Roadhog Planned to Receive Nerf

Patches and updates are often the lifeblood of any long running multiplayer game. There are always tweaks that need to be made in order to keep things going. Problems that need to be solved after they show up in the long term run. Overwatch is no stranger to these kinds of developments. Countless nerfs and buffs have been applied to the game, with no shortage of debate around them. It seems another one is being planned, and Roadhog looks like he has a date with the nerf hammer.

Overwatch designer Geoff Goodman has posted his plans for the changes to Roadhog, all regarding his hook. First and foremost, he wants to tweak where an enemy lands after they are hooked, making it so they always land in front. Some Roadhog players spin around use the ability to drop people off of cliffs. Goodman wants to make that impossible. Secondly there is a line-of-sight check before the hook hits a player, and finally, a second line-of-sight check after it hits. If either line-of-sight check fails, the enemy player will not be successfully hooked. Roadhog will no longer be able to pull enemy heroes through solid objects.

The reaction to this update, on the Overwatch forums at least, has been mostly positive. Of course, there are some who do not like it, which is hardly surprisingly. This move will no doubt be seen as something that makes Roadhog weaker, and as a result less viable. Despite that, the majority of those reacting seem to think it is a step in the right direction. Even players who use the giant Australian roadie are saying that this is a step in the right direction for him. Some have gone so far to say that this is less of a nerf and more of a bug fix. Either way, this update will be hitting Blizzard’s test servers before too long, and after that the main game.  We’ll be able to see how it works second hand.