Overwatch's favorite diminutive engineer Torbjörn might be getting a throwable turret and losing Molten Core according to an interview VG 24/7 did with the game's Principal Designer Geoff Goodman.
A number of heroes in Overwatch have been getting reworked in various ways in recent memory. Symmetra, Hanzo, and Torbjörn are three heroes pegged as being in need of some work and two of them have already had their reworks deployed into the game. While a number of major and minor balance changes happens every so often in the game, a major rework of a character is a bit of a rarity. That said, Torb is up next and Geoff Goodman was able to share some of the proposed changes coming for the hero.
To start, Torbjörn's turret is currently a throwable item in the development build of the game. It possesses roughly the same range as Tracer's Pulse Bomb Ultimate and takes a bit of time to deploy, but it's automatically set up as a full level 2 turret once it's done. This would make it a bit easier for Torb to be a little more mobile and use his turrets defensively or offensively in response to enemy movements rather than hunkering down in a static position.
His Molten Core Ultimate may also be leaving Overwatch entirely. The team has experimented with changing it to a regular ability or having the Ultimate effect only the turret or only Torb himself. There's not yet any indication as to what would happen if his Molten Core does get the axe.
At the moment, these changes are still very much in the testing phase. Once the team at Blizzard Entertainment figures out something that works, they'll likely have to cook up new animations so it looks all nice and proper for players. Fans will have to wait a bit longer to see something substantial, but at least we've got an idea of the general landscape of things.
If you're interested in playing Overwatch but don't yet own it, you'll be happy to hear that there will be a free weekend from July 26-30, 2018.
What do you think of the changes to Torbjörn currently being tested on the game's development build? What would you suggest be done to improve the character? Let us know in the comments below!
