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Blizzard May Take D.Va Up On Her 'Nerf This' Offer

by Jeff Cork on Jan 06, 2017 at 04:01 AM

A new round of balance changes are now live on Overwatch's test servers, including the option to equip multiple emotes, sprays, and voice lines. Perhaps more importantly, a few characters are getting some balancing tweaks, including D.Va, Ana, Sombra, and Roadhog.

We outlined Roadhog's test-server changes the other day, but his hook isn't the only aspect of the game that's getting fine-tuned. A variety of bugs that allowed Widowmaker and Sombra to unintentionally reach off-limits spots in maps have been squashed, and some visual glitches have also been addressed. 

The character-specific balances are likely to be the most controversial. Notably, D.Va's armor is getting cut, and her damage output is being reduced overall. Take a look at her changes and the rest of the character tweaks in the text below, straight from Blizzard. And check out the official site for the complete notes, as well as step-by-step instructions on how to check out the changes on PC.

 

Ana

  • Biotic Grenade
    - Healing boost on allies has been decreased by 50%

Developer Comments: The healing boost from Ana’s Biotic Grenade was providing too much healing, especially when used on targets with large health pools.

 

D.Va

 

  • Health increased from 200 to 400
  • Armor decreased from 400 to 200
  • Fusion Cannons
    - Bullet damage decreased from 3 to 2
    - Number of bullets per shot has been increased from 8 to 11

 

Developer Comments: D.Va’s armor often made her feel like she had no weaknesses, even against heroes that are often effective against bigger targets (like Reaper). The changes to her Fusion Cannons will result in a small overall decrease in damage, but they should feel more consistent now.

 

Roadhog

  • Chain Hook
    - Targets are now pulled directly in front of Roadhog (rather than straight to him), except in cases where Roadhog drastically rotates
    - Hooked targets are now released if they leave Roadhog’s line-of-sight before being pulled
    - Line-of-sight checks (which detect if targets should be initially hit by the hook) are now done from Roadhog’s position, rather than the hook’s position

Developer Comments: The hook should now feel more consistent for Roadhog players, but it should also feel more reasonable to his enemies, as they cannot be hooked or pulled around corners anymore.

 

Sombra

  • Hack
    - The time it takes to hack a target has been decreased from 1 second to 0.8 seconds

Developer Comments: Sombra often had difficulty hacking enemies, even when she surprised the target. This change should help her execute hacks more easily.

 

[Via Overwatch]