EMP/Hack Should NOT Disable BOB (It Doesn't Make Game Sense)

General Discussion
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Why is it that Sombra EMP completely disables BOB but doesn’t completely disable Zen, Bastion, Orissa, etc…? They are all Omnics.

No seriously. Why is it that Sombra’s Ult disables BOB when in every other single interaction in the game, BOB is treated as if he has the properties of a playable character?

BOB can be nanoed, healed, can be stunned, can be slept, can contest objectives; all of these can only be done to playable characters. Unlike, for instance Trob’s turret, Ball’s mines, etc… and all other objects that can do none of what BOB can do. However, for some reason, Sombra can still completely disable BOB with hack or EMP which doesn’t happen to playable characters. Why is this? Why give him the properties of playable characters in every single interaction of the game except this one?

In other words, BOB SHOULD NOT be disabled by hack or EMP. If they are going to treat him as a playable character, then treat him that way.

7 Likes
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I agree, Ashe should be the one who gets disabled.

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B-b-but how will bob be able to do stuff for me? :melting_face:

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Bob is literally a robot.

Why would an EMP not affect a robot?

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Just imagine BOB’s gun as a skill instead of a primary fire. Congratulations, now it makes sense.

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By that logic, Orisa, Bastion, Zan should al be disabled too. They are robots too.

He literally falls asleep when hacked or EMP. It isn’t like his gun just stops working.

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Maybe because BOB is an AI and zen/orisa/bastion are playable characters? lmao

It’s not for the sake of consistency or lore. Imagine playing Zen and then you get hacked and your screen just goes black. Not gonna happen

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B A L A N C E

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And EMP affects them and stops them from using their abilities.

That’s the only ability he has. His gun.

He literally falls asleep when he’s slept, too.

EMP and hack affects many ults. Deal with it.

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It used to take away all of his shields and leave him with 25 hp.

It was awful. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to do that anymore.

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Because this is a computer game. The story and lore serve the gameplay, not the other way around.

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I actually haven’t noticed that. It’s most likely due to the fact that emp does flat damage now to make up for the fact that you are only silenced for 1.5 seconds. Glad they removed the shield health getting deleted.

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For the love of donkeys… leave Sombra alone. Don’t kick her now as she’s down low…

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Yeah she used to be able to strip shields with EMP and with hack, now it just shuts down your ability to trans or use discord/harmony orb, but at least you get a chance to try to kill Sombra.

Was an inadvertent boost to Symmetra vs Sombra as well.

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Then he should also give ult charge too.

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I get that. I am by no means suggesting they disable Zen, Orisa, Bastion, etc… But rather they make the game balance more consistent for BOB and how he is treated.

Also, I don’t think he is an"AI" since he shows intelligence in the Cinematic Short with McCree and Ashe. I believe he is an omnic just as the other playable characters.

Also DVa has a voice line with Ashe, where she says she finds him cute, and Ashe responds by saying she’ll let him know. If he was an AI and not an omnic, I think the exchange would’ve been different. Just speculation.

But I doesn’t completely shut them down like it does BOB.

Exactly he is treated like a playable character in all regards except hac/EMP. So they should make it consistent. Nobody else’s gun gets disabled by Hack or EMP, why should BOB’s?

His interaction with EMP/hack is contrary to the game logic we play by. It makes no gameplay sense under the rules they have created. So it doesn’t have anything to do with lore.

This small interaction change will have minimal affect on her overall power in the game.

Agreed 100%. That is another thing that is inconsistent with his gameplay rules. Though he would probably fall under a tank and should have the passive applied.

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Okay so you don’t actually care about game balance, you just wanna talk about the lore. Got it

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Bob has no abilities. He is basically an ability. So he goes offline.

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His gameplay logic doesn’t follow the game rules set. So it has everything to do with the game and consistency.

Abilities can’t contest a point or get nanoed or get healed.

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BOB’s balanced with the assumption that he can be shut down by CC. We’ve even seen what happens when this is rolled back at all; BOB was immune to sleep in one experimental and it didn’t end well.