Doomfist's Rocket Punch Gets a Quick Nerf in Overwatch

[ffronw]

Doomfist's Rocket Punch Gets a Quick Nerf in Overwatch

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1417/1417892.jpgIf you thought Doomfist's Rocket punch ability was a little too powerful, Blizzard agrees. It's already gotten a nerf on the Overwatch PTR.

Blizzard fulfilled a lot of players' wishes last week when it rolled out Doomfist on the Overwatch PTR. His Rocket Punch lets him thrust forward while firing off a powerful uppercut, and it's extremely powerful. You can deal 250 damage if you get it fully charged up and knock your target into a wall, killing any non-tank hero in the game.

It's apparently so powerful, in fact, that over the weekend it got one of the fastest nerfs to any ability in the game so far. Although the damage of the ability remains the same, it's had its range cut by about a third. In its initial form, the attack took Doomfist roughly 30 meters. Now, the range is down around 20 meters instead.

This makes for a fairly significant nerf, especially when you consider that Doomfist is already a little slower moving than most characters. This likely won't be the last nerf that Doomfist sees, but it's definitely an understandable one.

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[Charli]

Why is everyone freaking out about 'Doomfist nerf ermergerd!'

HE'S ON THE PTR YOU BRAINLESS MONKEYS HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ADJUSTED AND BALANCED ON THE PTR. WHEN HE'S AVAILABLE FOR PLAY PROPER THEN IT CAN MAKE HEADLINES LIKE IT AFFECTS ANYTHING.

I've seen 4 youtube videoes today with the exact same line and it's doing my head in.

 

[ffronw]

Why is everyone freaking out about 'Doomfist nerf ermergerd!'

HE'S ON THE PTR YOU BRAINLESS MONKEYS HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ADJUSTED AND BALANCED ON THE PTR. WHEN HE'S AVAILABLE FOR PLAY PROPER THEN IT CAN MAKE HEADLINES LIKE IT AFFECTS ANYTHING.

I've seen 4 youtube videoes today with the exact same line and it's doing my head in.

There may be a significant difference between "freaking out" and "here's a thing that happened."

 

[Charli]

Why is everyone freaking out about 'Doomfist nerf ermergerd!'

HE'S ON THE PTR YOU BRAINLESS MONKEYS HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ADJUSTED AND BALANCED ON THE PTR. WHEN HE'S AVAILABLE FOR PLAY PROPER THEN IT CAN MAKE HEADLINES LIKE IT AFFECTS ANYTHING.

I've seen 4 youtube videoes today with the exact same line and it's doing my head in.

There may be a significant difference between "freaking out" and "here's a thing that happened."

It does not need it's own article. Reporting that a character is being balanced on a patch test realm before the character is released is psychotic to me. But very well, I will not split hairs, report what you will.

And freaking out, meaning that more than 30 gaming outlets youtuber/written alike that I have just now checked, are indeed running their own take on the 'nerf'. That is most definitely looking at a molehill and at the very least calling it a large elevation.

I love overwatch, and I love Blizzard games in general but, dear friends. Really?

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

Why is everyone freaking out about 'Doomfist nerf ermergerd!'

HE'S ON THE PTR YOU BRAINLESS MONKEYS HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ADJUSTED AND BALANCED ON THE PTR. WHEN HE'S AVAILABLE FOR PLAY PROPER THEN IT CAN MAKE HEADLINES LIKE IT AFFECTS ANYTHING.

I've seen 4 youtube videoes today with the exact same line and it's doing my head in.

There may be a significant difference between "freaking out" and "here's a thing that happened."

It's also worth noting that Blizzard rarely makes changes to game balance on the PTR. In most cases, what you see on the PTR will be what you get on live servers, so to see something nerfed on the PTR so quickly is noteworthy.

Besides, Doomfist had no right to be as mobile, tough, and hard-hitting as he was. Nerfs were definitely in order.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Why is everyone freaking out about 'Doomfist nerf ermergerd!'

HE'S ON THE PTR YOU BRAINLESS MONKEYS HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ADJUSTED AND BALANCED ON THE PTR. WHEN HE'S AVAILABLE FOR PLAY PROPER THEN IT CAN MAKE HEADLINES LIKE IT AFFECTS ANYTHING.

I've seen 4 youtube videoes today with the exact same line and it's doing my head in.

You seem to be freaking out the most from what I've seen. The all caps rage was not needed.
There may be a significant difference between "freaking out" and "here's a thing that happened."

 

[Charli]

Why is everyone freaking out about 'Doomfist nerf ermergerd!'

HE'S ON THE PTR YOU BRAINLESS MONKEYS HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ADJUSTED AND BALANCED ON THE PTR. WHEN HE'S AVAILABLE FOR PLAY PROPER THEN IT CAN MAKE HEADLINES LIKE IT AFFECTS ANYTHING.

I've seen 4 youtube videoes today with the exact same line and it's doing my head in.

There may be a significant difference between "freaking out" and "here's a thing that happened."

It's also worth noting that Blizzard rarely makes changes to game balance on the PTR. In most cases, what you see on the PTR will be what you get on live servers, so to see something nerfed on the PTR so quickly is noteworthy.

Besides, Doomfist had no right to be as mobile, tough, and hard-hitting as he was. Nerfs were definitely in order.

Blizzard makes plenty of changes to many characters, items and abilities in many of their other games. Frequently. This is not an unusual practice for Patch Test Realms and why it has to be a stand out for overwatch, I am less inclined agree that it deserves a special announcement from upon high.

If Doomfist had been released and found overtuned and in need of a nerf affecting competitive and live play, I'd agree, that's newsworthy.

To the one picking apart my capslock above, freaking out to the freaking out does not automatically mean the prior did not occur, I just chose to highlight the insanity by echoing my own. Because this is what it feels like, alot of people shouting about a thing that really isn't all that surprising or newsworthy.

Everyone who even sniffed a bit of doomwatch PTR happenings knew that he wasn't going to fly as he was.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

Why is everyone freaking out about 'Doomfist nerf ermergerd!'

HE'S ON THE PTR YOU BRAINLESS MONKEYS HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ADJUSTED AND BALANCED ON THE PTR. WHEN HE'S AVAILABLE FOR PLAY PROPER THEN IT CAN MAKE HEADLINES LIKE IT AFFECTS ANYTHING.

I've seen 4 youtube videoes today with the exact same line and it's doing my head in.

There may be a significant difference between "freaking out" and "here's a thing that happened."

It's also worth noting that Blizzard rarely makes changes to game balance on the PTR. In most cases, what you see on the PTR will be what you get on live servers, so to see something nerfed on the PTR so quickly is noteworthy.

Besides, Doomfist had no right to be as mobile, tough, and hard-hitting as he was. Nerfs were definitely in order.

Blizzard makes plenty of changes to many characters, items and abilities in many of their other games. Frequently. This is not an unusual practice for Patch Test Realms and why it has to be a stand out for overwatch, I am less inclined agree that it deserves a special announcement from upon high.

But it is unusual for Overwatch, at least. I'd have to do some research, but I'd wager that there's less than ten times that Blizzard has made a change to something that was already on the PTR. They nerfed Orisa on the PTR before she went live, they changed Mercy's staff to give a 50% damage boost and then reverted it almost as quickly...and those are the only examples I can think of off the top of my head. I'm certain there are more, but not very many.

Yes, the PTR is there to test balance changes, but I've lost count of the number of times that a change was pushed to live in the same form in which it first appeared on the PTR. There was a pretty decent-sized thread on their forums awhile back complaining about how Blizzard never made additional changes to anything that showed up on the PTR, after all. I can't be the only one seeing this.

To clarify, balance changes happen fairly frequently, but typically, what you see on the PTR is what will show up on live servers with no changes.