What is most different in Torbjorn in attack in defence in that in defence he can hammer his turret between waves but on attack needs to do so under an active firefight situation.
Basic change that I am suggesting for rework is to make Torb able to carry his turrets so that an attack torbjorn can start out with a level 2 turret just like a defence torb. The important bit would be that you hammer the turret from lvl 1 to 2 behind a corner and then drop it in the actual firefighting position decently quickly.
So:
interact (F) near a turret picks it up
- while carrying torbjorn can’t leftclick or right click
- turret remains operational
- should torb die the turret falls and remains operational
- if the turret is a level 2 turret torb gets a -50% movement penalty
- should a turret die while being carried torb is freed from movement penalty and can start shooting
- While carrying torb can press interact (F) to drop turret where he is and regains his normal powers
There would be an option to keep the turret in torbs hands to be defensive against tracers or keep 100% hitscan on phara.
Then more general gripes.
Torb has some outright flaws. When having placed a lvl 0 turret and not yet having a lvl 1 turret if torb dies the turret dies also. This makes no sense althoguth it seems deliberate enough that is not an oversight. A lot of the times also the placement blue outline incorrectly indicates a valid placement where the turret nevertheless refuses to be built in. Franctically trying to build on the payload is not the time to be picky about exact landing spot but spamming build all over the payload can take quite a while.
Torb has a lot going on in a lot of fronts and its unsure what are supposed to be his main strenths.
The rivet gun is a powerful sniping tool. However its damage is lackluster when compared to widow or hanzo. Its arguably harder to land shots with it and you get less reward for it. Especially in a sniper duel versus a hanzo or a widow its pretty important that the torb needs to hit 2 or 3 times when the other long ranger has to do only 1 or 2. Also Symmetra and Hanzo have both received a projectile speed upgrade. Doesn’t torbs gun qualify in the same category?
The shotgun mode is a formidable closecombat tool. However its somewhat more unforgiving compared to what reaper has. Especially reload comes early and lasts a lifetime. However it really can’t be used to pressure shields like reaper can.
Level 1 turrets are of no real use than tricking heroes to falsely attribute damage and attention into them. Its generally hard to press damage out of lvl 2s too but they can be somewhat useful as a zoning tool.
Armor is generated in very small quantities. Its also problematic that armor is the first thing to erode and can’t be healed back. Thus if you armor your team too early its a waste of hp potential. Thus you place armor to place where someone genuinely needs it or give someone on low so they can be healed. Some loading hints say to give armor to make snipers not headshot onekill. Haven’t really noticed this kind of impact. Armor has the downside that it impacts how other heroes are played as they can now survive things they prevoiusly couldn’t meaning in some cases they can push where they prevoiusly had to retreat. However people have low chance of having much experience on how they can best utilise armor (now even fewer when symmetra hp shields are not a thing). Torb also has the healer interface where request for healing are turned into requests for armor. This is almost pointless and a distraction as torb is at most a quarter healer if things like soldier are halfhealers. (Also reinharts “more… armor…” gets annoying pretty fast). Things to consider: make armor the last thing to be depleted (to lessen interference with healing), make armor heal a small amount (less than orb of harmony) while the armor is intact.
So is torb a long range hero or a short range hero or a non-combat utility hero? A bigger rework would be interesting and molten core as a standard ability seems interesting. However The main thing is how to give the hero attack aspects without totally overblowing the defensive capabilities.