So on the new experimental patch they’re nerfing Hog’s damage back to what it used to be (and not even reverting the ammo count and fire rate to go along with it) and honestly I don’t think people realize how both unneeded this is overall and how this will fix literally nothing about the current meta.
Hog is inherently really good when the enemy doesn’t have any barriers; that’s just the nature of his kit. It’s not a problem of Hog being too powerful because Hog is still just doing what Hog has always done: hooking enemies who are out of cover or out of position.
When barriers are gone, Hog is inherently going to me meta.
When barriers are balanced, Hog is inherently going to be okay if not bad.
This problem doesn’t get fixed until barriers aren’t complete garbage anymore and nerfing Hog’s damage means that once barriers finally DO get fixed he’ll be in an even worse spot than before.
This is a PERFECT example of what I’m saying is a problem in this post here:
Sigma, Orisa, and Brigitte have already had their self-protection gutted to the extreme; nerfing that would be beating a dead horse.
No, those heroes need their protection abilities like their barriers buffed or else this doesn’t get fixed; we have this meta in the first place because barrier tanks are bad at protecting and surviving now.
They literally can’t do what the entire design of their role is meant to do.
Barriers were never the problem, double barrier was. And who enabled double barrier? Sigma. If he had just been worked into a true off tank, Orisa could have been left strong, and I think she would have been able to hold back the double off tank tide. Why? Well, quite simply, she has a gun. If you can kill them at range as a main tank, double off tank isn’t so threatening anymore.
Yes barriers need to independently be powerful enough to not require a second. One way to ensure that happens is by making sure off tanks like Hog offer enough value to be worth picking in most situations over a second barrier. Nerfing Hog’s damage flies in the face of this.
Sigma has the problem of being an off tank with a barrier. This means that Sigma is either run with a second barrier or not run at all.
He’s essentially a spellcaster tank, and as such all the parts are already there to make him into a unique main tank that trades consistency for periods of extreme damage absorption and output.
Reinhardt is also the most easily bullied tank in the game. Notice how his main metas (In OWL) were when we had 3 tanks in a team comp (4 if you count Brig)?
Hog then at least needs his fire rate and ammo capacity reverted too.
Most of the off tanks are already pretty ok but the problem is that even before barriers were practically deleted they were in a state where you required two of them. They need to be strong enough individually that that’s not the case. As for better counters, I think Echo and Sym are a couple heroes that could seriously help with that if they got the right buffs.
I would disagree with this. His passive makes him incredibly scary and difficult to just push aside. The tank who REALLY is the easiest to bully is Sigma.
I impore the devs to hold off on Roadhog’s re-balancing for the time being. Lets try re-buffing barriers first. Just enough that it won’t bring back double barrier but would make Roadhog less powerful as a bunker buster
I agree that off tanks need to be better so that they’re worth picking over a second barrier, and that’s one of the reasons why I dislike this Hog nerf so much
Problem is, Blizzard appear to have no clue why double barrier exists.
While it is possible to fix that problem, I doubt the specific changes needed would happen.
I will also point out, Orisa would be great against double off tank, if she could be good again. She can compete against double off tank damage (against tanks due to spread), while also having a shield.