Blizzard Explains Potential Survivability Buff for Overwatch’s Roadhog

To offset a nerf to Overwatch hero Roadhog’s offensive capabilities some, Blizzard earlier this month announced that it was testing some ways to boost the character’s defensive abilities. Taking to the game’s official forums yesterday, Overwatch Principal Designer Geoff Goodman explained how this buffing could work.

“Currently we have been play-testing Roadhog with -50 percent damage taken while using Take a Breather, and also allowing him to move at full speed while inhaling,” wrote Goodman. “These two changes combined certainly make him significantly more difficult to kill, while also allowing Roadhog players to be much more aggressive when trying to find a hook target, knowing they can survive a lot more easily.”

Of course, Blizzard’s proposed fix could very well be altered or completely changed before making its way into the final game. That’s where the public test realm (PTR) comes in. Blizzard plans to deploy this Roadhog buff to the PTR very soon to make sure these changes don’t make Roadhog “too strong.” If that’s the case, Blizzard will, of course, make balancing changes.

Goodman’s explanation came in response to player concerns that whatever buffs Blizzard had in the works for Roadhog would make him too strong. This would defeat the entire purpose of nerfing the character in the first place. One player suggested exactly the kind of damage protection while healing that Goodman confirmed Blizzard is internally testing. Other suggestions included having Roadhog provide a damage reduction bonus to nearby allies or preventing him from taking headshots while healing.

There’s no word from Blizzard as to whether or not those latter proposals were considered internally, but, judging by forum responses to Goodman’s post, Roadhog’s buff at least seems to have the approval of many of the game’s biggest fans.

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