! To share your feedback or report and issue, please post in the PTR Feedback or PTR Bug Report forums.
Please note that the below patch notes only include changes currently available for testing on the PTR. While many of these changes will also be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in a future patch, the PTR is PC-only and only reflects changes coming specifically to that platform.
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
New Feature: Role Queue
Role Queue is an update to Overwatch’s matchmaking and queuing system that gives players the power to choose which role they play in their games. In Competitive Play and Quick Play, players choose their role before finding a game. The matchmaking system will create a team that is comprised of two tanks, two supports, and two damage heroes. Upon entering the match, players select desired heroes to play within their chosen roles. At the end of a match, players will return to the main menu and select their role before queuing into the next game. For more information about Role Queue, read the detailed blog post 57.
For the time being, we’ve only enabled Competitive Play for 1.39 PTR. Stay tuned for updates.
HERO UPDATES
General
Global ultimate cost increased 12%
Slowing Effects: Instead of stacking together, friendly and enemy slowing effects are now separate and movement speed will be reduced by whichever is slower.
Developer Comment: Ultimates are coming up too often considering how high impact they are. We are reducing how quickly they are built so less fights will be determined by ultimate usage. The slows change will mostly impact heroes which can slow themselves, such as Widowmaker while scoping, or Reinhardt while holding his shield. In these cases, enemy slows such as Symmetra turrets or Mei’s freeze will not hinder these heroes unless they stop slowing themselves or the enemy slow value passes their own slow value.
Ashe
Reload Time per round decreased from 0.3 seconds to 0.25
Developer Comment: Ashe’s time to fully reload felt overly restrictive. However, a long reload time is an intended downside to balance out the power of her gun so we want to be careful not to eliminate that completely.
Brigitte
Inspire (Passive)
Healing amount increased from 100 to 130
Self-healing from Inspire is now halved
Repair Pack
Now has 3 charges
Healing amount changed from 150 to 120
Now heals over 2 seconds instead of instantly
If you throw multiple packs at the same person, the current duration will be extended by 2 seconds
Whip Shot
Out-going velocity increased from 60 to 80
Retracting time reduced from 0.6 seconds to 0.3
Barrier Shield
Barrier health reduced from 500 to 200
Shield Bash
Stun duration reduced from 0.9 seconds to 0.75
Rally
Ultimate cost increased 10%
Doomfist
Melee
Quick melee no longer pauses ammo reload.
Hanzo
Storm Arrows
Storm Arrows ammo reduced from 6 to 5
Developer Comment: The overall damage output of Storm Arrows was too high so we’re reducing the maximum number of shots.
Moira
Fade
Can now be used while stunned.
Developer Comment: Moira has always been good at healing and dealing damage, but she offers very little utility compared to the other healers. This change reinforces her evasive nature and allows her potentially save her team from area stuns such as Reinhardt’s Earthshatter.
Orisa
Protective Barrier
Cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 9
Developer Comment: A common point of feedback for playing against Orisa was that it doesn’t feel useful to shoot the barrier as it comes back so quickly. Increasing the cooldown of Protective Barrier will make destroying it more rewarding.
Reinhardt
New Passive: “Steadfast”
Reduces knock back effects by 30%
Developer Comment: As a frontline, melee-range tank Reinhardt was more adversely affected by knock back abilities than most heroes. To reduce some of this frustration and enable Reinhardt to more easily fulfill his role, he is now more resistant to being knocked back.
Sombra
Hack
Duration on enemy players reduced from 6 seconds to 5
EMP
Activation time increased from 0.5 seconds to 0.65
Developer Comment: Hack is a potent disable with a long duration. Reducing the duration slightly will make it feel less oppressive as the hacked player without reducing its effectiveness too greatly. The increased cast time on EMP allows for more time to react and opens up more counterplay for the opposing team.
Symmetra
Teleporter
Now lasts an infinite duration until destroyed
Players can destroy their Teleporter with the ability 2 input
Cooldown now starts when Teleporter is destroyed
Cooldown increased from 12 seconds to 15
Maximum range increased from 25 meters to 30
Teleporter breaks if the entrance is more than 40 meters from the exit.
Teleport re-use time increased from 1 second to 1.5
Developer Comment: Symmetra’s Teleporter is an interesting tool but often felt too restricting to use. Making the Teleporter last forever opens up new opportunities for how Symmetra is used in various maps and group compositions.
Developer Comment: Pulse Bomb was reduced in power some time ago to make sure it was not overly punishing to Tanks, which are much easier to stick the bomb to. While this is still a goal, we’re restoring some of this lost power to help deal with other hefty targets such as Bastion, or enemies with bonus armor from Brigitte.
Wrecking Ball
Minefield
Increased projectile speed from 10 to 13, causing the mines to spread out more. This makes it easier to create a wider minefield, especially from the high in the air.
Reduced the activation time from 0.25 seconds to 0.1
Developer Comment: Wrecking Ball has a very active playstyle, but often it felt difficult to make good use out of his ultimate. This change allows him to spread out his Minefield further if he wants, while still allowing for a tighter cluster if he activates it near the ground.
BUG FIXES
General
Subtitles: Subtitles now display when spectating while waiting to respawn.
Fixed a bug that could cause damage to not be dealt if a damage dealing ability was rapidly gaining/losing targets, like a Zarya trying to track a fast moving hero.
Charging heroes (Reinhardt, Doomfist, Brigitte) should more consistently knock each other down when colliding.
Some abilities will now appear smoother during slowed down time (end of round or custom game), notably Dragon Strike and Roadhog Hook
Heroes
Doomfist
Improved ability for Doomfist to get through doorways while using Rocket Punch and clipping the corner.
Rocket Punch will now consistently destroy translocator and not be stopped by it, similar to Symmetra turrets.
Targets hit by Rocket Punch will now go directly backwards, instead of maintaining any lateral momentum they had.
Targets that are stun immune but not knockback immune (Zarya’s Particle Barrier, Zen during Transcendence ) are no longer able to affect knockback trajectory.
Fixed a bug where if Doomfist used Meteor Strike while crouched he would move slowly for the entirely of the ultimate.
Fixed a bug where Doomfist would move backwards slightly slower during Meteor Strike
D.Va
Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s Defense Matrix from pointing down when D.Va was aiming downward while moving.
Lucio
Fixed some false positives with Lucio’s animation land prediction when wallriding.
Zarya
Fixed a bug that caused Zarya’s weapon and arm to animate oddly during her emotes when viewed in third person.
Good stuff in there to get a least some of the obvious needed nerfs/buffs but not sure about those Brig changes. Almost feels like a nerf, instant 150hp heal was easily the strongest part of her kit and putting as a HoT really kneecaps that while nerfing all of her sustain without giving her her old damage back.
My goodness this looks good. The only change I think is odd is Moira being able to fade out of stuns. Doesn't say sleep so it seems a bit inconsistent but we'll see how it shakes out.
My goodness this looks good. The only change I think is odd is Moira being able to fade out of stuns. Doesn't say sleep so it seems a bit inconsistent but we'll see how it shakes out.
I like the way Jeff explained it all actually. Damn his smooth vibe.
I wonder how queuing with a group works now?
Probably role selection after grouping. So if you have 4 and pick two DPS, Support, and Tank, The game will find you a tank and support to fill out the roster.
Actually I interpreted the patch notes as the role selection acting as a sort of "ready" check. So you group up, select your mode, then everyone picks their role, and then it enters the queue.
Really don't know about that 200 hp shield from the 500 hp it had.
Interesting they're going to have three separate rankings, one for each queue.
I'll have to play it to know for sure, but i feel like these are bad changes. The real problem with Brig is she's competing for her spot with Lucio and Zen who are pretty much the best characters in the game full stop much less in their role. It looks like she heals a bit better but like... so? Off-support does way more than heal, and I'm not really sure what she does beyond that unless you bring back shield bash damage.
K the balance changes are actually pretty nice all-around. I'm not sure Brig needs to be made so much of a primary healer with the multiple armor packs, and I'm not sure that buff to Rein is enough, BUTTTTTT
I guaran-fucking-tee that single-role players like me will get way less SR per season now
I get to look forward to longer cue times
Not pleased, but I'm willing to see where this goes.
Chance got his wish, now I'm back to being Tracist
It's nice to see the change, but let's be straight - 350 damage on an ability that's pretty much expressly for a single target is hardly a serious threat in a game with Barrage, High Noon, Whole Hog, Riptire, Tac Visor, Spirit Dragon, Dragon Blade, Death Blossom, Molten Core, Configuration: Tank, Self Destruct, hamster Mines and B.O.B.
350 damage via a skillshot that's almost-impossible to actually execute properly? C'mon. Which reminds me, why does Self Destruct only do 6,000 damage to a team?
My goodness this looks good. The only change I think is odd is Moira being able to fade out of stuns. Doesn't say sleep so it seems a bit inconsistent but we'll see how it shakes out.
Moira and Reaper being able to escape Grav is already bullshit - this is just yet further dumbness. They could just as easily write that "Tracer has always been good at dealing damage, but she offers very little utility compared to the other damage dealers. This change reinforces her evasive nature..."
WTF. The whole fucking point of a stun ability on Brig, McCree and Doom is that it prevents folks like Genji, Tracer, Moira and Sombra from making their quick getaways. But Moira just gets a get-out-of-jail free card because "allows her potentially save her team from area stuns such as Reinhardt’s Earthshatter." First of all how is her being able to get out of it going to stop her team from being hit by it, and second she's allowed to get out because she can then heal peeps? So could every other support, but nobody's giving them a get-out-of-Grav-free card.
First, I like the balance pass in general but hate how they're implementing it and how it will interact with comp rewards. This basically is a "fuck you, Tracer main" patch, aside from the Pulse buff.
50 more damage on Pulse Bomb. It isn't quite where it was, but at least it'll kill Bastion now.
Second, no it won't.
Bastion has 300HP, 100 of it armor with a 20% damage reduction in turret mode.
Pulse Bomb at 350 damage x0.8 = 280 damage (minus I think 3 for armor now?), so Bastion continues to require the ult and a good clip to prevent him or a teammate healing him through the stick.
I mean, 350 is bigger than 300. There's no contesting that, and Tracer's ultimate now definitely does slightly more damage than a single headshot from a Widowmaker.
Yippie.
I'm sorry, I'm in a shitty, shitty mood. Overall this news is just another little punch to the jewels in what was already a week of near-constant and traumatizing nutshots in my Real Life.
Hang on I saw some awesome fanart today that'll cheer this post up:
Really don't know about that 200 hp shield from the 500 hp it had.
Interesting they're going to have three separate rankings, one for each queue.
I actually agree, 200 is way too low. I can one-clip a 200HP shield. This plus the reduction in her Inspire self-healing will absolutely destroy a Brig's ability to deal with me.
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
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KwoaruConfident SmirkFlawless Golden PecsRegistered Userregular
Chance will like those patch notes. 50 more damage on Pulse Bomb. It isn't quite where it was, but at least it'll kill Bastion now.
Tracer buffs == bad patch
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited July 2019
They'd have to remove all of Bridget's buffs if they kept her shield at 500 HP, so this is good to at least see, because I was reading the patch notes and seeing all the Bridget buffs first just going "oh fuck you, Blizzard." I think the three pack of burst heal is incredibly stupid but it wouldn't be a Bridget patch without the PTR people saying "this is crazy" and Blizzard not listening.
That Moira buff is dumb, stun is stun, I'm sorry you don't get to be special.
Thankfully that ult build nerf across the game should be better for stopping last second pushes and your team getting the yips.
edit: I would like to see a rep system incorporated into DPS queue times. Or something along the lines of if I play tank and healer 10 games in a row, can I at least get a quick game if I go DPS. Overwatch favor bank plz.
edit edit: oh, QP is getting queue too? That's stupid and will disappear pretty quick. edit: oh QP classic in arcade.
Chance will like those patch notes. 50 more damage on Pulse Bomb. It isn't quite where it was, but at least it'll kill Bastion now.
Tracer buffs == bad patch
Yeah but kind of a Brig nerf so = = good patch.
Also just Repair Pack healing over 2 seconds instead of instantly is going to be huuuuge. I am gonna' kill so many people who've been repair-packed it's gonna' be just silly. That 2 seconds is a massive amount of time.
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
Posts
There's not really much point to dropping a big patch before role queue, because there's no way to predict what impact a change as big as role queue is going to have on a large scale. Like they could make a bunch of changes, only to immediately discover that 2-2-2 breaks the character in some unexpected way because of those changes.
It would be like them making major changes to characters right before instituting the 1-character limit. It's such a big change, you just need to see how things shake out first (other than a couple characters that could probably use work no matter what, like maybe reigning in Hanzo a little bit at high tiers).
Also, if role lock does "hide" the balance issues, as in they're no longer noticeable issues, that kind of solves the problem, doesn't it?
Like, I still think you need to do something with Hamzo right now. And Bastion. And Sombra. And Orisa, regardless of 2/2/2.
And. It just flex outside your role but flex to the hybrids. I'm not sure it's impossible for Blizzard to maintain the spirit of awesome hybrids like Hog and Ham, but I'm worried that homogenising them will be the easiest path to 'balance'. And if we agree that a GOOD reason for 2/2/2 is the ease of balance, well, why stop there?
The thing is, my three mains and my fave tanks are all hybrids: Hog, Ham and Orisa. They bring damage and kill potential in ways that are borderline dps. It's not that I have never mained the other tanks and don't want to be a good little indian. It's just that, as an example of why I love the hybrids, when my two (soon to be forced) dps lock in Widow/Genji then you have no barrier break whatsoever.
And SURE I'm onboard with trying to make the comp work as intended. I love being a cog in a well-oiled machine! But when there's another cog that wants to show off and do their own thing like make sick flanking plays - like a Reaper who doesn't see or care that all of our barrier break is attached to his shotguns, well...
I'm not gonna spit the dummy. I just want the option to fix the problem. And all of the best solutions to inappropriate dps picks and/or plays - at least the ones within the tank role - are all of the heroes that will be nerfed or at the very least changed come 2/2/2.
And those matches where I know where we could have win if our Reaper just walked forwards with the rest of us? Or if the Widow just switched to something useful? Those are the matches that make me switch the console off and play something else. I genrrally deal with the problem by picking the heroes that best help with that. But if those heroes are sacrificed at the altar of 2/2/2, then I'm done with this game for good.
hAmmONd IsnT A mAin TAnk
Roadhog is the only one of those I'd call a hybrid. Orisa is a proper anchor tank and Hammond's a proper dive tank. Your mains will be fine. Especially Orisa with the (relatively) recent rise of bunker.
The only hero I think will really suffer from 2-2-2 is Brig and that's just because they've nerfed the hell out of her in their efforts to break GOATs. Now they'll be able to bring her up some so she's a reasonable pick as one of two supports.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Orisa is the main tank with the highest dps, and can help with barrier break in a way no other main tank can. You can often pick her in pub games in place of a Rein when you need more barrier break. Which in the world before Orisa was almost exclusively the job of dps. So she's a main tank that can take on a dps responsibility that no previous main tank could do. She also has a higher solo kill potential on heroes beyond kissing range, which is something Winston COULD do, but it's still more a dps job. We can go back and forth about her exact classiication, but within solo queue her strengths make her very good at picking up the slack of a poor dps player or two. That makes her a hybrid.
Besides being a main tank doesn't make it impossible to have dps or supoor-like qualities, just like Hog can be an off tank and a stealth dps AND lighten the load on your healers.
Hammond is much more obviously a hybrid than Orisa. He's such a hybrid that the community has taken over a year to even agree what kind of tank he is.
Though I'll admit that when I started hybrid I might mean something like "oddities" or "weirdos".
Anywho, I could be wrong. We'll get to find out with the first few patches under 2/2/2.
hAmmONd IsnT A mAin TAnk
She's got halt to stop his advance and that and Barrier both screw with shatter, and she's got the one of the only 'Haha you can't charge me' abilities in the game.
What's Rein got? A far more dynamic barrier and a way, way better ult.
https://www.eurogamer.net/amp/2019-07-18-overwatch-is-officially-putting-an-end-to-the-goats-meta?
But... why?
Pagentry!
"I'd like to play Soldier."
"You may not play Soldier. You may have 2 healers, only 1 of which may be a primary healer and only 1 of which may be a secondary healer."
"I like having Brig and Lucio..."
"You may not have Brig and Lucio. You may have 2 tanks, but only 1 may wield a barrier."
"Do Hammon's shields and Zarya's bubbles count?"
"YES."
This is all dependent on whether or not this is actually a sure thing, of course, but I find it funny that Overwatch League is somehow the straw that breaks the camel's back and I imagine if they had never invested in ~ e-sports money ~ and were afraid of losing viewers to the homogeneity they probably wouldn't have given a shit
Really the people this would hurt the most are pre-mades that actively already got along in the current setup, and the people that can come together and work as a team without being forced to do things. A relative minority i'm sure.
But as long as it stays out of QP i have no strong feelings either way with it.
The funny thing is the most recent OWL stage was won by a team running 2-2-2 and triple DPS. They rolled through all the best GOATs teams.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Seagull is indeed talking to Jeff now
Chance got his wish, now I'm back to being Tracist
A new Overwatch patch is currently in development and now available for testing! To share your feedback or report and issue, please post in the PTR Feedback or PTR Bug Report forums.
Please note that the below patch notes only include changes currently available for testing on the PTR. While many of these changes will also be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in a future patch, the PTR is PC-only and only reflects changes coming specifically to that platform.
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
New Feature: Role Queue
Role Queue is an update to Overwatch’s matchmaking and queuing system that gives players the power to choose which role they play in their games. In Competitive Play and Quick Play, players choose their role before finding a game. The matchmaking system will create a team that is comprised of two tanks, two supports, and two damage heroes. Upon entering the match, players select desired heroes to play within their chosen roles. At the end of a match, players will return to the main menu and select their role before queuing into the next game. For more information about Role Queue, read the detailed blog post 57.
For the time being, we’ve only enabled Competitive Play for 1.39 PTR. Stay tuned for updates.
HERO UPDATES
General
Global ultimate cost increased 12%
Slowing Effects: Instead of stacking together, friendly and enemy slowing effects are now separate and movement speed will be reduced by whichever is slower.
Developer Comment: Ultimates are coming up too often considering how high impact they are. We are reducing how quickly they are built so less fights will be determined by ultimate usage. The slows change will mostly impact heroes which can slow themselves, such as Widowmaker while scoping, or Reinhardt while holding his shield. In these cases, enemy slows such as Symmetra turrets or Mei’s freeze will not hinder these heroes unless they stop slowing themselves or the enemy slow value passes their own slow value.
Ashe
Reload Time per round decreased from 0.3 seconds to 0.25
Developer Comment: Ashe’s time to fully reload felt overly restrictive. However, a long reload time is an intended downside to balance out the power of her gun so we want to be careful not to eliminate that completely.
Brigitte
Inspire (Passive)
Healing amount increased from 100 to 130
Self-healing from Inspire is now halved
Repair Pack
Now has 3 charges
Healing amount changed from 150 to 120
Now heals over 2 seconds instead of instantly
If you throw multiple packs at the same person, the current duration will be extended by 2 seconds
Whip Shot
Out-going velocity increased from 60 to 80
Retracting time reduced from 0.6 seconds to 0.3
Barrier Shield
Barrier health reduced from 500 to 200
Shield Bash
Stun duration reduced from 0.9 seconds to 0.75
Rally
Ultimate cost increased 10%
Doomfist
Melee
Quick melee no longer pauses ammo reload.
Hanzo
Storm Arrows
Storm Arrows ammo reduced from 6 to 5
Developer Comment: The overall damage output of Storm Arrows was too high so we’re reducing the maximum number of shots.
Moira
Fade
Can now be used while stunned.
Developer Comment: Moira has always been good at healing and dealing damage, but she offers very little utility compared to the other healers. This change reinforces her evasive nature and allows her potentially save her team from area stuns such as Reinhardt’s Earthshatter.
Orisa
Protective Barrier
Cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 9
Developer Comment: A common point of feedback for playing against Orisa was that it doesn’t feel useful to shoot the barrier as it comes back so quickly. Increasing the cooldown of Protective Barrier will make destroying it more rewarding.
Reinhardt
New Passive: “Steadfast”
Reduces knock back effects by 30%
Developer Comment: As a frontline, melee-range tank Reinhardt was more adversely affected by knock back abilities than most heroes. To reduce some of this frustration and enable Reinhardt to more easily fulfill his role, he is now more resistant to being knocked back.
Sombra
Hack
Duration on enemy players reduced from 6 seconds to 5
EMP
Activation time increased from 0.5 seconds to 0.65
Developer Comment: Hack is a potent disable with a long duration. Reducing the duration slightly will make it feel less oppressive as the hacked player without reducing its effectiveness too greatly. The increased cast time on EMP allows for more time to react and opens up more counterplay for the opposing team.
Symmetra
Teleporter
Now lasts an infinite duration until destroyed
Players can destroy their Teleporter with the ability 2 input
Cooldown now starts when Teleporter is destroyed
Cooldown increased from 12 seconds to 15
Maximum range increased from 25 meters to 30
Teleporter breaks if the entrance is more than 40 meters from the exit.
Teleport re-use time increased from 1 second to 1.5
Developer Comment: Symmetra’s Teleporter is an interesting tool but often felt too restricting to use. Making the Teleporter last forever opens up new opportunities for how Symmetra is used in various maps and group compositions.
Tracer @Chance
Pulse Bomb
Damage increased from 300 to 350
Developer Comment: Pulse Bomb was reduced in power some time ago to make sure it was not overly punishing to Tanks, which are much easier to stick the bomb to. While this is still a goal, we’re restoring some of this lost power to help deal with other hefty targets such as Bastion, or enemies with bonus armor from Brigitte.
Wrecking Ball
Minefield
Increased projectile speed from 10 to 13, causing the mines to spread out more. This makes it easier to create a wider minefield, especially from the high in the air.
Reduced the activation time from 0.25 seconds to 0.1
Developer Comment: Wrecking Ball has a very active playstyle, but often it felt difficult to make good use out of his ultimate. This change allows him to spread out his Minefield further if he wants, while still allowing for a tighter cluster if he activates it near the ground.
BUG FIXES
General
Subtitles: Subtitles now display when spectating while waiting to respawn.
Fixed a bug that could cause damage to not be dealt if a damage dealing ability was rapidly gaining/losing targets, like a Zarya trying to track a fast moving hero.
Charging heroes (Reinhardt, Doomfist, Brigitte) should more consistently knock each other down when colliding.
Some abilities will now appear smoother during slowed down time (end of round or custom game), notably Dragon Strike and Roadhog Hook
Heroes
Doomfist
Improved ability for Doomfist to get through doorways while using Rocket Punch and clipping the corner.
Rocket Punch will now consistently destroy translocator and not be stopped by it, similar to Symmetra turrets.
Targets hit by Rocket Punch will now go directly backwards, instead of maintaining any lateral momentum they had.
Targets that are stun immune but not knockback immune (Zarya’s Particle Barrier, Zen during Transcendence ) are no longer able to affect knockback trajectory.
Fixed a bug where if Doomfist used Meteor Strike while crouched he would move slowly for the entirely of the ultimate.
Fixed a bug where Doomfist would move backwards slightly slower during Meteor Strike
D.Va
Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s Defense Matrix from pointing down when D.Va was aiming downward while moving.
Lucio
Fixed some false positives with Lucio’s animation land prediction when wallriding.
Zarya
Fixed a bug that caused Zarya’s weapon and arm to animate oddly during her emotes when viewed in third person.
Good stuff in there to get a least some of the obvious needed nerfs/buffs but not sure about those Brig changes. Almost feels like a nerf, instant 150hp heal was easily the strongest part of her kit and putting as a HoT really kneecaps that while nerfing all of her sustain without giving her her old damage back.
I wonder how queuing with a group works now?
Probably role selection after grouping. So if you have 4 and pick two DPS, Support, and Tank, The game will find you a tank and support to fill out the roster.
Actually I interpreted the patch notes as the role selection acting as a sort of "ready" check. So you group up, select your mode, then everyone picks their role, and then it enters the queue.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Interesting they're going to have three separate rankings, one for each queue.
I'll have to play it to know for sure, but i feel like these are bad changes. The real problem with Brig is she's competing for her spot with Lucio and Zen who are pretty much the best characters in the game full stop much less in their role. It looks like she heals a bit better but like... so? Off-support does way more than heal, and I'm not really sure what she does beyond that unless you bring back shield bash damage.
Not pleased, but I'm willing to see where this goes.
It's nice to see the change, but let's be straight - 350 damage on an ability that's pretty much expressly for a single target is hardly a serious threat in a game with Barrage, High Noon, Whole Hog, Riptire, Tac Visor, Spirit Dragon, Dragon Blade, Death Blossom, Molten Core, Configuration: Tank, Self Destruct, hamster Mines and B.O.B.
350 damage via a skillshot that's almost-impossible to actually execute properly? C'mon. Which reminds me, why does Self Destruct only do 6,000 damage to a team?
D.Va's due for a buff, yeah?
Moira and Reaper being able to escape Grav is already bullshit - this is just yet further dumbness. They could just as easily write that "Tracer has always been good at dealing damage, but she offers very little utility compared to the other damage dealers. This change reinforces her evasive nature..."
WTF. The whole fucking point of a stun ability on Brig, McCree and Doom is that it prevents folks like Genji, Tracer, Moira and Sombra from making their quick getaways. But Moira just gets a get-out-of-jail free card because "allows her potentially save her team from area stuns such as Reinhardt’s Earthshatter." First of all how is her being able to get out of it going to stop her team from being hit by it, and second she's allowed to get out because she can then heal peeps? So could every other support, but nobody's giving them a get-out-of-Grav-free card.
First, I like the balance pass in general but hate how they're implementing it and how it will interact with comp rewards. This basically is a "fuck you, Tracer main" patch, aside from the Pulse buff.
Second, no it won't.
Bastion has 300HP, 100 of it armor with a 20% damage reduction in turret mode.
Pulse Bomb at 350 damage x0.8 = 280 damage (minus I think 3 for armor now?), so Bastion continues to require the ult and a good clip to prevent him or a teammate healing him through the stick.
I mean, 350 is bigger than 300. There's no contesting that, and Tracer's ultimate now definitely does slightly more damage than a single headshot from a Widowmaker.
Yippie.
I'm sorry, I'm in a shitty, shitty mood. Overall this news is just another little punch to the jewels in what was already a week of near-constant and traumatizing nutshots in my Real Life.
Hang on I saw some awesome fanart today that'll cheer this post up:
There we go.
I actually agree, 200 is way too low. I can one-clip a 200HP shield. This plus the reduction in her Inspire self-healing will absolutely destroy a Brig's ability to deal with me.
Tracer buffs == bad patch
That Moira buff is dumb, stun is stun, I'm sorry you don't get to be special.
Thankfully that ult build nerf across the game should be better for stopping last second pushes and your team getting the yips.
edit: I would like to see a rep system incorporated into DPS queue times. Or something along the lines of if I play tank and healer 10 games in a row, can I at least get a quick game if I go DPS. Overwatch favor bank plz.
edit edit: oh, QP is getting queue too? That's stupid and will disappear pretty quick. edit: oh QP classic in arcade.
Yeah but kind of a Brig nerf so = = good patch.
Also just Repair Pack healing over 2 seconds instead of instantly is going to be huuuuge. I am gonna' kill so many people who've been repair-packed it's gonna' be just silly. That 2 seconds is a massive amount of time.