Okay, so as a Ball player…
If you’re going to keep this change, you NEED a visual indicator of when his grapple is about to let go. Sort of like how Echo ult shows you when it’s going to expire. If not, I get these moments of terror that I’ve grappled something for too long, because 2 seconds can feel like 6 in the middle of a fight. This is 100% something we need, it’s not something I will ever get used to on timing wise, and frankly, I shouldn’t have to count to six in my head every time I use the ability.
There’s a lot of people saying that this change only messes with Balls who Spin2Win. I disagree, to some extent. There are a few instances where hanging in a specific spot can allow you to sneak by enemies and gain access to their backline, it’s somewhat sad that was taken away.
There are also other interactions that are affected. In a few maps, Ball could grapple moving platforms while he was behind cover. If you let go RIGHT when the platform moved out of range, it would fireball him straight into the air, allowing for some unique entries. Still possible, but the timing is a lot more awkward now.
There are a few Ball rollouts that actually rely on you being grappled to a surface for a while to swing up to the right spot. I’ve noticed only 1 of the longer ones will disconnect me in the middle, the rest won’t.
Aside from the severe issue of me doubting how long I’ve been holding that hook (Please, for the love of all that’s holy, give it a visual indicator) it isn’t TOO much of an issue, but honestly, as a Ball player, I have to tell you I feel a bit salty. So many of his recent changes make him feel worse to play.
Not being able to displace as much was a huge hit, and he lost a lot of appeal then for (what seems like) not very much of an actual nerf to what makes him good for pro players. The falloff changes also hurt, and then the entry grapple changes didn’t actually make him feel much weaker, but it makes it feel clunkier. Even still, my instinct is to grapple out of spawn, and when it’s on CD every time, there’s this moment of annoyance.
Honestly kind of feels like Ball is getting punished and made to feel worse for a strategy that isn’t even good, which… isn’t the best feeling for me as a player.
It does start to feel like favoritism to see Rein, who is currently dominating lower ranks and in most of my games, get buffed, and Ball, who is much weaker in lower ranks, get nerfed (on something that is primarily targetted at lower ranks). It does start to feel like favoritism to me, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth.