Overwatch: Boop!

[Geno9999]

It certainly makes more sense than the changes to D.Va. I've never seen the issues with Mercy's ult they describe, but I only play QP, and on a level best described as random flailing.

Oh it's all over in Competitive. To the point where unless one team completely outclasses the other, the 5 Man Rez was an "We win. Also, you just wasted all those team wiping ults." button.

[The_Jackal]

Oh it's all over in Competitive. To the point where unless one team completely outclasses the other, the 5 Man Rez was an "We win. Also, you just wasted all those team wiping ults." button.

This. A well-played D.va can simply destroy an enemy offensive, not by firing her guns, just by following behind a couple DPS heroes and providing them with a zone of immunity while they mag-dump the target of their choice. D.va's defense matrix is, IMO, the secret ingredient that makes the Dive Meta work. Plus the issue where if you're a Soldier or McCree or Pharah, you've basically got to get your team to pop her out of Mech in order for your ultimate to not get eaten. Remember that in competitive, the players are very, very conscious of ult economy, and much better about positioning themselves to take advantage of their teammates' abilities.

[Togath]

I'll be honest, the 5 man rez was pretty rough in casual play from my experience. I mean, if felt good if your team got it off... but...
When an ability feels so strongly one sided AND can be a match winner by itself, that is definitely an issue. Plus the new ult gives a lot more mechanical depth to Mercy. Assuming it buffs all of her stuff at once, she could be pretty terrifying flying around at high speeds while firing off her improved pistol and constantly healing herself.

On the other hand, it will make it safter for me to take a bite of my snacks when I die, and not have to jump back to the keyboard with a mouth full of grapes.

Not just me that does this? I once(maybe closer to twice) inhaled a bit of tea due to not expecting a res.

[Psyren]

It certainly makes more sense than the changes to D.Va. I've never seen the issues with Mercy's ult they describe, but I only play QP, and on a level best described as random flailing.

Check the Seagull video I linked above. He plays amazingly well and still loses 0-3, entirely because of a Mercy playing exactly the way the article (and Geno) describes. You can even hear SG and his team screaming "find that Mercy!" at several points.

I don't think so. I think it goes down the very first moment someone on your team snuffs it in a position that isn't immediately suicidal. 30 seconds is not a long time, so you'll want to have that ability on cooldown as much as possible. I wouldn't hold it for a tank, at any rate. In point of fact, it effectively can let your play healing your low HP heroes more recklessly, and focus on keeping your bigs upright.

It also lets you boost more. Say you're down two teammates and teammate A is low on health while teammate B is ulting - you can boost B to more easily take out 3 of the enemy, then turn around and rez A, resulting in a 4-3 matchup.

[Morty]

I have certainly seen successful ults, or just good pushes, undone by Mercy's rez. So I can see the reasoning.

[The_Jackal]

I have certainly seen successful ults, or just good pushes, undone by Mercy's rez. So I can see the reasoning.

Oh, absolutely. Especially on the dreaded assault game mode, when the attacking team is already swimming upstream against a huge spawn advantage, only to see your efforts eradicated with one press of the Q button, as Mercy swoops straight out of spawn. That's why I'm so enthusiastic. This change promises to make Mercy more engaging and fun, and at the same time, gets rid of a common, annoying stall strategy.

[Rising Phoenix]

These changes to Mercy make me hopeful. I had given up on the game due to her and how ridiculously strong Dive meta is/was...

Now I don't know what their thinking with the changes to Defense Matrix. Yes, it is (one of) the strongest abilities in the game, but it is largely the same as working around breaking reins and/or orisas shield to set up ults.

[BRC]

Defense Matrix isn't so much broken as it is Unfun.

With Barriers, at least you're working towards something shooting at them. Defense Matrix just means you're doing nothing.

Meanwhile, as D.Va, if the best thing to do is keep your defense matrix up, you really can't do anything else.

[The_Jackal]

Defense Matrix isn't so much broken as it is Unfun.

The issue Jeff mentioned is that there really isn't a counter, other than to run D.va out of defense matrix and pop her out of suit, and when layered with other barriers, can supply a near-insurmountable defense. That's not to say it's not also unfun, but I think there is an aspect of it which is legitimately broken. The only thing close to a viable D.va counter now is Sombra, if she can get the drop on her, can hack, which gives you a 6-second window to get her out of suit, but given that Sombra's hack is interrupted if she takes ANY damage, this can be tough to bring off. Roadhog is another D.va answer, but given that Roadhog is his own nest of balance implications, I think they want to address Matrix directly, rather than revert the Roadhog nerf just to provide more counterplay options against D.va.

[Togath]

Defense Matrix isn't so much broken as it is Unfun.

With Barriers, at least you're working towards something shooting at them. Defense Matrix just means you're doing nothing.

Meanwhile, as D.Va, if the best thing to do is keep your defense matrix up, you really can't do anything else.

This. It's less a "technical minor mechanical balance" thing than a "what does the ability in it's current state mean people are having to do?".

[Psyren]

A high-charge Zarya can laser through the Matrix too. But I'll reserve judgment until I try the new kit.

[Winthur]

The issue Jeff mentioned is that there really isn't a counter, other than to run D.va out of defense matrix and pop her out of suit, and when layered with other barriers, can supply a near-insurmountable defense. That's not to say it's not also unfun, but I think there is an aspect of it which is legitimately broken. The only thing close to a viable D.va counter now is Sombra, if she can get the drop on her, can hack, which gives you a 6-second window to get her out of suit, but given that Sombra's hack is interrupted if she takes ANY damage, this can be tough to bring off. Roadhog is another D.va answer, but given that Roadhog is his own nest of balance implications, I think they want to address Matrix directly, rather than revert the Roadhog nerf just to provide more counterplay options against D.va.

I also would like to add that it seems historically D.Va players have had issues with Mei (freeze goes through Matrix, Mei is tanky enough to go toe to toe, D.Va's head hitbox is huge; of course, Mei's freezing abilities are also terribly unreliable at higher levels and her wall requires great judgment) and Zarya (beam goes through Matrix, BUT on the other hand D.Va can prevent your Graviton Surge from delivering its payload simply by flashing Matrix at it; she's still quite niche though, quite slow too) and Reaper (but Reaper busts all tanks). Not a great collection of picks right now.

Personally I'm wondering if the dive meta isn't more of a product of Winston's supremacy. Tracer and Genji are great DPS, but I don't know if they'd be so prevalent if Winston wasn't so synergistic. Winston makes you suffer if you aren't particularly mobile, and counterpicks like Reaper have their own shortcomings (such as lack of range). So everyone wants to be mobile in order to not get monkey'd. Lucio, aside from being excellent all around, really adds to that mobility and offers multiple answers to enemy ultimates as well as peel. Zenyatta is here because Orb of Discord offers great help in focusing down enemy dive combo.

And of course if you're running so many flankers, other tanks don't make as much sense. Reinhardt vs Tracer/Genji is hell; Orisa is still not taken particularly seriously (the Korean WC team allegedly picked it in one match "for fun"); Roadhog is Roadhog; Zarya is good, but not as mobile, can't dynamically jump to enemy backline and back; so we get Winston and D.Va.

I'm just thinking that if Winston were weaker, whether due to nerfs (which I do not wish upon him at all), some buffs or some new ideas, D.Va would still be a great bruiser tank that you can fit everywhere, including co-tanking with Rein, Ori and Zarya, with different goals in mind. Winston feels primarily like an enabler of chaos that flankers and divers thrive in; personally, I'm not sure how you can play him defensively; at most I can think of protecting your supports and frying their flankers with Tesla while giving them the energy tomb to dance around in; his shield certainly doesn't have the resilience or convenience of a Rein or Orisa barrier, it's more temporary.

[Rising Phoenix]

I also would like to add that it seems historically D.Va players have had issues with Mei (freeze goes through Matrix, Mei is tanky enough to go toe to toe, D.Va's head hitbox is huge; of course, Mei's freezing abilities are also terribly unreliable at higher levels and her wall requires great judgment) and Zarya (beam goes through Matrix, BUT on the other hand D.Va can prevent your Graviton Surge from delivering its payload simply by flashing Matrix at it; she's still quite niche though, quite slow too) and Reaper (but Reaper busts all tanks). Not a great collection of picks right now.

Personally I'm wondering if the dive meta isn't more of a product of Winston's supremacy. Tracer and Genji are great DPS, but I don't know if they'd be so prevalent if Winston wasn't so synergistic. Winston makes you suffer if you aren't particularly mobile, and counterpicks like Reaper have their own shortcomings (such as lack of range). So everyone wants to be mobile in order to not get monkey'd. Lucio, aside from being excellent all around, really adds to that mobility and offers multiple answers to enemy ultimates as well as peel. Zenyatta is here because Orb of Discord offers great help in focusing down enemy dive combo.

And of course if you're running so many flankers, other tanks don't make as much sense. Reinhardt vs Tracer/Genji is hell; Orisa is still not taken particularly seriously (the Korean WC team allegedly picked it in one match "for fun"); Roadhog is Roadhog; Zarya is good, but not as mobile, can't dynamically jump to enemy backline and back; so we get Winston and D.Va.

I'm just thinking that if Winston were weaker, whether due to nerfs (which I do not wish upon him at all), some buffs or some new ideas, D.Va would still be a great bruiser tank that you can fit everywhere, including co-tanking with Rein, Ori and Zarya, with different goals in mind. Winston feels primarily like an enabler of chaos that flankers and divers thrive in; personally, I'm not sure how you can play him defensively; at most I can think of protecting your supports and frying their flankers with Tesla while giving them the energy tomb to dance around in; his shield certainly doesn't have the resilience or convenience of a Rein or Orisa barrier, it's more temporary.

I'll have to agree.

On a different note, I hope they give Ana something. The old gal is just a sitting duck in the current state and gets hard countered by the dive meta.

[Ascaloth]

I think the new D.Va can still shut down the high-damage ults handily, she just has to do it a little more offensively now. The trick are her new rockets; she'll want to hang on to them for as long as she can afford to, so that they can be utilized in the critical moments.

Pharah rains justice from above? Pop Defense Matrix, use the 2 seconds of uptime to get a fix on the Pharah's position, and rain justice right back at her.

Reapers jumps into your team's midst and pops Death Blossom? Cover him with Defense Matrix, use the 2 seconds of uptime to get a lead on his trajectory, and make him die, Die, DIE.

The tricky one is Soldier's Visor, since Soldier can move freely during his ult, meaning her missile salvo isn't as sure a hit as it would be on the first two. Even so, sending a barrage his way might encourage Soldier to run for cover, so that would work too.

[Psyren]

I'll have to agree.

On a different note, I hope they give Ana something. The old gal is just a sitting duck in the current state and gets hard countered by the dive meta.

Agreed, her sleep dart is just not good enough when Tracer and Genji are zipping circles around her. I'd like it if, at least at closer range, it tracked like Orb of Discord.

Speaking of Tracer and Genji, that's when I use Winston the most, when those two are running around my team's backline being annoying.

[The_Jackal]

I also would like to add that it seems historically D.Va players have had issues with Mei (freeze goes through Matrix, Mei is tanky enough to go toe to toe, D.Va's head hitbox is huge; of course, Mei's freezing abilities are also terribly unreliable at higher levels and her wall requires great judgment) and Zarya (beam goes through Matrix, BUT on the other hand D.Va can prevent your Graviton Surge from delivering its payload simply by flashing Matrix at it; she's still quite niche though, quite slow too) and Reaper (but Reaper busts all tanks). Not a great collection of picks right now.

I think the issue is that Mei lacks mobility, and the top-meta being dive requires mobility, and even defending teams have found mobility more effective at countering dive than just trying to counter-pick the classes that make up dive.

Personally I'm wondering if the dive meta isn't more of a product of Winston's supremacy. Tracer and Genji are great DPS, but I don't know if they'd be so prevalent if Winston wasn't so synergistic. Winston makes you suffer if you aren't particularly mobile, and counterpicks like Reaper have their own shortcomings (such as lack of range). So everyone wants to be mobile in order to not get monkey'd. Lucio, aside from being excellent all around, really adds to that mobility and offers multiple answers to enemy ultimates as well as peel. Zenyatta is here because Orb of Discord offers great help in focusing down enemy dive combo.

It's really 100% about the ability to neutralize the defender's advantage of high ground. If you're fighting on Numbani, and you're in a regular death ball, you're going to get hosed, because every approach lets the defenders rain fire on you, and send a solo flanker to mess with your healers. Yes, Winston is good, but he's good because he can get where he needs to go fast, not because he's particularly amazing as a sole contributor.

And of course if you're running so many flankers, other tanks don't make as much sense. Reinhardt vs Tracer/Genji is hell; Orisa is still not taken particularly seriously (the Korean WC team allegedly picked it in one match "for fun"); Roadhog is Roadhog; Zarya is good, but not as mobile, can't dynamically jump to enemy backline and back; so we get Winston and D.Va.

Orisa is just BAD. She's got a bigger hitbox than D.va, a smaller barrier than Rein, a wildly inaccurate tickle-gun, and no matrix. The one bright spot for her is 'Halt', which you can use to boop folks to their death, but otherwise, she's a speed bump, especially against mobile heroes. By any reasonable measure, Reinhardt is a better anchor tank.

I'm just thinking that if Winston were weaker, whether due to nerfs (which I do not wish upon him at all), some buffs or some new ideas, D.Va would still be a great bruiser tank that you can fit everywhere, including co-tanking with Rein, Ori and Zarya, with different goals in mind. Winston feels primarily like an enabler of chaos that flankers and divers thrive in; personally, I'm not sure how you can play him defensively; at most I can think of protecting your supports and frying their flankers with Tesla while giving them the energy tomb to dance around in; his shield certainly doesn't have the resilience or convenience of a Rein or Orisa barrier, it's more temporary.

I had really hoped they'd make Doomfist a tank, instead of a tubby Genji. I'm wildly opposed to Winston nerfs, he's actually very fragile, and only is effective because he's creating space for his Genji and Tracer to get picks. Winston jumps in, starts scrubbing with his Tesla cannon, Tracer zips in, dumps a clip into somebody, then Genji his them with a dash/right click/melee. If by some miracle they're not dead, Winston's electric death will do the rest. It's just a strong synergy built around mobility, designed to neutralize the old tank-heavy meta.

On a different note, I hope they give Ana something. The old gal is just a sitting duck in the current state and gets hard countered by the dive meta.

Eh, she's got a 100 point self-heal, and a sleep dart, and then she should also have her teammates peeling for her. Her positioning is a lot harder than Mercy's, because she's got to be able to hit targets to heal them (especially bad when you've got idiot ranged characters cutting across your line of sight), but from what I can tell, the pros rarely if ever use her snipe, only relying on no-scope shots, because she's better off staying close to the tanks than standing off, leaving a bright laser pointer saying 'kill the healer, I'm over here'. I don't think Ana is in poor shape, but I would like to see some alternatives. We'll see if the new Mercy makes her less tedious to play, but what I'm hoping for is more healer choices.

Speaking of Tracer and Genji, that's when I use Winston the most, when those two are running around my team's backline being annoying.

That, I think, is the issue of Winston's current dominance. He's both the enabler of, and the solution to, Genji and Tracer.

[Rising Phoenix]

Eh, she's got a 100 point self-heal, and a sleep dart, and then she should also have her teammates peeling for her. Her positioning is a lot harder than Mercy's, because she's got to be able to hit targets to heal them (especially bad when you've got idiot ranged characters cutting across your line of sight), but from what I can tell, the pros rarely if ever use her snipe, only relying on no-scope shots, because she's better off staying close to the tanks than standing off, leaving a bright laser pointer saying 'kill the healer, I'm over here'. I don't think Ana is in poor shape, but I would like to see some alternatives. We'll see if the new Mercy makes her less tedious to play, but what I'm hoping for is more healer choices.

Well D.Va and Winston negate all the healing she does. Genji and Tracer murder her. She has crap mobility and landing a sleep dart on genji and tracers is well hard (though immensely satisfying).

I've personally swapped to zenyata, because most genjis and tracers don't realize how quickly they get murdered by Zen...especially tracers that like to dash towards you in a straight line...

---
On a different note I hope that nanomercy becomes a thing...

[Togath]

Never thought about Winston and D.va's ability to negate Ana's healing... dang. That's potent.

[Rising Phoenix]

Never thought about Winston and D.va's ability to negate Ana's healing... dang. That's potent.

Yep, D.va literally eats anything that ana fires. And Winston's bubble prevents her from firing at her team mates.

[Mutazoia]

I predict that the next new character is going to be a defensive one. We've had a new healer (Anna), a new Tank (Orisa), and a new offensive (Doomfist), we're due to add a defensive hero to the roster. Probably some one with proximity mines (rather than Junkrat's single, remote detonate mine).

[Rising Phoenix]

The game is in desperate need of more healers (and proper tanks)

[Togath]

I'd kinda like to see a second melee character. Like, sure everyone can do "quick melee" attacks, but only Reinhardt focused at a range like that(not even Doomfist is primarily melee).

[NeoVid]

I seriously doubt there's going to be a new tank right when they're cutting down on tank abilities that protect teammates.

Then again, I didn't think they'd add a new character with an instakill at the same time they said they were eliminating autokill combos, so maybe I'm wrong.

[Beelzebub1111]

I am actually excited for the D.va changes. It will make Elimination games a lot more fair when I'm paired against Pharah. Being able to fire while charging along with a missile.

I worry about a pocket necromercer. Since her new revive ability seems abusable in that situation.

[ChaosOS]

Given that mercy is already good in 3v3 and that new mercy will certainly be even better, I'm guessing she'll have ascended the throne to "best 3v3 character". Given that Pharah is also rather strong in 3's I'm guessing that it might be more optimal to switch to Zen+Pharah+1 and then let Mercy carry some "bad" characters (Ana-Road-Soldier will still be a staple composition for the self sustain)

[The_Jackal]

Well D.Va and Winston negate all the healing she does. Genji and Tracer murder her. She has crap mobility and landing a sleep dart on genji and tracers is well hard (though immensely satisfying).

Any tank or DPS can reliably solo down any healer, all things being equal. As for barriers stopping Ana, I agree, that's a risk, but you should be up close to your team anyway, so they can peel for you. The bigger problem with Ana isn't barriers blocking her heals, it's teammates blocking her heals.

I've personally swapped to zenyata, because most genjis and tracers don't realize how quickly they get murdered by Zen...especially tracers that like to dash towards you in a straight line...

Zen's really not a main healer. He's great, my personal favorite, but if you want someone to keep your tank upright in the face of a lot of damage, Zen is not your guy. He does kick butt though.

On a different note I hope that nanomercy becomes a thing...

Well, I don't think so, because burning 2 ults to do comparable damage to a regular non-ulting DPS hero is kind of a crummy trade. I'd much rather Nano Tracer, Genji, Soldier, or Winston.

[Velaryon]

There's nothing wrong with having two snipers, especially on defense. One problem you might be having with them in your games though is that their skill ceilings are much lower on console, so they're indeed less likely to add value than other classes.

The thing is, at least 90% of Widowmakers on console are terrible. I'd say the same is true to a slightly lesser degree with Hanzo. Maybe only 75% of Hanzo players are terrible on console. But

Please allow me to respectfully disagree. A double sniper comp may work versus an enemy who refuses to adjust their team composition to counter them, but a double sniper lineup is trivially easy to abuse with the right comp. I think Hanzo is probably the more flexible pick among the two, and I do think that Hanzo gets a lot of undeserved hate, along with Sombra, based on the spurious notion that they're throw picks. But stacking double snipers commits almost no pressure on the objective, and it's far too easy to simply dive on the point/payload, win a quick 6 on 4, then stay out of view of the sniper duo. Then there's also the overlap in their team utility, namely the wallhack abilities. Having one teammate providing wallhacks is very useful. Having two has much lower marginal utility.

However, this is all moot. The real reason everyone hates double sniper is not because of how the comp ought to work, or can work, but how, in practice, they do work. Your snipers stand back, plink ineffectually at the enemy, don't get enough picks to justify their slot, and everyone else gets curbstomped by a 4 on 6 fight. 95% of the time, it's an indication that your game is going to be a loss.

For once, you and I completely agree.

The issue Jeff mentioned is that there really isn't a counter, other than to run D.va out of defense matrix and pop her out of suit, and when layered with other barriers, can supply a near-insurmountable defense. That's not to say it's not also unfun, but I think there is an aspect of it which is legitimately broken. The only thing close to a viable D.va counter now is Sombra, if she can get the drop on her, can hack, which gives you a 6-second window to get her out of suit, but given that Sombra's hack is interrupted if she takes ANY damage, this can be tough to bring off. Roadhog is another D.va answer, but given that Roadhog is his own nest of balance implications, I think they want to address Matrix directly, rather than revert the Roadhog nerf just to provide more counterplay options against D.va.

Mei, Zarya, and Symmetra all shoot right through defense matrix. Mei isn't particularly mobile but she can ruin any D.Va player's day if she isn't focused hard enough. Zarya needs to build charge to do meaningful damage, but D.Va can't do very much against her. Symmetra's fragility combined with the spread on D.Va's guns makes that a risky counter, but when I'm Symmetra I win that fight a lot more often than I lose it.

I still don't think the D.Va rework is at all necessary, and looks to me like change for the sake of change. But since it does look fun, I'm eager to see how it plays if it gets released to consoles (I really hate that we don't get a PTR, especially since we were promised one).

Oh, and Winston absolutely does not need any nerfs. Up until dive became the in thing, most people were crying for him to be buffed because he's as fragile as a wet paper bag, his ult is difficult to accomplish anything with, and he's entirely dependent on team support. Plus, Winston is countered harder than anyone by his hard counters, especially Reaper.

[Pendulous]

A rez, as it is period, is just overall a bad design choice in game as a whole. Reducing it to one per thirty seconds instead of a mass rez with an ult doesn't change that fact. It will only make Mercy more dangerous and more "hide until rez time", since she heals from the sidelines anyway.

The D.va changes are garbage and feel like Blizzard is throwing darts at a wall and picking what it lands on. Her defense matrix already is weaker than most generic shields. Her crit box makes her squishier than her health indicates. So now she's no longer a tank, just a high health dps that's even easier to knock out of her mech. Fantastic.

Since they ruined Roadhog and aren't fixing him well enough, and aren't addressing long-time issues that are real and exist, like Scatter Arrow and Symmetra's Beam, I don't think I'll go back to playing yet. The Junkrat changes are nice, so I'd just be playing nothing but him and Mei. But I don't think I'm ready to deal with the terrible balance and constant changes that either don't need it, or are just random at best.

[Morty]

Oh, and Winston absolutely does not need any nerfs. Up until dive became the in thing, most people were crying for him to be buffed because he's as fragile as a wet paper bag, his ult is difficult to accomplish anything with, and he's entirely dependent on team support. Plus, Winston is countered harder than anyone by his hard counters, especially Reaper.

Yeah, he might be a meta pick in competitive play, but in quick play, he's target practice more often than not.

[The_Jackal]

I still don't think the D.Va rework is at all necessary, and looks to me like change for the sake of change. But since it does look fun, I'm eager to see how it plays if it gets released to consoles (I really hate that we don't get a PTR, especially since we were promised one).

The Blizzard Devs are trying to meet a tall order: Make the game fun and engaging for casual players, and make it interesting and complex for tournament play. The D.va change is to address the latter segment. You're right, D.va alone isn't an adequate tank, but she's a dominant offtank, and her synergy with Winston, with their ability to trade off barriers is dominant at the professional level. Essentially, the competitive meta has arrived at a spot where the clearly advantageous move is to counter-dive the enemy, waiting until the other team commits. So, if both teams adopt this strategy, you'll have to groups of players staring at each other from across a gap slightly further than Winston can jump.

Oh, and Winston absolutely does not need any nerfs. Up until dive became the in thing, most people were crying for him to be buffed because he's as fragile as a wet paper bag, his ult is difficult to accomplish anything with, and he's entirely dependent on team support. Plus, Winston is countered harder than anyone by his hard counters, especially Reaper.

This is why D.va is getting the rework. Because the developers correctly recognize that the Winston/D.va synergy is what powers the dive comp, and nerfing Winston would make him utterly worthless in casual play. Winston is in no danger of dominating anyone alone, what he does is give space for his teammates to get picks, and provide steady, nearly unavoidable damage to neutralize enemy healers.

A rez, as it is period, is just overall a bad design choice in game as a whole. Reducing it to one per thirty seconds instead of a mass rez with an ult doesn't change that fact. It will only make Mercy more dangerous and more "hide until rez time", since she heals from the sidelines anyway.

I find fault with this logic. The rez is just a mechanic, like a heal, or a teleporter. Outside of context, there's no objective way to measure its quality as a design choice. The 30 second cooldown will absolutely put a damper on the hide until rez strategy, because there's no circumstance in which you'll want to 'wait to use your rez', unless you're trying to punish the player who died for dying stupid.

The D.va changes are garbage and feel like Blizzard is throwing darts at a wall and picking what it lands on. Her defense matrix already is weaker than most generic shields. Her crit box makes her squishier than her health indicates. So now she's no longer a tank, just a high health dps that's even easier to knock out of her mech. Fantastic.

100% immunity to virtually all damage in a particular direction for 4 seconds is, by any measure, the most powerful shield in the game, and her 83% tournament usage rate reflects that fact.

Since they ruined Roadhog and aren't fixing him well enough, and aren't addressing long-time issues that are real and exist, like Scatter Arrow and Symmetra's Beam, I don't think I'll go back to playing yet. The Junkrat changes are nice, so I'd just be playing nothing but him and Mei. But I don't think I'm ready to deal with the terrible balance and constant changes that either don't need it, or are just random at best.

They didn't ruin Roadhog, he's still quite good at what Blizzard want his role to be: A pull champion. What they don't want him to be is a solo flanker who can single-handedly kill non-tanks before they realize what's going on. Scatter Arrow has a 10-second cooldown, and contrary to popular opinion, it's not a guaranteed one-shot, and Symmetra's beam is only dominant in random PUG brawls with no tanks and inaccurate DPS. Symmetra's beam has NO effect on barriers, so if you play smart and stay behind your tank, you can crush her outright. My advice is to stop judging a team game based on clownfiesta random queue matches.