This is all just my opinion but what I believe what would helo bring us to good balance. No debating the philosophy of balancing when the true purpose of balance is to push the company and its developers to continue making quality content and being vigilant about their customers/consumers/players gameplay experiencing, even when “perfact balance” is a myth. It’s not about the goal but the journey. That is what considers good balance over bad.
Alphabetical order. I won’t go into perks here as I believe a hero is define by their base kit. Perks can change at any time but a base kit is utilizes much more so then perks.
*Ana*-just fix her anti. Fine, we get it she needs some sort of reaction to getting charged at directly, but giving her damage, healing, and massive CC in one kit is overdoing it for just lack of mobility. Even as a tank I have to skim carefully because two abilities out of her entire kit spells death for a TANK. Think about it. Then if I stick around too long she just lands a couple shots and it drains a tank’s health like crazy due to the poison stacking.
*Ashe*-reduce her headshot damage already.
*Baptise*-Reduce his headshot damage already. Invicibility stacking is an issue and he becomes so much more horrible when paired with kiriko and/or Zarya. This counters too many things when the entire idea is NULLIFY DAMAGE. How about making it “reduce damage” instead?
Bastion-Anti tank pick…can we add more strategy to his kit rather then this yolo behavior that continues to give Bastion a single identity? He shouldn’t be the anti tank pick and shoukd instead be able to fairly duel other roles overall. Instead we’ve doubled down on this weird niche role that Bastion is in and jow he continues to even plague the pros with Jcat. Come on dude its been way too long already.
*Mccree*-(No I will not use his fake second name. Its such a slap in the face of players and fans.) His overall suicidal style has rewarded too many players for too long. Even with horrible positioning and a lack of any gameplan the worst player yet with decent aim can dominate matches. Theoretically Cass can kill off an entire backline with a full clip and a roll. Why is that sort of burst allowed? And the amount of times I’ve seen Cass win sniper duels is disgusting, he’s needed a reduction to overall damage and an increase to versatility for a very long time. He’s the “lazy Sombra” pick when dps players are looking to just mindlessly counter dive tanks, when that is not his intended design.
*Dva*-Has been too strong of a tank for too long. She needs reductions across her entire kit. Yet this latest set of patches has micro buffed each part of her kit. She needs more of an anchor status rather then a role of bully everything. We need to reward smart conservative Dva playrrs rather then this idea that Dva is meant to be a huge bully in a match.
*Domina*-Take away her headshot already. Her weapon is too reliable to be allowing that extra damage. She already spams massive CC abilities and the most frustrating shield in the game. You cannot give her everything just because she doesn’t have mobility.
*Doomfist*-Change some of his damage from his abilities to his main weapon. Change block to uppercut already and remove empowered punch. That boost in damage is not needed. Right now he is seen as a newb stomper due to the farming and usage of empowered punch. Which needs to go. Allow the rest of the roster a means to deal with doomfist rather then sit there passively trying to dodge a massive cannonball in what is suppose to be a dodgeball match.
*Echo*-reduce flying time, allowing the rest of the roster bigger windows to interact with her.
*Emre*-Reduce his headshot damage. His weapon is way too reliable and then his kit is too familiar with most players. Reward smart play and punish yolo selfish gameplay. His grenades need some reduction, but add in capabilities such as extra damage to deployables and shields so he has more purpose as a suppressive firing role rather then this heavy reliance on spamming headshots.
*Freja*-The extra damage was not needed last patch. Change her role to specialist. Freja needs some quality of life changes not more damage. She’s a rapid fire hanzo for christ’s sakes. Just fix her clunky feeling kit a bit. Already was dominating games and now I’m just catching hackers abusing her with wallhacks.
*Genji*-Dude something needs to be done about the kill reset. Almost every genji I have met for a month straight rely too heavily on his dash to killsteal, while never even using it for extra damage or a large burst as it was intended for. Nerf this selfish mechanism that has been creating countless selfish Genjis.
*Hanzo*-Remove his one shot. Add sonic arrow effect to targets hit by his arrows or a bleeding effect to help make Hanzo less clunky. Bring back scatter arrow. So that way he still gets somewhat a one shot. Just reduce that damage so it doesn’t obliterate tanks on one usage. Or don’t. By now all the tanks have gotten a heavy defensive glowup so it might be fine to add back in.
*Hazard*-Block is an issue. I have no words but he needs some different sort of defense. Brawlers are not the answer to the game’s issues and you can’t keeo skating around the fact that there are problematic kits in Overwatch anymore.
*Illari*-Reduce headshot damage. Move towards more reliable means of healing and supporting teams. Like make pylon add a small damage reduction while it heals. Pylon is too easy to take care of and Illari does too much damage. Her sunburst ultimate is a dos ultimate, why does she have it? Change it to where she adds a damage buff to every ally around her and shots add that same burst effect. It could even add a small amount of a HOT to make her more supportive. There’s been too many selfish illari players lately.
*Jcat*-Jesus christ GROUND THE CAT. At least a little. Only a small fraction of the entire roster can deal with her reliably and everything else needs to put way too much effort and time to handle a Jcat. In turn give the cat some sort of range healing burst so they can actually wait for her ability cooldowns.
*Junkerqueen*-Was an issue but can still be brutal against certain tanks. Queen needs some help. Redyce healing form her passive and combine a small speed effect to help her manuver around more. This should make her more versatile in many maps and make her handle better since mobility creep and CC stacking is such a big problem.
*Junkrat*-Dear god remove his ability to two shot squishies. He can keep his debelitating status of an explosive character but it shouldn’t outright be a guranteed kill for very little strategy practiced. Junkrat is actually a strategist personality and I’d like to see more of that being added into his kit. Like add in a perk to have a scatter grenade when his grenades explode to help with range. Remove the second mine. Promote smart play not easy gameplay.
*Juno*-while Juno has had stronger phases her perks need changing such as her burst of damage. Add in that her ring slows enemies to help promote a debuffing supportive role. Ring then becomes a trap and controls the battlefield more. She does need the triple jump has a bit too much air time. Familiar vitals is a needless perk change it to a faster reload after pulsar is fired or something else to help newer players use her. She’s hitscan….there’s no need to buff her damage.
*Kiriko*-Besides PAUSING HER COSMETIC LINE FOR ONCE IN HER ENTIRE EXISTENCE! Reduce or remove her headshot damage. Add in an effect such as marking a target she hits and when an ally hits the same target it adds damage. This promotes a heavier emphasis on partnering with other players in pairs and reduces a selfish attitude with newer Kirikos. Suzu needs to match antinade if both abilities are to stay ingame. Flat out if you’re adding these huge gaps in ability CDs then either ability becomes problematic having an advantage still over the other one. Swift step range needs a reduction and you need to prevent her form using it in a spawnroom as there is an exploit where a Kiriko can spam swiftstep back and forth getting healed fully then returning to the fight to stall. This has been problematic in payload maps where the end point is by an enemy spawn. This needed to be addressed a loooong time ago.
*Lucio*-Too many selfish lucios lately playing as if the “no-heal” challenge is still an active trend. Make his weapon more reliable and do what they did to Jeff in Marvel Rivals. PUT HIS WALLRIDE ON A RESOURCE BAR. This will incentavize Lucios to properly stick with teammates. Then you can increase his healing properties rather than leaving it at a meager amount.
*Mauga*-Do I need to say it? He needs an overhaul since he can headon take most tanks by himself. Idk what changes need to be made because his entire kit is meant to be a fat bastion on steroids. But he CANNOT BE EXCLUSIVELY JUST A BASTION. Give himself thing else like adding damage reduction to teammates when he yells or reducing his firing rate. Players should be able to interact against a Mauga. Not feel completely crippled on choice because there’s a Mauga on the field. Google the Korean tank boycott to actually grasp the severity of Mauga.
*Mercy*- For the love of god….just reduce her movement. Every time you have done so you end up double buffing her whenever she gets a nerf AFTER REVERTING SAID NERF. Like why?! Why?! No other hero gets this treatment besides Kiriko and Ana. She needs to engage with fights and needs some sort of method to take part in the fight rather then encouraged to ignore it. This is thee “lounge” support and people are sick of it.
*Mizuki*-Chains are not being reduced when used on tanks. Its the same duration all around. This needed to be fixed a long time ago. Then another thing…make him do more active healing to help his clunky kit such as his chains also chain heal allies. Something to promote a more active support style mentality.
*Moira*-Sigh…I don’t want to say it but she needs a reduction to her fade. She’s used mainly just to escape from sticky situations. I play her alot but I can recognize the frustration players have where most newbies will just use her to flee rather than focusing on improving her ability usage. She can do a lot but this identity of a free “get out of jail” hero reduces the need for teamplay when she should be utilized to sticking and supporting her team.
*Orisa*-change her crit hitbox to her heart or like the very tip of her head(like an antenna relay hubcap) to have her in better line with other heros. That way you can finally reduce her overall defense. Add a passive that reduces damage and CC due to her massive size. Give her back her normal abilities such as the shield, bongo, and grav secondary fire.
*Pharah*-She just needs to be grounded more. Again only a fraction of the roster can handle fliers reliably. She also two taos which is just unfair. Make it crippling but do not reward lazy gameplay that cheeses games. Make her harder to play rather then just “hah hah I fly you can’t reach me.” Which reduces player interaction.
*Ram*-reduce block damage reduction add more defense to nemesis form. Reduce his punch damage. Make Ram more capable in his special role of a “tempo tank” which was and will never be a thing. So in this case just allow him to compete with other tanks normally on the same scale rather then this constant attempt of trying to fill a nonexistent role.
*Rein*-Reduce swing damage. Add in a passive that reduces firestrike CD which would help Rein handle things at range and be less of a yolo tank that kills things in three swings.
*Hog*-His shotgun damage needs to be reverted. Add a perk that adds a smoke cloud that allies can see through but vision for enemies entirely even for recon and ability like sonic arrow. This adds a special interaction where Hog can be more supportive for his team and adds a sort of shield to his kit putting him more in line of a tank rather then an abusive one shot machine that he is now.
*Sierra*-she needs a damage reduction. Especially to her tracer round. Getting a tank deleted because she landed an ability is absurd and needs to be addressed. Add is something to compensate such as tracer rounds hit reduce her grenade CD which promotes smarter play and placement rather then her acting as a pseudo bastion the entire match. This will also just make her kit feel better overall.
*Sigma*-is a little too oppressive in certain maps and needs his defense reduce to allow for opposing tanks to compete fairly. I’m not sure what changes could be made, but this single tank alone runs Casino Royale and Havana. Changes need to be made.
*Soljorn*-She’a boring. Reduce headshot damage on her railgun secondary and her static field ability. She should be using jer abilities in conjunction with her weapon rather then just farming headshots all match long. As it stands she has the most reliable dps burst and has topped countless lobbies just due to the abuse of headshot farming. Even a decent Soljorn ruins a match and that is completelt uncalled for.
*Sombra*-increase CD of hack for smarter hacking and get rid of the interupt feature on the ability. Increase her gun damage already and have her more of an active dps rather then an oppotunist, which is a playstyle that can be heavily crippling with both good and bad players. This will allow players the chance to play their chosen heros and remove Sombra from her exclusive role of disabler secondary pick. I’d like to see her more as a burst damage pick since her kit is very fun. Add virus DOT to her EMP ultimate to help with her issues with burst.
*Window*-Reduce her headshot damage. Add in an ability where it rewards headshots. Widow has been seen for over ten years as a massive issue that can dictate matches or conpletely ruin it because she has such a reliance on easy kills for very low set of skills. She needs to be more proactive in matches. So I’d like to see a reduction to her entire kit CDs to compensate to have more mobile and engaging as a hero while reuducing her ability to nullify player interaction for just peeking.
*Zarya*-Too much invincibility windows. Lower her charge damage increase a bit. She shouldn’t become a bully by exploiting okayers with lack of control, knowledge, and exprrience. In turn speed up her secondary fire and increase the aoe blast this makes Zarya more engaging while allowing players to not feel so denied in their gameplay just because some Zarya tells them no.
*Zenyatta*-Discord is a problem. Add a CD to discord orb or make it to where they cannot be placed on the same target for a set amount of time to allow for better counter play. In turn make Zen’s orbs less clunky by speeding them up.
That’s my take on changes that are needed tk make the game better. My thought process is to promote teamwork and smarter gameplay. Overwatch shouldn’t be played as a mindless shooter and I found my best experiences when strategizing about my gameplay and what interactions I make with olayers around me both allies and opponents. I encourage others all the time to also practice and help improve our gaming environment for everyone.
edit note: Coding broke during editing so anything italicized should be, but did not change the text as intended.