Season 8 is on the way, bringing new tank hero Mauga and some big balance changes to the heroes. Here is what we know so far about the upcoming hero changes in Season 8.
Blizzard developers recently posted a Director’s Take blog that offered a sneak preview at what’s to come in Season 8. Check out some of the changes when the patch drops.
Ultimate changes in Season 8
According to developers, there will be a general change to how much of your ultimate charge is retained when you swap heroes. It will now be reduced from 25% to 15%, a pretty drastic drop.
They explained: “We do like that this mechanic removes friction when swapping heroes, and think that it still should at 15%. However, there is a perception that it’s almost always an advantage to counter-swap upon dying, and we’re lowering this value to see if it has an effect on swap rates.”
Roadhog vs. Mauga
When Roadhog received a rework in Season 7, he quickly became one of the best tanks. This definitely shifted the meta but developers don’t think he is too oppressive just yet. In fact, they believe that Mauga “has a lot of answers” to Roadhog and they are planning to see how that plays out before they make any balance adjustments.
Tank changes incoming
So what about the other tanks? There are definitely plans, according to developers.
Developers are “disappointed” in how players use Doomfist’s ultimate “purely as an escape.” In Season 8, Doomfist will now regenerate 75 health per second while in the air. The cost of the ultimate will be raised to compensate for the buff.
Ramattra in his base form is a bit easy to deal with. In Season 8, 100 of his health will be turned to armor. The size and damage of his projectiles will also be increased. Hopefully this will make it so enemy teams have to deal with Ramattra a bit more.
Winston’s kit has a disadvantage that’s “too extreme,” developers feel. In Season 8, Winston’s Tesla Canon will ignore armor’s damage reduction. With Winston doing more damage, it will make aggressive play a lot more worth it.
DPS heroes also getting changes
Sombra is in a better spot after her rework but her ultimate is still not “satisfying” to developers. The lockout time of her EMP will be raised from 1.5 seconds to three seconds and the amount of damage it does will be reduced. This will make her ultimate “more in line with her hero fantasy.”
Soldier: 76 is seen as pretty well-rounded but his self-heal has made him a bit too powerful. The cooldown is going to be increased from 15 to 18 seconds. This ensures that he won’t be able to heal as frequently.
Tracer’s Pulse Pistols will be changed from 5.5 damage per shot to six like it was before. This will make her a bit more impactful.
Support heroes getting changes in Season 8
Brigitte is a must-pick right now but developers feel she may be a bit oppressive. The damage on her Whip Shot is going to be reverted back to how it was before it was buffed. Baptiste is also getting nerfed, with his primary fire ammo going from 45 to 36.
Quick Play leave rate
The other big change coming in Season 8 is in regards to the penalities for leaving too many Quick Play matches.
Said developers: “There has been a bit of talk around that, specifically that some people view that mode as something that they would like the freedom to leave without worrying about those penalties. Different people play Quick Play for different reasons. Some people see it as their try-hard version of the game, some view it as a way to experiment with heroes, and others use it as their casual, just-for-fun version of the game. It’s really difficult to have this part of the game be all things for all people.”
There are players that leave “over 90% of their matches,” according to developers. The penalties will be tweaked and a policy will be put in place to “promote better match quality” in the future.
