I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing Soldier shift to support similar to how Baptiste plays.
So for mechanics you could increase the size of his healing field, reduce the cooldown, and likely the value of healing. This would be his primary healing making him a area based healer. I’d probably also throw a Damage reduction in there to really support people grouping around him to play.
Of course we can’t trust people to play around you, so I’d suggest his missiles be removed as a dps item but instead as a 1 missile healing burst. The initial thought is three charges that recharge over 10 seconds. When it does recharge he reloads all charges. It no longer damages, but no fully heals. Finally I’d suggest his ult keep the same functionality but now also fires a free missle every 2 seconds targeting a nearby ally in addition to you lighting people up.
Not really an extensive rework, but does bring another support option to the table.
I’ll throw my hat in for Symmetra. Her kit doesn’t jive with OW2 so she’s going to need a rework anyways. She already has utility so it only seems natural.
So you want a bap rework? Since the soldier you are suggesting sounds like bap with changes. Like what if bap used helix instead of nades to heal but only was 1 rocket. (1 rocket, 1 nade both explosives) What if his regen had a clear defined area for everyone to see? It follows the same logic of soldier changes.
And let’s not forget pulse rifle is a high burst damage, even nerfing it means that soldier is more likely to shoot than heal. I would not expect my support soldier to do any healing even moreso than a battle bap or dps backlinin Moira.
To be fair, despite the fact that you are being entirely reasonable, I would say patience is running thin. That much was obvious. People do not want to wait months to see if there is a playable support. Ha ha ha…
At least I have Lucio. So I can wait a bit, but I still understand why everyone is lowkey desperate to get a dps based support that is not vulnerable or focused on healing.
I mean, why though? Solider is finally doing well again and looking to be even stronger in OW2. Why mess with that?
Plus, as you said, there’s already Baptiste he’d overlap with and Solider fills the generic shooty shooter role in DPS. Best Support rework choices would Sym and maybe Torb as their current kits are going to struggle in OW2.
Some people don’t like the way Bap has to switch between fire modes and would rather have a Zen or Lucio type support that has simple to dispense healing, with the weapon focussed on doing damage.
Currently, our Zen and Lucio type supports are limited to Brig and, um, Zen and Lucio. That’s it. If you want to play a hitscan version, you’re out of luck.
I can understand a personal preference on maybe not liking burst weaps. O.o dunno tho my bap does both burst, nade, burst, nade. Just because you can get in that nade between bursts because of burst timing. Just adding to damage overall not aiming for headshots and can reliably a decent portion of the time hit my team mates directly or at least near. ( personally gotta work on elevation and drop times on uneven terrain fights)
So at least to me I can do both and his weap doesn’t seem useless if your teams already healed and set up. So initially can be uses as a straight up burst rifle until you need yo start healing. Which I’d suggest trying burst nade firing. Just aim for chunky things or the ground and move your aim up while bursting, and down a bit to nade near your team’s general location at their feet.
Like I said I’d rather another new support than just shifting old stuff around. A new hitscan one would be more appreciated. But the whole weapon being for dmg means all heals need to be skills. Which means there is no sustained way of constantly healing. As you are then bound by CD times instead of tracking ammo or just passively doing it.
People like bap have a higher skill ceiling in a sense because you have to master all of his aspects to feel impactful. Zen is fire and forget but has low healing factor as a result.(Other than trans which justifies him as a decent healer)
Brig is hulk mini smash combined with here have a cookie, Lucio is listening to music and generally being a troll just booping away. These characters have more potential than that but are just how to put it “simple”. They require you to keep track of less things. Things that have good value require you to get better at them in order to use it to its full potential.
I think they thematically feel different, Also they arn’t one to one. You take soldier for rapid fire shooting damage and forward movement. Bap comes with more upwards mobility, the ever strong immortality field and an ult that buffs team-mates instead of solo. Similar but different.
Maybe you wouldnt, but there is no reason to turn a dps hero from 6 yrs ago that plays just fine, into a totally different hero. All the other heroes with big reworks or changed to another role had a reason for it.
Harmony might have low HPS in terms of raw output but it’s still valuable healing because of its reliability. As a Bap, I love having a Zen alongside me because he can easily heal that Tracer, that Genji, that Echo or that Pharah. Ability healing doesn’t need to be constrained by CDs, Zen is already proof of that.
I don’t seriously believe that 76 should shift roles, but I fully understand why people want a Support:76 and don’t find Bap satisfactory.
Soldier could become a support (well, anyone can) but I would hope they simply rework his kit instead of just tacking healing onto his moves.
Support Soldier (in my head) would ideally reflect his ‘leadership qualities’ and be able to mark allies like Zen/Paladin’s Corvus at range or something new like Octavia’s global team buffs/life rip. Something that enables allies without really needing to pocket them.
That aside, I think Bastion is the best candidate for a support swap and I’m bummed it didn’t happen! Would have been a stellar character arc haha.
Blizzard introduced this hero who used to be one of many deadly robots but suddenly woke up with a whole new direction in life - one that apparently cares for fragile creatures like Ganymede.
It seems like it would be almost poetic for Bastion to want to be different (and so far its story seems to be going in that direction) and not obliterate everything in its way. Trying to grow past its ptsd by eventually making friends with Ganymede and Torbjorn and learning to support its allies instead.
I know a lot of people want to see Bastion become an actual “tank” but what could Bastion look like as a support? Story wise, do you feel like this is a better fit for the character?