Junkrats buff is really a nerf

Competitive Discussion
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Please don’t take it literally when I say force. I mean that in the sense that, if you don’t, you will most likely lose. Switching is such a big deal in this game, it’s unrealistically sad. Sometimes, I switch and that’s all it takes to not die. I won’t even use any of my abilities and my mere existence is all that solved everything.

Bro, you can. If you choose to be creative with your designs, anything is possible. I know people don’t believe that you can balance a game, but you CAN! It’s ALWAYS possible. Will it be hard? Maybe. Yeah. You’ll have to think and sometimes, outside of the box. But the notion to me that you cannot balance the game is just shameful to me. Sometimes, the solutions are far more obvious than people think.

If anything, THAT is the mentality that keeps a game from becoming more balanced. You don’t need to strip them of a tool.

Look… I play fighting games on a very competitive level. In that game, I get a BUNCH of tools with my character. I mean a lot. Especially with the character I chose, it’s ridiculous. But, the character sucks. But even in that game, with one of the worst characters I’ve seen in the game’s history, I’ve won against some of the hardest characters and matches possible from hard work and uses my tools wisely enough. The thing is, all of his tools suck. Unfortunately, the game also has a gimmick to keep it balanced.

In this game, it’s almost an impossibility. And it’s not because of the tools. It’s because some of what characters can do are too strong. You can weaken them or make them stronger. I’m not asking for characters to be stripped, but please be wise about how you allow these characters to manage.

I can think of an easy example now of how they could help with balancing the game.

Mei: They could make it so her right click and left click were separate ammo. That way, she can’t just spam her CC as much as she does. Her right click could still have quite a few hits it delivers. How much? They can test out and see what feels right to them.

Right now, Zarya needs a nerf. But I feel like instead of just nerfing her, they’d most likely hit another character so he can “counter better”. And ultimately, that character is just gonna be stronger than Zarya, so he’s the new meta. But adding excuse after excuse to why they can’t balance the game, is not going to balance the game.

22

You’re forgetting the simple thing though. This is the only if not one of few games that not only can you switch mid round but at all.

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23

But it still makes it a terrible policy to balance your game that heavily around that option. Because then you will make certain characters obsolete. If everyone was more well rounded enough at their job that they can almost stand a chance against their counter, instead of winning a fight only for everyone to come back by the time you do and no progress being made, everyone would be a viable enough choice. I don’t see what’s unreasonable about this argument I’m making.

The only thing this would do, is create more diversity in this game while allowing players to have comfortable picks.

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Ignore Cosmic
All I’ve ever seen them do since they joined the forums is whine about how DVa is underpowered and wah wah dva wah wah dva blah blah

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25

Awesome! That was my only problem with it.

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26

Wow I can’t believe it! This is a miracle!!

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27

Yeah, lol, I was like " Am I really in competitive section" ? :smiley:

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28

Hey Josh, unrelated to the current topic sorry, but I’m wondering, can we get an update on the Xbox voice chat issue? it’s been 2 months since some people have been able to talk with teammates.

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The junkrat God Chro sprinkled his presence here and you rat plebs arent worshipping him? Blasphemy

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30

It really is. The jumps aren’t a big deal, but having to change muscle memory is. Not only that, the mines main purpose besides movement is confirming kills. The arch allowed for you to confirm kills easier because you could throw it over walls easier. Yes you can still throw the mine over walls, but because it doesn’t have that arch, it’ll take a lot longer to actually hit a target. Not only that, if they are standing right on the other side of the wall, it will barely touch them.

-JunkSparrow 1k hours across 3 accounts. Peaked at 4300

A lot of characters need attention. Some more then others. Junkrat was in a really good spot and still is. It’s just a matter of giving him the right change. I personally believe he needs 6 shots instead of 5 and maybe a little love to his trap. Besides that, he’s fine. The change to his nades was nice but not exactly what I had in mind and only promotes spam more.

Chro isn’t that amazing. I’ll give it to him that he is a better then usual Junkrat, but some of his plays were ehhhh. This is coming from someone whose been to his rank as Junkrat. I mean if he does see this then he knows what I’m talking about. When a Junkrat player makes a good play it’s like “omg” but there are tons of times Junkrat players make stupid mistakes, even chro. It’s just with his montages, you don’t see them. But he is a pretty good Junkrat player.

Yeah but as I mentioned in another reply, we lost the ability to arch the mines over walls to confirm kills which at the end of the day, is what Junkrat is all about. Also in higher ranks those middle range mines are near impossible to hit even with this change simple because you can still move out of the way or by the time the mine gets to them, they’ve already been healed. The nade change is much welcomed but only promotes spam nades. If I were to buff Junkrat, I’d rather give him 6 shots instead of 5 because he always feels like he needs that last shot in fights and he’s an easy to hit target with a long reload time. Secondly I’d change his trap so he can use it more then just as a get away tool.

I agree with everything you say but in my opinion it is a nerf. Also what I really don’t get is that they took away junkrats spam awhile back by lowering his nade size, and decreasing the mine aoe damage, but now this buff (besides the mine buff) makes him feel even more spammy with his nades.

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I almost never had situations where I needed mine to kill someone on the otherside of a wall

Had plenty of cases mid to long range where I would have hit a combo had mine been the same speed as primary at the time.

It may be a nerf at close range but it’s too large of a buff at long/mid range to be considered a net nerf.

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32

A couple maps would be Kings row first point and oasis library.
Also even with the speed of his new mine, by the time your mine actually reaches the target they may have moved just enough to not take combo damage. That or more likely they got healed. Plus to throw a mine at a mid distance is a risk cause if you miss (which you most likely will at higher ranks because reaction time for players is pretty high) you’re down one mine. Hitting long range mines was never something I thought a Junkrat player would reliably try to do. Maybe for ult charge but hitting a long range mine is a terrible use of mines in my opinion. Save them for when you need them in a 1v1 or to get away. Tossing them at a long distance and hoping to get a kill isn’t that good of an idea.
But yeah, it is a buff if you do try to hit long range mines.

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I don’t know how this is even an argument. Mine is now more consistent at 10-30 meters where junkrat had all his issues before, specifically in the air.

As for the arc change, figure it out. Take a couple steps back and throw it differently and you’ll nail the same spots, none of your examples make any sense. I can still confirm kills behind any wall as i did before, i just have to be in a different position, most of the time its farther back in a safer location. Its hardly a “nerf” compared to what you’re getting out of it.

The last group of changes for junkrat were great. More consistency with mines and ricochets are faster so they hit more often when you know what you’re doing. The biggest feat of all these changes is that it didn’t make him a terror at lower ELOs while helping him at higher ELOs.

This entire complaint reminds me when “smart” forum users were saying D.va’s health buff from 500 to 600 was a nerf because healing would heal health before armor. You’re looking for reasons to complain about change. This gives junkrat more options and its up to you to use them. If you don’t want to do that then stay on the forums complaining instead of getting better at the game.

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34

That would be really good!

Also, I know you guys went “dark mode” or whatever the name Jeff called it, but we miss the devs talking to us more frequently here. :worried:

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35

The game has just been updated with a new patch and there are no changes to the Concususion Mine.

Are we finally not having these changes or will they come in a future patch?

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36

So, it’s actually a nerf but you want to downplay it and act like others are exaggerating?

Gotcha.

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As if Blizzard actually changes things when you give feedback?

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Thank you very much Josh. That sounds like a good way to fix it and make everyone happy. I was having trouble with double mines and side jumps occasionally.

39

It shouldn’t take 4 years to memorize anything… Welcome to change my friend… Learn to adapt

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Dude, just make a custom/practice mode and play around with it to get a feel for the change and a few hours of DM… Muscle memory isn’t something you build up over years and becomes like some sort of cement. You can litterary change it in no time whatsoever and refine it with a bit of more time invested into it but again… It shouldn’t be an issue.

It took me maybe an hour or two to get used to the widow charge up change and how to time it with flickshooting.

Whenever theyv’e done changes to hanzo, well… 1 hour of grinding that havanna aim custom FFA and you’ll have it figured out.

Essentially aim, muscle memory and all that is just like learning a math formula. Once you have it figured out you don’t have to think much more about it. When any change happens you’ll just need to adapt it and start clicking heads again.