It allows the devs to balance Orisa and Sigma as true main tanks without having to account for double barrier.
It also makes any future main tank additions fool prove to not create another double barrier meta.
What speaks against this?
- less hero diversity and more limitations
Double barrier is actually killing viability and diversity because only a specific set of heroes can contest it. Heroes without good shield brake or ways to completly bypass them simply cant be played. As far as i can tell, tank players dont play double barrier because they enjoy playing it, but its more a thing born out of necessity for meta reasons.
Most tank players actually enjoy playing off tank the most. Am i wrong in this opinion? So limiting main tanks to 1 actually guarantees you that you get to play at least 1 off tank without putting yourself at a significant disadvantage.
If you do this heroes like Hog and D.Va see automatically more play.
I think this would actually a be a good change for the game, not as a bandaid fix, but to allow for actual more diversity also while designing new heroes.
As it is the devs need to be afraid to design another tank with a barrier kind of ability.
4 Likes
No. What they need to do is be less afraid of no-barrier tanks being viable, and no-barrier tank compositions being viable.
Barriers are the problem, but the solution isnât more limitations on them, itâs making the alternatives more desirable and effective.
A one Barrier tank limit will enforce barrier tank play, which means more limitations on how you play, not less.
29 Likes
i think they might be testing the waters right now with Hypercarries(Genji)
And having team comps that play around a hypercarry rather than around their tanks.
Doesnât really work though when that still works in double barrier, and youâre just turning the whole team into spectators. Just turns it into protect the president comps.
well, still requires you to pick tanks that can keep up with Genji.
So Rein, Orisa, and Sigma are kinda out of the picture.
Winston/D.va/Hamster can keep up though.
Doesnât matter, Sigma-Rein and Sigma-Orisa are being played in âenable the Genjiâ comps. Even Zarya saw some use, itâs nothing to do with keeping up with him.
1 Like
Making non-barrier tanks stronger and viable would require changes to other characters as well, such as Ultimates and snipers. We also canât just give the non-barrier tanks an ult cancelling ability on CD without taking something else from them which could take away the fun of off tank. Allowing only a single barrier tank, but still allowing two off tanks could allow the characters to keep their fun play style and bring back the strength of barrier tanks making them fun again.
1 Like
No. If someone wants to run double barrier it should be just as viable as any other choice.
The issue is meta and meta is by synergy.
No one had issues with orisa Winston. Rein Winston. Or whatever.
Sigmaâs synergy is the issue. Not âdouble barrierâ anymore than âno barrierâ
Things should have weaknesses. Sigmaâs just doesnât add up to a viable spot because we chose homogeneous heroes.
Thatâs a overall balance issue. Not double barrier as an option issue
Ok⌠but than also only 1 Sniper/high-burst-dmg dps per team and we have a deal.
Ppl allways forget that double barrier and GOATS just where played because of multiple 1-shots from diffrent directions.
7 Likes
No. This is just never going to happen and would destroy queue times further. If you want D.va and hog to replace the second shield, MAKE THEM BETTER TO RUN THAN A SECOND SHIELD. There is no road to tank balance in 2-2-2 that does not pass through abolishing the difference between main tank and offtank power. If all tanks are just as powerful, no one would ever pick doubleshield.
1 Like
And how would it destroy tank queue times further? Do people enjoy playing double barrier?
1 Like
One simple way to make off tanks more desirable immediately is to make special rules about barrier: For example, Hog and D.Va do double damage against barrier. Suddenly these heroes are super barrier buster, and once barrier is down they can completely destroy the frontline. With this counter balance, double barrier has true counters, and force them to switch if our team switch to Hog/D.Va. More dynamic and variety.
I just donât believe Blizzard will ever make special rules like these.
1 Like
Thatâs just what tank queue needs, even less variety.
6 Likes
There are already only 8 tanks to pick from. We donât have enough tanks to start adding restrictions on what can be played without it feeling like you have no real options. Seems like a good way to make even less people play tank.
5 Likes
This buff would also apply if the enemy runs single barrier. So rather than discouraging double barrier, you further encourage it if you want to have any barrier, because solo barrier sucks even more than before.
Tanks are already the most limited roster to queue into, limiting it further is not a good idea.
2 Likes
Or just buff Winston/Dva/Ball!
1 Like
Every comp has a hypercarry, though. In GOATS itâs Rein or Zarya, depending on which player is better; for example, SF Shock would hard pocket Sinatraa on Zarya, while Vancouver Titans would hard pocket Bumper on Rein.
The Genji variant of double barrier is actually a symptom of the issue with the double barrier comp, not Genji himself. Genji isnât that much of a hard carry when he isnât backed up by lamp (Baptiste), ranged pocket healing (Brigitte), accretion (Sigma), halt! (Orisa), and spam damage (Sigma/Orisa/Ashe/Baptiste).
The solo dive Genji strat is hard throwing if you donât play this specific comp in a specific way, and thatâs why people were convinced Genji needed buffs in the first place, even though his stats indicated he was performing about middle of the pack in most elos.
My argument is that this actually opens up more viable comps and increases tank diversity.
No it doesnât. Iâm gonna queue into tank and my choice of heroes is gonna go down from 7 to Dva/Hog/Zarya randomly depending on my team mates.
To heck with that. Tanks are already the most team dependant role, they need literally the opposite of that.
3 Likes