Disclaimer
In this thread I want to talk about current problems with some heroes and make some suggestions about how to fix them. I will focus mostly on underpowered heroes with obvious problems and flaws in design and/or balance, not on heroes that considered as OP.
Keep in mind that all suggested changes are theoretical and cannot be balanced without proper practical testing. All values are approximate. Judge core ideas and directions of changes, not actual numbers.
Any constructive feedback is welcome.
Click on hero names to show text.
Tank Heroes
Reinhardt
Reinhardt
Rein has some technical problems with his Ultimate and Charge abilities, but Devs already said that they are working on them.
Outside of tech problems crusader struggles against CC effect due to his melee-oriented and immobile nature. And there are a lot of CC nowadays.
Giving him permanent CC immunity or significant reduction will be too OP and will make Rein an unstoppable force. To help him I suggest to give him a new passive:
New Passive: Fortitude
After standing still for more that X seconds (1-2 seconds suggested) Rein enters stance of increased resistance that gives him immunity to stun and knockback effects.
This passive will help Rein to hold his ground, but will not make him unstoppable all the time.
Rein is a melee-oriented hero, but, unlike other short range heroes, he has no quick and reliable gap closer. It is fine for immobile anchor-tank, but in that case he should be more dangerous for enemies not careful enough to go too close to him. But currently all Rein can do is no swing his hammer for 75DPS.
Instead of giving him a gap closer I want to give him something that will make in harder for enemies to break distance from Rein:
Firestrike
Enemies hit by Firestrike now also slowed down for X seconds (1-1.5 seconds suggested) and loses their momentum.
This new effect will help Rein to deal heroes with very high mobility and give him some anti-dive potential.
Roadhog
Roadhog
I think that Hog should be able to instakill with combo any hero with 150-250HP, but Hog should deserve it.
Instakill is a viable but tricky to implement mechanic. It feels cheap and unfair if it is too easy to perform, but feels truly great if it requires high skill.
I think that it would be great to buff power of Hog’s gun, but rework the Hook in the way so it would require more skill to use properly.
It is time to back to my very old idea of Wind-Up Hook that was pretty well received on old forum, tons of likes and almost a megathread!
Currently Hook has 20 meters range and 40meters per second projectile speed. It means that it travel the full range in 0.5 second - in battle for human sense it is almost instantly.
In old days there were not so much of CC in the game, but now, especially with Brig addition, a lot of players complain about cheap and instant CCs that are hard to counter. Because of that I think we can remove one almost instant CC from the game system and turn it into more skill depended, but still powerful CC.
I what I want to suggest:
Scrapgun:
I don’t want to suggest accurate numbers, because it can be done is several ways, but the goal is to adjust damage and/or spread so Hog can reliable and consistently one-shot hooked 150-250HP heroes.
And the most interesting part:
Chain Hook:
- Base range decreased from 20meters to 7meters
- Hook is no longer launched instantly
- Pressing and holding (double tap is optional) Shift now starts wind-up - Hog starts to spin his chain like a true maniac
- Every 0.5 second of spinning increases the Hook range by 7 meters, up to maximum 21 meters
- Second press or releasing Shift launches Hook
- Hog can spin hook infinitely
- Hog can move with 30% reduced speed while spinning
- Hog can freely aim while spinning
- Spinning can be interrupted by enemy CC, or if Hog shoots or uses other abilities
- Spinning has loud metal sound that alarms enemies that Hog is dangerous
- Of course numbers could be tweaked. For example, initial range can be set to 5 meters so it increases by 5 every 0.5 seconds, so max range achieved in 1.5 seconds instead of 1 second. And maybe some tweaks of CD would be needed.
So what these change do for Hog?
First of all, he still would be able to instantly interrupt someone, but instant Hook would be limited to 5-7 meters (on par with other instant CCs like Flashbang or Shield Bash).
Spinning alarms enemies and gives them a little bit more time to react, while also rises skill floor for Hog player. It makes Hook more fair and skill-depended, but it also justifies the huge power increase for his weapon - with more fair Hook instakills would feel more fair and deserved.
And it perfectly fits Hog fantasy. After all, he is a murderer and spinning chain with metal noise and some creepy voiceline would perfectly fit his menacing feel.
Hammond (because players refuse to call him Wrecking Ball)
Hammond
He looks and plays very fun, but he already has a pretty obvious problems.
First of all, players already found ways to exploit his Claw and Roll abilities in a very cheesy way - yes, I am talking about this crazy spinning around columns on capture points on some maps.
This trick is very fun, to be honest, and should not be considered as bug. Don’t fix it, players love it and it add a huge element of fun for this hero.
The problem is that trick is very powerful on capture points simply because players can spin infinitely.
The second problem is Claw CD. It is very frustrating when it goes on CD when player accidentally detached it by pressing any button or releasing Claw button. And it is not always clear if Clae is attacked or not. Also this CD prevent Hammond from gaining enough height on some maps.
So what I suggest:
- Get rid of CD on Claw completely, but add a charge mechanic like Pharah’s jetpack. This charge is depletes when Claw is attached to something and quickly replenishes when it is not active.
First of all, it will fix infinite spinning around columns on capture point. Players still will be able to perform this funny and effective trick, but amount of time they can maintain it will be limited by charge.
Secondly, lack of CD will allow Hammond to use Claw several times in a row for quick swings like Spiderman. Just look how awesome it is:https://gfycat.com/WhimsicalUnfoldedHornshark
Of course it looks OPAF when used infinitely, but charge mechanic will limit it too. Just make it enough to perform 2-3 attachments and quick swings in a row and it will be absolutely fine. It will add so much fun and cool high-skill tricks to hero, but will also limit some cheesy tricks.- Secondly, make Claw’s rope to slightly glow and play louder sound when it is attached to surface. It will improve visibility and will help players more clearly understand when their Claw is successfully attached. Because currently in a heat of battle it is very difficult to track this thin and grey rope.
These changes would greatly improve overall players experience with Hammond. Why it will not make him OP? Because Hammond does almost nothing to enemies when uses his mobility. Charge mechanic will simply limit his infinite stalling potential and will not affect his offensive potential with it because it is limited by CD on Piledriver, not by CD on Claw.
Damage Heroes
Bastion (Full Rework)
Bastion
Bastion is a tricky hero to balance. He is rather very effective in some cases (Pirate ship) or completely useless (any team without Rein or Orisa).
Currently he has 3 major problems:
- His mobile form is pretty weak in terms of offense and vulnerable in terms of defense thanks to his enormously big model hitbox.
- His most powerful weapon, Configuration: Sentry, completely relies on other heroes like Rein or Orisa. Full immobility in the game where high mobility is an important and powerful thing cannot be balanced to be self-sufficient without being completely trash or OP.
- His ultimate provides him a some little power, but ironically also makes him worse in most cases.
With Offence and Defense categories being united into one Damage category, it opens an opportunity to do some radical changes without restricting them to only attacking or defending side.
Because of that I am going to suggest major changes for all his configurations and they will end up with radical change of his playstyle.
Base stats
- Health changed from 200health+100armor to 100health+200armor
Configuration: Recon
- Damage increased from 6-20 to 30-60
- Rate of fire decreased from 8 to ~3 round per second
- Reload time decreased from 2 seconds to 1.5
- Still has a spread that start after first shot is made
- Using Self-Repair during Configuration: Recon now also gives Ironclad effect
These changes make Recon mode more durable to fit his giant hitbox. His weapon now shoots slower, but each shot deals much more damage. This mode is now main source of constant damage for Bastion.
Reconfigure
- Casting time from Main mode into Secondary mode decreased from 1 second to 0.75
- Castinf time from Secondary mode to Main mode increased from 0.5 to 0.75
Configuration: Tank
- No longer an ultimate
- Now a secondary form instead of Configuration: Sentry
- Casting time decreased from 1.5 to basic Reconfigure speed (0.75 seconds in and out)
- Now slows movement speed by 35%
- Still grant Ironclad passive
- Damage decreased from 205 to 140 (60 initial hit and up to 80 splash)
- Area of effect radius decreased from 4 to 3
- No longer a linear projectile - now arcs more like Torb main attack
- Projectile speed decreased from 60 to 30 meters per second
- Rate of fire increased from 1.1 to 1.75 attacks per second
- Now has 6 ammo
- Ammo cannot be manually reloaded
- Ammo now passively regenerates while Bastion is not shooting in Configuration: Tank
- 1 ammo every 2 seconds
- Ammo regenerate even in other configurations and shown in UI
- Shooting in other configurations does not prevent ammo from regenerating
This mode now provides Bastion with an option to deal tons of AoE damage. Each shot hits hard, but is also harder to land, while rate of fire is also increased. Ammo regeneration system prevents Bastion from sitting in this mode for too long and encourages to play more in Recon mode.
Configuration: Sentry
- Now is an Ultimate ability
- Cast time is increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds
- Ironclad Passive damage reduction increased from 20% to 35%
- Ironclad Passive now activates at start of animation, not at finish
- Damage increased from 4 - 15 to 10-20 (600DPS)
- Spread reduced to pre-rework state (very little spread)
- Can perform headshots
- Ammo decreased from 300 to 90
- Reload time decreased from 2 seconds to 1 second
- Duration is 11 seconds (enough to shoot and reload 3 clips. Each clip takes 3 seconds to unleash)
- Bastion can now move in Sentry mode with 35% reduced speed (Has wheels like in Tank mode now)
Sentry mode regains some power from old days and now it is a deadly and precise weapon of destruction. It way more powerful than now, but it is also an ultimate that will be used not as frequently as current Sentry mode. This ability is great to push attacking enemy team back or quickly destroy their defenses.
All changes together make Bastion more suitable for mobile combat. He is not longer forced to stay immobile to use his most powerful weapon. Instead he has two modes that can deal different type of damage, both used on the move and works great when weaved together.
Sentry mode, that was problematic to balance because it is powerful at lower ranks and easily countered on higher rank, is no longer a core ability of bastion and is moved to Ultimate, so now it is easier to balance.
Junkrat
Junkrat
Junkrat, just like his buddy Hog, is almost fine, but can be tweaked here and there and receive some QoL changes:
Frag Launcher
- Projectile size change reverted
This change was bad because it made already unreliable source of damage even less reliable.
RIP-Tire
- Charge amout required increased by 20%
This change fixes the real and the only problem of Junkrat - constant smap of easy and fast to charge ultimates.
Concussion Mine
- Now has an 1.5 second internal CD between uses of mines
- Splash damage change reverted and now Mine deals it full damage all the time
This change encourages Junkrat to combo his main attacks with mines to deal burst damage instead of spamming 2 mines in a row and instantly rekt enemy.
It also fixes problem of accidental wasting of mines when button is pushed too quickly.
McCree
McCree
Cowboy is not very weak hero in terms of damage, but a lot of other Damage heroes outshine him. Recent changes to fall-off damage are in right direction, but McCree can use some changes for his other abilities too:
New Passive: BAMF
- Each successful shot that hits enemy decreases CDs of other abilities by 0.5 seconds
- Each successful headshot decreases CDs of other abilities by 1 seconds instead
- Final bullet in barrel always crits
- Does not work if final bullet is shot in Fan the Hammer mode
Combat Roll
- Now has 2 charges
Flashbang
- CD increased from 10 to 14 seconds (to compensate passive)
These changes create a playstyle based on risky decision between mobility with more frequent use of Combat Rolls and more damage from passive. McCree is more mobile with 2 charges of Roll and faster CD on it, but using it will always cause a loss of bonus damage from final bullet.
That creates some counterplay: if McCree is not pressured he can deal more damage with guaranteed crits, but if enemy team dive on McCree he will be forced to use his Combat Roll charges to disengage and lose free crit shots.
His Ultimate is hard to balance - it is either very strong or absolutely weak.
Instead of playing with damage and cast time numbers I suggest to make this ultimate more similar to Tracer’s ultimate - something that is worth to use even against 1 or 2 targets to perform some quick kills and put some pressure on enemy team:
Deadeye
- Each kill with this ability refund 10% of ultimate charge
- Each successful hit of enemy with this ability refunds 5% of ultimate charge
- Visual effect during cast time is no longer so shiny
Mei
Mei
Recent change that reverted her damage fall-off was right, but it is not enough to make Mei more viable hero. She does not need more damage, instead she needs to be more reliable at dealing damage. She also needs some QoL changes for her utility abilities.
Endothermic Blaster
- Projectile speed increased from 20 to 30 meters per second
- Range increased from 10 meters to 17.5
- Particles become wider at longer range, so they can hit multiple enemies, but deal less damage at longer range.
- Particles are no longer linear and slightly arcs
These changes will help Mei to put some more reliable pressure on enemies. She still will rely on Freeze+Icicle combo to deal decent damage, but now she will be able to do so from slightly safer distance.
Cryo-Freeze
- Now reloads 50 ammo per second
- Now shatters and knockbacks near enemies when effect ends after full duration
Cryo-Freeze fulfill the same function as Reaper’s Wraithform - it is a on-deman safe-button. But unlike Wraithform, Mei’s Cryo-Freeze usually puts her into defenseless situations when she is surrounded by enemies and has no or very little of ammo to fight back. Now Cryo-Freeze reload ammo like Wraithform, but not instantly, while knockback effect helps Mei to clear path for retreat.
Ice Wall
- Now constantly applies slow effect up to compete freeze to all enemies within direct contact with the wall
- The wall is now semi-transparent for allies
An anti-wallclimb measure and simple QoL change.
Blizzard
- Now locks movement abilities similar to Graviton
- No longer declines if Mei dies or interrupted by CC when Snowball is already launched from her hands
Blizzard is similar in power level to other hard CC setup ultimates, but not as reliable as them. Now it should be fixed.
Reaper
Reaper
Edgelord is fine at dealing damage and specializes at dealing with huge targets, but he lacks utility. And he also hold an ability that is considered as worst in the game:
Shadow Step
- Removed from the game
Wraith Form
- Now also grants ability to move vertically
- Max duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds
Shadow step functionality partially moved to Wraithform, which now provides Reaper with more comfortable access to highground. Why? Because he can!
https://youtu.be/I3WhdXPaUd8?t=232
Vertically used Wraithform can now be use for interesting tricks with Death Blossom.
And now Reaper needs a new ability. Something that can provide utility for him and his team. No details, but the best candidate is a Smoke Grenade that hinders vision for enemies, but transparent for allies. Why? Because he can, of course! https://youtu.be/FqnKB22pOC0?t=289
Sombra
Sombra
I will not talk about recent nerfs (destructible TL, loud sound of TL, stealth detection range increase, speed bonus decrease), because they are obviously terrible. I will talk about actual buffs (infinite duration on TL and Stealth) and why they are terrible.
First of all, these buffs provides almost nothing for good Sombra players. Good players already has no problem with timing her abilities. Duration could be increased, but there is no point to make it infinite for good players.
Infinite durations just make it easier for low skilled players because they will no longer bother about timing. But there is a very bad side effect - infinite duration encourages Sombra player to stay out of combat for longer. And when Sombra is out of combat it means that her team fight 5v6 which is always bad.
So in the end good Sombra players get nothing from these buff but will suffer from nerfs, while bad Sombra players will waste time sitting in stealth and waiting for low HP targets to finish, while their team struggles in 5v6 fights. Infinite duration ruin the whole dynamic of that hero because it removes time pressure.
The main problem of these changes is that Devs say that they want to push her more into scout/infiltrator playstyle, but they did changes only for “scout” part. You can’t make hero a good infiltrator without giving him more power to infiltrate enemies.
Currently Sombra has much less raw firepower to even compete with all other DPS heroes. Yes, theoretically her DPS os kinda fine and even higher that McCree, but huge spread and fall-off nullifies it completely.
To become decent infiltrator she needs one of this:
- Raw damage increase (the worst variant)
- Less spread (kinda okay variant)
- Her Opportunist passive also increases her damage against targets with <50%HP (the best variant)
So my suggestion:
Recent changes
- Reverted with few exceptions
Stealth
- Duration increased from 5 to 10 seconds
- Casting time for stealthing/unstealthing decreased from 0.7 to 0.5 second
- Still gains 70% movement speed bonus
Translocator
- Duration increased from 20 to 25 seconds
- Can now be manually destroyed by Interaction key
- Cannot be destroyed by enemies
- Makes the same sound ad on live, not like alarm buzzer on PTR
- CD increased from 4 to 6 seconds
- CD starts on initial launch, not on recall
- Translocator velocity increased
Opportunist
- Now also grant Sombra bonus X% damage against targets with <50% HP.
- (Optional) Effect is even stronger against targets with <25%HP
Symmetra
Symmetra
Am I the only one who uses ball attack even in close range combat? For me it works pretty like a shotgun and that is why:
- It travels fast enough to land it properly
- It has enormously big projectile hitbox so it is even easier to hit with it
- It always has 120 DPS when direct hit
- It deals NO self-damage from explosion, just like Junkrat
While her LMB is very hard to use and has a lot of limitations:
- It has very short range
- It is very narrow and requires perfect aim to deal reliable damage
- It starts with 60 DPS and takes 2 seconds to charge to level 2, so it deal 120 damage during two first seconds while RMB can deal 240 during the same time
Yes, LMB can deal 180 DPS when fully charged and has this gimmicky interaction with enemy barriers, but is +60DPS increase for hard to use short range weapon worth of 4 seconds of charging? Is’t it safer to just use RMB all the time?
I don’t want to say that RMB is OP and should be nerfed. RMB is absolutely okay, it has its own downsides too. But for me LMB is very weak because it has so many limitations for such little value. It is kinda okay only against tanks thanks to their big and easy to hit models.
It should be buffed in some way.
- Maybe it should be longer, because Symmetra has no survivability for close combat?
- Maybe it should be wider or has Moira-like soft “lock-on” to make it more reliable than RMB in close range combat?
- Maybe it should somehow interact with her RMB? May be charging her weapon with LMB should also somehow improve her alt-fire to make it shoot even more dangerous balls of death when fully charged? If not more damage then maybe it should increase projectile speed?
I see that some people already claim that she is OPAF because these people are burned to death by all these new Symmetra players in QuickPlay.
But even if she looks OP she really is not. And this power disbalance between her two attacks looks pretty wrong.
Torbjorn (Full Rework)
Torbjorn
Problem #1: Power Disbalance
Currently, Torb plays more like TF2 Engineer with classic sentry. It means that Torbs himself is an addition to the turret. It worked badly in TF2 so Engineer was unpopular in Competitive TF2.
The reason is simple: if major part of hero power is focused in stationary AI controlled “minion”, this hero ends up being too powerful against low skill players on lower ranks, and absolutely garbage against high skill players at higher ranks. Low skill players struggles to deal with something that has auto-aim, while high skill players simply able to take an advantage over stationary targets.
Problem #2: Immobility
The second problem of Torbjorn is that he is almost useless on attacking side because of his immobility. He can’t provide a lot of impact in battle without a turret and turret takes too much time to set it up. Torbjorn is too connected to his turret.
Orisa had the same problem upon release: she was too immobile and she was not able to move with her team because her Barrier had a way longer CD. She was forced to stay near barrier for longer time simply because she could not move it quickly enough.
Torb has the same problem: he is forced to stay near turret for a long time.
Goals of Rework
- Power rebalance between Torbjorn and his turret: Turret should be an addition to Torbjorn, not vise versa
- Mobility improvements: Torbjorn should not be too heavily tied to his turret and the ground where he place it
- Attack potential improvements: Torbjorn should be more effective on attacking side while retaining his power on defense
Possible Solutions
- To make Torbjorn himself more powerful in combat
- To make Turret more autonomous in terms of setup
- To give Torbjorn better control over his Turret
- To improve usability of quick Level 1 Turret
Suggestions
First of all, we need to improve how Torbjorn sets up his turret and to make it more autonomous:
- Torbjorn can now throw turret from range
- (Optional) Turret can now be placed on walls and ceiling)
- Level 1 Turret deploys faster
- Level 1 Turret constantly regenerates health until deployed. Turret deployment can be interrupted only with burst damage
- Level 1 Turret automatically upgrades into Level 2 Turret after X seconds (Suggestion: 6-8 seconds)
- Turret CD decreased (Suggestion: from 8 to 6 seconds)
- Level 2 Turret health increased from 300HP to 150HP+150Armor to make it harder to deal with
- Level 3 Turret health increased from 800HP to 650HP+150Armor
- (Optional: if Turret can be placed on walls an ceiling) Torbjorn can now repair his turret from range by main attack of his gun
Results:
Turret is now more like “fire and forget” in terms of setup. Torbjorn no longer needs to babysit his Turret to deploy and upgrade it. Instead, he can now quickly throw Level 1 Turret to provide some additional firepower for allies and distraction for enemies and engage combat by himself.
Ability to throw Turret from range and to deploy it in more unpredictable places will make it harder for enemies to focus both Torb and his Turret at the same time.
If enemies will ignore Level 1 Turret for too long they will be punished by more powerful and harder to kill Level 2 Turret.
Secondly, we need to improve Torbjorn himself to make him viable in direct combat. He is one of the most immobile and vulnerable heroes in the game, but addition of new mobility option will not fit his fantasy and role. Instead, we need to improve his firepower and survivability:
- Base health increased from 200HP to 100HP+100Armor
- Rivet Gun reload time decreased (Suggestion: from 2 to 1.5 seconds)
- Alternate Attack now has the same rate of fire as Main Attack (from 0.8 seconds per round to 0.6 seconds per round)
Results:
Torbjorn is a weapon-/armor-smith so it is natural for him to have innate armor. Innate armor will compensate his bulky model and huge crit-box and bonus armor from Armor Pack can make him tanky enough to engage in direct combat.
Improvements for weapon will make Torbjorn less clunky to play.
Now we need to make Turret less oppressive against low skill players:
- Turret now takes more time to focus on target before fire
- Level 1 Turret damage decreased (Suggestion: from 14 to 12 per round (from 28DPS to 24DPS))
- Level 2 Turret damage decreased (Suggestion: from 14 to 12 per round (from 56DPS to 48DPS))
Result:
Enemies have more time to react to Turret and they are less punished if Turret focuses them automatically.
But we also need to give Torbjorn more control over his Turret and its power:
New ability added - Target Lock-On
- Works like Sombra’s Hack
- Has 0.65 seconds casting time
- Commands Turret to instantly focus on target
- Focused target takes more damage from Turret (Suggestion: 20-50% bonus damage, depends on CD)
- Suggested CD: 4-8 seconds, depends on bonus damage
- Lock-on clears after 5 seconds if target is out of sight
This ability could be implemented in two different variations:
Variation #1: More Firepower - Less Utility
- Target Lock-on Ability replaces Armor Pack on E button
- Armor Pack remains on E button, but only when Hammer is equipped
- This variations retains his Alternate Attack, but also makes Repair Pack harder to use in direct combat (but switching to hammer also reloads his gun, so it has its own pros)
Variation #2: More Utility - Less Firepower
- Target Lock-On replaces Alternate Attack on RMB
- Turret also enters Suppression Fire mode that not only increases damage, but also briefly slows target with each shot
- In this variation Torb loses a lot of power against Tanks and other large targets, but his Armor Pack still can be used in direct combat and Suppression Fire makes him great against highly mobile and squishy heroes like flankers.
Results:
Torb has more control over his Turret so his effectiveness relies more on player’s skill rather than on AI.
Summary
Changes:
Base Stats:
- Health increased from 200HP to 100HP+100Armor
Rivet Gun:
- Reload time decreased (Suggestion: from 2 to 1.5 seconds)
- Alternate Attack now has the same rate of fire as Main Attack (from 0.8 seconds per round to 0.6 seconds per round)
Build Turret:
- Torbjorn can now throw turret from range
- (Optional) Turret can now be placed on walls and ceiling)
- Level 1 Turret deploys faster
- Level 1 Turret constantly regenerates health until deployed. Turret deployment can be interrupted only with burst damage
- Level 1 Turret automatically upgrades into Level 2 Turret after X seconds (Suggestion: 6-8 seconds)
- Turret now takes more time to focus on target before fire
- Level 1 Turret damage decreased (Suggestion: from 14 to 12 per round (from 28DPS to 24DPS))
- Level 2 Turret damage decreased (Suggestion: from 14 to 12 per round (from 56DPS to 48DPS))
- Turret CD decreased (Suggestion: from 8 to 6 seconds)
- Level 2 Turret health increased from 300HP to 150HP+150Armor to make it harder to deal with
- Level 3 Turret health increased from 800HP to 650HP+150Armor
- (Optional: if Turret can be placed on walls an ceiling) Torbjorn can now repair his turret from range by main attack of his gun
New Ability - Target Lock-On:
- Works like Sombra’s Hack
- Has 0.65seconds casting time
- Commands Turret to instantly focus on target
- Focused target takes more damage from Turret (Suggestion: 20-50% bonus damage, depends on CD)
- Suggested CD: 4-8 seconds, depends on bonus damage
- Lock-on clears after 5 seconds if target out of side
Variation #1: More Firepower - Less Utility- Target Lock-on Ability replaces Armor Pack on E button
- Armor Pack remains on E button, but only when Hammer is equipped
Variation #2: More Utility - Less Firepower- Target Lock-On replaces Alternate Attack on RMB
- Turret also enters into Suppression Fire mode that no only increases damage, but also briefly slows target with each shot
Results:
With these changes Torbjorn can now participate in direct combat more freely because he is no longer strictly tied to his Turret due to its faster and autonomous deployment and upgrade. “Fire-and-forget” nature of new deployment and upgrade mechanics allow Torbjorn more effectively push with his team on attacking side, while retaining his zone-control power with hardened Level 2 Turret.
Turret is less oppressive in auto-aim mode, so enemies have more time to react, but its power drastically increases if Torbjorn effectively uses manual control.
Torbjorn himself is more powerful: he still lacks mobility, but this is compensated with better survivability and more firepower.
Support Heroes
Ana
Ana
Ana has two major weaknesses:
- Low self-healing that comes at cost of utility
- Low mobility even for a long range sniper
Each hero should be with its own weaknesses, but Ana’s weaknesses are too punishing.
I suggest some changes that will partly fix her weaknesses while also fit her overall fantasy and playstyle:
New Passive: Wall-climb
- Ana can jump at walls to climb up them
Ana is supposed to be a sniper-healer that support her allies from very long distance. But the sniper that cannot access highground for better positioning is a very bad sniper. This change will fix that, but will not make her too mobile.
New Passive: Calmness
- If Ana stands still for more than 2 seconds she starts to regenerate her health
- 50 health per second of standing still
This passive suits well her fantasy of old and experienced sniper, while also allows her not to waste Bio-grenade for herself outside of combat.
Mercy (Speculation)
Mercy
Currently Resurrect is a reactive ability. Ally dies - Mercy reacts and resurrects him. Resurrect mechanic is very powerful by itself simply because it completely nullifies ally’s mistakes. That makes this ability difficult to balance and forces devs to add additional costs like short range, long cast time and CD and limit to one ally per cast. All of these this things are hated by majority of players, according to forums.
But what if Resurrect would be a proactive ability? Let me explain how it would work.
Instead of casting on already dead ally this version should be used on alive ally. This ability would put a buff on target for several seconds and if target dies while buff is active it will be resurrected after a brief animation delay, just like how it works now. It is like Mercy put a Deathrattle effect from Hearthstone on ally that says “If this hero dies while effect is active - resurrect it”. Instead of reverting already done mistakes Mercy would prevent and save allies from doing mistakes. Or open a possibility to intentionally make “mistakes” to provoke enemies.
Of course this buff should have a fairly visible and readable animation effect that would allow enemies to react. This would open a lot of new decision making for enemies about how to counter this ability.
This version will be less powerful and harder to use, because it will require Mercy to think more about how, when and on which ally it should be used. But it would open more ways for balancing and would probably allow to buff other aspects of the ability, such as range, cast time and CD.
And more importantly - it could be an Ultimate that affects multiple allies. Because it this version Mercy would not be forced to play Hide-and-Seek because she should stay in the fight and use it when team is near death, not when it is already dead. It would be much healthier from the game than old Mercy, but more deep and interesting to play than current one.
Also this Resurrect can be renamed into Guardian Angel. It would fit more.
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