Geoff Goodman, principal designer for Overwatch has given an update on Winston and Roadhog changes, now available on the Overwatch public test realm.
The forum post outlines the small changes, but the main take-away is a bit more balance for Roadhog’s recently-changed hook. After such big changes, it’s apparent that balance is still necessary. As promised, they’re doing their best to equalize every hero on the battlefield. The cooldown of Roadhog’s hook is being changed from 6 seconds to 8, and the hook distance is being changed from 2 meters to a hefty 3.5.
“The Roadhog changes overall reduce the power of his hook a bit, but his gun is now more effective when not using the hook.” says Goodman. This all works out for the concept of the character, and will slow down the near-constant fear of being pushed and pulled all over the map by the enemy.
Other small changes include Winston’s critical hit volume being reduced by 15%. Apparently the hitbox for his head was a bit too big, leading to some unlawful headshots. Hopefully this change makes Winston play a bit more fun, as he was already a large target to begin with.
The changes are available now for testing on the PTR, which can be accessed from the launcher by anyone with a copy of the game.