Summary: B.O.B. should land right in front of Ashe, then start charging.
Problem:
Having B.O.B. spawn behind and to the side of Ashe makes its pathing very hard to predict, resulting in unintended placements, which can be very frustrating.
Solution:
Keep the charge but change where it starts.
I don’t want to get rid of the charge mechanic entirely, because it’s a good way to balance B.O.B. If you could deploy a B.O.B. exactly where you wanted him, he becomes too powerful, as needing him to make contact before shooting ensures that in most cases the B.O.B. has a blind spot where the enemy team can cower.
In its current implementation, however, B.O.B. is the most unpredictable Ultimate Ability in the game. Ashe can’t even see where her Ult starts, which causes B.O.B. to excessively snag on map geometry. Even other “risky” Ults that don’t have explicit targeting indicators still start directly in front of the player. In a game where things are indicated as clearly as possible (to the point of clutter, some claim), B.O.B. is a confounding outlier.
Having B.O.B. land directly in front of Ashe returns more control to the player, but still requires that he/she must consider its trajectory.
As a bonus, it’s also very story compatible. (CW: Lorecrafting)
B.O.B. represents the throngs of menials that labor to keep the more fortunate in control. As Ashe’s personal omnic enforcer, B.O.B. is Ashe’s
meatmetal shield, and his design clearly reflects the burdens he is meant to bear. It stands to reason that his first priority upon joining the battlefield will be to protect his employer from the deluge of weapons fire directed at her, even if it means placing himself in the line of fire. If the proud and self-reliant Ashe is desperate enough to call B.O.B., the situation is undoubtedly spiraling out of control.
The “instant meat shield” feature of this change is an objective buff to the Ultimate Ability, so the numbers will have to be tweaked, but since B.O.B. will still blindly charge forwards the instant he regains his footing, the impact should not be as drastic as one might fear.
Therefore, this small change to Ashe’s Ult would drastically reduce frustrating Ult deployments while still requiring some skill to use, and is an improvement to the Hero across the board.