Fat Thoughts
I was told I should start writing some of my ideas about Overwatch down, specifically on upcoming changes. While I missed calling the shots on the torb re-work, I did want to think about Roadhog and the changes they could have in store for him. All we were told is that they needed an animation for the change. As always i threw out a couple guesses, like a one handed reload so he could heal and hook while shooting, it doesn't bring to light some of the core issues I have with him.
I'll start off saying i'm a huge fan of hog, always have been and always will. The main reason? Shotguns. I've always enjoyed the super shotgun from Quake 2 and the double barrel from doom. It was always super satisfying to get a meaty shot and take someone out in one hit. The trick was never the shotgun itself, it was how you moved and positioned yourself that made the weapon so great. Roadhog has this Wimpy (from popeye) philosophy. You'll trade a kill today for an ultimate tomorrow. While other heroes could build their ult on you, there was a high chance you could get a kill and be rewarded now. If you could deal with the ultimate, it was a good trade.
At this point some Overwatch players are asking why would i play hog for these reasons? He has no mobility and his shotgun is one of the worst weapons in the game! The answer is, what hog once was. Ever since the June 20th update (-33% damage 225->150, +30% Attack speed) his weapon has lost its place in the game. At 225 damage even a shot that was slightly off the mark could deal significant damage and put a lot of fear into the player. Any hook would have most heroes dead, even a zarya on occasion. To me this fear is what hog's identity is in the game and made him so much damn fun to play. While most tanks hold space though enabling their team through shields, others will hold space through dealing damage. This is where dva and winston drift a bit away from the traditional tank. Its their low consistent damage, weaker defensive abilities and large health pools that sustain them to hold an area for a prolonged time. Most players would write off hog as a tank but Roadhog holds space for his team through fear and punishment. Anyone that makes a small mistake in positioning could be hooked and killed, so players had to play tighter. Sometimes they have to avoid the fight all together because of the risk of getting hooked with no support. Even a prolonged fight would result in the non-tank player dying because hog can out sustain most heroes while still putting out a decent amount of damage. It was this respect that was forced on the enemy through fear that i loved so much about Roadhog. So whats there to be afraid about now? Not much..
Outside of the one-shot controversy i believe the June 20th change was there to make hog more of a brawler. With a quicker attack speed he could put smaller amounts of damage into multiple heroes, allowing him to push back enemies instead of getting an all or nothing shot. Shortly after the shotgun change there was a change to breather which allowed him to move and take reduced damage. This really drove the point home that hog was meant to be in the middle of everything, take a bit of damage while doing a bit of damage, a brawling type hero. While on paper this seemed great what happened was that more and more abilities and heroes were released with a lot of healing and saving potential. More movement abilities were added to the game, allowing heroes that normally had a tough time getting away the ability to escape. Slowly, this idea of brawling is becoming weaker and with it, the fear of Roadhog diminishing. His wimpy (popeye) "I'll glady kill you today for an ultimate on tuesday" trade off had become much worse.
So what do we need to address with roadhog? I believe his lack of ability to fight without his hook needs to be addressed first. No hero should be solely dependent on an ability. When hook is down, most players do not fear hog and for good reason. His damage outside of point blank is laughable to most targets in the game. A smaller sized 200hp target will take close to 60 damage per shot at 5m; Having 5 shots in his clip and a slower than normal shotgun speed leaves his damage output worse than winston and much less consistent. This problem happens at 2-9meters and then repeats at 10m with his secondary attack.
With a damage option that works up to 9 meters he would have the ability to threaten a close range fight with burst damage or stay back and threaten with hook and lower consistent damage. Using breather as an engage or disengage tool would create a mix-up in options. It's this mix-up that would allow hog to compete against other heroes and possibly bait out abilities without having to bet everything on his hook landing. Now a hero has to fear hog for both his damage or control ability up to roughly 15 meters, buying him space for a higher chance for heroes to miss abilities or shots to build ult off of him. Its also this space that allows hog to be considered a tank, to give his allies space through fear of damage and control.
I try to avoid talking about specific buffs/nerfs but the simplest way to deal with hog's issue is to split the difference and make his primary shot do 200 damage with a slightly slower attack speed. I believe blizzard needs to separate hog's primary and secondary attacks. There's no reason we have to keep hogs secondary damage lower just to keep his primary in check. If hog had 8 ammo per clip, primary shots took 2 ammo and did 200 damage while his secondary shots took 1 ammo and did 150 he would have a bit more versatility at mid-range combat.
I'll start off saying i'm a huge fan of hog, always have been and always will. The main reason? Shotguns. I've always enjoyed the super shotgun from Quake 2 and the double barrel from doom. It was always super satisfying to get a meaty shot and take someone out in one hit. The trick was never the shotgun itself, it was how you moved and positioned yourself that made the weapon so great. Roadhog has this Wimpy (from popeye) philosophy. You'll trade a kill today for an ultimate tomorrow. While other heroes could build their ult on you, there was a high chance you could get a kill and be rewarded now. If you could deal with the ultimate, it was a good trade.
At this point some Overwatch players are asking why would i play hog for these reasons? He has no mobility and his shotgun is one of the worst weapons in the game! The answer is, what hog once was. Ever since the June 20th update (-33% damage 225->150, +30% Attack speed) his weapon has lost its place in the game. At 225 damage even a shot that was slightly off the mark could deal significant damage and put a lot of fear into the player. Any hook would have most heroes dead, even a zarya on occasion. To me this fear is what hog's identity is in the game and made him so much damn fun to play. While most tanks hold space though enabling their team through shields, others will hold space through dealing damage. This is where dva and winston drift a bit away from the traditional tank. Its their low consistent damage, weaker defensive abilities and large health pools that sustain them to hold an area for a prolonged time. Most players would write off hog as a tank but Roadhog holds space for his team through fear and punishment. Anyone that makes a small mistake in positioning could be hooked and killed, so players had to play tighter. Sometimes they have to avoid the fight all together because of the risk of getting hooked with no support. Even a prolonged fight would result in the non-tank player dying because hog can out sustain most heroes while still putting out a decent amount of damage. It was this respect that was forced on the enemy through fear that i loved so much about Roadhog. So whats there to be afraid about now? Not much..
Outside of the one-shot controversy i believe the June 20th change was there to make hog more of a brawler. With a quicker attack speed he could put smaller amounts of damage into multiple heroes, allowing him to push back enemies instead of getting an all or nothing shot. Shortly after the shotgun change there was a change to breather which allowed him to move and take reduced damage. This really drove the point home that hog was meant to be in the middle of everything, take a bit of damage while doing a bit of damage, a brawling type hero. While on paper this seemed great what happened was that more and more abilities and heroes were released with a lot of healing and saving potential. More movement abilities were added to the game, allowing heroes that normally had a tough time getting away the ability to escape. Slowly, this idea of brawling is becoming weaker and with it, the fear of Roadhog diminishing. His wimpy (popeye) "I'll glady kill you today for an ultimate on tuesday" trade off had become much worse.
So what do we need to address with roadhog? I believe his lack of ability to fight without his hook needs to be addressed first. No hero should be solely dependent on an ability. When hook is down, most players do not fear hog and for good reason. His damage outside of point blank is laughable to most targets in the game. A smaller sized 200hp target will take close to 60 damage per shot at 5m; Having 5 shots in his clip and a slower than normal shotgun speed leaves his damage output worse than winston and much less consistent. This problem happens at 2-9meters and then repeats at 10m with his secondary attack.
With a damage option that works up to 9 meters he would have the ability to threaten a close range fight with burst damage or stay back and threaten with hook and lower consistent damage. Using breather as an engage or disengage tool would create a mix-up in options. It's this mix-up that would allow hog to compete against other heroes and possibly bait out abilities without having to bet everything on his hook landing. Now a hero has to fear hog for both his damage or control ability up to roughly 15 meters, buying him space for a higher chance for heroes to miss abilities or shots to build ult off of him. Its also this space that allows hog to be considered a tank, to give his allies space through fear of damage and control.
I try to avoid talking about specific buffs/nerfs but the simplest way to deal with hog's issue is to split the difference and make his primary shot do 200 damage with a slightly slower attack speed. I believe blizzard needs to separate hog's primary and secondary attacks. There's no reason we have to keep hogs secondary damage lower just to keep his primary in check. If hog had 8 ammo per clip, primary shots took 2 ammo and did 200 damage while his secondary shots took 1 ammo and did 150 he would have a bit more versatility at mid-range combat.
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