The damage fall off is already a silly idea in my opinion but it isn’t even that impactful considering the magic spot is much further than where Widows usually stay in relation to the enemy team anyways. The ammo consumption change is fine In my opinion and tbh I feel like they could have just kept her ammo count at 30 along with that change and it would have been fine. Keeping that in mind though what they should really have done is this
“Widowmaker’s viability comes from her ability to pick off important assets to the team and the goal of these changes is to retain that part of her character while also reducing her overall impact just a bit”
- Scoped Critical Hit: Multiplier reverted from 2.5x to 2x (This allows widowmaker to still be able to one shot 200 HP characters such as DPS and Support and do her job while also reducing the impact on characters with larger HP pools)
- Grappling Hook: Cooldown reduced from 12 seconds to 10 (This allows Widowmaker to reposition more often which is one of the strongest traits of her character)
With these two simple changes she should really be fine, no damage fall off needed, though I would still like to keep the new ammo consumption and reduce her ammo count back to 30 to make her feel more like a methodical patient sniper!
2 Likes
Why on earth when the goal is making her less effective would we do this?
That being said, I think she need the ability to have her shot disrupted when taking damage… that alone would do wonders…
2 Likes
Because why is it fair that a character like Moira (A character that I play) can go in and get out unphased and completely invulnerable every 6 seconds yet a character like Widowmaker has to deal with constant dive because her only escape option (which does keep her vunerable) is on a ludicrous cooldown lol
That said I do think the 2.5x crit is too much and should be reverted since her main strength is positioning and picking off the squishies safely, not team wiping. Sure they could also add a bit of flinch to her when she gets shot if they wanted, but that would make her ability to contest people at far range (again one of her strengths) much worse than it should be and basically make her useless
If you eliminate the 2.5 multiplier the amount of buffs she would need to be viable would be substantial. Its the crutch of her entire kit. Charge time buffs, venom mine buffs, something.
So we are using the justification of a character who has a 20m effective kill range and is a Support who needs to maneuver to heal her team and survive, with occasional Orb kills at a greater distance, equal to a DPS that one shot kills 2/3 of the roster potentially every four seconds? Okay… I guess 
PS: I am in full favor of raising the c/d on Moira.
Yeah I’m in favor of it as well
I’m just saying I think if they nerfed the 2.5x crit like I’m saying they should at least give her the ability to reposition more like she used to be able to
I am down for this personally as well. She’s not a tank killer after all…
It should NOT be the crutch of her entire kit though that is the thing. She would still excell at what she is supposed to (picking off supports and squishes alike) basically she would still be able to one shot a large amount of the roster with 250 HP characters aside now. With that being said, this is why I also said a slight grappling hook c/d buff would be nice to allow her reposition a bit more often
It would take longer to charge a fatal shot on a 200 hp target than currently.
And that’s a good thing. You also have to keep in mind Widows can also be damage boosted by Mercy at any time directly buffing their effectiveness just like Ashe. Again the point is to make her feel like a sniper that actually has to choose her targets carefully and hit her shots rather than just clicking heads to win
A lot of people are addicted to the comic book version of a sniper Widowmaker is. Many posts have been made comparing Widowmaker to snipers in other games, and usually the only defense is “well, its the lack of weaknesses like others that makes her special”… which is not a good rationale. All the drop-off change does is keep her from being so effective on Sniper enabled maps like Havana they don’t make the map unplayable. I rather would like the reversion on the multiplier…
But why would anyone play Widowmaker with a longer charge time when Ashe gets a pocket one shot with a faster fire rate, dynamite, coach gun and Bob?
Hmm… Ashe has fall off right? Widow could be better on maps with more range if we remove her silly fall off they gave her lol. Plus she still has that better one shot ability which definitely gives her more leverage than Ashe in certain situations especially when it comes to picks. If the lack of the 2.5x crit worries you I could suggest buffing her base shot to 14 - 140 as opposed to 12 - 120 but I think that’s a bit much. Snipers in general in the game just feel unfair in many ways like they get leverage for just sitting in the back of the map while their team does all the fighting
Well… Ashe is not a sniper and her effective range is still less, before Widow even starts to have fall-off. Don’t forget Ashe is getting some nerfs, are you factoring that in?
Yes I am but Ashe is still gonna be good of course. My problem with her was honestly just how well she can harrass the enemy team from afar as well as basically get Bob every team fight. But Widow’s main utility specifically comes from her one shot ability right now while also staying completely safe ftmp which is why I think it should be retained yes but toned down so she’s not running over the tanks too with 300 damage headshots. She doesn’t need to wipe the team she just needs to get one or two picks usually and your team wins the fight so taking away the 2.5x crit wouldn’t hurt her as bad as you think
I did a lot of Ashe for a time after she was released, and being too old to ever develop truly good aim, moved on. That being said, the rate of her ult charge is insane. BOB is out just a bit too often currently… When poor Bap’s IF is on a 25 second c/d, but Ashe’s TNT is on 12 seconds, something ain’t right…
Personally, I think reducing her fall-off range to something like 40-55m while reducing fall-off to 33% might be a better idea.
That would let her one-shot 200HP heroes at all ranges, but require a max charged shot beyond 55m.
Yeah. Ashe’s damage nerf makes her require 4 body shots to kill a 250 hp hero instead of 3. If widows playing at her effective range its less effective to have Mercy pocket her and be separated from the team. So Widow is less likely to get pocketed as its dedicating a team resource. With the mercy pocket Ashe does 207 per headshot. At a faster firing rate than widow, especially without the 2.5 multiplier, with a better kit.
Hmm… that’s an interesting idea!
I for one despise Mercy boosting. I think it creates a host of balance issues and makes a perpetual slave out of Mercy while denying her teammates healing. One of the worst mechanics in the game if you ask me…