Despite being the stock arcade game mode besides death match, I think it’s absolutely one of the weakest. My overall experience with it has been a very negative one, and I’ve had plenty of time to experience it.
The way it always feels is that one team will receive an overall effective composition whereas the other team will receive one that is comparably ineffective, and that matches quickly become wave upon wave of one team throwing themselves at the other in the hopes of wiping them; usually to no avail. Alternatively, the compositions of the teams ebb and flow until one team simply settles into the stronger comp, but this situation is still one that’s hard to overcome for the opposing team, outplays or otherwise.
It would be nice if there was some sort of algorithm in place that could determine that maybe it’s not such a hot idea to give the team desperately trying to push with no healers or tanks its third, active Torbjörn. Or likewise, perhaps the team with multiple heroes on fire with active killstreaks don’t necessarily need a Mercy to rez them when they’re finally picked off.
I think the game mode could work with randomly assigning each team any combination of 2 Tanks, 2 Healers, and 2 DPS; it would still require players to be flexible, like the current version, but it wouldn’t punish either team for not having essential roles because the digital dice didn’t roll in their favor.
Regardless, I think the negativity bias for Mystery Heroes is a bit steep to keep it as the stock arcade mode; I think something like No Limits is a lot more agreeable for a lot of people, as people have an actual choice to effect and control the outcome of a match.
I love Mystery for what it is. It isn’t structured. You are absolutely correct, it’s a roll of the dice. But that’s why I love it. It’s entirely random, so there isn’t this win-at-all-costs mentality leading to gross levels of toxicity.
When you remove folks choices to dictate the outcome of a match and leave it squarely in RNGesus’ hands then what is there to be toxic about? That’s the whole point, that’s why it remains a mainstay in the arcade as it’s the very last toxicity free game mode in Overwatch. Everything else is a toxic cesspool of competitive misery.
You have the wrong expectations for the mode. Sounds like you’re expecting a fair, even experience. That’s not what MH is. It’s a random mode. That’s it’s entire purpose.
MH is the most popular and liked mode among all the arcade modes. If you check this poll: Poll: What's your favorite Arcade Mode?
you’ll see that MH is prefered by more than double the people who would instead choose No Limits.
Of course, there’s also the internal statistics to keep in mind, to which we don’t have access, but that are most certainly the reason why MH is one of the default arcade modes.
Overall, MH has very pros that lack in other arcade modes. It challenges players to play heroes they aren’t particularly good at. It challenges players to value their life as they won’t simply respawn upon death, and to use their ults without holding them for too long (which is a common mistake in other modes. Sometimes a player can build an entirely new ult in the time they spend saving their current one.)
Also, MH is one of the least toxic modes for many people. You don’t choose which hero to play there. No one can blame you for your hero pick or for being bad. You didn’t choose it, the game assigned it for you.
Whoever said that the point of the mode is having a broken comp with 5 Mercys and a Bastion was… uummm… I’ll refrain from any descriptive words.
The mode will easily be times better even if it only took into account the presence of a healer or a tank. No healer? Next spawn is healer. No tank? Next spawn is tank. Just this. Nothing more and the mode will probably become significantly more enjoyable for many people.