If you've been paying any attention to the competitive Overwatch scene over the last few months, you've probably heard the cries for Blizzard to "Delete Brig."
Since her introduction back in March of this year, the support/tank hybrid character has polarized the community, or at least a vocal minority, mainly due to her resourceful kit and bevy of crowd-control abilities. Twitch chat fills with '#deletebrig' during competitive matches, the Overwatch forums are loaded with complaints, and there's a Change.org petition—albeit with only 93 signatures—asking Blizzard to remove Brigitte from Overwatch.
Of course, Blizzard is not going to delete a character from the roster wholesale. But it has trickled out a pile of nerfs over the last few months. First the armor from her ult was dialed back, then her cooldowns were increased. But these didn't stop her from being a dominant force both in pro play and on the competitive ladder.
Now Blizzard has a big change coming: on the latest Overwatch PTR, Brigitte's Shield Bash ability will no longer stun through enemy shields, meaning that she can't just bash into an enemy Reinhardt, stunning him out of his shield and leaving his team defenseless. It's a small change, but one sure to have massive implications. Whether it'll be enough to deter the popular GOATS team composition—the latest iteration of the 'deathball' strategy—remains to be seen.
In addition to Brigitte, the PTR has some hero balance changes for McCree, Bastion, Soldier: 76, Torbjörn, and Doomfist.
Bastion's ammo has been increased from 25 to 35 in Recon Configuration, while his weapon spread has been decreased by 33 percent in Sentry (turret) mode. Doomfist has his Seismic Slam's max range reduced from 20 to 15 meters, and the loss of air control caused by Rising Uppercut reduced from three to 0.6 seconds. This means players knocked into the air can recover and float away easier than before.
McCree has a buff—his Fan The Hammer rapid-fire shot has been increased from 45 to 55 damage per shot, making it easier for him to bust tanks and other enemies at close range. Torbjörn does as well, with his new Molten Core ult's damage increased from 130 to 160 per second. Finally, Soldier: 76 can now manually aim his Helix Rockets during his Tactical Visor ultimate.
As always, PTR balance updates are subject to change.
A beta of backyard FPS Neighbors: Suburban Warfare is out now, and the balance discussion is hysterical: nerf trash can lids and children
An FPS studio pulled its game from Steam after it got caught linking to malware disguised as a demo, but the dev insists it was actually the victim of a labyrinthine conspiracy
