Symmetra
Let’s go ahead and get the obvious out of the way. There isn’t a single Overwatch hero that received a rework quite as massive as Symmetra’s. If you’re a new Overwatch player who has already become accustomed to seeing Symmetra picked for nearly every game on defense and even getting quite a bit of use on attack on some maps, allow me to take you back to her humble beginnings. Before Symmetra became the human microwave that she is today, she was a hero that would only make an appearance if a player wanted to troll their own team. That’s just how useless she really was. Initially, Teleporter was her only ultimate ability and giving her teammates shields was an ability of hers with its own cool down. As for those sentry turrets, which were the most useful weapon in her kit, the cool down activated every time you placed a turret. This all goes without mentioning that her damage was rather lackluster as well.
Now, we’re looking at a whole new Symmetra. She is the only hero in the game to have two ultimate abilities. She can now place a teleporter for her team to use or tuck a Shield Generator in the background that grants shields to all teammates in range. The cool down is no longer required for placing turrets so players can set up all six of her sentry turrets without waiting around hoping to survive long enough to even plant another one. With a nice buff to her damage and the added ability to create a Photon Barrier, Symmetra is a viable character that feels more like a defensive queen than she does a support character. The community remains a bit divided about whether or not that’s a good thing but you won’t find anyone complaining about it over here.
D.Va
Overwatch’s resident gamer girl has seen quite a few changes throughout the first year of the game. When the game first released, D.Va was a hero full of problems that just didn’t make her a viable tank. A tank’s defensive tools are their greatest assets and yet D.Va’s Defense Matrix had a whopping 10 second cool down despite the fact that the shield didn’t even stay up very long or have significant spread to protect many other teammates. To make matters worse, D.Va wasn’t immune to her own ultimate. After setting off Self Destruct, D.Va players were forced to scramble for cover or risk being killed by their own ult.
It wasn’t long before that mechanic was changed, however. Enough players complained about D.Va dying from her own ult and she was eventually made immune to the blast from her own Self Destruct. Blizzard went to work to make D.Va a more viable tank but ultimately seemed to make her a bit overpowered, according to much of the community. It all came down to the fact that D.Va was just a bit too hard to kill for someone who could also put out the damage she was putting out while also having incredible mobility. Getting her out of her mech became a daunting challenge so Blizzard came in with the nerf bat and started swinging. In January, the amount of her armor was lowered so characters like Reaper (who are supposed to excel at dealing with tanks) could actually put her out of commission. Along with a small nerf to her damage, players are now finding D.Va to be a more balanced hero.
Bastion
Bastion initially proved to be a troublemaker simply because players didn’t know how to deal with such a character. His bullets would easily unload into heroes and eliminate them before they could even react to where the damage was coming from. Once players started finding ways to counter him, however, he proved to be a less viable hero. After all, one good deflect from Genji would leave him in pieces. He needed a rework that would make him a little more viable in the game so Blizzard went to work.
In the beginning of February, Bastion’s transformation time from sentry to recon mode was decreased from one second to .5 seconds. This allowed him to make the transition quickly in case a players wanted to opt for flight instead of fight. At the same time his weapon spread in recon mode was set to recover more quickly, which helped him better defend himself when trying to escape the fray. His reload speed was also dropped by half a second. His offensive kit was impressive so Blizzard attempted to balance him out by having his vulnerable core exposed when in sentry mode so players who managed to sneak up behind him could really punish the dastardly robot.
Before the end of the month, however, Blizzard essentially pressed the undo button on all of his bullet changes. At the beginning of March they decreased the damage multiplier for his core and removed aim restrictions that used to be in effect while he was transforming. These two changes made Bastion a little hard to deal with yet again. Unfortunately, Blizzard wasn’t done with him yet. Bastion’s most recent changes are the most controversial yet. While he used to only be able to heal while in sentry mode, Bastion can now run around the map and heal himself at the same time. Along with the reduced damage multiplier for his core, Bastion’s survivability has skyrocketed and he can even take multiple slashes from Genji’s Dragonblade ultimate without crumbling apart. He also now has the passive Ironclad ability which gives him a 35% reduction in damage while in his most powerful form—sentry mode. Bastion is now a certified problem.
We will likely be seeing some more changes for Bastion soon. Well, we hope we do anyway.
Widowmaker
It’s almost hard to remember a time when Widowmaker was considered OP since now many players tend to complain if anyone on their teams picks her. Despite the change in how players feel about Widowmaker she was once considered an outstanding selection. In Overwatch’s early stages, it felt like Widowmaker was being awarded headshots too easily. The truth is, she wasn’t. Her damage for body shots was simply way more than anyone would expect for a sniper. Also, it was incredibly easy to short scope enemies since you didn’t have to wait for the full scope animation to complete before firing away. This was eventually changed and Overwatch’s resident sniper received some key changes over time.
Eventually, Widowmaker’s base damage was decreased but her headshot damage was increased from a 2x damage multiplier to a 2.5x multiplier. Players are also now required to wait for the entire animation to complete before being allowing to snipe their enemies. This essentially put an end to a popular tactic being used where players would line up their crosshair without looking down scope, quickly activate her scope and fire away before they even actually saw where the crosshair was in the scope. It essentially meant people could get bonus damage without using the actual mechanic that was created for it.
While Widowmaker is another hero who didn’t necessarily see the most changes in sheer quantity of patches and reworks, it’s hard to simply glance over how much the reaction to the deadly sniper has changed. Now, she’s comparable to a hero like Genji in the sense that she can play a major role for her team but only in the hands of a truly skilled player.
Roadhog
It would be criminal to not discuss Roadhog when it comes to the amount of changes heroes have received in Overwatch simply because the vast majority of Roadhog’s changes deal with one single mechanic—his hook. Unlike other heroes who went through a variety of different changes to their health, cool downs and general kit in order to make them more balanced characters, most Overwatch players had the same exact complaint about Roadhog every time. Once he grabbed you with his hook, nothing could stop him from reeling you in and taking most characters out in one clean shot. Literally, nothing. Not even a wall. In Overwatch’s early days, his hook was pulling enemies through walls and providing no real sense of cover or protection against his devastating hook. Everybody knows that getting too close to Roadhog can easily leave your health bar drained so it’s important that his hook isn’t overpowered and only rewards players once they get a clean grasp on enemies.
Thankfully, quite a few changes have been made to his hook over the course of Overwatch’s first year. The distance placed between Roadhog and his hooked enemies has increased and, best of all, his hook will disconnect if his prey is no longer in his line of sight. The cool down on his hook has also been increased to prevent him from essentially being the bully of the map by hooking enemies back to back without giving players enough time to react or adjust to his presence. In exchange for giving his hook a nerf, however, the spread of his Scrap Gun was decreased by 20%, which allows his damage to be far more concentrated.
McCree
Before Widowmaker and Hanzo mains were the primary targets of rage in the Overwatch community, McCree was actually the one causing players’ blood to boil every time he rolled his way on to your screen. Overwatch’s resident cowboy used to be an unstoppable freak of nature that could mow down an entire tank hero on his own. His Flashbang and Fan the Hammer combo was all it took to send D.Va flying out of her mech or take out Zarya before she could even place a barrier around herself. With such a quick reload speed and the ability to dish out a crazy amount of damage at once, he easily became a character that could ruin any player’s day. McCree was such a problem that there are plenty of YouTube compilation videos of ridiculous kills he makes on his very own.
Now, however, McCree is no good in the hands of an unskilled player and that’s really how things were always meant to be. Fan the Hammer’s damage has been reduced significantly since Overwatch’s early days but Blizzard compensated for this by giving McCree more range. Of course, that became another issue in and of itself. McCree’s Peacekeeper started to feel an awful lot like Widowmaker’s sniper for the kind of damage it awarded players even at long range. This issue called for yet another patch where Blizzard made some changes to his damage drop off distance. Now McCree is a solid offensive pick for someone with the skill to utilize his kit but he isn’t the easy out-of-the-box hero he used to be.
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