Ah yes, Tracer, one of the first (well let's be honest here, the first) heroes I fell in love with when keeping up with the development of Overwatch. So imagine my delight when they announced that they were going to bring her over to Heroes of the Storm. And to prove just how much I wanted to play her, she's the only hero (up to this point) that I've ever bought when she was first released at 15000 coins. Yes, I didn't wait for her price to be lowered to 10000 coins, and I played a lot of games when she was announced just so that I would be able to purchase this hero when she was finally released!
But alas, time was not so nice to the Overwatch agent, after being repeatedly bombarded with nerf after nerf, some justified, like increasing the cooldown of Recall, and some not, like adding more cooldown if you picked the level 20 Total Recall Talent, a first for Heroes of the Storm, simply because other talents in the same level weren't picked as often. The problem here, however, is not that Tracer's kit is bad. Her kit is really strong, but as a person who plays Tracer quite often, there simply isn't that much diversity to her talents. No diversity and to add to that not much synergy between her talents.
That's her Master Skin btw, one of the things that need a remake as well IMO
So how about we contemplate on this (because this is so important, am I right?) and figure out how we can iron out a few of her kinks without making her extremely overpowered. Just to clarify, I'm not saying that she's a bad hero, by all means, she still plays quite well in some situations, but when you consider her talent choices and kit, she seems to have gotten the short end of the straw. If you compare her to some of the other popular picks, like Kael thas, Li Ming and Valla, heck even Thrall, all have well rounded talent choices with a lot synergy between them. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start from the beginning.
Talents
The reason why most of her talents are nerfed is because those talents were picked more often than others. And there are two reasons for that, let's get to it:
When people pick talents, it's either to enhance her current play style or counter the enemy's lineup. So when Tracer was first released, her popular talents were Slipstream at Level 1 and Spatial Echo at Level 7. Why? Mostly because, Slipstream reduces the cooldown of Tracer's Recall ability, one that allowed her to be placed at where she was 3 seconds ago. On top of that, it made her go back 1 second more, so instead of going back 3 seconds, she'd go back 4. Now, compared to her other talents, Pulse Strike and Tracer Rounds (let's not even talk about Tracer Rounds) Slipstream had the least amount of skill required to make it work. Pulse Strike, though a good talent as well, required you to land Melees on enemies, which required you to get in close to the enemy. And being a squishy hero with a low health pool, most players won't want to do that, even though it was a good trade off. Slipstream had zero, and I mean ZERO trade off, you just get a lowered cooldown and you get transported further. Of course, this made that talent extremely popular. Slipstream has since been nerfed to oblivion, so now it only increases the time recalled by 1 second.
Current Talent Effects:
Pulse Strike: Increases ultimate charge from Melee strikes on Heroes from 10% to 20%
Slipstream: Increases time recalled by 1 second
Tracer Rounds: Tracer's basic attacks reveal heroes for 4 seconds (see? useless...)
The current situation for these talents, taken from HotsLogs, look at the popularity
Now let's talk about her second favourite, Spatial Echo, it returns 2 charges of Blink when Tracer uses Recall. Compared to her other talents, Bullet Time and Jumper, which reduced her Blink cooldowns by 0.1 second per shot and Jumper which increased the Blink charges by 1, Spatial Echo was of course the better choice. And again, I'll bring up the fact that it didn't need any skill to use, Bullet Time needed you to constantly be attacking for you to benefit from it, and Jumper was only useful at full charge. In addition to the fact that Spatial Echo synergized with Slipstream, it was an extremely favourable talent compared to the others.
If you've been following me closely, you'd notice that those then popular talents (now not so much), gave a lot for the zero skill needed to use them. AND THAT'S WHY THEY WERE SO POPULAR! Now consider these talents after the nerfs, Slipstream is picked less now, because people would rather gamble a little than just go back 1 second further. And Spatial Echo now requiring you get the kill to get those charges is picked the least. BECAUSE IT REQUIRES SKILL AND A KILL. Guess what talent is picked the most now, Jumper. Why? Because you get one extra blink, no strings attached, a blink and nothing else. It's simple, and that's why people go there. And speaking from experience, Bullet Time actually gives so much more once you get the hang of Tracer. But the ease and security of the pick is what people mostly go for.
Current Talent Effects:
Jumper: Increases Blink charges by 1
Bullet Time: Basic attacks reduce blink cooldown by 0.1 seconds (note that Tracer dishes 10 attacks per magazine)
Spatial Echo: Hero kills grant 2 charges of Blink
Need another argument? Let's look at Tracer's Level 16 Talents, or in other words, her power spike talents, Sleight of Hand reduces her reload time, allowing her to attack faster, Focus Fire, increases the damage of her last bullet, should she empty the whole clip on the same target and Locked and Loaded, which by pressing reload at the right moment, increases the damage for the whole clip. Now, just a guess, which talent is the most popular? SLEIGHT OF HAND!!! Why? Security, it requires no skill yet it gives a decent damage boost, even though her other talents promise more damage should they be used effectively.
Current Talent Effects:
Sleight of Hand: Reduces Reload time by 50% (0.75->0.375), increasing damage over time by 20%
Focus Fire: The last bullet of a clip deals an additional 35% damage, if the whole clip is used on the same target
Locked and Loaded: Activating Reload at the right time increases damage for the whole clip by 40%
Current Talent Effects:
Sticky Bomb: Increases explosion radius by 50% and slows by 70% for 3 seconds
Quantum Spike: Pulse Bomb deals additional damage equal to 10% of the target's health
Pulse Rounds: Increases Pulse Bomb's range and charge rate (against heroes) by 100%
Current Talent Effects:
Get Stuffed!: Reduces melee cooldown by 3 seconds and causes knockback when used on an enemy with a bomb stuck, causing the bomb to explode instantly
Total Recall: Causes Recall to heal health lost during that time but increases Recall's cooldown by 8 seconds
Composition B: Tracer drops another bomb that explodes sooner if it sticks on an enemy hero that deals 50% less damage
So what have we learnt so far? People go for security and ease above anything else, yes sure but the bigger picture here is, Tracer's other talents suck, BIG TIME. I have to be blunt because I love Heroes and I want it be a popular MOBA (you can call it Hero Brawler all you like but it directly competes with DoTA and LoL) but the lack of versatility and choice in a game that has no items means the meta for Tracer stays the same. It's stagnant and people can't develop new strategies or play styles for a hero. Let's not blame anyone here, be it poor planning and such, let's do something about it. And hence I introduce...
MY SUGGESTIONS:
So the problem we know right now is that Tracer's talents don't really offer much for her talent choices to be diverse and we all know (based on the arguments above) that it's because the trade off is not compelling enough for people to trade security for advantage (in the right moments because if you see Untouchable, people do go for power, only if it's compelling enough)
Another problem is that her talents don't synergize much, so talents that offer less, have nothing to else to be more compelling. If she had weaker talents, but had amazing synergy with her higher tier talents, it would make those talents more compelling with the potential it offers in the future.
Ability Changes:
I can hear the collective gasps from you guys, now hear me out first, I know her kit is strong enough so just keep an open mind (hehe see what I did there?) These changes are mostly to even out benefits from talents so they are not as compelling.
Recall: Tracer heals health lost during that time, but cannot heal more than 30% of her maximum health this way. Cooldown is increased from 26 seconds to 30 seconds
Recall was one of the talents that was the hardest for me to suggest balancing, initially I wanted to suggest that she can only heal 50% of the health lost. But that would be too powerful if she lost a big chunk of health only to heal 50% of it back. A big counter to Tracer before she hits Level 20 is to pile on damage so that she can't be as aggressive during teamfights. Which also justifies the power spike she gets from Total Recall at Level 20. By doing this, it kinda makes Total Recall irrelevant, which we don't want. But then again, she wouldn't be able to shrug off chip damage because she'd only heal 50% of what she lost. Which is one of the reasons why people pick Total Recall in the first place, to get rid of unintended damage she receives. So by adding the 30% health limitation, we can give her half of what Total Recall promises, but if they truly want the sustain that Total Recall gives, they still need to take that talent. And why 30%? Because at 30% health, it's still dangerously low for Tracer, but it can help to avoid sudden death after a recall from one unintended auto attack. The increased cooldown justifies this as well since she actually regains health now.
Explanation:
Allows you to get rid of chip damage which is one of the reasons Total Recall is picked, but still makes the counter to Tracer relevant. This makes Total Recall less compelling which opens up choices for her other Level 20 Talents.
Pulse Bomb: Damage and charge rate remain the same, but the throwing range is increased by 25%
I've talked about security and reliability when it comes to picking talents, so by increasing the base throwing range of Pulse Bomb, we get rid of some functionality that comes with Pulse Rounds, making the other talents more compelling. It's also necessary because in Overwatch you can at least alter the throwing range of Pulse Bomb. Following this, Pulse Rounds range increase would have to be reduced to only 75%, which is a still a big increase, justifying the talent, but not so much that the other talents become irrelevant. If this change is too strong for a Level 1 Tracer, every talent at Level 10 could increase the range by 25% but Pulse Rounds would still increase the range by 100%, giving her a power spike at Level 10 instead of Level 1.
Explanation:
The added throwing range makes Pulse Bomb more reliable so that Pulse Rounds is less compelling,
Talent Changes:
Level 1:
Pulse Strike: -no changes-
Slipstream: same functionality but Recall's cooldown regenerates 50% faster when below 30% health
Tracer Rounds: -no changes- (jk, remove it please, it's like bait for those who's never played Tracer)
NEW TALENT:
Motion Blur: Tracer gains evasion after using Blink for 0.5 seconds -1 second (based on how OP this could be, I don't know how much time should be given)
Explanation:
The added functionality for Slipstream makes it more compelling and maintains the initial essence of the talent with the trade off so that more experienced players can benefit more from this talent. Motion Blur gives nice added functionality for Blink and gives Tracer the option of sustain by trading up mobility. One of the problems that Tracer faces is that she can't approach a powerful but less mobile team so this allows her to linger in the fight more, trading off her blinks for much needed evasion instead.
I view Level 1 Talents as a foundation for the player to use the Hero, Pulse Strike allows for more Pulse Bombs and in effect more damage, Slipstream let's the player play more aggressively for those clutch moments and Motion Blur let's players mitigate some damage against auto attack heroes by trading Blinks for evasion. You might also see Tracers being played differently with these different talents.
Level 4:
Parting Gift: I personally don't understand this talent but yeah, -no changes-
Untouchable: -no changes-
Is that a Health Pack?!: same functionality but this is a questing talent
Quest:
After collecting 15 regen globes, Tracer gains an ability that generates a regen globe for her, cooldown: 60 seconds
NEW TALENT:
Get Stuffed! (ver 2.0): If Melee hits only one target, the target is slowed by 50% by 1 second. Additionally if she hits a target with Pulse Bomb stuck to them, they are knocked back. (knockback distance reduced by 50% from the 20 talent)
Comments:
I KNOW YOU GUYS WOULD SAY THAT THE SLOW WITH BULLET SPRAY WOULD BE OP SO WAYYYY AHEAD OF YOU!!! Anyways, the problem with Get Stuffed! is that usually people would melee first and THEN pulse bomb, so there was a learning curve to the talent. So moving it to Level 4, removing the cooldown reduction and halving the knockback distance would make it less powerful but allow people to experiment with that talent earlier on. The slow is so that Tracer has a way to contribute to the team, one of the things Tracer lacks in her kit and play style. It also adds more versatility because she can slow down an enemy chasing an ally or do so to help the team secure a kill.
The added questing talent is because that talent is really good as it offers Tracer an option for self sustain, however, most of the functionality is lost as you advance into the game. So the quest doesn't give her that self sustain instantly, but provides it when you get into the later stages of the game.
Level 7:
Jumper: doesn't increase the charges but increases blink range by 15-20%
Bullet Time: -no change-
Spatial Echo: -no change- (though returning the old functionality wouldn't hurt, because I could see some Tracers played quite differently, as they used those added blinks as a way to scout ahead for the team, then recalling away, giving her some sort of way to benefit the team)
Comments:
The reason why I'm suggesting the change for Jumper is because of how her talents would synergize with the Level 20 Talents I'm going to suggest, but Jumper as it is doesn't really need a change actually. Also, if you were outraged or felt some feelings reading the change, MADE YOU FEEL THINGS! Another reason why the old functionality of Spatial Echo wouldn't hurt is because Bullet Time now synergizes with Motion Blur, so it makes Bullet Time a decent pick even though Spatial Echo grants extra charges.
Level 10:
Sticky Bomb: Same functionality but also increases throwing range by 25%
Quantum Spike: Same functionality but also increases throwing range by 25%
Pulse Rounds: -no change-
Comments:
These changes are if, and only if, the changes to Pulse Bomb, were too strong for a Tracer at Level 1.
Level 13:
Her Level 13 talents are the most balanced, in my opinion, and it also changes the way Tracer is played with each one. Bullet Spray gives her a wave clear, Ricochet is good when you want inflict more damage as it becomes harder for healers to keep up with her damage. Leeching Rounds allows her to be more aggressive and stay in the fight longer.
Level 16:
Her Level 16 talents are also balanced, each trading off some reliability with the promise of more damage. Level 16 talents are usually really powerful, so I'm fine with the current choices available.
Level 20:
Get Stuffed!: -moved to level 4-
Total Recall: Recall can now heal 100% of Tracer's maximum health, no increased cooldown
Composition B: -removed-
NEW TALENTS:
Combat Ready: Reduces Melee's cooldown by 3 seconds and increases Tracer's attack speed by 50%
Extra Ammunition: Tracer gains a second charge for Pulse Bomb, 10 second cooldown between charges
Overclock: Reduces Blink's cooldown by 1 second - 1.5 seconds and increases the charges by 1 (or increases the range depending on Jumper)
Comments:
I've explained Total Recall so the increased cooldown is unnecessary because it was just to make the other talents more compelling. Combat Ready can synergize with Pulse Strike, Sleight of Hand and Pulse Rounds, Extra Ammunition gives people the security they want with landing Pulse Bombs by adding another charge. Overclock allows you to have a healthy list of talent synergies, as it can synergize with Motion Blur, Jumper or Bullet Time. It's also quite flexible because you can build Tracer to be very mobile or you can make it so you get more evasion charges with Blink. Which is why I suggested the change for Jumper.
The problem with Tracer is that she has a powerful kit but the kit only works one way. The talents I'm suggesting here allows her to trade off some of her strengths for added functionality while giving her better talents that have synergy, making them more compelling and this should even out her talent picks more.
That's it and have fun playing TRACER!!!
Also please share this if you agree with these changes, maybe the devs might read this and inspire some changes!
