Wrecking Ball is broken because of the grapple nerf

General Discussion
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The actual implementation of this nerf “idea” is terrible. It’s very hard to keep track of the remaining grapple duration. I’m tired of just getting yeeted in random directions. It’s mentally draining trying to keep track of how many seconds of grapple you have left. The hero is basically unplayable. Sure, you can work around it - but is it fun and comfortable? No. So why play it?

I think they did this change mostly to nerf power of spin2win in low ELO. I’m fine with that. But the current “solution” is absolutely terrible and punishes players in every elo no matter their rank or skill. It doesn’t only punish spin2win.

Some examples:

Now you can’t grapple to safety when getting booped of the map. It’s usually a desperate move and sometimes very hard to pull off, and in many cases it needs more time than just 6 seconds.

Now you can’t do “scouting runs”, to get a good overview of the battlefield by being grappled and spinning in weird spots. For example grappling the blades on the windmill on ilios-well (extreme example, but there are many similar situations, just harder to put into words)

Now you can’t do some surprise ambushes that involve staying grappled to a certain spot and waiting for the right moment. (No, you cannot just postpone the grapple, because some situations require you to be grappled or you fall off/move away.)

Wrecking ball is all about mobility and striking at the precise moment - sometimes you have to stay grappled for a longer time because you are waiting for the right moment, and you need to be actually grappled because you are simultaneously dodging enemy fire etc.

I could probably go on forever.

Breaking the grapple after 6 seconds is an extremely drastic change that alters the core playstyle of the hero. I don’t think the devs even realize what they did. Not including a visual indicator of the remaining grapple time is the final nail in the coffin that makes this whole balance change become a joke rather than just a huge nerf. Also this massive change went live without even a single comment in the patch notes as to why it was implemented.

A better solution would be to just nerf his fireball speed after X seconds, or the boop damage, anything really… At least give us a visual indicator showing the remaining time around the crosshair (like Moira has when she uses coalescence, or Hammond when using shields…)

This whole patch had so many massive changes and not a single comment (Rein? Hanzo? wtf…) that I have a hard time taking it seriously. Is this a late April fools joke Blizzard ?

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imo he just needs a visual duration of when it’s gonna break (I.x. mercys valkyrie circle in the middle of her screen)

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Maybe. But I feel 6 seconds is still way too short. But we really need to know what Blizzards intention was with this change… Is it to just nerf spin2win? (which most people think) or did they feel he was too mobile? (Was ball really a problem to begin with?)

They clearly said in a previous patch why they added the cooldown on grapple when respawning. It blows my mind that they add these massive changes to Ball, Hanzo and Rein without any comments
crickets

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Ironic considering WB does just that to every hero in the game.

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Yea this greatly limits stategizing using hte grappling point as a tool sadly. And no compensation buff to at least help shift him into a different gameplay style.

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The irony is slightly funny but it’s not an accurate comparison.

When facing a wrecking ball you at least have a visual indicator of when you will get yeeted. You see the ball rolling towards you, it hits you, you fly away, everything makes sense.

Imagine if ball had a skill that when activated, made him invisible for 6 seconds, after which he just hits you and boops you in some direction. The only way for you to keep track of when you will get hit is to count down exactly 6 seconds in your head.

Imagine doing that mid fight while thinking about 10 other stuff. That would suck and be really annoying right? Well, thats exactly how it feels playing ball atm and having no idea when you will loose the grapple

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Although it will be a nice QOL if there was a timer or some visual or audible input, however, counting to 6 isn’t really that hard? And I really don’t get to 6 often before detaching myself.

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Good, ball needs to not be as versatile

and you’ll learn to manage the cooldown it takes time

and no the core playstyle doesn’t change at all… Yeatle Ball Harb and all other Ball players I know have said they barely have noticed it so far

the nerf does its job of targeting bad players abusing the broken parts of that character

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This is the exact same kind of argument people made when Orisa got gutted. “you’ll learn to gauge the new pull range”. “You’ll adapt to a 600 hp shield on a longer cooldown than it used to be with 900”.

She’s now unplayable anywhere but OWL.

Oh well, Enjoy your longer DPS queue times when the Wrecking ball players follow suite with the rest of the tanks, and just leave.

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Orisa is the strongest main tank in the game right now next to Wrecking Ball… she has better upclose sustain then Reinhardt

The patch did exactly what it was supposed to

Now you have to actually be good at Orisa to get value out of her, which is why high level players are playing her

Tank players still whine despite having the most impactful role in the game right now outside of FS (ot)

Hog and Ball still dominate ladder because no dps can check them

and if you arent good at those heroes running Orisa is still extremely viable do to her sustain buffs into brawl comps

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Ah! Is this why she’s the third last picked tank in GM? and dead last everywhere else?

:thinking: What planet do you live on?

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So heroes should be balanced according to how streamers play?

Dude, these guys you mention have INSANE amount of hours put into the game and wrecking ball specifically.

Ofcourse they don’t feel this nerf that much. You are talking about people that could play Ball with their eyes closed.

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The planet where im actually in those GM lobbies and Orisa is a great solid pick

also you are looking at overbuff for gm where 75% of profiles are private

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good? ball is not meant to be an easy hero considering how overpowered he consistently has been

good players adapted to the changes, bad players didnt

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The Data hasn’t changed for even the last 6 month filter on it… At this point it’s pretty dang accurate. Her pickrate has even gone down during the 6 months

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no that says less if anything because there has been a wild meta shift

stop using overbuff and think for yourself

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As my professors in University would say:

“The Data is the data.”

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the data is inaccurate data

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That’s a good Opinion from someone who also has this opinion on one of the few remaining playable tanks:

Like I said before; Enjoy your queue time increases!

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all tanks are currently playable when backline meta switches outside of zarya

If Ana gets played you’ll see monkey dva

Bap Zen Brig and you get Ball dva (which is what you have now)

Bap Mercy and you will get that Orisa Dva heavy brawl sustain

Bap Lucio and Reinhardt Dva/Sigma will shine again

just because a hero isn’t meta doesn’t mean they are bad

1 Like