Can We Not Change Symmetra's Primary Fire?

At least not so drastically. Part of the draw of Overwatch is the diversity and accessibility of the heroes. Symmetra’s primary fire is the only one of its kind in the game, and to make it just a copy/paste Zarya gun would be a crime to the original vision of Overwatch.

I would rather tighten the ease of its use rather than make a complete 180° of its functionality; Meaning I think it should either immediately break when it loses LoS, or just make it a more loose version of Moira’s primary. Or remove the .5 second detach delay. But that’s just my idea.

Changing the primary too drastically would draw the same issues Mercy players had, and still have, being that Symmetra will no longer feel like Symmetra. I know one of the big reasons a lot of big-name players (Youtubers, alike) are leaving Overwatch is because the game is losing its original charm from when it first released.

This proposed rework is far greater than any other rework before it. They aren’t just adding or removing an ability or two and tweaking values, they’re changing absolutely everything about this hero while still keeping the Symmetra aesthetic. I really don’t think that that’s ever what Symmetra (or ANY other hero, for that matter) needs. Change is good and healthy for a game but completely deleting someone, I don’t think, is…

It just doesn’t feel right for them to alienate an entire player base, who love to play OW, simply to appease those who value mechanical skill over practicality. It just feels like they’re slowly turning away from their “anyone can play Overwatch” feeling of the game to “only the skilled should play Overwatch”. That’s not what drew me to this game…

I feel deep down, my concerns will just fall on deaf ears, but I really wanted my thoughts to, at least, be made public.

Thanks for listening.

54 Likes

Well if you want to keep sym autolock you have to accept that she will be underpowered like she is rn. Brigitte absolutely destroys her in all situations. When you make a charcter higher skill you also make her stronger and a way higher skill cap. So dw it will be worth it. Or do you wanna get banned for playing her how she is rn? Remember when hanzos wud get reported? Now do you see them complain? So dw my dude it will be good.

40 Likes

They can keep her original and unique weapon and just tweak it to work with the rest of her new changes.

Keep her orb that can penetrate shields and other heroes, but make it smaller and faster, keep her autolock but make the damage ramp up slower to a lower cap, and increase the range to 10 meters. She’s still buffed but feels the same to play, just more reliable.

6 Likes

No matter how much you buff her M1 it’s nearly always gonna be bad unless you buff it to a point where it’s broken OP. The rework turns it less into a Zarya beam and more like a visually accurate Moira beam with increasing damage and no sustain, and Moira only needs basic tracking skills to get some damage off.

5 Likes

The idea that auto aim weapon means a hero cant be popular or balanced is laughable. Literally EVERY other autoaim or low aim hero is meta. For example:

  • Winston
  • Brig
  • Mercy
  • Moira
  • Junkrat
  • Rein

Just to name a few.

There is absolutely NO REASON Sym’s autoaim has to make her weak or unbalanced.

This is a MYTH spread by players scared that they might actually get beaten by a Sym at high rank more than once in a blue moon.

28 Likes

Dont forget her auto aim turrets are going to be way better now. So that you can actually rely on them to do something. I main symm and while to auto aim on the beam is awesome its so short that most enemies dash away or kill me before I can get to them.

3 Likes

They changed it to make her a stronger dps but you need skill and aim now. I like the new Symmetra.

6 Likes

I still don’t understand why people say that kind of thing. Winston isn’t autoaim. Not really. His tesla cannon is firing electricity in front of him, and it harms everyone that enters that field. That’s it. Junkrat actually has to aim if he wants to be useful. He’s probably my second most used character. If you don’t aim, and you’re just spamming and hoping you hit someone, anyone with any sense is just going to get out of the way.

4 Likes

Symmetras targeting system is almost identical to winston, except she can only damage one target in front of her.

When I play Winston it feels no different to Sym, because it isnt. Winsyons weapon is fully auto aim: U look in the general direction and the cannon attacks people, crosshair on or not.

8 Likes

If they don’t change it, symmetra will drastically unbalance the lower ranks.

My main beef with it is she has a really small hitbox and on console it’s kind of a nightmare when a Symmetra locks onto you and runs circles around you until you melt. I would be in favor of the lock on staying if she wasn’t a pain to hit and if the lock on functioned more like Roadhog’s hook where it actually breaks immediately if out of LoS. It’s really frustrating getting melted around a corner or behind a wall bceause it currently functions more like Mercy’s beam.

3 Likes

What About Symmetra’s primary fire is unique?

Mercy & Moira (to a lesser extent) both have lock on beams, and Zarya’s beam ramps up in damage too

I actually like the idea of the new changes. I vote for the new Primary. I really want Sym to be at a point where she is just as viable as most other heroes AND ALSO not be reported upon selection.

This change makes her a lot more viable against Shield heavy comps.

2 Likes

Blizzard is going through now that they have had the game out almost two years and fixing things as mew heroes come out they will over time have to change and tweek old heroes to balance things out, Sym is a very situational hero right now and the dev and players want her more viable in more situations which means a rework

10 meter autolock. absolutely not.

2 Likes

It’s literally 3 meters more than what she has now. For reference, Moira’s soft-lock is 20 meters.

I suggested to keep it more viable (by giving her a touch more length) to lower the overall damage cap, and lengthen the time it takes to reach said cap.

yea and I already think 7meters is cancer for sym and 20meters is mega cancer on moira. this will only promote more double sniper and spam (junk/pharah) comps. making it not lock on is just simply way better for the game.

1 Like

I rather have an ability that requires skill to use but deals good amount of damage over auto lock pathetic damage.

1 Like

For who, exactly? Symm is considered a troll pick where she’s at now. She’s obviously a non-issue to most players. How is giving her 3 more meters suddenly going to launch her to top tier?

2 Likes

Full charge Zarya says hello

2 Likes