Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has spoken: Bastion is a little bit too powerful right now.
Developer Blizzard Entertainment pushed a Bastion update live on Feb. 28, spreading its power from the sentry configuration to its recon mode. Overwatch’s omnic hero now also has the ability to self heal while moving, while no longer being interrupted by taking damage. Needless to say, he’s become very popular.
Kaplan provided an example: “In one match, I was playing Bastion and the enemy Tracer was trying to hunt me down,” Kaplan said. “The Tracer player was clearly a better player than I am—a very skilled individual. I relied heavily on my self heal and the Tracer could not finish me off. But I was able to kill Tracer in Recon mode almost through attrition. This part felt wrong to me.”
To adjust that, Blizzard is nerfing Bastion’s passive ability, Ironclad, so that it takes 20 percent less damage while in Configuration: Sentry or Tank modes, instead of 35 percent less as it does in the live server.
And he’s not the only hero to get a slight adjustment. Mercy players can now earn a commendation card to track the amount of increased damage she does by boosting allies. Both Zarya’s particle barrier and projected barrier got slight nerfs, no longer protecting Zarya and her allies from knockback.
Through all these changes, Kaplan does want us to remember one thing: Change isn’t bad. “People need to adjust to playing against Symmetra and Bastion more… and they are more powerful,” Kaplan said. “We cannot just magically make Bastion get picked more so the stats look pretty and not make changes to make him more viable at the same time.”
