Overwatch's First Console Balance Patch Nerfs Torbjorn

[Steven Bogos]

Overwatch's First Console Balance Patch Nerfs Torbjorn

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1332/1332378.jpg
The nerf highlights the differences between the PC and console versions of Overwatch.

It's very hard to balance a shooter to be fair for both PC and console. Especially one like Overwatch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/overwatch], where characters that are strong on one platform are weak on the other. Case in point: Torbjorn. While annoying on PC, he has plenty of counters and isn't really a problem. On console, however, where auto-aim characters have a distinct advantage, he is a little on the strong side. So, he will be the first hero to be addressed in the game's first console balance patch.

"In an upcoming patch, we will reduce the damage done by Torbjorn's turret by 30% on Xbox One and PS4. PC will remain unchanged," said Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan in a reddit thread [https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/4pt9wd/torbjorn_is_utterly_ruining_this_game_on_ps4/d4nz83p?context=3] about the character.

Unfortunately, Microsoft and Sony's certification process means that unlike the PC version of the game, which can roll patches out instantly, the Trobjorn nerf won't hit until "mid to late July". So Trobjorn mains: now is the time to enjoy your time in the sun.

It's really awesome that Blizzard is committing to balancing the game separately for both platforms. A recent PC patch for the game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167724-New-Overwatch-Patch-Brings-McCree-Nerfs-and-Changes-to-Widowmaker] nerfed McCree and Widowmaker.

Source: reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/4pt9wd/torbjorn_is_utterly_ruining_this_game_on_ps4/d4nz83p?context=3]

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[thewatergamer]

Phew, glad its not being nerfed on PC, was feeling a bit salty for a second, of course here's my other question, where the fuck is my Bastion Bunker nerf Blizz?

 

[Trucken]

Overwatch's First Console Balance Patch Nerfs Trobjorn

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1332/1332378.jpg
The nerf highlights the differences between the PC and console versions of Overwatch.

It's very hard to balance a shooter to be fair for both PC and console. Especially one like Overwatch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/overwatch], where characters that are strong on one platform are weak on the other. Case in point: Trojborn. While annoying on PC, he has plenty of counters and isn't really a problem. On console, however, where auto-aim characters have a distinct advantage, he is a little on the strong side. So, he will be the first hero to be addressed in the game's first console balance patch.

"In an upcoming patch, we will reduce the damage done by Torbjorn's turret by 30% on Xbox One and PS4. PC will remain unchanged," said Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan in a reddit thread [https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/4pt9wd/torbjorn_is_utterly_ruining_this_game_on_ps4/d4nz83p?context=3] about the character.

Unfortunately, Microsoft and Sony's certification process means that unlike the PC version of the game, which can roll patches out instantly, the Trobjorn nerf won't hit until "mid to late July". So Trobjorn mains: now is the time to enjoy your time in the sun.

It's really awesome that Blizzard is committing to balancing the game separately for both platforms. A recent PC patch for the game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167724-New-Overwatch-Patch-Brings-McCree-Nerfs-and-Changes-to-Widowmaker] nerfed McCree and Widowmaker.

Source: reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/Overwatch/comments/4pt9wd/torbjorn_is_utterly_ruining_this_game_on_ps4/d4nz83p?context=3]

Permalink

Amazing. Not that he's getting nerfed, but that you managed to do three different spellings of Torbjorn, one of the incorrect ones even written in the title. It's impressive.

Just messin' with you. Just a few minor errors in the spelling, it happens.

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

Amazing. Not that he's getting nerfed, but that you managed to do three different spellings of Torbjorn, one of the incorrect ones even written in the title. It's impressive.

Just messin' with you. Just a few minor errors in the spelling, it happens.

What do you mean, one of the incorrect ones? I don't see the correct spelling anywhere!

Torbjorn's turret

He's called Torbj&oumlrn ;-)

Here, let me throw you some Umlaute (umlauts?)

&auml, &ouml, &uuml = & auml, & ouml, & uuml (without the space after the &)

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

I don't play Overwatch on console, so I can't speak for how strong Torbjorn is, but 30% sounds a bit harsh.

I mean, Blizz has traditionally been heavy-handed with their nerfs, and so far, Overwatch has been no exception. The McCree nerf, for example, has seen him go from "One McCree in every match, sometimes two" to "hardly seen at all". A nerf was definitely needed, but now his RMB isn't worth using at all anymore.

I guess we'll wait and see, but I really wish Blizz would put the 20lb sledgehammer away and use the rubber mallet a bit.

 

[Steven Bogos]

Amazing. Not that he's getting nerfed, but that you managed to do three different spellings of Torbjorn, one of the incorrect ones even written in the title. It's impressive.

Just messin' with you. Just a few minor errors in the spelling, it happens.

What do you mean, one of the incorrect ones? I don't see the correct spelling anywhere!

Torbjorn's turret

He's called Torbj&oumlrn ;-)

Here, let me throw you some Umlaute (umlauts?)

&auml, &ouml, &uuml = & auml, & ouml, & uuml (without the space after the &)

Special characters like Umlauts mess up the formatting unfortunately

 

[Sight Unseen]

I don't play Overwatch on console, so I can't speak for how strong Torbjorn is, but 30% sounds a bit harsh.

I mean, Blizz has traditionally been heavy-handed with their nerfs, and so far, Overwatch has been no exception. The McCree nerf, for example, has seen him go from "One McCree in every match, sometimes two" to "hardly seen at all". A nerf was definitely needed, but now his RMB isn't worth using at all anymore.

I guess we'll wait and see, but I really wish Blizz would put the 20lb sledgehammer away and use the rubber mallet a bit.

From what I've heard, the nerf is warranted on consoles. Since his turret auto aims and instantly acquires targets, it's been causing a TON of problems on consoles where players can't aim as effectively. Torbjorn has by far the highest winrate of any character on consoles and it's really easy to win games as 6 man torbjorn even on attack because that many turrets become very difficult to deal with without a ton of co-ordination.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

I don't play Overwatch on console, so I can't speak for how strong Torbjorn is, but 30% sounds a bit harsh.

I mean, Blizz has traditionally been heavy-handed with their nerfs, and so far, Overwatch has been no exception. The McCree nerf, for example, has seen him go from "One McCree in every match, sometimes two" to "hardly seen at all". A nerf was definitely needed, but now his RMB isn't worth using at all anymore.

I guess we'll wait and see, but I really wish Blizz would put the 20lb sledgehammer away and use the rubber mallet a bit.

A part of this is to stop team trolling. Basically a 5 Torbjorn with a Lucio or Mercy team is more common than it should be on the consoles.

I feel that Blizzard is going to have to have Custom Matches reward XP. That or fix the matchmaking in pub matches.

 

[omega 616]

Well he is fucking useless now. I used to use him quite a bit on defence, as I don't like Bastion (it seems too cheap) but I liked throwing up a turret and the using that shotgun/pistol, while throwing armour around like a madman.

However it never took much to destroy that turret and I usually had to build about 10 a game, so to take nearly a third of the damage away means one turret is fucking useless. It will be easier to deal with 3 or 4 of them now but I've only been in two games where there was more than one!

Anyway, level 1 turret can't do fucking anything! It's a small delay that usually ends up getting you killed. Any enemy starts attacking you while you get to level 2 and you're dead, level 2 is barely competent and level 3 lasts as along as a fart. With this nerf, he just has his pistol/shotgun.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

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Just grouping you all together so I can reply all at once.

I don't doubt for a second that the nerf is warranted. He's a pest even on PC; I can imagine that dealing with an auto-aim turret is even more of a pain on consoles than it is on PC, without the benefit of mouse targeting.

But I'm just questioning if this is really the right way to do it. A 30% damage reduction might only succeed in making him useless, when it might better to make different adjustments, like lowering the turret's maximum range or adding a delay between locking-on and firing. The knee-jerk reaction doesn't seem like the correct option in this case.

Torbjorn's turret honestly doesn't deal that much damage to begin with outside of his ultimate; it might shred low-health targets in short order, but it takes a second or two for a tank character to even notice the damage it deals, much less react to it.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I mean, Blizz has traditionally been heavy-handed with their nerfs, and so far, Overwatch has been no exception.

McCree still sees a lot of competitive play. He's just not as incredibly easy anymore. You can still out duel just about any other squishy, you can still put out huge precision damage from medium range, and you still have one of the best zoning ults in the game. He sees less play because he actually takes a good amount of skill now. I'm sure once the average players (like myself) get used to him, he'll shoot back up in every day play.

Widowmaker also still sees a ton of play. She still completely outclasses Hanzo when used by a skilled player. The nerf simply made her skill floor higher. Her ult is still one of the best in the game and she still one shots all of the same squishies with headshots. The real nerf is that they made checking for flankers actually require waiting out the animation time.

OT: From what I've heard of the consoles, the nerf is definitely warranted. However, the damage doesn't seem to be what most people were annoyed about. It's the instant lock on, even at long ranges. Hopefully the damage nerf will be enough that it makes up for the core issues console players face.

 

[bjj hero]

I play the little bastard quite a bit at the moment. With a nerfed turret I dont think Ill bother.

His turrets only seem a problem if your team hasnt bothered to balance its classes.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

OT: From what I've heard of the consoles, the nerf is definitely warranted. However, the damage doesn't seem to be what most people were annoyed about. It's the instant lock on, even at long ranges. Hopefully the damage nerf will be enough that it makes up for the core issues console players face.

completely agreed, it seems like they didn't listen to why people wanted the nerf, just give the turret a ~.25 second delay and that 30% damage decrease wouldn't have been warranted, it'd give characters a chance to react to the auto-aim bot since the damn thing can hit a pixel of your character through slits between 3 different walls.

OT: I find it interesting how different characters are between pc/console, I've talked with a couple of my console buddies and they don't encounter mcree that much and widowmaker apparently isn't that big of a deal.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

McCree still sees a lot of competitive play. He's just not as incredibly easy anymore. You can still out duel just about any other squishy, you can still put out huge precision damage from medium range, and you still have one of the best zoning ults in the game. He sees less play because he actually takes a good amount of skill now. I'm sure once the average players (like myself) get used to him, he'll shoot back up in every day play.

He sees less play because he actually takes a good amount of skill now.

McCree's skill floor skyrocketed: the only heroes harder to play than him now are Zarya and Genji. Instead of the usual flash + Fan combo to kill a squishy, you have .7 seconds to line up a headshot that won't kill anyone but Tracer.

Lining up a headshot that quickly is really, really hard.

The thing is, Blizzard intended for the Flash + Fan combo to kill any squishy offensive hero caught in it, per Jeff Kaplan:

McCree is pretty straightforward. What we're looking at right now is his fan the hammer damage. We're going to reduce it. The goal there is to make it so that McCree can still use his combo that we love, which is the flashbang and fan the hammer on somebody like Tracer. McCree should absolutely kill that Tracer. We want McCree to be a counter to people like Tracer, Genji and Reaper. What we're not crazy about, right now, is the way in which McCree can absolutely shred tanks. It's a little too easy, so we want to bring the fan the hammer damage down, so he's still killing the squishies and the medium strength heroes, but he's less effective against the tanks. If he times everything perfectly and gets every single shot off, he's got a shot against a tank, but it's not the instant 'I win' button that it is right now.

It's mostly a case of Blizzard missing their own balance objectives. Instead of toning Fan the Hammer back a tad so it doesn't shred tanks, they basically took McCree's signature attack and removed it. It's not worth using anymore, even if you catch that Tracer in your flashbang.

I'm worried that the knee-jerk reaction to a character getting out of hand will completely destroy it and make it not worth playing. McCree still has good things going for him even if Fan the Hammer isn't worth using, but nerfing Torbjorn's turret that heavily could kill him dead.

 

[chocolate pickles]

Great, another character that I won't play anymore. Blizzard already ruined Mcree, so let's see how many more of their characters they can destroy.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Why oh why is auto aim even an option in a competitive team-based multiplayer shooter? Are things so goddamn easy now that we can outsource half our reaction times to a fucking AI? Why you trying to please the kiddos, blizzard? Silly question, sorry, of course it's the monies.

 

[SirSullymore]

Eh, I don't think this was needed, I only had a problem if there was two or three Torbs. So yeah, thanks a lot jerks, staking your teams with Torbs made the game no fun for anyone and got my favorite character nerfed. *grumble grumble*