Are you the kind of person who fires up Overwatch and starts swearing the second you see a Bastion? Well good news, because Overwatch’s principal designer just announced that Bastion is about to get a buff.
In a post on the Battle.net forums, designer Geoff Goodman announced that Bastion was going to get some “high level stuff” that would be playable in the next patch on the Public Test Realm. It wouldn’t evolve Bastion from his base role – a robot that transforms into an immobile minigun – but it would make Bastion a little more viable when running around on a regular basis, while reducing its vulnerability when transforming.
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 defence matrix went). These changes have turned this ability from a more niche rarely used ability, to a much more powerful and core survivability tool.
It’ll be interesting to see what impact this has on regular play versus ranked, and what levels of play gravitate towards Bastion that didn’t before. It’s unlikely, for instance, that being a little more survivable on the move will get around the fact that D.Va and Genji can cope with Bastion just fine as-is. And some users have already noted that reducing headshots will, by proxy, increase the amount of time a Genji has to pop his reflect ability. (That works the other way too though: less headshots means less headshot damage reflected back to Bastion, which means both players stay alive a little bit longer.)
Either way, the idea behind removing headshots is intriguing. Do you play Bastion, or hate every Bastion you see?
Comments
15 responses to “Heads Up, Bastion Is Getting Better”
In the last week or two of competitive I’ve seen more and more Bastion’s, they are hit and miss (probably because I’m in Diamond) as to how effective he is played but I think the changes sound pretty reasonable.
Hmm, I actually don’t think this is too bad of a buff to garbage robot. The biggest problem I have with him is his turret mode has way to little spread and headshots land way too easily at long range. Seems they are changing both of them though.
Will be interested to see how this pans out.
I reckon they should just bin him, where he belongs =P
Is it kinda sad that in current form, Bastion works better as an attacker? lol.
Came here confused as to how Bastion could get any better, its already pretty darn perfect.
http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/screen_medium/1197/11970954/2844312-bastionrev.jpg
Now I understand
I like the sound of these buffs! I actually really like recon mode Bastion as an alternative to S:76, so I welcome these changes. It’ll make Bastion a decent pick in situations where S76’s sprint isn’t as important, or when you really need to bust up a Reinhardt but can’t give up the anti-Pharah pick.
The increased spread and no-headshots would make him terrible at killing Pharah
Recon is the mode that’s good at killing Pharah, not turret.
These sound pretty good to me. More spread and more survivability in sentry mode sounds great, and having the repair on a charge system is a much needed change. Looking forward to it.
Bastion is one of my favourite characters to play in game, and these changes definitely have me intrigued.
I already play him as a tank & barrier buster, even on attack, so more survivability and repair on the go sound awesome 🙂
i pretty much never use him unless im in random 6v6. im not adept enough and havnt spent enough time taking notice of good hold points for his sentry mode. the changes have me interested in using him as a soldier alternative.
Great to hear about the changes coming in – I love the lore surrounding bast 🙂
My problem with Bastion isn’t whether he needs buffs or nerfs but his lack of utility: what you do when you play him is just walk and shoot, stay still and shoot, and occasionally heal. Only his ult really breaks up the pattern of action. He has no special mobility moves or does anything that actually affects team mates. I mean these buffs might help in shaking up that ‘flip-of-coin’ feeling where you either stand still and wreck the enemy, or stand still and get wrecked by them.
“what you do when you play him is just walk and shoot”
That’s like almost every characters on the roster 😉
well i know you’re being churlish, but for explanations sake:
– Genji, Hanzo, Lucio, Pharah and Window can all actively move over non-floor surfaces in the environment.
– Symmetra, Torbjorn, Widow, Soldier, Mei and Junkrat can all place objects in the environment and then leave them there.
– Symettra, Rein and Zarya can all shield their team mates
– Zen, Sombra, Mcree, Mei and Ana can all debuff their opponents
– Obviously all healers have that good use.
There’ll be even more comparative, but my point is simply that while all the characters are able to walk/stand and shoot, that’s pretty much the only thing Bastion does.