However, 2-2-2 would need to be enforced to make any honest changes to Brig.
The glaring part of what makes Brig a poor healer is she doesn’t have the numbers to be a main healer, but she has a main healer ult (initiator), and well… she has an initiator ult and not an emergency ult like most off-healers have.
What I think would really work for Brig to have reworked is her Ult:
Just gives flat +armor (doesn’t regen)
Makes team immune to CC
(Maybe) Gives team her speed boost
This makes it so she can rescue a team from ult combos, or even make a strong push, but she doesn’t provide the value to save a team like Zenyatta and Lucio do. She would be a solution to a Grav, but not for a Grav and Dragon Strike like Zen and Lucio can be.
However, something like this can’t exist outside of an enforced 2-2-2, then she just makes GOATs look sexier to use than before (in the pro scene).
She’s an extremely powerful pocket buddy in lower ranks (Note: I want to say it’s still probably true further up, but I’m lower ranks, this is the biggest value I see and play with all the time).
If you can figure out the DPS that can carry the match from skill, she is the source to ensure they can do that.
She provides healing to keep them alive, (some) cover to mitigate damage from them, and some damage to let them kill faster.
Definitely, but I think Brig might be better than Mercy on it because Brig’s kit helps secure the kills and keep the flow going for the person she pockets (I play lots of “no-skill”, so Mercy is a character I frequently use too).
Here’s what Mercy does for someone she pockets… Damage boosts and heals. That’s all she really does for the DPS player, the rest is on them, maybe rez if they’re far enough from immediate damage.
Here is what Brig does for someone she pockets…
Small damage and heals, stuns, burst heals, blocks, and burst damage. She does a lot more to more efficiently help the DPS secure a kill.
I think the real factor between the two being used as a pocket is the type of DPS you’re working with. Close to Mid range (pushing it) characters have amazing value paired up with Brig. Mid to Long Range have better value paired up with Mercy.
Full disclosure, I love buffing-Support classes in games, so I naturally look towards the fun/value of this potential from Mercy and Brig, lol.
I disagree. I think she should have more dependence on her tank nature to make her more intuitive for teammates. She works great if you remember she isn’t Lucio or Zen.
You might disagree, but I bet within a year she loses her a good bit of her tankiness for better support. She’ll still be “tough” compared to the other Supports, but where Zen is a DPS and nominal healer, Brig will likely move towards more support and less tank in he balance but still be tougher than the others supports.
It’s really interesting to read other people’s opinion.
I don’t really play Brig but reading both posts made me think of other uses for her.
Maybe most of the community think too much about normal comps and are afraid to explore other comps that we wouldn’t think they would work.
After all it really depends on the comp you play.
I don’t think Brig works really well with a rein in a 2-2-2 for example.
I agree, with an Ashe for example Mercy would be better, with a Symmetra Brig would be a better choice.
I think we should add another type of support, pocket supports (Basically Mercy and Brig).
Its almost guaranteed in my mind that she will be re-balanced a good bit to enhance her healing in a 2/2/2 comp and less tank for the same reason. Blizz seems fairly committed to the idea of role queue, and her build just doesn’t work in that, in fact because it was so designed around meta-breaking for dive, its been a bad fit outside that…
Given our lack of tanks, I’d rather her just become a full on off-tank… but Blizz I believe thinks otherwise.
Ok let me spell out why a developer take the obnoxious decision of making a rework (because it is for them, trust me, it is).
This things happen when the current character design is without a doubt responsible for the bad numbers of the hero and they are SO OFF the mark they intended the character to be, that they have to think about keeping the essence and create a “previous-version-based” hero with different abilities and ultimate.
Brig is not there.
She has numbers that are not happening because her design but the current synergies that the heroes have. The “max” rework you could expect would be something like changing the stun/push back effects from one skill to another and make her ultimate heal AND then provide armour if the ally is already topped off.
Something like that might happen … a full rework? oof … don’t hold your breath.
The problem with that is usually the type of ult they provide.
Initiator ults (Bapt, Mercy, Moira, Ana, and Brig) Are something you generally want for Main healers.
Emergency/Counter Ults (Zen and Lucio) are what you want off-healers to have.
Brig’s greatest problem is she has an off-healer’s output, with a main healer’s ult, but it really can’t be touched outside of 2-2-2.
The only exception to that rule is the combo of Baptiste and Mercy because they have a long CD ability that are more like mini ults that equal up to a Counter Ult.
Like Baptiste… I get tons of value out of the character because I only use the immortality field for team fights at the start of the game (before ults) and otherwise hold it to counter ults.
I think you have to remember that when the head of OW doesn’t mince words but clearly says a character is garbage outside of several comps, its a clear sign changes are in the air… expect a significant re-balancing for certain, full on rework less likely (but not impossible). They clearly are testing 2/2/2 internally, and I bet once the trigger on putting that into production happens, more indicators of Brig changes will start to emerge. Only people riding off her are happy with her, virtually everyone else sees her as problematic including Jeff and Geoff…
Yeah but thats the point, buffs can be done and re-balancing but a rework?
If this was Las Vegas I would put 80% of my stash on “Not going to happen”.
Take into account the history of Overwatch reworks:
Mercy : The hero was easy as F (like Brig) and had a skill with astronomical impact and NO COUNTERS.
Symmetra : Couldnt be used on Attack and only in some maps for defense, mainly first point. Second point worked when they added the Shield gen but it was a “patch”. The numbers and her “niche” was so trash they had to rework it. Brig is nowhere close.
Torbjorn : Also called Throwbjorn. Minimal impact, one of the easiest heroes to counter, almost every aspect of his kit was worse than “meh”. Same than Sym, can only be used on Defense and certain maps bla bla.
Brigitte is nowhere close those 3 heroes, but then again, thats just my 2 cents.
Its not impossible, nothing is impossible, but its unlikely as full on rework opens up a lot of problems too. I expect a sort of soft-rework… balance changes to more support, and a likely move to the armor pack becoming a skill shot to give her more credibility. She has too much value still for too little work and next to no risk… that has to change to bring her into line with what the main objections are that Blizzard ignored at first but are starting to acknowledge more and more. Almost guarantee that shield is going to drop to 300 or maybe even 250, or she gets a slower movement for it’s use.
Brig is fine as a secondary healer. She’s just better as a third. Doesn’t mean she can’t do it though. Solo healing with her is pretty pointless though, but that could also be said about zenyatta.
I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on here with these re-work threads. They want her shield taken away (the main thing that makes her unique), and they want her stun gone. That’s what it is, it’s just a shame that people mask their contempt for the character by trying to seem rational when asking for a total re-work. It’s pretty transparent.