'Overwatch' Has a "Lot Going On" for Roadhog

Overwatch’s hook-throwing hero Roadhog has “a lot going on” in terms of buffs and changes to [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

Overwatch's hook-throwing hero Roadhog has "a lot going on" in terms of buffs and changes to come, Blizzard said.

Blizzard shared October's Overwatch developer update on Tuesday with Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan discussing upcoming features, BlizzCon, and balance changes. Looking ahead to Overwatch's Patch 1.30, Kaplan teased that some balance changes are on the way for four different heroes.

"In essence, I'm not going to go into all the details, but expect buffs for Roadhog, Reaper, Symmetra, and Mercy," Kaplan said.

Kaplan acknowledged that Mercy and Roadhog are two heroes frequently talked about within the Overwatch community. Roadhog specifically has been discussed often on the Overwatch forums with players wondering where the love is for the hero, and although changes haven't yet been revealed for the hero like some people expected, the developer update did hint at some of what will change for Roadhog.

"And with Roadhog, there's a lot going on," Kaplan said. "We want to improve how the hook feels for Roadhog and also work on some of the shotgun consistency."

Saying that he's sure people have plenty of questions about the changes, Kaplan said that Blizzard would be releasing more detailed patch notes soon with developer comments to explain the reasoning behind them. He said that there's still not a guarantee those changes will make it to the live servers, however, so they could change from what people see at first.

Mercy's changes were also addressed, the flying support hero often subjected to buffs, nerfs, and ability adjustments. Buffs are planned for the hero this time though with her Valkyrie ability specifically being focused on in the Overwatch update Kaplan referred to.

"Mercy will be getting a buff specifically to Valkyrie that we're experimenting with, and we think should be pretty awesome for her and be a welcome change for the hero," he said.

While Overwatch players have buffs to look forward to for those four heroes, Kaplan did let them down gently when it comes to expectations about new maps. Blizzard's past BlizzCons have brought about map announcements, but Kaplan told people not to expect that from this year's event. He did say that there are still Overwatch announcements coming this year though, so people should still tune into BlizzCon in November to see what's happening.

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