Current Situation: When Wrecking Ball is hacked while in ball form, he is forced to transform into crab form and cannot change back until his ability lockout ends.

Problem # 1 - Consistency:

Here are a few examples of abilities that do not end when Sombra hacks them:

• Bastion’s Sentry Form
• Ramattra’s Nemesis Form
• Every “transformation” ultimate such as Dragonblade, Tac Visor, Rally, etc.
• Lucio’s aura does turn off but it does not revert back to speed if he was on healing

But here is the interesting part: While active, Bastion’s Sentry Form and Ramattra’s Nemesis Form ability icons on the bottom right of your screen stay orange during their duration, indicating their status - Wrecking Ball’s transformation icon does not stay orange during ball form. This is likely because those abilities have set durations while ball’s does not, but it would also kind of make you think that Wrecking Ball’s ball form isn’t really an “active” transformation. This logic makes me think that ball form should just be another part of his “baseline” and not something that can/should be interrupted (maybe Sleep Dart should be an exception… idk).

By example: Lucio has his aura that he can switch from speed to healing with the Crossfade ability. Although he starts off on speed, the healing option of the aura is not something that he can be “hacked” out of - he cannot be forced back into speed by any external means. Both options are a part of his “baseline” form.

From a consistency perspective as it relates to other similar abilities, I think its clear that ball form shouldn’t be interrupted by hack - so let’s talk about balance and how easily certain tanks can be countered.

Problem # 2 - Counterablity:

Wrecking Ball has one of the highest mechanical skill ceilings in the game, yet is one of the easiest tanks to counter - and he is extremely vulnerable to those counters. Sombra is obviously the prime example. If you are playing Wrecking Ball and doing well, you can almost guarantee that the enemy is going to counterswap to Sombra and make it so you cannot play the game. The Sombra is able to hack you every few seconds without requiring nearly any skill - and getting hacked is extremely more debilitating on Ball than most other heroes. If the enemy 1) realizes that you’re a good ball player and 2) has 2 brain cells, they are going to hard counter you with very little effort with this single swap. This same dynamic exists for Bastion vs Winston and a few other matchups that I believe are equally unhealthy but I will save for another day. Basically: the game should be rewarding more skill-intensive inputs than simple character choice.

I personally think that counters that are this severe should not exist. I think that the hitscan vs Phara “counter” is an extremely healthy interaction that places the burden of skill on the counterer, not the counteree, in the transaction, and is generally outplayable - this is how “counters” in the game should work. Sombra vs Ball is nearly un-outplayable due to the nature of Sombra’s kit. There are plenty of heroes that can stop other heroes from doing what they want in many other, healthier ways, but this one is a case of “Hero A entirely relies on Function 1 (a very difficult to use system) in order to be remotely playable, and Hero B has Function 2 (a very easy to use system) which can instantly turn off Function 1 whenever they want with limited restrictions and limited counterplay.” I’m not saying Sombra is generally easy to play; I’ve actually never been very good with her - but she’s easy to play against Ball.

My proposed change is this: Sombra’s hack does not take Wrecking Ball out of ball form, but it still cancels active grapples, piledrives, and even fireballs. This would still make Sombra a decent counter: if you are able to time your hacks to interrupt Ball’s initiations then he will still get no value - but the interaction become significantly less free for the Sombra and significantly more outplayable for the Ball. It also plugs a confusing consistency hole in the game.