We’re back with another Experimental mode focused on testing some balance changes. As with all Experimental modes, these changes are not guaranteed to reach the live version of the game. Check out the patch notes here.
What are we trying to address?
While we don’t have an overarching theme for today’s Experimental patch, we’re hoping to get your feedback on a handful of heroes.
What are we testing?
For this Experimental patch, we’re adjusting three heroes:
Baptiste – We’ve been seeing quite a bit of feedback recently that recent changes to Baptiste, namely buffs to his Biotic Launcher and Amplification Matrix, have resulted in him over-performing within the Support role. We’re looking to adjust this now by reducing the Immortality Field disk’s health and increasing the amount of ultimate charge required for Amplification Matrix.
D.Va – We’re attempting to make some adjustments to D.Va’s mech that should allow her to sustain more damage from shotguns, beams, and weapons with high rates of fire. Armor blocks 5 damage for each individual hit that deals 10 or more damage. We feel that the re-allocation of 100 of D.Va’s health towards her armor will allow her to better perform within the Tank role.
Reinhardt – Reinhardt’s kit requires him to be up close and personal with enemies, so we want to make sure that he’s still capable of fulfilling his role as he closes distance with an enemy. This will include an increase to Rocket Hammer’s damage – We’ll keep an eye on how this performs.
We hope you check out the new Experimental mode and provide us with your feedback! Science will reveal the truth – And all great science requires data! As always, this is an Experiment, so the changes in this test may not reach the live game.
Developer Comments: To adjust Baptiste’s overall power for the recent increased effectiveness of his Biotic Launcher and Amplification Matrix, we’re taking some durability out of Immortality Field and increasing the cost of his ultimate once again.
D.Va
General
Mech Armor/Health has been redistributed from 200/400 to 300/300
Developer Comments: We’re increasing the ratio of armor to health that D.Va’s mech has to enable it to withstand more damage from shotguns, beams, and weapons with a high rate of fire.
Reinhardt
General
Base Armor increased from 200 to 250
Rocket Hammer
Damage increased from 75 to 85
Developer Comments: The intent of these changes is to slightly bolster Reinhardt’s frontline presence once he closes the distance with an enemy. The increased Rocket Hammer damage will reduce the number of swings necessary to eliminate some heroes so we’ll be keeping a close eye on the overall impact of this change.
RIP Baptiste, good D.Va changes, and I’m scared Reinhardt might be too good after double barrier ends with these changes.
Rein buff needed but not the right buff. His shatter still has no reason to have the nerf applied. Sigma still too strong. Bap nerf doesnt address why he’s so good right now, and he’s always been the reason double shield was 100% the meta. Dva buff is good
The hammer buff let’s him 3 hit all the 225 heroes who got those buffs recently without changing the number of hits to kill any DPS/Support while still letting him charge ult faster (some compensation for the shatter nerf way). This definitely isn’t them trying to make Rein OP but it may be way more impactful than it seems even with the accurate concerns you’re mentioning.
Glad to see that we won’t be stuck on this patch through the dev holiday season.
That said:
Bap is still overspecialized for comps that sit still
Dva isn’t any more durable when fighting at half health, and she draws waaay too many resources for her to be constantly kept topped up from all the damage she takes.
Rein is gonna shatter a lot from this. Probably a good thing but there’ll be people who don’t like it.
Why are 250HP characters getting an indirect nerf from the Rein’s buff? I really don’t think they should be killed with 3 shots considering they have to be in close range, not that you care so much about them anyway (no reaper reverts to life steal or buffs, no mei compensations to cryo and dmg, doomfist still feels clunky to play, torb seems fine but still meh)
I was thinking the same thing too, does she even need it if she never received meaningful buffs to cryo and secondary fire?
She lacks in damage, her cc is done better by mccree, she doesn’t counter any tanks except dva, this nerf is so stupid