Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan under fire over D.va nerf, admits no regrets

Despite criticisms for nerfing D.va, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has remained firm that the character is completely fine.

Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has admitted that nerfing D.va brought him to a discouraging state as a massive troop of disappointed players stormed the game's different community forums and pages. Despite being stuck in this sticky situation, Kaplan is firm that he does not bear any regrets at all for this controversial move.

Kaplan under fire

Overwatch has been bombarded with backlash after Kaplan and his team made D.va weaker, a nerf many fans called vicious and unnecessary. Players are now calling out the director to bring back the old D.va.

According to Kotaku, Kaplan expressed to the publication during its recent anniversary event in New York that relegating the tank hero's strength and power may have been a "low point" for him. However, he added to clarify that he has no regrets for taking this path.

Unexpected changes

Looking back at the previous balancing updates of the game, many players were usually not receptive to changes, especially those unpopular and unexpected.

In a balancing update in December 2016, D.va became a more active hero, particularly with how the character fires her cannon, while her mech suit's health doubled to 200. These change aimed for the character to become stronger than she was.

In spite of that, the team saw the necessity the following month to tone down D.va's ability as she became all too powerful, making her difficult to take down. Some players were enraged, complaining about the change. But for Kaplan, the hero was just completely sufficient.

Top-grossing video game

Amid all the challenges Overwatch's development team had to go through, the game's unprecedented success just continuous to soar. In April, Blizzard reported that Overwatch had already sold over 30 million copies worldwide since it was released on May 24, 2016.

In 2016, Overwatch placed 7th in NDP's list of best-grossing video games of the year.

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