Let’s go through the chances one by one and see how they could have been better.
Hanzo
Storm Arrows
Damage increased from 60 to 70
Right out of the gates I disagree with this. There was a reason it was nerfed to 60 because it was an ability that allowed Hanzo to sloppily win his duels in short range versus heroes he’s not really supposed to.
Heroes like Reaper, S76, Tracer, etc should not be fearful of engaging Hanzo in close range.
Do I think Hanzo needs more damage? Of course but this isn’t the way to go.
I much better way to go would have been to buff his primary fire damage from 125 to 130 and buff storm arrows from 60 to 65. That way 3 storm arrows are still not enough to kill a target but his overall shield break and lethality is increased.
Moira
Biotic Grasp
Primary Fire: Healing per second increased from 65 to 70
Secondary Fire: Damage per second reduced from 50 to 40
As much as I dislike Moira, I don’t think this is the way to go with the character.
More healing, less damage and less self defense is the exact opposite of what we need right now.
We need supports to be less healing oriented in favor of more damage, utility, self defense and a badass ultimate. We want interesting supports that scale with player skill not more healbots.
Giving her more damage but tighter beam width and a more skill oriented E ability is the way to go with Moira not this…
Genji
Shuriken
General: Damage increased from 28 to 30
There was a reason this was nerfed, because a headshot into melee at close range was a one shot. With all the other buffs Genji is getting this is simply too much.
I’m all for the deflect buffs however, because it creates interesting counterplay. In fact I think most abilities should be cancellable including Ana’s Sleep Dart, Tracer’s Pulse bomb etc because it introduces a lot of depth to the game.
Is the Ana faking her sleep dart? Is she just bluffing? Should I use my deflect because if it is a bluff that will only render me vulnerable but if it isn’t I’m going to get hit by it?
These are the type of interesting mind games you get when you are able to cancel your abilities.
dont forget zen.
without this buff zen can charge a small volley when deflect ends.
now genji can just stop the deflect at will and proceed to kill poor robo monk…
I’m just genuinely confused by the devs sometimes.
The Genji buffs are what they are, I personally think the deflect change just gives him even more get out of jail free tools, to go along with maybe the third or fourth most forgiving kit in all of Overwatch. The favoritism is real. The damage change isn’t that big a deal. It makes him more dangerous at point blank, but that may not be a bad thing, necessarily. His biggest buff by far is the Moira nerf, which probably doesn’t completely stop Moira from dunking on Genji’s, but definitely gives him the tools to counter-dunk if the skill is there. That may even be fair.
The Moira nerf. Yeah, that’s a thing that wasn’t needed. Like, at all. She’s got the second lowest damage in the game. If you’re getting solo killed by a Moira both you and your team need to take the lesson and improve at this game. You don’t have to take that engagement. You can kill her dead. Or your supports can keep you alive until she’s driven off/killed. None of that is particularly challenging. Kind of Overwatch 101, even. Especially on the heels of the orb nerf. Ouch. Does it dumpster Moira? Probably not, as the heal buff isn’t anything to shake a stick at. But it definitely makes her a more situational support pick. I know the memes of DPS Moiras, we’ve all had that frustration. But this… probably wasn’t the best way to solve that issue. Jury’s still out.
But let’s talk about Hanzo. Spamzo lives! A character who once again has absolutely no weaknesses and can delete even tanks effortlessly. Didn’t we fix this once already? There are only two ways to pressure a Hanzo now. Another, better Hanzo. Or a Widowmaker. Ah Sniperwatch, you return. You suck, and we wish you’d stay gone, but alas, you return.
Outside the box question: Can a duplicating Echo get Dragonstrike off just a single storm arrow use? Do these numbers change the state of that answer at all? I honestly, genuinely don’t know the answer, as I’ve never once played Echo. But I have a nightmare vision of a duplication, a spam Storm, and a free Dragonstrike with no effort. Hopefully that’s not a thing.
All that Genji and Hanzo needed was the other power crept DPS to be put in line with them.
The spam damage is so absurd that Dive is unplayable outside of coordinated OWL teams.
If you don’t have that Reinhardt shield to hide behind you die in split seconds and if you don’t have long range you can’t even fight back.
Buffing Hanzo will only make this worse, because he will gladly join the Reinhardt/Zarya party and Genji will seem bad in comparison to other DPS until Dive is getting back into the game.
I’ve never once played Echo, so I’m just basing on my experiences with her as a teammate or enemy. But this doesn’t feel like a bad change for her. She can’t just yolo sticky bombs and then focus beam and get kills from Mars anymore.
I can’t speak to whether she was truly overpowered outside of her ultimate, it didn’t really feel like it. But this also feels like a skill enhancing change for her. So I, as someone who doesn’t play Echo, don’t feel like it’s particularly harmful to her. I’m prepared to be proven wrong by people that know the character better, if necessary.
But I lived through the First Spamzo Storm Age(trademark pending). It made tank play pointless. And that was BEFORE the barrier nerfs. Hanzo hard countered ALL tanks, period, end of line. Some had slightly more counterplay than others, D.Va for example. But that didn’t make the interaction any less painful. Far away? Spamzo. Up close? Spamzo. Finally worked your way into range to nuke his backside? Oh, Lunge, nvm.
I felt like the tune down finally put Hanzo into a decent spot. He could be strong, but not overwhelming. And just seeing them revert without any compensatory nerfs feels weird. This broke the game the first time it was live, and you bring it back unchanged? Into the post-barrier nerf universe?
I’ll gladly admit I’m overreacting. Maybe even totally off base. But the buff HURTS.
Moira taking an extra full second to get a kill is not minor dude neither is Genji being able to one shot with RMB (hs) + Melee.
Besides we all experienced Hanzo with 70 dmg storm arrows and how terrible it felt to play against as say a 76 player.
That video is intentionally misleading by showing the damage on Roadhog instead of a squishy.
About the Moira main i agree. I’d rather have a shorter beam width instead.
But each experimental has been worse than the one before. remember last patch where her orb got badly nerfed?
Totally aggree on what you says. They should only put small nerfs to mcree and ashe. And reworking some mechanics on heros with low skill floor and high rewards.
Also implement something to nerf double shield sinergy
Now tell me with a straight face. This month Genji is the 9th picked DPS in GM with a 1.28% pick rate. McCree, Ashe, Tracer, Widow, Echo, Hanzo, Torb and Doom are all picked ahead of him.
According to overbuff, his winrate is quite high. And Despite being more popular Hanzo sits at the bottom of the list. Winrate wise, the only character below him is Reaper.
Anyway I feel like most of the changes are coming from the esports. While dominating the OWL, Echo starts being good only on high ranks and is pretty average everywhere below master. Genji is kinda fine too, starting to actually grow in winrate on diamond and above. However he sees no play in pro games. Hanzo is meh everywhere. And Moira… Well, I guess this nerf is coming from whine threads.
Yall are losing your minds
