Home Gaming Blizzard detail the buffs they’re working on for Overwatch’s Bastion

Blizzard detail the buffs they’re working on for Overwatch’s Bastion

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Bastion Overwatch

The story of Bastion almost always brings a tear to my eye. No, I’m not talking about the fact that the Omnic is essentially the last of its kind, but rather, that the hero started out so strong, and now, the poor thing is down there, right at the bottom of the barrel, held down by everybody’s unanimous hate.

Help is on the way for Bastion thankfully, in the form of a handful of buffs which should hopefully remove all negative stigma. We already knew Blizzard were looking to give the bot some love, but now we know exactly what they have in mind. Principle Designer Geoff Goodman shared some insight over on the Battlenet forums:

Here are some high level stuff we’re likely to have testable in the next PTR:

Recon Mode – Lowered spread and increased magazine size, to help with general viability in this mode.

Sentry Mode – We’re looking at focusing this mode into more of a tank-buster and barrier-buster mode, while also making it feel less suicidal to be transformed. To that end we’re testing stuff like increased spread and removing headshots, but taking less damage while transformed.

Self-Repair – We’ve been testing a few big changes to this that are feeling really good so far. Currently our internal build has Bastion able to use Self-Repair while moving and also having it no longer interrupted when taking damage. To balance that out it is now on a resource system (similar to the route D.Va’s defense matrix went). These changes have turned this ability from a more niche rarely used ability, to a much more powerful and core survivability tool.

Those are some pretty interesting buffs. I’m not too fond of Sentry Mode having no headshots and an increased spread to be honest, but being a bit harder for the enemy to take down might balance that all out.

The ability to repair on the move is an interesting one. Something I always disliked about Bastion is that the bot always feels a little too static. I get that it’s a sentry, but having to sit still most of the time, even when healing, was such an annoyance. Hopefully this buff will make things feel more fluid.

I’m keen to see how these tweaks play out on the Public Test Realm. They’ll make Bastion a little more viable, all the while keeping his counters and weaknesses intact. Genji and Widowmaker for example, will continue to have a field day with the Omnic.

As for the rest of the cast, they might want to be careful. Bastion is coming back! Hopefully he stays relevant this time too, and doesn’t fall back into that awful barrel of hate.

Last Updated: January 31, 2017

10 Comments

  1. Gavin Mannion

    January 31, 2017 at 11:36

    Bastion my bro… I’m going to teach you how to be an attack Bastion and just listen to the howls of despair as my team mates realise what I’m doing… CHAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGEEEEEE

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      January 31, 2017 at 11:37

      GET ON THE PAYLOAD GAVIN!

      Reply

      • Gavin Mannion

        January 31, 2017 at 11:39

        I kid you not, was playing yesterday and we took the first point easily and then my 5 team mates just rushed off to find someone to kill and left me sitting on the payload like a retard

        All I could think was “25 million players and still no one on this damn payload”

        Reply

        • Hargrim

          January 31, 2017 at 12:01

          The dream with friends though. Numbani with Winston, Bastion and Mercy (after capping A of course). Turn that payload into an unstoppable tank

          If you have more friends than I do, I recommend adding a Torbjorn turret for the lolz

          Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          January 31, 2017 at 12:07

          I hate that. Push the first point within a minute, then spend 6 minutes trying to tell them to GROUP UP FOR FINAL PUSH

          Reply

  2. Admiral Chief

    January 31, 2017 at 11:37

    BEEP BOP BEEEEEEP

    Reply

  3. Ottokie

    January 31, 2017 at 11:42

    That uninterrupted healing is gonna help a lot while you tell your Reinhardt to move his shield in a direction that someone is tagging you from. (in voice chat of course)**(and with friends not flippen randoms)

    Reply

  4. Allykhat

    January 31, 2017 at 11:52

    Overall I like the changes. I’m not really happy about not being able to do headshot damage though. Increase the spread, sure, thats kind of what’s meant to happen when you rain metal, but even a stray bullet to the head should count.

    Reply

  5. Deceased

    February 2, 2017 at 00:00

    @hammersteyn:disqus – bastion SHOULD be a bullet magnet – the whole team should focus him immediately

    Buffing bastion is a BAD idea, as competent genji’s are far and few between 🙁

    Reply

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