Experimental Feedback: Sigma Changes Makes the Problem Worse

General Discussion
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Hello all, today I’d just like to express some feedback I have regarding the changes to Sigma’s Accretion on the Experimental Card.

So to put it simply, it makes the issue of CC spam worse while also removing an interesting and unique mechanic that I and many others found very rewarding to use.

So with the reduction of the cast time what we see is the ability to use Accretion more reactively, but by extension also more frequently (even if only by a period of every 10.75 seconds to every 10.65 seconds). Now that’s not a big deal on paper but what I’ve found is that due to how reactively you can now use it, Sigma players have been using it more freely to deal with even small threats instead of holding it for larger ones.

Moving on, however, these changes also include the removal of the scaling effect that Accretion has. Now one might say that this is a good thing because the target won’t be stunned for as long, but in response to that all I would have to say is this:
How often do you really see long-range Accretions land?

I’ve been playing Sigma as one of my mains since the day he came to PTR, and I can probably count the number of max-range Accretions I’ve landed somewhere in the ballpark of maybe 15. That said, those Accretions were plays I found immensely rewarding, and especially when I’d land it on an enemy Pharah so she fell off the map, which brought a lot of laughter to my teammates and I (laughter I’ve found is becoming less and less frequent as time has gone on). I honestly don’t mind if the maximum duration is brought down to 2.5 seconds to line up with the changes to Reinhardt, but I desperately request that the ability to make these rare and memorable plays be preserved. Otherwise it really just feels bland and unrewarding like a glorified flashbang.

I feel like a lot of the ability to have fun and wacky plays in my regular matches has dropped off significantly as more and more balance patches have come through over the months and years, and I’d at least like to hold onto some of them.

Thank you to whoever reads through this,

Astrobiology

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Just a few notes for you.

Sure, that’s definitely the case. But also, it’s not like “rock from spawn” has any competitive application anyway. The minimum stun time was what they were trying to adjust, and I’m sure they have a reason for making this strange change.

I guess so. It’s a skill shot that also requires the enemy to not be paying attention, so unless you’re great at aiming, you won’d land it. Certainly nerfing it in this way brings the skill ceiling down just a bit, especially when you consider the faster cast time.

It seems that, time and time again, we’ve been proved that the devs value competitive consistency over this. So maybe that’s just a difference in design philosophy. Or maybe they haven’t noticed they’ve been making this trade-off.

An interesting post, for sure.

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I’m aware, but it can still be done and it’s something I’ve actually done by random chance a couple times. Regardless of how much of a competitive application it has, I still really loved those moments and have clips of them to this day.

I’ve been playing Overwatch since the closed beta in 2015, and back then preserving the ability to have fun moments was paramount to how the game was balanced. Even as a competitive player myself, I have hated how the devs have flipped over to removing the “magic” of heroes for competitive reasons. As I said in my post, I don’t hear much laughter in chat anymore like I used to, and I desperately hope the devs realize their mistake before they drive off their casual audience too.

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