Finally someone who gets it… it’ll work once, but only once.
Once you see it, you have no issue getting rid of it.
Personally i think they should turn him into either a versatile DPS, with a small rework, or a Tank. Yes, a Tank.
I would love your feedback on this proposal?
We would also finally have a reliable hitscan Tank.
As I play mainly tanks, not to be confused with the “tank main” I am not adverse to the idea of Bastion being moved to the tank roster.
In regards to how much ammunition Bastion should have, I don’t honestly know. I tend to only use tanks that have ammo standards in unique situations. Orisa on point A for Horizon Loser Colony comes to mind.
To the second point of Bastion needing a barrier. I agree 100%, but couldn’t tell you what I think the health should be on that shield. 600 seems low, but you may get super complaints if it was higher.
Now I will go point by point.
After reading it all I get what you are pointing to. The question I have would be are you replacing the Self Repair slot with the new Tank Configuration slot?
In and of itself, this isn’t a bad Idea. Having a tank that gives area avoidance through damage is nothing new. Roadhog, Zarya, and D.Va (Kind of) already do these things.
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I too believe Ironclad would need to be reworked. As far as giving him different health values based on what configuration he is in, well that creates problems of its own. If he needs more armor, he could simply slip into anther configuration to get just the right amount of health needed to not die to specific attacks. Then there is the mathematical conversions done on the fly when re-configuring. I feel that would be a coding nightmare.
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I will assume the inverse spread is the bullet pattern getting wider as you shoot? I don’t play enough Bastion to know. That being said, I am not sure how to proceed with this.
This would cause community outcry. Not because Bastion should be changed to do head shots, but because without some type of extreme damage reduction, head shots would allow him to out damage all tanks, but maybe Zarya. With as much defense as is proposed, he would need vastly less damage then he has now.
This is by far my favorite change you have theorized. It has what Bastion needs, in a damage steroid, not tied to a configuration. In addition, it has a clear indicator of when Bastion has increased his damage output. I like the tacked on 50% reload time too. This would make sure he was a decent threat for the entire duration of his ultimate.
Not sure If I could see the tank role Bastion with this type of ultimate. I would absolutely love to see this exact thing implemented on the PTR right now though.
I don’t generally number crunch the current DPS roster. I would say that if you place Bastion as a tank, his damage may not be a real time issue, but would definitely be a community issue. Like, I would bet lots of money the community would have thread after thread devoted to “nerf Bastion’s Damage”. I would like some clarification on what you would do with Self Repair. If he was a tank, I am not sure it would be a valid option to keep it, and as a DPS I kind of think it is one of the things that keeps him from getting the changes he deserves.
I do have to highlight that Ultimate change though. That is a piece of Art. Something I think would give Bastion players something to strive for during a match. Right now Configuration Tank, is lackluster and at times suicidal.
If it were up to me, I would like to see Bastion in the tank category. With the proper balance adjustments. The tank roster may get fresh blood in Bastion players queuing for the role. If he remained DPS, which I would guess Blizzard wants to do, then most of your changes aren’t bad. Wouldn’t mind seeing some numbers, but without them I can get a picture of what you are going for.
Now for my assessment.
Bastion to me seems too one dimensional in the optimal way to play. On the flip side, when not in Configuration Turret, his dynamic nature makes him the jack of all trades master of re-spawn. I have always though that letting him move, and either giving him an accuracy debuff while moving, or an extremely low movement speed, while in turret mode could be the most simple answer. But, in the end I don’t play him enough to really get a good feel for his play style.
Well written and I hope Bastion gets what he needs.
Wow that sounds good.
Also, thank you.
And it’s a bit rough, so take it with a grain of salt… the entire idea is up for debate of course.
Actually to add onto that rework suggestion he would need higher base HP anyways, so that’s worth remembering.
Finished with Post 82. I will keep this window up just in case you answer the question before I head to bed.
The logic according to which you classified 70% of these heroes as ““Bastion”” counters is so absolutely flawed, that in the same logic pretty much every single hero counters everyone in this game… 
Absolute game - changing key words here, even though you should had included the great gap between the communication required to run a Bastion comp and the one required to successfully counter it…
Thank you for the response! It’s legible and actually not trolling or spam for once… which is a breath of much needed fresh air.
I originally had it at 300 and got complaints in the thread i had made that he would suddenly be a monster… but i do agree, it may even need to be higher if he was a Tank.
Conversely it would probably need to be around 600 as a stationary DPS though, as he would take a hell of a lot more focus fire then a regular DPS.
If he were to be a Tank, i would lower it down to 100 or lower, at very least 75-ish ammo, since it would force his long reload after short bursts, instead of allowing him full cover fire for as long as he currently can provide fire for.
After reading your reply i must say that i have a rather tricky solution for self repair, but it would still make Bastion feel a little bloated as a Tank, unless Recon was scrapped, but that’s a route that i don’t feel like exploring as it would be the deletion of his primary mode.
How i see it, self repair should be an ability if her were to be buffed massively and/or turned into a Tank, upon it’s activation it could project the healing warning around him, which is a cosmetic effect while he heals, repairing a certain value of his full HP, and maybe even shield when in use, which would then put it on cooldown.
If he remains as a DPS, i would rather him keep the constant ability to heal, but give it a stronger effect at the cost of a lower resource.
This could pose to be problematic over all, but i do believe it could be done, on a programming level. As for the ability itself, if he were a Tank i do not believe it would need extra damage reduction on top of being armor, i simply dislike unseen status effects and number value changes that aren’t intuitive for the player.
Currently the base spread is rather large, but the longer you fire, the smaller it gets… which doesn’t server much purpose, because if you’re dived onto, your spread starts at roughly the size of a dinner plate.
As a Tank yes, it may cause an issue unless he had very low ammo, as Hammond does. But as a DPS it is almost necessary, as all over hitscan weapons are rewarded for precise aim… he should be no exception.
And honestly… any change to him, even a nerf, will cause community outcry.
Sadly i cannot take full credit for it, as i did not originally come up with it. I do agree it’s a masterpiece though. And what Bastion needs.
It’s clear, it’s simple, and it’s… Bastion.
Self repair currently as we know it would only function well on a DPS Bastion, you are correct… but in the big picture, it is absolutely necessary for a DPS Bastion.
As i sort of may have shown in the OP, everything does chip damage to a Bastion. Almost constantly. Which means that without a self repair, he would need to rely entirely on a healer pocket, which would be worse overall.
I don’t remember the last chance i had to actually transform fully before i died.
Thanks!! It seems like you’re the only one… (Look above this post =.=)
As someone who does play Bastion, i’m not going to shoot you down, but the idea of a moving Bastion in Sentry Mode, is laughable to me… and impossible to balance. Sentry Mode is a commitment, usually instead of a flanker peeling to let off some pressure from themselves, it’s like… the opposite… digging in your heels and saying “I’m not moving until i’m made to move by force” Which as i tried to somewhat detail in the OP… literally everything can force you out of it, as long as you try to play at peek performance.
Thank you again, it feels like you’re one of the only people who understands.
Bastion should win sometimes… not just be hard to fight but ultimately easy to kill.
Bastion’s design will always be problematic and people just need to learn to accept that. Having a character that has both higher health and massive damage means the only logical weakness is being inflexible.
Balance-wise, this logic is sound. The unfortunate part is that anything that doesn’t move around and have no ways to majorly mitigate damage is going to end up niche in a 3D environment since moving is king above all else.
So Bastion being one of the worst characters stands to reason, he is very, very powerful numbers-wise and has to lack somewhere.
Of course, this only stands with his design as is. If they were to make major power shifts or ability changes, then Bastion could become better. The cost though would be Bastion not really being Bastion anymore.
the amount of effort put into this post is impressive. albeit, you seem to find any reason to complain. like with torb or 76.
just because a hero has a method of killing you does not mean they counter you.
The point with those heroes in particular is the same with Mercy, Lucio, and other less effective heroes… they aren’t a counter, no… but they can single handedly displace you without a second thought.
If it makes it easier, you are on my friends list, and have been for a while. You could always send me a private message.
As far as the bulk of our last two conversational pieces.
We tend to agree that Bastion has weaknesses that need to be addressed. Like he is in dire need for Blizzard to do something.
My play time on Bastion is limited. Even less so now that I play tanks and supports for 95% or more of my game time. Things like my proposal for Bastion to have mobility in Sentry Mode is based on my time playing against him, and knowing that I can exploit that weakness pretty much at my leisure.
The magic in our conversation is one that isn’t had enough. I play tanks, and because of that I should be against changing Bastion to be more efficient at removing me from the field. But like you, I believe, we would rather play a good fair and balanced game of Overwatch, then bicker about who has the better role. I don’t want to see dumpster tier damage roster heroes. I want a challenge while I tank too. Right now Reaper, Mei and Hanzo are currently the only heroes that can do this on a regular basis. This makes for stale games. It also forces Blizzard to look the wrong direction when making changes to the game.
Edit: Shot you a PM in Bnet.
Chibs… they don’t stun.
Damn, i wrote the OP at 4 am btw.
I am in Alaska, so its still just 9:30 PM time now here.
Looks like you will be going to sleep before I will.
Fair enough, I woke up at 4 am to catch a few flights home.
Eh, it’s only 12:30 am now, i wrote the OP at like 4 tho.
Safe travels, friend. Other than typos and misunderstandings, what do you think of these problems?
The Problem i have reading this… Is it feels like the enemy team is using everything they can to bring that bastion down (diamond / master level)
While bastions team is litteraly doing everything they can to let him die…
Pretty unfair. 
Like you could add your own team / bastion himself with a enemy genji…
Already done actually but thanks anyway. I got back to Adelaide like 3 hours ago.
Bastion feels poorly designed because he is either completely useless or he is passable if everyone stops what they’re doing and jumps in to protect him. It’s not fun for his team and it’s not fun for the enemies (and considering Bastion sucks it’s probably not fun for the player either). The recent changes to barriers and tanks was imo, good overall but it only hurt Bastion even more.
I think heroes who are designed around being immobile are just badly designed. It’s not even that he is slow, he just… can’t move (someone put treads on him, oh wait, he already has those!)
I haven’t any meaningful ideas on how to improve him as I am neither a good player nor am I a Bastion specialist but I wish he could move. As of now if you’re constantly changing into recon and sentry you’re just a slow, fat Soldier: 76. And how good is Soldier 76? Reinforced wood tier.
Well as for the Bastion stuff, i know getting a book dropped on you isn’t fun, but i’ll quote my current build for a rework onto you:
These ideas sound pretty good and it sounds like you’ve put effort into them.
I know not every ultimate needs to be super flashy but I kinda think this is a little… boring? Idk.
I had that thought initially as well… which is why he would need a flashy visual effect, while also being given a new ultimate sound. Something… scary.
So you just see a Bastion light up, start firing faster and louder, making loud mechanical sounds while probably killing people.
Good? Bad?