And it’s only possible with a handful of heroes, most of which are Sombra, Snipers, or Sniperish heroes. So there’s limited counterplay. And with things like Winston, Hanzo counters his counters.
Unannounced instakills, are not clearly communicated. Especially given there’s no “bullet tracer” in the arrow.
And Sonic Arrow is nearly silent and invisible to the enemy team, and grants that poor gameplay design to the entire team.
And hiding behind a wall, or getting melted by an ability that puts out more raw firepower than a sentry Bastion, isn’t terribly interesting gameplay choices.
a Sniper doesnt have to be from that long of a range, just to be undetected and on a significantly long range, she could still play on ranges past Ashe and get more value than most other characters, specially while damage boosted or what not, just not as well but would be compesated with better stats elsewhere.
And also the ultimate returning her scoped stats would also form the crux of the idea that an AWP like character kind of needs some limitations to be balanced, the way OW usually tax the player is with ultimates, so why not have her opressive nature be locked on her ultimate?
Theres enough counter-play for Hanzo, hes still very diveable and specially if his fall-off gets limited to medium range, hes very much dealable with with basically every character, specially nowadays when even his Wall-hacks are so easily detectable.
Thats also a problem btw, getting limited to either mirror her or play literally the invisible character to hard counter the Widow is not good design either (specially if the opponents team are peeling her well) + giving her more stats so she can fight back/escape Sombra/dive better also helps with that.
You have other options I stated the easiest one. Kiriko does wonders into a widow. Because she can duel her and has no fall off on the kunai and widow is slower while scoped so hitting kunai becomes easier. Volley her zen works too. Barriers are incredible and Winston eats her. Dva can jump her too. There are som many answers to a widow right now. She doesn’t need a nerf. And your changes are a massive net nerf.
You list some of the things that can work vs her but none of those things change the fact shes still opressive on her sniper maps but basically a throw pick on most others, i think thats the issue that needs changing, not that she needs nerfs per say, again, the numbers are not final, she actually probbably needs a net buff considering her pickrate overrall (since shes only good, really good on some maps but most shes bad.)
That’s good balance to me. When heroes are map dependent not hyper flexible for all scenarios. If she’s map dependent that’s good. Your changes make her weaker. So now on her off maps she’s worst. And her main maps she’s worst. you’re not fixing the issue. Venom mine is all utility not damage. Getting 5 damage is as meaningless as mercy getting 3 extra bullets. Nobody uses her smg unless it’s used on very low health targets. If that’s the same numbers wise then she isn’t better closer up. And if she’s closer she’s easier to hit so being 200hp isn’t better.
Minimal fun+valid counterplay options is the literal opposite of Balance.
What is Play Balance?
Sid Meier once said, “A game is a collection of interesting choices”. It follows that game elements being out of balance and thereby eliminating choices detracts from the gameplay. Ideally, a game should be a series of choices, ending with victory of defeat or some other end condition. Sometimes, some choices will become unquestionably the only choice, or definitely not a valid choice. If there is only one valid choice at some point, but the game hasn’t ended, there is a play balance problem. Nearly all situations commonly referred to as imbalances can be boiled down to a choice reduction.
As I said. To make it so the game doesn’t have one or two correct choices would mean removing all counter play from Overwatch. Arguably impossible. But if it is possible it’ll take years of development. You’re asking overwatch’s foundation to change. That’s not easy.
Well primarily the issue is Widow, Hanzo, and Antinade.
And if Widow and Hanzo can’t be solved, then you just nerf until they exist less. Which is really easy.
Beyond that, if they minmax the Pickrate of heroes based on how “Desirable to Play-As” they are, versus how “Undesirable to Play-Against” they are. Then not only are devs increasing the amount of valid choices, but they are increasing how fun those choices are.
No shot. Tanks are the biggest issue for counter picking right now.
You’re still dead set on this. I’ll forever disagree with this. This basically says follow what the majority want. Which for all you know is what they currently do. Less popular picks would fall to irrelevance while popular heroes rise to the top. In a competitive environment it’s not a good track to follow, but even from a casual perspective it won’t help. I’m watching AoT currently. It’s the same as when they send the extra population to scour to preserve the ones that remained. Your strategy is culling a population of minorities. Very dramatic way to put it(I mean this as lighthearted as can be) . But I don’t agree with it.
Theres being map dependent like closer ranged heroes, dive or hitscan and being viable through opressiveness, the problem is that you’re basically forced to mirror her on utterly hard counter (and even then it is alot of value one Widow is getting)
I think at least broading her viability from these maps to at least those that have a historically hitscan presence or even dive, since she can sort of use high ground well, would be better in the long run, again, it doesnt have to be these changes, but some that get the job done, all the while keeping her fun to play.
Because i’m pretty certain even you as a Widow player probbably doesn’t like to be pretty much always designated to picking Widow on Circuit, Havana, etc. or basically be throwing the game, it gets repetitive y’know.
But to limit it on three heroes which are all snipers isn’t fair. This game would have to take such a giant overhaul to balance coubter play out of it. That’s not possible. And if it is, it’s just called valorant.
