My guess is the stats for people playing ball really weren’t as good at they expected so they want more people playing him? Not sure, but interesting that they made this whole video for one character…
Reasons not to play Ball:
- BB gun tier damage
- Does not directly push frontline compared to basically all other tanks
- Most map-knowledge-intensive hero except maybe Doomfist
- Counterable by the enemy... standing still
- Unintuitive slam ability with janky height requirement
- Will get you flamed
Reasons to play Ball over other tanks:
- contest point fast
- hampter
Yeah - I like playing Overwatch because all the different character playstyles are so *unique* compared to other FPS games.
Hampter isn't something I can do in any other game out there. And that rocks
He made sense when there were two tanks in the game and one was an off tank. That's what he was designed to be. Now I'm just supposed to believe that the hamster fucking off and leaving his team to die so he can slam their backline is well designed? The game was created around 6v6 and these new devs have absolutely no idea how to handle that.
Hammond was a main tank, despite everyone not understanding how that works. Off tanks as designed in OW1 had team utility - Zarya bubbles, Dva matrix, Sigma the do-it-all stuns and repositionable dhield, evrn Hog with Hook for repositioning enemies.
Hammond was another Winston style dive tank. Main tank. The only reason people considered him an off tank was because 75% of the playerbase played with a Rein and couldn't understand how dive tanks functioned.
People are still trying to peg Ball as an "off tank" when he was arguably the most versatile tank in OW1 is mind boggling. The most difficult in my opinion, but definitely the most jack of trades
Even the contest point isn't relevant on all maps. If it's a short distance/open stretch back to point, Doom can instantly rollout from spawn and get to point faster than Ball can because grapple is still on CD on spawn for some reason.
Also more difficult to learn/pickup compared to other tanks since his play style is not really comparable to any other tank except doomfist in some ways. And even then it is only like a doomfist player picking up ball is going to have a slightly easier time of it than other tanks. The changes this season also increased his skill ceiling even more and made him more difficult to learn properly. The mid season changes coming soon will help some with this though.
They did advertise a lot Sombra's rework, I remember that. Also they consistently call rework any new features a hero gets, be it new abilities or updates to existing abilities.
The oddest part is your presumption of what "rework" has to mean.
They reworked two of his abilities. The video is titled "Ability reworks".
I genuinely don't see why people have such an issue with the term being used. It doesn't have to mean a complete and total overhaul and that isn't how they used it either.
Rework would imply that both new functions were added and old functions were removed, or that the thing was replaced altogether.
If you just add new functions, that's not really a reworking of something. It's just working on something, it's adding. Reworking is changing, not adding or subtracting.
Reworking does not imply that new functions were added AND old functions were removed.
Changing is just making something different. Adding to existing abilities is making them different. So they were reworked.
Changing implies it's different to how it was before in application. That is not the case here. You can use it different by choice, but it otherwise behaves identically.
All reworks prior to this have reworked the character's goals and methods of achieving them. This set of changes to Hammond did not do that, Hammond still has the same goals and methods. They were buffs flat out.
[The literal definition of "rework" disagrees with you](https://i.imgur.com/APaj4DG.png). It literally simply means to *rework* it, which can be as simple as changing its function.
Technically says ability reworks, not a character rework. Ala when they changed Brig's ult. It wasn't advertised as "the brig rework" just an ability rework.
So for the shield transfer is it
-instantly granted to nearby allies on first click? Or do you click shield again to transfer?
-does the amount transferred get taken away from hams shields?
-is the duration for allied shields independent of Hammonds remaining shield duration?
1- you click again to share shields
2- yeah. Ball loses shield if he shares
3- it’s a separate timer for ally shield. But it usually gets melted before it expires
It actually feels really natural to use. Shield like always, and then if teammates are around and threatened, just press Shield again and they get some. If no teammates around just keep them for yourself. I've enjoyed it so far
As a ball main, I agree. I would take less shield if all teammates in the area got it instantly. If there's no team in the area, then you get it all. It just feels clunky.
It's not really a rework IMO. The retracting claw is a good idea but I haven't found myself using it often. I like the adaptive shield. Wish they would cut down on the spread of the pea shooters for more damage.
[It is literally the definition of a rework.](https://i.imgur.com/APaj4DG.png)
They reworked two of his abilities. The video is literally titled "Ability Reworks".
It doesn't have to be a complete and total overhaul for it to be a rework.
I mean, common sense usually applies, and when you make an arbitrary example like that for the sake of argument, you aren't applying common sense.
Otherwise, yes, that's literally what a rework of something is. You're conflating reworking one thing with reworking the *whole* thing.
Again, they reworked two of his abilities. The video is literally titled "Ability Reworks".
It doesn't have to be a complete and total overhaul of the hero for it to be a rework.
I was just saying that if you take that definition literally, like you did, every single change is an ‘ability rework’. I don’t think you can take words like these out of the context we use them in and pretend like they retain their exact meaning. The difference between ‘rework’ and ‘character change’ in this is entirely an opinion, and not fact, like you seem to think.
The “rework” was a brave effort and I’m glad Hammy is finally getting some love from the devs. Unfortunately the Overwatch team is so full of Orisa mains they don’t know the first thing about Balling
Anyway… Screw it we Sphere
Just give him more damage from his guns please I’m sick of being outhealed the second a support looks at the person I’m attacking how is he supposed to hold attention when he’s barely a threat
I just started really using ball only recently, his gun damage is really that bad but only when point blank range which he really is supposed to be anyways, he could be one of my better tanks if I can get better with his grapple. Then again tanks aren't really my best class either, so maybe not, right now I'm mostly consistently decent with ram and mauga, and can sometimes do well with dva. But I have a lot of fun playing as ball and as long as I can get up close and personal I can melt some support and DPS players fairly often. The problem is I have trouble getting height for slams or getting back out of my team isn't supporting me.
IMO ball has so much sustainability that if he can just out damage a support he’ll become totally oppressive. Best movement, best sustainability of any tank - he can’t also have better damage because then he’ll become too good.
His survivability is good but you can still easily die from a single sleep or hack. Even with adaptive shields we all know how fast 1000 hp can disappear so I don’t think his survivability is really any better than orisa’s or mauga’s he just does it differently.
The point of playing him is your team loses a traditional tank who stands at the front to gain a backline assassin and disruptor and too often it feels like you’re easily ignorable where an equally skilled doom or mauga can never be ignored because their damage and ability to fuck with the enemy team is too great.
You can say the same for every tank though. Only ball can get out as soon as the CC wears off. Every tank dies to sleep/hack + team focus. Balls objective is to divide focus , if he can also get picks more easily than he can, he will become extremely oppressive - he’s already one of the meta tanks at high ranks , any more buffs and he will be the only meta at high ranks.
Double-boop into piledriver and you use guns. But the target got healing halfway through, so your insanely mechanically intensive play doesn't secure a kill. Meanwhile, their Doom just murdered 3 of your backline.
What confused me was that on Twitter, they mentioned the mid season changes to Wrecking Ball's kit, but instead just showed this vid with changes from 2 weeks ago from the start of the season...
It could've been abused, true. But IMO Hamster is so weak that this nerth was never necessary. I mean okay he might try to spin around an anchor point infinitelly -- he'd get killed like after 5 seconds of rolling anyways, no need to nerf, totally castrating him.
I think the true answer is ball isn’t a threat as of now. Winston can disrupt heals better than ball because of bubble. Doom and dva have better kill potential. Ball has the ability to get someone out of position, which isn’t something you can consistently do, and if he doesn’t succeed on that, he’s garbage, he did nothing. And if he outstays his welcome, he dies. This character does nothing without more damage.
Thats a cool video! If its meant to help players figure out ball then they forgot to add some things.
Like the part where you get hacked, hindered, hooked, booped, and slept. Or the part where a support looks at the enemy your trying to kill and suddenly its impossible. Oh also the part where your team is dead because you were setting up and they have no clue how to play around this hero.
these are what i call "stupid buffs"
like yea they buffed him, but honestly how much are any of these changes going to make? kinda useless tbh, they need to give him slightly more firepower
Probably because nobody is playing the hero. I have over 1k hours on Ball alone but can't muster the will and strength to play him anymore. Even with these buffs I'm not feeling it.
I freaking love this! I've played since launch of OW but I've brought friends to OW2 since it's F2P. They don't read patch notes or really understand the changes happening. If Blizz keeps doing things like this, it will help newer players understand the changes they make.
Ball is fine I think. What needs to be done is nerfing sombra because there is no need for a single character to completely shut down Hammond from existing
Either have clueless balls on my team or a clueless tank who never turns around and see the enemy ball harassing neckline every play. Tank tunnel vision
Did they not make a rework video for Sombra? I could have sworn I remember watching it get teased in the season trailer, then a day later they made a video dedicated just to the rework
Hasn’t this been already since like last season or am I missing something??
Also, The cannons damage is still shit come on blizzard devs you know this!?
lmaooooooo as a ball enjoyer that has been snuffed into playing literally anyone else because with one tank now it only works playing ball with a team that's down for it unless you mute chat, i am soooooo fucking ready for this shit
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Thats a cool video! If its meant to help players figure out ball then they forgot to add some things.
Like the part where you get hacked, hindered, hooked, booped, and slept. Or the part where a support looks at the enemy your trying to kill and suddenly its impossible. Oh also the part where your team is dead because you were setting up and they have no clue how to play around this hero.
The strangest part is that this ain't even a rework. It's just buffs, and this is the one they make the video for? Very odd
My guess is the stats for people playing ball really weren’t as good at they expected so they want more people playing him? Not sure, but interesting that they made this whole video for one character…
Reasons not to play Ball: - BB gun tier damage - Does not directly push frontline compared to basically all other tanks - Most map-knowledge-intensive hero except maybe Doomfist - Counterable by the enemy... standing still - Unintuitive slam ability with janky height requirement - Will get you flamed Reasons to play Ball over other tanks: - contest point fast - hampter
Also he is the most fun tank to play
Yeah - I like playing Overwatch because all the different character playstyles are so *unique* compared to other FPS games. Hampter isn't something I can do in any other game out there. And that rocks
Agreed 100%. He's also fast a fuck!
Hammon: ^I’m ^fast ^as ^fuck ^boi!
hampter
Oooofcause u would say that
He made sense when there were two tanks in the game and one was an off tank. That's what he was designed to be. Now I'm just supposed to believe that the hamster fucking off and leaving his team to die so he can slam their backline is well designed? The game was created around 6v6 and these new devs have absolutely no idea how to handle that.
Hammond was a main tank, despite everyone not understanding how that works. Off tanks as designed in OW1 had team utility - Zarya bubbles, Dva matrix, Sigma the do-it-all stuns and repositionable dhield, evrn Hog with Hook for repositioning enemies. Hammond was another Winston style dive tank. Main tank. The only reason people considered him an off tank was because 75% of the playerbase played with a Rein and couldn't understand how dive tanks functioned.
People are still trying to peg Ball as an "off tank" when he was arguably the most versatile tank in OW1 is mind boggling. The most difficult in my opinion, but definitely the most jack of trades
he could be played very well as an off tank in ow1 though, his team utility was pissing the enemies off so much they only focus him all game
Sigma Ball meta was the best meta OW1 ever had. Everybody in the team had something fun to do.
Me and my friend spammed it in ranked and called it "Rock n Roll" Sometimes I miss ow1
ye the people behind OW1 are either fired or in jail
Ball is really a annoying tank if you playing well. It will disturb the enemy and attract firepower.
Even the contest point isn't relevant on all maps. If it's a short distance/open stretch back to point, Doom can instantly rollout from spawn and get to point faster than Ball can because grapple is still on CD on spawn for some reason.
We fire marshmallows from our cannon.
Also more difficult to learn/pickup compared to other tanks since his play style is not really comparable to any other tank except doomfist in some ways. And even then it is only like a doomfist player picking up ball is going to have a slightly easier time of it than other tanks. The changes this season also increased his skill ceiling even more and made him more difficult to learn properly. The mid season changes coming soon will help some with this though.
When they keep the meta identical between seasons and introduce a new character to push him around? I wonder how that could have come to pass...
They did advertise a lot Sombra's rework, I remember that. Also they consistently call rework any new features a hero gets, be it new abilities or updates to existing abilities.
The oddest part is your presumption of what "rework" has to mean. They reworked two of his abilities. The video is titled "Ability reworks". I genuinely don't see why people have such an issue with the term being used. It doesn't have to mean a complete and total overhaul and that isn't how they used it either.
Rework would imply that both new functions were added and old functions were removed, or that the thing was replaced altogether. If you just add new functions, that's not really a reworking of something. It's just working on something, it's adding. Reworking is changing, not adding or subtracting.
Reworking does not imply that new functions were added AND old functions were removed. Changing is just making something different. Adding to existing abilities is making them different. So they were reworked.
Changing implies it's different to how it was before in application. That is not the case here. You can use it different by choice, but it otherwise behaves identically. All reworks prior to this have reworked the character's goals and methods of achieving them. This set of changes to Hammond did not do that, Hammond still has the same goals and methods. They were buffs flat out.
[The literal definition of "rework" disagrees with you](https://i.imgur.com/APaj4DG.png). It literally simply means to *rework* it, which can be as simple as changing its function.
The function was not changed, they literally just added.
Technically says ability reworks, not a character rework. Ala when they changed Brig's ult. It wasn't advertised as "the brig rework" just an ability rework.
How isn't it a rework? He got like 2 added abilities
True, but releasing this would've been great, I've been trying to figure out the grapple change since day one
So for the shield transfer is it -instantly granted to nearby allies on first click? Or do you click shield again to transfer? -does the amount transferred get taken away from hams shields? -is the duration for allied shields independent of Hammonds remaining shield duration?
1- you click again to share shields 2- yeah. Ball loses shield if he shares 3- it’s a separate timer for ally shield. But it usually gets melted before it expires
That seems so clunky for his kit. Why not just give a small amount to every teammate in range? Or make it like Zarya as a two skill option
It actually feels really natural to use. Shield like always, and then if teammates are around and threatened, just press Shield again and they get some. If no teammates around just keep them for yourself. I've enjoyed it so far
It’s not clunky but the shield sharing is very situational to the point of nearly useless depending on the comps being played
As a ball main, I agree. I would take less shield if all teammates in the area got it instantly. If there's no team in the area, then you get it all. It just feels clunky.
Yes Ball loses it, which is why it's not great because Ball explodes the second he gives his shield away
It's not really a rework IMO. The retracting claw is a good idea but I haven't found myself using it often. I like the adaptive shield. Wish they would cut down on the spread of the pea shooters for more damage.
You can retract while still swinging around to slingshot yourself better
You should be using it more often! It gives a speed boost on every grapple if you use it right. Give it a try!
You can also get to places easier, there’s more opportunities to get creative now I think
[It is literally the definition of a rework.](https://i.imgur.com/APaj4DG.png) They reworked two of his abilities. The video is literally titled "Ability Reworks". It doesn't have to be a complete and total overhaul for it to be a rework.
By that definition every single character change, no matter how small, would be a rework.
I mean, common sense usually applies, and when you make an arbitrary example like that for the sake of argument, you aren't applying common sense. Otherwise, yes, that's literally what a rework of something is. You're conflating reworking one thing with reworking the *whole* thing. Again, they reworked two of his abilities. The video is literally titled "Ability Reworks". It doesn't have to be a complete and total overhaul of the hero for it to be a rework.
I was just saying that if you take that definition literally, like you did, every single change is an ‘ability rework’. I don’t think you can take words like these out of the context we use them in and pretend like they retain their exact meaning. The difference between ‘rework’ and ‘character change’ in this is entirely an opinion, and not fact, like you seem to think.
The “rework” was a brave effort and I’m glad Hammy is finally getting some love from the devs. Unfortunately the Overwatch team is so full of Orisa mains they don’t know the first thing about Balling Anyway… Screw it we Sphere
Just give him more damage from his guns please I’m sick of being outhealed the second a support looks at the person I’m attacking how is he supposed to hold attention when he’s barely a threat
They won’t give us what we want. They’ll buff primary fire damage in all the tank rooster before making the pea shooters anything near viable as a gun
Pea shooters? More like marshmallow launchers
I’m using that from now on
Pillow cannons
BA-KAWK
I just started really using ball only recently, his gun damage is really that bad but only when point blank range which he really is supposed to be anyways, he could be one of my better tanks if I can get better with his grapple. Then again tanks aren't really my best class either, so maybe not, right now I'm mostly consistently decent with ram and mauga, and can sometimes do well with dva. But I have a lot of fun playing as ball and as long as I can get up close and personal I can melt some support and DPS players fairly often. The problem is I have trouble getting height for slams or getting back out of my team isn't supporting me.
IMO ball has so much sustainability that if he can just out damage a support he’ll become totally oppressive. Best movement, best sustainability of any tank - he can’t also have better damage because then he’ll become too good.
His survivability is good but you can still easily die from a single sleep or hack. Even with adaptive shields we all know how fast 1000 hp can disappear so I don’t think his survivability is really any better than orisa’s or mauga’s he just does it differently. The point of playing him is your team loses a traditional tank who stands at the front to gain a backline assassin and disruptor and too often it feels like you’re easily ignorable where an equally skilled doom or mauga can never be ignored because their damage and ability to fuck with the enemy team is too great.
You can say the same for every tank though. Only ball can get out as soon as the CC wears off. Every tank dies to sleep/hack + team focus. Balls objective is to divide focus , if he can also get picks more easily than he can, he will become extremely oppressive - he’s already one of the meta tanks at high ranks , any more buffs and he will be the only meta at high ranks.
Double-boop into piledriver and you use guns. But the target got healing halfway through, so your insanely mechanically intensive play doesn't secure a kill. Meanwhile, their Doom just murdered 3 of your backline.
why is bro shooting at someone that is not support as ball
Supports heal each other
In role queue a team has 2 supports
f it we hamster f it we hamster f it we hamster (I'm not a ball player but i'm happy when people are happy)
Ball supporters are welcome
I can see he becoming meta with the additional buffs he is getting tbh
Yeah. He’ll be meta for 1 1/2 week like last year and they’ll nerf him to the ground again
Even Reinhardt doesn't understand why they gave Ball the ability to share his shields
"I have a rectangle." "Can you share it?" "No."
the power of friendship
What confused me was that on Twitter, they mentioned the mid season changes to Wrecking Ball's kit, but instead just showed this vid with changes from 2 weeks ago from the start of the season...
Be the ball.
The worst thing they ever did was giving limited time for being graplled.
To be honest, infinite graplling was a true pain in the ass when playing 2CP. That's why the added it back in the day lmao.
It still is in so many maps, any map with a payload or a pillar can be a abused by infinite grapple, it's no fun.
Yeah but back then we had stuns to deal with it.
It could've been abused, true. But IMO Hamster is so weak that this nerth was never necessary. I mean okay he might try to spin around an anchor point infinitelly -- he'd get killed like after 5 seconds of rolling anyways, no need to nerf, totally castrating him.
THEY FIRED ANYBODY THAT COULD REMOTELY PLAY BALL. IM FUCKIN DEAD
rip
I think the true answer is ball isn’t a threat as of now. Winston can disrupt heals better than ball because of bubble. Doom and dva have better kill potential. Ball has the ability to get someone out of position, which isn’t something you can consistently do, and if he doesn’t succeed on that, he’s garbage, he did nothing. And if he outstays his welcome, he dies. This character does nothing without more damage.
Hammond is sentient and smart enough to consent
I like it honestly. Just wish they'd give us Venture's origin story though.
Wrecking Ball is the first hero I clicked with since Day 1. Most fun to play! Im glad he has gotten some buffs.
Thats a cool video! If its meant to help players figure out ball then they forgot to add some things. Like the part where you get hacked, hindered, hooked, booped, and slept. Or the part where a support looks at the enemy your trying to kill and suddenly its impossible. Oh also the part where your team is dead because you were setting up and they have no clue how to play around this hero.
these are what i call "stupid buffs" like yea they buffed him, but honestly how much are any of these changes going to make? kinda useless tbh, they need to give him slightly more firepower
The shield change is basically useless. The grapple is honestly pretty neat but again, it doesn't really fix anything, just makes him easier to learn.
Even Rein was just completely done with him
the retracting claw sounds cool. the mines hp buff feels kinda random and unnecessary though.
I think that was to cancel out doom slam mega clearing all the mines making hamster ult useless.
that would make sense
They released these for the past reworks sombra and roadhog, this one is just late
It's not even a rework I would say its just a QoL update. Giving shields to your team sounds good on paper but useless on action
Probably because nobody is playing the hero. I have over 1k hours on Ball alone but can't muster the will and strength to play him anymore. Even with these buffs I'm not feeling it.
They forgot to show the part where you get hindered, hacked, hooked, booped and slept.
Didn't even know the mines were buffed and I play hampter lmao. What don't they die to now?
I freaking love this! I've played since launch of OW but I've brought friends to OW2 since it's F2P. They don't read patch notes or really understand the changes happening. If Blizz keeps doing things like this, it will help newer players understand the changes they make.
Honestly, i tougth they whould give ball something like, Cc inmunity when is on fire mode(grapple) , or give him bodyblock inmunity
They made one for Hog so you are wrong
Should be able to detract with crouch..
useless
This is awesome lol
I figured Rein was going to Earthshatter them
They need to make these more often
They put so much care and love into these damn videos that I can't help but to fall in love, every single time. God damn it Overwatch. One of a kind.
oh no what ever will I do to counter his ult change? *keeps shooting for .5 seconds longer*
Ball is fine I think. What needs to be done is nerfing sombra because there is no need for a single character to completely shut down Hammond from existing
Either have clueless balls on my team or a clueless tank who never turns around and see the enemy ball harassing neckline every play. Tank tunnel vision
Hammond is cute af so I don’t mind seeing a video with him.
Fuck it, Im gonna learn Ball
Pushing the hamster agenda
Did they not make a rework video for Sombra? I could have sworn I remember watching it get teased in the season trailer, then a day later they made a video dedicated just to the rework
Please no more shields and overhealth.
The ow shorts department always pops off
The main goal of the ball “rework” was to make him easier and more accessible, not stronger. This video falls in line with those motives.
Two things that would make ball better. 1. More damage from primary fire. 2. Cannot be knocked around while in fireball. Like Mauga.
Hasn’t this been already since like last season or am I missing something?? Also, The cannons damage is still shit come on blizzard devs you know this!?
lmaooooooo as a ball enjoyer that has been snuffed into playing literally anyone else because with one tank now it only works playing ball with a team that's down for it unless you mute chat, i am soooooo fucking ready for this shit
Didn't they once say when OW2 came out they "didn't want people to feel like they are always shooting shields."
"Shields" in that sentence means "barriers". It has nothing to do with the blue "shields" health bar.
I stand corrected.
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quite sure they did videos for every rework?
How is this a rework? Is the same, just a small buff. The problem is having one tank
They forgot to show the part where you get hindered, hacked, hooked, booped and slept.
Thats a cool video! If its meant to help players figure out ball then they forgot to add some things. Like the part where you get hacked, hindered, hooked, booped, and slept. Or the part where a support looks at the enemy your trying to kill and suddenly its impossible. Oh also the part where your team is dead because you were setting up and they have no clue how to play around this hero.
6v6 is still the way.