I thought I’d write this just to make people aware of the phenomenon.
What the majority of players believe can be the complete opposite of reality.
Diablo example
The easiest example was Diablo. Some time ago, Diablo was being banned in almost every game. I personally didn’t find him very powerful or disrupting, but you’d almost get flamed by your team if you didn’t ban him (which I never did).
I believe this was due to one video of a player showing off w build and doing really well. (Can’t remember who it was. Might have been Masquerade) W talents used to be all but useless before Diablo had his talent changes. So this was likely what shaped player perceptions. And Ironically, when Diablo wasn’t banned, players went full Q build with him.
When Blizzard finally released the numbers. The player base saw that Diablo was clearly the worse tank in the meta.
Ana example
Same thing happened with Ana. She was banned a lot, nerfed were requested, because she was clearly the best healer and OP. And then the data showed that she was just somewhere in the middle, and the actual best healer was Whitemane (Which players considered weak)
And then there is the simultaneously overestimated and underestimated Kael’thas. The ultimate example of how player perception is whack.
Here’s the thing with KT. He had/has been constantly banned for a long time in lower leagues. This created kind of a reverse elitism phenomenon. Whenever KT was mentioned in a discussion. People would talk about how he just scared noobs and how Pyroblast was a bad ult. Because people didn’t want to look like noobs.
Even in high level games. You would hear Khaldor make fun of a Pyroblast pick, and make a big deal of it whenever it failed to secure a kill. I was watching those games, and a lot of Ults failed to secure kills all the time. But when it happened with Pyro, it was a sin for some reason.
People on these forums went on and on about how Pyro had so many counters, and was bad. Even though it’s not realistic to expect to always have those counters, or that the KT player is unable to, for example, wait until a shield or stasis effect is used before using pyro. And the statement made by players never matched what I saw happen in-game.
We now see KT being picked every so often in pro games. And they do pick Pyroblast. And it’s not a liability. And keep in mind. Between now and when KT was played less. Nothing about the hero was changed. He received no buffs whatsoever. But no one makes fun of the pick anymore.
So I think the community would benefit from less jumping in the bandwagon. Being banned a lot is not what makes a hero good/OP. And not being picked by pros does not make a hero bad. I mean, the number of pro players is limited, and they can’t possibly play everything.
