Bring back lock-on sym for a desperately needed niche

The lock-on beam was very problematic at lower ranks.

This is a myth, and a poor one at it.

The old forums being frequently full of threads about it from lower-ranked players say otherwise but ok.

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The point isnt ‘‘I cant aim with!!!’’ the point is that bypassing the anti-aim mechanic that is hypermobility requires to bypass aiming on its entirety.

The counter to mobility cant be aim based because mobility counters aiming by making the targets harder to aim.

But I never said Symm did so what exactly are you talking about here?

No they aren’t. You literally point-n-click and the hit registers from any distance. Symm you need to keep her weapon pointed at the person and keep it on them while jumping around trying to avoid getting hit. Oh and if you haven’t noticed, Symm has to be up close.

Because people could die 50 times to Soldier and not care, but they die 1 time to Sym and the game Was Ruined For Them For Such Cheap Kill™. Its literally just bias.

The reason why Sym 2.0 was complained about despite having massive counterplay windows was because she was an ‘‘acceptable’’ target for it, regardless of how valid those complains were.

Not only that but Sym 2.0 had an steady upwards curve on her damage to heroes in ladder. She literally got more value of lock-on beam the higher you went.

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Yes, do you?

A high skill floor means that the hero requires a high amount of skill to get any value from. This is the opposite of what is being described, which is a very low skill floor. A hero that would require very little skill and still get a lot of value.

i really used to be sadistic with her old beam. i really loved it to just stick the beam on a support or dps and then see them panic muahahahah
good old times

As much fun I had humiliating people as old sym with lock on beam and showing them again with the play of the game sequence, I am not sure it’s a good idea to bring it back in PVP.
It’s not even about a skill question, but if it comes back, the game will be chaotic in it’s actual state : tanks are not very resistant with all their nerfs these lasts 12+ months, support will be crushed by the lock on and only and moira would be able to conditionnaly escape it before dying, and DPS. Well, it will be the most reliable damage character short (not close) to mid range. It means Reaper will be useless. Genji too (I wouldn’t mind for him, though :tongue: ) and some others.
To make this kind of move, a lot of things must be changed too first. And it just don’t worth it.

And as I said, I loved humiliating so many people in what I called my “killrooms”. I had 2-3 in each map, and had so much fun torturing an entire team.
I miss her. :sob:
But I think the design of the beam should come back for her or an other character. I find it cool and was disapointed when they changed it for what it is now

I made a similar post way back in 2018 (link below) shortly after her rework on how and why she needs Lock-on in order to be effective and I still feel the same way about it. As long as it is a straight beam meant to melt tanks, it will remain useless. Symmetra needs a primary that defends her against flankers. Either her good old lock on which shouldve never been replaced or something new with an anti-mobility effect. I wouldn’t even mind if it was a bit tougher to aim (Similar to Moira’s beam, but less range and more damage) if it was too oppressive otherwise.

Is this meant for damage Sym or Support Sym? It sounds like it would have low dps and she’d be garbage against any tank or someone being healed. I think a dps with low dps sounds like a bad idea.

Was this intentional or did you mean low.

I guess I meant low, I mean it should be easy to have value.

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literally all this would do for her is make her easier and more annoying
she’d still probably be garbage

I think her value should have always been in her orbs rather than her beams. Everyone kept trying to push for a “no self-sustain beam hero” instead of something useful like a projectile speed buff.

Sym ends up losing her great mobility (teleporter with 2 second cooldown) for a much more limited taxi-portal, +25 hp and a beam that should be situational rather than her bread and butter.

And then Echo enters the game with excellent poke projectiles (speed!), a great situational beam (damage!) and mobility that feels like it was designed with “all dat hero fantasy” installed rather than some ‘budget cut/balanced’ office tech

When OW2 comes and resets the world, I hope they really push Sym in a real direction that doesn’t feel like “she needs to be clunky or she’ll be broken”. She shouldn’t feel like the devs trying to balance between community opinions… she should just feel like a hero.


Currently in OW1, I don’t think the lock on beam will do much for her. As you mentioned, we have plenty of solid close range heroes who actually feel designed for that playstyle.

Buff Sym’s orbs. Allow her Teleporter to give her back the unique mobility of teleporting around a map and firing shots at a variety of angles (Sombra > unpredictable approach with strong escape, Tracer > fast and horizontal approach, fast escape, Symmetra > Omnidirectional approach + team support, predictable escape)

Aside from that, the only other crazy thing the devs can really do for this current Sym is allow the sentries to start targeting enemies while flying (like Moira orb). :thinking:

We have enough lock on heroes that don’t have to aim in
this first person shooter already, we don’t need more of it.

I want more than just Symmetra’s old beam: I want her barrier-piercing orbs back, too.

Imagine how much easier double-shield would be to deal with if Symm could force clumped-up comps to scatter like she used to.

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According to quick Reddit research there’s two schools of thought, but yours is more widely accepted.

A says skill floor is minimum skill threshold to be competent with a hero.

B says skill floor is minimum value a hero has relative to others at the same skill level.

Agreed with almost everything here, but I don’t think lots of Symmetra mains, which are the only demographic this change is otherwise directed to, would be so happy with the ramp - up mechanic and therefore a level of depth getting removed.

Umm, not really. This is Overwatch and most heroes are simply required to get close in order to contest payloads and points with, may I remind you, almost zero cover whatsoever. I could also talk about the Tank role and how the “just stay out of their range” excuse is also fundamentally flawed due to how it clashes with said role’s entire philosophy, but due to Symmetra’s problematically tiny survivability, I’m gonna save it for someone like Mei.

I’m not being unfair to anyone. If you want to be more lethal than others, then the kit you’re using should also have higher skill requirements as well (always comparatively). That’s the basis of all Competitive video games out there, including Overwatch.

One of the most major problems with 2.0 was how rock - bottom her skill floor was, get she was able to keep a tiny pick rate and huge win rate, which are nothing more than indications of a balanced, situational - by - design hero. That was problematic.

McCree requires the player to aim for the head within that small time frame they’re given in order to potentially kill someone. That one - shot combo is respected (as much as one - shot combos can even be respected in the first place).

Symmetra 2.0 on the other hand simply needs to hold M1 and strafe like crazy with her small hitbox and a everything else is done for her. That’s not respected, just like McCree’s “low skill = high reward” Flash + Fan the Hammer combo on the other hand us frowned upon as well.

For one it doesn’t really matter what any mains want, at the end of the day there are ‘tiers’ of what needs to be recognized, and while keeping people who play the characters happy is an important part of a game, it’s more important to have a global picture and do what is best for the game as a while. Alllll that said, I have talked to and been a Symmetra main for a while now, and I’ve never once talked to any of them that are enthusiastic about the ramp-up feature at all. Most seem to be rather nonplussed about it at all, and so I think a change to it, especially if it made her more reliably lethal, would be met with an overall positive attitude. So I wouldn’t throw this baby out with this bathwater reasoning, is what I’m saying.

Um yes really, I detailed out how a McCree flashbang interaction worked, and that IS how it works. you just saying that the person is motivated to get to the payload or objective does not change how this mechanic works.

Yes, people have objectives, but there is no in game mechanic forcing them to get to the objective in that exact way. You could pick Sombra and go invisible and avoid the interaction altogether, you could use a shield to create avenues that are safe for your team, that’s the game. That’s strategy. If you can’t figure out how to counter a character with a small range and zero mobility of their own, and zero self heal or shield/damage negation, the problem is you. Sym has so many flaws to capitalize on that anyone that loses a fight to her did it themselves, because there are a million ways you could do it different and make her entire contribution pretty much moot.

If her skill floor really was ‘rock bottom’ then any joe schmoe could have played her and won easily, but they didn’t, instead she had a miniscule pick rate, which lead to the few players who DID play her often winning due to them having a strong understanding of that character.

I mean good god, any time a character is easy and OP, players play them in droves. Do you not remember when Hanzo was first reworked and he was an absolute monster? He was in every flippin’ game. You know why? Because he was easy and he could kill things easily.

Symmetra has NEVER, EVER, been able to kill things easily, and if you think she could then you’re just wrong.

Done with this nonsense, you just can’t acknowledge that she takes a different kind of skill and understanding than aiming, and I can’t care for your opinion if that’s all you give a crap about.

Agreed 100% with this.

Once again, no, as I already explained how your logic doesn’t really make sense in the context of a game designed like Overwatch.

You can’t contest points when Invisible as Sombra, nor provide any value whatsoever.

Shields that the enemy also theoretically has by the way…

McCree though isn’t even close to a short - ranged hero.

McCree’s Roll does wonders to let him escape most kinds of short - ranged enemies, yet when you make the “mistake” of daring to come close to an enemy and you aren’t a Tank, then you’re automatically dead because Flash + Flashbang.

Unfair and badly - designed to say the least.

Imagine if McCree also had armor on top of everything else…

Technically, yes, most of the tines you just get outplayed.

However, when you’re going against “low skill = high reward” and/or badlu designed mechanics like Flash + Fan the Hammer, etc., then those are valid complaints that have to be addressed and no, the ““don’t get close to the enemy”” excuse won’t work in a brawl - heavy, objective - based game like Overwatch.

Let’s not even compare the blatantly underpowered Symmetra to tthe overbuffed McCree… Please…

Needless to say, that a hero’s skill requirements aren’t necessarily reflected on their statistical performance. Moira for example is arguably the second easiest Support in the entire game, yet she is outclassed by Ana, a hero with much higher skill requirements, in every single rank.

The statistical performance of each hero is determined by their design, their state if balance and the state of the META. The only thing that remains static out if these three parameters are each hero’s design and Symmetra 2.0’s only weakness in that regard and while she’s being played in the appropriate scenario, as dictated again by her situational design, was her relatively low survivability and mobility, that’s it.

Despite that, she did require positioning and game sense, sure, but every hero does, on top of having punishing aim requirements as well.

Symmetra 2.0 was never OP, so don’t put words into my mouth.

Her extremely low pick rate and extremely high win rate wer e indications of her being an overall balanced situational - by - design hero.

““If you disagree with me you’re just wrong””

Love the reasoning and the nuance if this ““argument”” :man_facepalming:

Classic Symmetra 2.0 defender. Always quick to wrongly dismiss anyone who dares to disagree with their personal opinion as being an ““aim elitist””.

I guess some people did get the wrong impression from Overwatch and that’s not really their fault. The came in the very early days thinking this is Mario Party and when the game actually became Competitive and hence required Competitive balance, they became naturally against this new philosophy.

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