The prayers of many players have been answered: Brigitte has received a nerf on the PTR of Overwatch. However, the players are not entirely satisfied. Even many of her opponents are disturbed by the adjustment.
Brigitte nerf on the PTR: On November 15, early morning our time, a new patch was deployed on the Overwatch PTR. This brought buffs for Bastion and Co. but also a nerf for Brigitte, which is now upsetting players.
Since Brigitte’s release, the hero has been unpopular with many players. Opponents claim she is too easy to play and ruin the game by easily countering heroes like Tracer. Her entire kit is too strong for Overwatch.
Shields stop Brigitte, players are dissatisfied
What has changed? Not much has changed for Brigitte. Only one ability was adjusted, which now behaves differently. From the patch notes of the Overwatch PTR patch:
- Shield Bash: Can no longer knock through barriers or stun targets behind barriers.
Many players, especially opponents of Brigitte, have wished for such an adjustment. Criticism of the heroine has been ongoing, and even a movement has formed advocating for Brigitte’s removal from Overwatch.
The reddit user AndyGMB showed in a short clip how Brigitte’s new shield bash works and how it is blocked by barriers from Reinhardt or Winston.
What disturbs the players? However, the change does not come to the satisfaction of the players. Criticism of Brigitte’s new shield bash even comes from those who advocated for this nerf.
What particularly bothers the players is the inaccuracy with which the shield bash now works. Some points are mentioned particularly frequently:
- Brigitte’s movement continues after hitting a barrier.
- There is no visible or audible indicator when her shield bash has been blocked.
- It feels random whether Brigitte stuns a target partially behind a shield.
Even the coach of the professional team Dallas Fuel from the Overwatch League, Justin “Jayne” Conroy, has commented on this on Twitter. According to him, it is a “poor” implementation:
[…] it feels like a terribly inconsistent and poor change. If shields can block a stun, then they should also block movement… and this should also apply to Doomfist’s meteor strike.
Testing is still ongoing: The changes have only just been deployed on the PTR, which is exactly meant to find such issues. The colleagues from Overwatch Central even see it positively that Blizzard “just did it”.
If more players test such changes, a suitable adjustment can be found more quickly. And trolls, who make the community believe that Brigitte will really be removed from Overwatch, have less fodder.
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A change that is sure to please more players: Genji and Zenyatta can now sing karaoke in Overwatch.
