Once upon a time, Bastion was the bane of Overwatch players’ existence. Then everybody figured out how to counter him, and the turret bot’s reputation fell to pieces—as did he, repeatedly. Now, after months spent at the bottom of the ladder, Bastion’s in line for some big changes.
Overwatch principal designer Geoff Goodman talked at length about upcoming Bastion changes that will be coming to the game’s PTR soon. Nearly all of his core abilities are getting overhauled or re-tuned. His recon mode (aka when he pretends to be a person, as opposed to the murder servant of a deranged bird) will be getting lowered spread and increased magazine size, so as to make it viable.
Sentry mode (the one where Bastion becomes a bullet tube and you start yelling and throwing things) is going to turn into more of a “tank-buster and barrier-buster mode.” The team also doesn’t want transformation to feel like certain suicide. “To that end we’re testing stuff like increased spread and removing headshots, but taking less damage while transformed,” said Goodman.
Lastly, Bastion’s self-repair ability is getting the biggest change of all. “Currently our internal build has Bastion able to use Self-Repair while moving and also having it no longer interrupted when taking damage,” said Goodman. “To balance that out it is now on a resource system (similar to the route D.Va’s defense matrix went). These changes have turned this ability from a more niche rarely used ability, to a much more powerful and core survivability tool.”
All of which sounds good and whatever, but Goodman did not answer the most crucial question surrounding Bastion: will he still fuck? Right now, it’s very well known that Bastion fucks, despite an establishment that will stop at no end to hold him back. But Overwatch’s balance is delicate, and pebbles cast into ponds cause ripples (in this metaphor, the pond is a stand-in for fucking, just so you know). I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried.