Overwatch community outraged over Moira’s “overpowered” Fade rework

Overwatch players are livid after the game introduced a new batch of Experimental Changes to Moira in a July 23 patch, with some claiming Fade has become the most broken ability in the game.

The July 23 patch saw some nerfs to Genji, which the community seemed excited about, given his recent jump in pick and win-rate on the ladder. They also saw some massive overhauls to Moira’s Damage Orb and Fade.

On the Experimental Card, Moira’s Damage Orb can deal a whopping 150 damage per second, making it one of the most lethal abilities in the game. However, the real issue comes in the form of Fade, which has become an incredible defensive tool.

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Now, when Moira uses Fade, all teammates around her are cleansed of any status effects, such as Ana’s anti-heal. They are also immune to damage for a second, meaning that Fade can save teammates from Ultimates like Junkrat’s Rip Tire, D.va’s Self-Destruct and other burst damage abilities.

The most “broken mechanic” in history

Needless to say, fans are not happy with the changes.

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Former Overwatch pro and Florida Mayhem content creator Sam ‘Samito’ Dawahare called them “the most overpowered, broken mechanic in the history of the game.”

“This makes Moira the most dominant pick in the game,” he blasted. “It means that Moira is a counter to everything in the game.”

Korean tank Sang-hoon ‘Kaiser’ Ryu also took issue with the new Fade and presented a scenario where it could easily counter Earthshatter.

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The backlash spread to the Competitive Overwatch subreddit with users mocking the outlandish rework.

“Jeff [Kaplan] passed the blunt,” user ‘siempreviper’ joked, poking fun at the Game Director.

“Super-mass-ultimate-counters like that put on a simple fast cooldown ability is very OP,” DIABOLUS777 remarked.

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Eventually, Molly Fender, Overwatch’s Community Development Lead, took to Twitter in an attempt to reaffirm that the changes are only experimental.

The changes may not go through

“For everyone in the back, say it with me… Experimental Mode,” she said, before pasting the mode’s purpose. “The Experimental Mode allows players to test out ideas that the development team has been experimenting with as well. These test have ranged from minor number changes, new abilities, or 1-3-2 role lock.”

It does seem like it’s unlikely that the Moira Fade changes go through; when Jeff Kaplan first discussed the new Experimental Card on July 14, he wrote that even the team was “unsure” about them to begin with.

Whatever the case, normally the Experimental Mode stays active for about a week before the changes are either added to the game or discarded, so we’ll know for sure very soon.