Overwatch 2 January 24 Update Roadhog Nerf Called ‘Disappointing’ By Players

Overwatch 2 got a new update today, January 24, and one of the major changes was a Roadhog nerf to altered a couple of his abilities. The problem is that many players find the changes “disappointing” and feel like they’re not enough to properly balance the hero.

Overwatch 2 January 24 Update Patch Notes

The January 24 Update made changes to Orisa, Roadhog, Sojourn, and Kiriko, as well as some general bug fixes. Here are all of the changes made to the game today:

HERO UPDATES

Tank

• Orisa
  • Fortify
    • Health bonus reduced from 125 to 75
• Roadhog
  • Chain Hook
    • Impact damage reduced from 30 to 5
    • The enemy final position distance from Roadhog after being pulled increased from 3 to 4 meters
  • Scrap Gun
    • Damage per pellet reduced from 6.6 to 6
    • Recovery time reduced from 0.85 to 0.8 seconds
    • Reload time reduced from 2 to 1.75 seconds
    • Maximum ammo increased from 5 to 6

Developer comments: These changes aim to reduce the frustration of dying in one shot immediately after being hooked and pulled by Roadhog. Chain Hook is still a powerful utility to forcibly reposition enemy players, so it will still often lead to eliminations. Its effectiveness will now be more dependent on specific hero matchups and how the hooked target is able to respond.

Damage

• Sojourn
  • Railgun
    • Energy gain is no longer based on damage done by primary fire. Each primary fire hit against an enemy player now grants 5 energy
    • Primary fire damage per projectile reduced from 10 to 9

Developer comments: The energy gain adjustment will help smooth out Sojourn’s average Railgun charge time because it won’t benefit as much from critical damage or damage boost abilities. Hitting armored targets or other sources of damage reduction will result in quicker energy gains than before.

Previously, damage boosts and critical damage had an amplified effect for Sojourn since it reduced the time to build energy and lowered the threshold at which her Railgun secondary fire became lethal. The reduction to primary fire damage will further slow that down as well.

Support

• Kiriko
  • Healing Ofuda
    • Recovery time increased from 0.85 to 1 second

Developer comments: Despite Kiriko’s healing projectiles being slow-moving and single target, her average healing output per match is higher than we’d like. We’ve seen players tend to get overly focused on maximizing her healing potential and only use primary fire for extended periods of time. Rather than reduce the amount of healing per projectile, which may lead to feeling locked into focusing on primary fire even more, we’re increasing the recovery time before she can start firing the Healing Ofuda. Increasing recovery times opens the opportunity to weave in secondary fire Kunai more freely.

BUG FIXES

GENERAL

• Fixed an issue with the “Winged Sandals’ weapon charm’s ‘How to Unlock’ text
• Adjusted footstep audio mixing to make enemy footsteps more audible

HEROES

• Lucio
  • Fixed an issue with Lucio’s Hermes skin exhibiting incorrect physics
• Reinhardt
  • Fixed an issue with Reinhardt’s Hammer appearing deformed during the Sweethardt emote
• Sojourn
  • Fixed an issue where Sojourn’s Cyber Detective Skin would fail to load
• Wrecking Ball
  • Fixed an issue with Adaptive Shield where it could be incorrectly applied before the cooldown was complete

The problem is that players are finding these changes “disappointing” and have taken to the patch notes thread on Reddit to complain. After being told the promised Roadhog nerf would take time, many were expecting there to be something akin to a rework. Others described the changes as “lacklustre” and something more appropriate for a “stealth patch” seeing as they do little to halt overpowered heroes.

Many are now hoping for bigger changes to arrive at the start of Season 3 in February.