Overwatch Nerfs Bastion Following 'Overpowered' Buff
Today has been quite the eventful day for Overwatch fans. While many thought the Blizzard team was finished with announcements (at least for now) following the 24th hero reveal, game director Jeff Kaplan took to the official Overwatch forums to address something equally as pressing: Bastion's future. The lovable tank hero gets nerfed after allegedly becoming overpowered.
In a recent Public Test Realm (PTR) update, Bastion received some huge improvements, ones made to boost his viability and bring him up to standard with the rest of the game's heroes. Overwatch developers stated that Bastion's new damage-deflecting abilities were intended to "move some of [his] power from Configuration: Sentry to Recon, while keeping... Sentry mode a strong option, especially versus tanks and barriers" in order to make him "feel stronger and more flexible."
It seems the team went a bit overboard, with some fans claiming Bastion was entirely too powerful. And now, Overwatch is taking measures to level him out once more. Jeff Kaplan made the announcement on an Overwatch forum started by a gamer who wanted to talk more about Bastion's capabilities.
"We know Bastion is a big focus for everyone right now," Kaplan stated before calling for community action. "We'll make some changes to Bastion and put them up on the PTR this morning. We'd love to hear your feedback about those changes when they go up."
Conversely, though, Kaplan did mention that while he thinks "complaints and praise of Bastion are both valid," he does believe "there is a high amount of hyperbole around this particular situation."
No specific details were revealed at the time of posting, as the Overwatch team was still working on ironing out the tweaks. However, one noticable can be seen in the latest PTR update that introduced Orisa as hero 24. The modification scales down the intensity of Bastion's passive ability, Ironclad. Rather than a 35 percent decrease in damage taken using his passive, Bastion now only takes 20 percent less while in his Sentry or Tank form. Looks like the Overwatch team delivered, and fast.
Fans gave get their hands on a more level-headed Bastion and the brand-new playable hero, Orisa, right now. But for those who've never played before, it's best to brush up on the rookie mistakes to avoid making in the game before taking the leap.