A GM Sym main's thoughts on her rework

I love the attention she’s getting. It’s about damn time. Her turret and teleporter rework is great. But I have several problems with all the other changes.

It feels as though you’re just taking aspects of other heroes and putting them into Symmetra. If I want to shoot a high damage beam requiring aim, then I’m gonna play Zarya. If I want to shoot mini explosives doing 130 damage, then I’m gonna play Junkrat. I love Overwatch because every hero is unique in their own way. Dont change sym’s weapon to copy these heroes.

Also, if you’re gonna move Sym to the defense category, then give her a DPS ultimate. Dont give her a tank ultimate. Seems kind of counterintuitive.

The ultimate could maybe add some dps property like increases ally projectile speed by 30% and gives 15% damage to hitscan. I think it really represents Symmetra’s powerfullness as an architect (a big infinity wall) while making her useful on team fights and strategizing on the objective.

2 Likes

I like the teleporter the most and then the turrets.

The other changes are quite weird and I don’t know if it’s a good idea

2 Likes

I think a problem they faced is what to do about Sym mains. Her last rework was their effort to make her viable without changing her game play too much. After this didn’t work and probably some internal builds that felt off also they decided they needed to rework her more drastically. She does sound more viable (though its obviously early days) if largely different.

I guess Sym mains have to ask what they would rather have, a better Sym or a more familiar Sym?

1 Like

If people have invested tens of hours playing a hero, they would rather have a more familiar hero. Learning to play a new hero can take quite some time.

I’m going to go on a limb here and say the fewer auto-aim heros we have in the game -especially when Symmetra is notoriously the buggiest, worst feeling one to go up against-, the better. I like everything conceptually about her new kit.

And not everyone in the ‘dps’ category needs a damage ult; some are zoning. Some tanks have DPS ults, even some supports have DPS ults. It’s what works for their kit, not their category.

Unfortunately auto aim when it does serious damage is oppressive.

I’ve seen stevo wreck people with it, and because she’s small her little hit box is almost baby d.va like with a-dsing I understand not wanting that to change.

As for her right click, I don’t want it to explode either. I think its a good zoning ability that wrecks tanks and if people are clustering around tanks, their allies too.

However it might be necessary because now her left click is going to gain ammo off shields so that might be too oppressive against a tanks barrier.

But what if I want to use Zarya’s weapon, but do big explosive damage like Junkrat, at the same time?

That’s cool that you like some of the changes but actually the infinite spanning wall makes sense with Sym on the defensive category. Many people get mixed up with the difference between an offense and defense hero as they both can be used on attack and defense. The one thing common in all defense heroes is they all have zoning properties (like actually think about it) which explains Syms wall ultimate.

Use Zarya’s alt fire

I do see it as a dps ult. There are different sorts of them though, some are used for attacks like Genji or Pharah, others are defensive zoning ults like Mei or Hanzo and others sort of come between like McCree. Hers as this sort of epic long term zoning ult that just shuts down a valuable choke indefinitely. It reminds me of if Torb ults with his turret covering a key attack angle, that angle is just dead till the ult ends. This one obviously doesn’t deal dmg, but it also doesn’t end any time soon.

I would say I’m not sure it will be the last build as this ult strikes me as being potentially very OP in a few situations. If she can block a choke or defense spawn about 5-10 seconds before a round ends, your going to need like a Pharah ult to get through and contest in time. It would be like Zarya’s gav just off the point but easier, can do it before the attack even starts and with a larger effect radius. It seems to me like this might be a insta win ult in many overtime situations on a level even above Junk or Dva, and those already feel a bit cheap to me. Obviously it is very early days though.

Somehow i prefer a small barrier with infinite hp than infinite size barrier with 5k hp only

It does feel like they are giving her things from other characters but it’s going to be a lot better then Zarya’s beam because you can shoot it from behind a shield and still get charge (beside the fact you can charge it on a shield). Even if the minimum damage is lower you can gain charge double, triple or even quadruple the speed that Zarya can and your explosion ball does a lot more damage too. The only reason Zarya has her damage is because she has the lowest health for a tank and only a two second barrier.

One thing I find funny is when people say something like ‘pirate ship shouldn’t work on attack, they’re defense heroes’.

On a payload map what are attackers doing? Defending a cart, just as the defends have to attack it. Each round has phases where one team attacks and the other defends and you fluctuate out of them very quickly and often.

Plus its all guidelines anyway. I personally consider Reaper best in defense, it mitigates a lot of his weaknesses of movement and vulnerability if you have to come to him. Equally Sombra shutting down key health packs make her great at defending some maps.

2 Likes

Then you would probably love the changes I created for her. Give it a look:

I see that point, but it somewhat means you cannot complain if that hero is weak. Blizzard’s first rework not working implied to me that they could not get this hero to work as she was. If you want old Sym but good, your asking to keep your cake and eat it imho.

Both choices are real but the choice needs to be made and so many being so dissatisfied with Sym (also non Sym mains who wouldn’t mind playing her only she basically sucks) tells me the community made the choice to change her.

1 Like

We still don’t know how the primary fire is changed tbh. I suppose it would be something like Moira’s beam(which is not a lock on) with shorter range.

A big barrier is actually a support ult which is for protection / creating advantages, tank ults are more for controlling the opponent. BTW, while you said about DPS ult I actually got an idea. How about something like Null Gate for Probius in HotS, in which if you passes through the barrier you will receive damage and is slowed heavily. This might fit better as a defensive specialist ult.