Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan often reminds players that Blizzard is always talking about all Overwatch heroes.
Responding to a forum post complaining about Hanzo’s Scatter Arrow arrow, Kaplan mentioned that Hanzo is one hero being “heavily discussed” by Blizzard.
“We’ve been talking about Scatter Arrow since 2014,” Kaplan wrote. “It’s always been controversial. The claim that it takes ‘no skill’ is not really fair. It’s a well placed shot. It just happens to do a lot of damage and doesn’t feel particularly good to be on the receiving end of (especially if you’re someone like Orisa).”
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He continued: “The fantasy of shooting into someone’s feet is clearly not what we were going for, but that’s where we’re at right now.”
Kaplan didn’t mention specifics for a change for Hanzo, but he did mention that nerfing Scatter Arrow would leave Hanzo too weak. “If anything, he needs some help right now,” Kaplan added. Hanzo is tricky, and that’s why his balance is being discussed heavily.
Hanzo received a buff in late May that removed the attack cooldown from his wall climbing ability. The buff made it easy to immediately engage enemies after finishing a climb. It was a minor adjustment that had the potential to be severely damaging in the hands of skilled players. Likewise his Storm Bow got an increased charge speed, and charged arrows maintained their charge after a wall climb if the button was continuously held down.
Kaplan didn’t mention a timeline for Hanzo’s potential adjustments.
