To answer this question, you have to ask yourself, what is the ultimate purpose of game balance? What does perfect balance look like and how does it affect you as a player?
Here’s what “perfect balance” means to me personally and I think a lot of players here would relate to this description: The game is in a balanced state, if I can pick whatever hero I prefer and climb to higher ranks playing it.
Meaning that I’m not forced to necessarily play a certain hero or a certain strategy to get a higher rank, I can simply stick to the hero I already know and like playing, get better at it and climb.
Here’s where balancing around GM comes into play. Why should the game be balanced around %1 of the playerbase and the other 99% ignored?
The answer is simple if you think about it.
In all of the other ranks you already CAN pick ANY hero you want and climb if you get good at your hero. If you improve, you will climb. Difference in skill is what matters the most in lower elos rather than hero picks. Whether it be game sense, ultimate and cooldown management, positioning, aim or mechanical skill. If you improve you will climb.
But GM (specifically T500+) is where hero picks become more relevant. Given the fact that most players there are playing their hero at its peak performance, what ends up being more relevant is the amount of value that hero produces not how well the hero is being played.
tl;dr In summary, what’s holding you down isn’t your hero, it’s you as a player. In GM however it’s a different story.
also, there’s the fact that usually GM and OWL are the ones that can play a hero to their fullest.
Also, they do balance with lower rank in mind, tho usually they only change things that would be broken there. Which is why they are so iffy about buffing several low tier heroes like symmetra and bastion, cause the moment they are good in high ranks they would absolutely DESTROY low ranks.
Just look at reaper, his 50% lifesteal was just right in gm, but proved too overwhelming for low ranks, hence the nerf.
thats all well and good but if changes are being made to solve problems that only the elites are experiencing and it inadvertently impacts the largest aggregate of players, those in gold and plat, in a negative way then its a bad change and needs to rethink-ed.
they may want an riveting viewing experience for their watcher but they might not have any if their players, their most obvious audience, dont enjoy playing the game they’re watching
compromises have to be made with the larger player bas
Yes, exactly. Same can be said about Brig who absolutely made the entire ladder hell.
But say you are a gold Mercy one trick. Then they release Brig and you pick her up and you’re able to climb to plat even playing Mercy and Brig.
Then they nerf Brig to a balanced state, and you can no longer play her in plat without ending up feeding but you can still play Mercy just fine.
It’s natural for you to assume that Brig must be underpowered when in reality you’re just better at Mercy than Brig and don’t have (and never had) the skill required to make Brig work. You were just able to play her thanks to her OPness.
Here’s the thing though, solving those problems doesn’t impact the rest of the playerbase in a negative way.
It’s like me feeding a hungry puppy and my own dog getting angry at me for doing so even though he’s already had plenty to eat.
The game is more than playable in low elos because as I said, no matter what hero you main, you an improve and climb.
No one brought up “watching experience” no one balances around “watching experience” and no Genji didn’t get buffed because people like watching him. He got buffed because he needed them (and I’m not even a Genji main, I have less than 2 hours on him)
if you think every change made for the elites has been a positive for the rest of us then that on you, that not how I or many other see some of the changes
this will my biggest example. gengi sucks in high ranks his kit is easy to exploit and counter and manage, there is nothing you can to change that without reworks.
but for the rest of us, us plat scrubs and below, think hes an absolute pest of a character, that constantly harasses everyone farming for blade then pops off with or without nano attached. those buffs turned him into the incarnation of death itself for the player base at large and a monster for the elites to deal with
he may of needed buffs, but not straight buffs he needed some nerf to his blade to balance him out. he was a middle of the pack character for years and other character needed more game changing buffs tot hem then he did
if they get nerfed without compensation because they are performing terribly for the player base at large then therw ont be compromises, it will just make those people who are already struggling, struggle harder and not enjoy themselves on their fav characters
Ok first of all I’m not T500 or even GM. I’m a middle of the road Masters player.
I’m no elite by any means.
Second of all, guess what high elo players including Samito have been advocating for.
Nerfing blade but buffing them rest of his kit.
Samito in particular wants 30 damage shuriken in exchange for blade no longer being damage boosted.
Even if I give you the benefit of the doubt that “plat genjis” can do what you described (which they can’t because if they could they wouldn’t be stuck in plat, they would win every game and climb out of it)
Why do people think “high tier” is a cult of Tracer/Genji worshippers lol?
High tier includes players of all heroes. There are T500 Sym, Mei, etc mains.
This post in particular is coming from a Mei main. Yes I main Mei.
That’s the disconnect here. Some people believe what you believe but others, like myself, consider the game balanced when every hero is best at something but none are best at everything, which I think is the case right now.
Some heroes are viable in more situations than others, but there’s nothing wrong with that unless you only want to play one hero, which isn’t the way the game was designed to be played.
To me, the heroes should be thought of as tools. You should learn how to use many of them and always pick the right one for the job. If every tool worked well in every situation, the heroes would be essentially different skins on the same weapon, which would be technically balanced but would also make the game incredibly bland (think current Call of Duty where guns are practically interchangeable). The uniqueness of each hero is what makes this game.
Heroes since the beginning had extensive changes, the most drastic changes being from that category of characters. Clearly the developers had a different idea on how the game was going to play with the initial design. I can’t blame them entirely since they don’t have much experience with FPS games.
Torb, Sym, Bastion, Mei for the most of their existence were bottom tier in pro play. It doesn’t mean they never have been top tier for a time, because for a time they were until quickly nerfed, like Sombra generally is due to dislike for the character due to her designed abilities.
Any character that was “made as entry level” or “should be bottom tier because of effort” are not made for high tier. When you make characters for high tier you make them with a high skill ceiling.
Your argument is more related to hero design and pretty much has nothing to do with game balance.
To me, the heroes should be thought of as tools. You should learn how to use many of them and always pick the right one for the job.
You agree with me without even realizing it.
Back during GOATs meta, GOATs was the tool that worked well in every situation. Similar deal during double shield.
However back during S9 and now, you can play pretty much any hero and be successful with it allowing you to pick the most effective hero for the job rather than sticking to a strict set of 6 heroes.
If every tool worked well in every situation
The assumption you’re making here is wrong. Just because you can climb with every hero meaning you can hold an above 50% winrate, doesn’t mean your hero works well in every situation. Just that you have the skill to make it work in +50% of your games. Some times you might counter the enemy and make it work really well, some other times you might be getting countered, but the rest of those is left to your personal skill level.
If every tool worked well in every situation, the heroes would be essentially different skins on the same weapon, which would be technically balanced but would also make the game incredibly bland (think current Call of Duty where guns are practically interchangeable). The uniqueness of each hero is what makes this game.
Again that thing about OW becoming like CoD makes no sense. As I said, what you described, one tool being used for every situation, sounds like GOATs or Double Barrier where it was so good that you had to play it in every situation. The game was further from CoD during those metas than it has ever been. I for one am a Mei main. Look at my profile. The game becoming like CoD is the last thing I’d ever want.
For gm and top 500 I agree with you, balancing around owl though is a different beast. Because it’s partially a different game. Organized teams are one thing, but, for the most part, no latency, which is a factor. Also, if a character is only good in a highly organized team, Then that isn’t actually balanced.
A big issue in low ranks is that there aren’t tools To get better. This is partially being addressed by dedicated people in the workshop but it’d be nice to get to play with and talk to high level players.
