[Megathread] Pathfinder Changes Feedback

I agree that this was a huge mistake. The thing about this game which sets it apart from most other BRs are the movement options you have (bunnyhopping, wallkicking, sliding, grappling, etc) and pathfinder really emphasizes those technical movements. Pathfinder is designed to be a fun, mobile character who can scout out areas around the ring faster than most champions. In pubs/non-ranked, he is used because he is fun and can quickly traverse the map. The developer logic of "we are increasing the cooldown on his grapple because being able to reposition quickly multiple times in a fight is too powerful" was a misguided decision since they took away what defines him as a hero, you can still shoot him midair and he does have counterplay to poorly placed grapples, compared to wraith who is invincible while using her tactical ability which makes it not nearly as oppressive as most people think. It may sound a bit insensitive but if you can't hit a pathfinder flying at you, you need to work on your tracking aim more since he moves pretty linearly. In high level competitive ranked (~predator), pathfinder is used similarly as he has high mobility and can reposition quickly, but a large reason of why he is used there is actually his passive, being able to scan beacons and determine ring position and then to get there quickly with his ultimate. In higher level gameplay, ring knowledge determines how fast and effectively you can rotate without getting third partied by other squads. At this level, pathfinder's tactical ability is not as much what defined his pick rate/usefulness, it's his ability to get early rotations in. In tournament/pro-level play, pathfinder is played almost entirely because of his ability to scan beacons for the ring to find early rotations meaning this nerf made pathfinder worse at something which wasn't even his "meta" strongpoint. Many pros attest to this fact and it is evident by the way pro-play team compositions are determined. Teams must always have a wattson, since she has shield regen from her interception pylon, and her ability to create territory zones with her fences (as a sidenote, she was not touched in this update in any way), Wraith is also a must pick due to her small hitbox size and her ability to rotate and entire team to a given position without taking damage with the use of her portal ultimate. The last role is generally a flex role which can be substituted for caustic, pathfinder, gibraltar and even lifeline in some cases. In each team composition, the flex role generally determines how the team plays. In the case of pathfinder, his ultimate grapple line is easily exploitable (ie you can shoot people when they are on it and it is very linear) but can still be used to gain vertical height mid-late game. His ultimate in this case is not what defines him unless you have a grapple above everyone in the final circle and hope you don't die (which is a weird way to win a game anyhow). His grapple is very good, but it is not what defines his meta strengths as evidence by the flexibility on that role. Furthermore, what a lot of teams will do when playing non-pathfinder team comps is they will just look to where pathfinder teams are rotating to, and follow them while still gaining the benefits of the ring knowledge.

TL;DR this update made pathfinder way less fun for people who main path, and made him even less meta than he was before.