Bastion and Mercy Get a Buff on the PTR

The newest version of the PTR has brought quite a few interesting changes to two characters, BASTION and MERCY

Lets look at Bastion first since his changes are the most vast.

His Sentry Mode has gotten fundamental changes, pretty much changing his effective Ranges, and overall role he used to use.

He can change into sentry mode 0.5 seconds faster, making his overall transition take 1.0 seconds compared to 1.5, but despite his increased speed, hes gotten a fair amount of descreases.

he now doesn’t have a head shot multiplier, and his overall weapon spread, has been increased by 50% which is now constant , which means you cant burst fire to maintain accuracy, to compensate, his ammo has been increased by 100.

This pretty much makes bastion less of a stationary turret, that players used to play him as, and he now, is more suitable for a constantly moving player, switching postions at a fast pace and not sticking to open spaces as much, which seems to fall in line to what Bastions concept was about, but their is more to this than just changes to his turret mode.

His normal mode, or Recon mode got an increase in ammo by 5 making him have as much ammo as soldier, but his accuracy was decreased by 25% so that wont be as accurate.

His Ultimate Tank Mode, will no longer give him armor so you cant use it in front of a group of enemies that are already focusing on you.

However his last two changes are what really change the way he plays.

His self healing now has a usage gauge similar to D.va’s barrier, so it cant be used infinitely, however bastion can now use it while moving, falling in line for making him more mobile,  his former penalties, like having his healing cancel when shot, is no longer present either, but its his new passive ability Iron Clad, that completely settles his position as a Defensive Hero.

Iron Clad, makes Bastion take 35% less damage when in Turret and Tank Mode, this makes him able to stick it out and last just a little longer before needing to move.

That all sounds well and good, but if you notice… Bastion can now pretty much negate a huge number of one on one encounters just with the combination of Iron Clad and Self Repair.

I don’t think it makes him un-killable by any means, but it certainly means you more than likely need two or more people to generally take him out, and do more damage than what he can heal, Bastion cant Crit, so its his survivability now, that is his main crutch to make him viable, he can hold defensive positions more firmly, and not have to duck out after being shot a few times, which means your going to have to really shoot that Bastion and get rid of him quickly as soon as possible.

Had his tank Mode not gotten Nerfed, i thought it would’ve made Bastion way too good, but now the rest of his kit is just unreliable as compared to before.

Let’s just see how Player Feedback affects these changes when it actually releases.

With Bastion Out of the way i can Mention Mercy’s change.

I kinda feel this one might make Mercy picked way more just because of this.

After Using Her Ultimate, Her and Her Allies are Temporarily Invincible

I just think that seals it.

First they changed it so that she can still move while doing her Ultimate, and now she cant die instantly after doing it, its going to be good for Mercy players if this change makes it into Official.

Mercy was already a solid healer, but now she has greater survivability letting her keep up with the other healers much better.

Over all it will be interesting to see how the PTR plays out and what the feedback will affect come when these changes officially release

Those are just the hero changes, theres more in the PTR than just that, so keep an eye on the battle.net forums or MagGamer for more.