As a tank player there is nothing more detrimental to a game than a Bastion. This isn't to say I hate Bastion, as a character design he is an interesting hero both in mechanics and in lore. Nor is he overpowered, Rather that he reduces my enjoyment of Overwatch considerably, and is in need of a rework to address some of his issues.
Bastion both out ranges tanks, and are able to consume a tank's resources so fast that it's not only difficult for a tank to close the distance, but in some cases this is near impossible. The inability of most tank's to close the distance means taking space from a bastion isn't a realistic goal for some tanks. On points like Havana last this is amplified to extreme levels due to the long ranges at play. It's almost safe to say that a tank *can't* engage with a bastion.
This isn't to say tanks can't do anything about bastions. Roadhog is notable for being able to turn a fight against a bastion into his favor if he can get a good hook. Sigma's grasp and rock are also incredible tools for handling bastions.
That though is for those two tanks alone. The brawl cast like Zarya and rein aren't even remotely close to mobile enough to kill a bastion. The dive cast meanwhile suffer from lower damage numbers and weaker shields. Furthermore once these people close the distance bastion can typically shred them in seconds, with no amount of healing, that feasible in game, able to put a dent in bastion's damage output.
This high tank killing potential translates to the rest of the cast, there are very few cast members that can remain under a bastion's fire for anything beyond a second or too. Those who can are those aforementioned tanks, or heroes like Reaper, Mei, and Genji, who all posses tools to completely negate a bastion's damage. His damage per second is also able to exceed that of heroes who operate at comparable ranges, such as that of Soldier 76.
Bastion is ultimately incredibly good at preventing a tank from taking space, but does so to an extent that results in him being able to perform other jobs to an exceptional status.
In contrast other tank busters like reaper exist. Reaper it should be noted is someone most tanks can't win a 1v1 with, eat outheals a few tanks, and the rest he can kill before they can kill him. What's notable is that Reaper isn't very good at consuming a tank's resource from range. The result is that a tank can close the distance against a team with a reaper, and thus take space from a reaper.
Vs non tanks Reaper suffers from his lower range, which means he typically can't kill anyone beyond a range, or rapidity, that exceeds a tracer's or genji's ranges.
Reaper is ultimately incredibly effective at his job as a tank buster, but is unable to be any better at another job, such as picking off squishies, than a specialist in that role.
This isn't to say bastion is over powered. His weaknesses, such as low mobility, work to his detriment. His low mobility, requirement of setup time, and his inability to bring much to a team besides damage are strikes against the notion of him being overpowered. He is ultimately relatively easy to hard counter due to those weaknesses. This is most evident in the Overwatch league, where bastion does not see play.
Taking the previously established facts into account though, there is one glaring issue about bastion. Despite the easy ability to counter bastion, he remains a hero that people are not only ambivalent about playing against, but people seem to rather heavily dislike playing against. He is also traditionally used as a "cheese" strategy, or a desperate last pick. Such as an attempt to full hold a map. It seems realistic to say, that from the community, he second only is dislike to Brigitte.
I think this problem is a result of what I outlined by comparing Bastion to reaper, a fellow tank buster. Tanks are almost fundamentally unable to engage against a bastion, supports are able to do very little to assist a team to stay alive against a bastion, and DPS players find themselves in a situation where bastion is not only a traditionally tanky target, but he can realistically out damage them, and out range them.
Ultimately no single role in OW can effectively handle a bastion. It takes all 6 players executing a well laid plan to counter and ultimately kill a bastion. In contrast, once you factor in the team element, supporting a bastion is relatively easy. Supports heal like normal, tanks simply devote more resources to protecting bastion, and the 2nd dps can continue on like normal. For the opposing team Bastion is an oppressive force, than you must factor into any play. For the team with bastion, he changes relatively little.
At high level play the teamwork required to handle a bastion comes far more naturally, resulting in the lack of play we see from him in high level play. Where in low level play that extra team work can be a struggle, to the extent that a bastion's presence can determine the game.
These factors condense together to create an experience that I feel can reduce the enjoyment of a round of overwatch significantly by a bastion's presence. I do not immediately have a solution to this problem, but I feel that is it important to acknowledge this by analyzing what creates this situation so that ultimately it is possible to find a way to address these issues and create a more enjoyable hero for everyone.
TL;DR bastion isn't overpowered, but he is unfun to play against. Tanks are traditionally unable to realistically engage a bastion, while other roles have difficult handling him. And the teamwork required to counter a bastion exceeds that of the teamwork required to support him. Resulting in playing against a bastion being fundamentally unenjoyable and thus bringing the experience of Overwatch down.
