tl;dr - Hes still pretty bad.
Okay, to get into the meat of it, Roadhog in this experimental change is both good and bad, but overall his changes are pretty negative.
First off - the damage. The reason why Hog was doing bad in the first place is because he couldn’t pose a threatening tank presence with his old damage. This has been the case for nearly 2 years now. And now, his damage is worse. I always called his gun a confetti blaster, but its straight up a water gun. The changes he got dont outweigh this MAJOR negative.
For the hook change, its a good step. 8 seconds always felt like a slog for one of his signature abilities that allowed him to do damage anyways, but it might have little counterplay if the reel animation isn’t reverted to be a bit slower again. I’d say thats a good trade off rather than touching his damage.
And, finally, his Take a Breather. Whenever the suggestion popped up on the forums, I disagreed with it for a variety of reasons. This has yet to change, and I feel like it doesn’t meld with his kit overall.
Final thoughts and suggested changes
Roadhog is a bruiser tank - always has been, but its hard to see after his damage got gutted. I still think a healthier iteration of Hog would have been before his damage nerf with his hook being on a 7 second cooldown. Thats it. Hog was the only answer to abusive heroes like Zarya, Mei, Reaper, and Doom (befote he got released) so that they couldn’t press W and win. He forced players to tread carefully. Nowadays, if you get hooked, you can just walk away and live 9/10 times.
