Junkrats primary fire is, by far, the most inconsistent one in the game. His primary fire size reduction nerf was by far one of the worst things they could have done to him.
Back in April a ptr patch went live reducing his size from 0.3 to 0.2
Tom Powers said this, “Decreasing the Frag Launcher’s projectile size means he will have to aim a bit more carefully to land powerful direct hits.” this was a horrible idea, heres why!
how are you supposed to aim projectiles that are very small, that don’t travel in a straight line, and occasionally ghosts through peoples hitboxes because they are so small?
there becomes a point where you nerf a weapon so much its just completely inconsistent and useless
junkrats purpose is area denial, locking down a small area.
the nerf to junkrats projectiles forces him to play at close range when he is most effective at mid range
the current nerf makes Junkrat’s weapon so inconsistent that it is only reliable at close range. His projectile size is reduced by 33%. I’m sure some of you think this change is marginal.
However, note that before junkrats projectile size nerf junkrat had the second largest projectile weapon in the game (second only to Mei’s icicles). When you take a large projectile and shrink it by 33%, the difference is extreme.
People who don’t play Junkrat don’t understand how brutal the change is. It makes hitting direct shots extremely unreliable.
Note that Junkrat now has slowest AND 2nd smallest projectile weapon in the game. (first going to hanzo and genji)
When you mix the slowest projectile with a small projectile size and a 5-shot clip, you’re left with a very inconsistent weapon.
Some say this change just requires Junkrat to aim more. They’re wrong. Making a weapon harder to use–especially when you’re dealing with projectile size and speed–cannot be written off as making it “higher skill.”
There comes a point when a gun’s projectiles are so slow and small that nerfing them just makes the gun inconsistent, not “higher skill.”
This is the point Junkrat is approaching. His shots are so slow and small that it becomes random whether or not you hit. It just requires you to spam more. THIS CHANGE MAKES JUNKRAT SPAM MORE, because he can’t hit what he’s aiming at. Not because he’s bad, but because what he’s aiming at can just step out of the way of a perfectly aimed shot.
Just give junk his 0.3 projectiles back, please
TL;DR: the nerf to junkrats primary fire doesnt make him “higher skill” nerfing primary fire forces him to play at close range when he is strongest at mid range, when junkrat goes into close range he is committing, which also means he will die alot more. even when junk goes into close range it is near impossible to hit them due to them being so easily avoidable
it makes him spam more because he cant hit what hes aiming at due to them being so small, those “aimed shots” end up being turned into more spam. slowest projectile in the game and 2nd smallest projectile is way too difficult to “aim”, its too easily avoidable and extremely unreliable to hit direct shots
Making a weapon harder to use–especially when you’re dealing with projectile size and speed–cannot be written off as making it “higher skill.”
