at the time there were only what 6 tanks and 13 DPS, she was the most versatile in a very limited roster. She was never a must pick outside GM if that, unless you’re going to tell me the experience of the 1% playerbase is definitive for the other 99%.
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Why do I need someone to be on the high ground when all I need to be is behind my Rein shield and be safe? High ground contesting is perfectly capable of being done at ground level. But if you are going to stick to this point I would remind you Orissa,Sigma and Zarya say hi. Orissa can throw her shield up to the highground in between her teammates and the damage. * for the record here I am talking about one of the numerous dps that can contest the highground getting supported with an Orissa shield or in situations she has to walk back to her team*. Also for the record things like blocking Widow or Ana sightlines which Sigma does easier than anyother tank doesn’t really care about this nerf it doesn’t affect in the slightest they still have to repostion.
But I don’t think this point is even worth sticking to in the first place given that barriers still do more and mobility is not needed to do the job when you can acomplish the same exact thing without it. Oh and you don’t always have matrix + boosters. Barriers actually outlast dm on things like Phara barage all the time thanks to Phara’s teammates and other things. Also those 3 ultimates are still less than the exlusive list that barriers blocks that dm doesn’t.
Oh and basic fires and basic healing is also in barriers favor. Barriers block beams, Aura healing (Moria hand, Lucio and Brig isnpire), Projectiles, Shield bash, Whipshot, Hook and Expliosives (Hammond mines, Self destruct, Riptire, Phara rockets that have impacted a non-hero, pre-set Junkrat mines)
Dm blocks projectiles and thats it. As far as heals goes just Ana, Orb and Baptiste gernade but guess what barriers block 2/3 of these too.
Dps not being in goats =/= weak. The post goats meta has made that clear. What they did struggle with was a huge gap in the dps class between the dps. To the point that you could just counter the top prefroming ones (which focused on one-shotting) and if someone dared to try to counter you all you needed was an extremly short burst of the top dps and boom they are forced back on to goats.
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I wasn’t in favor of a Tracer nerf. I liked the idea of a hero being exactly the same as launch. Basically a good balancing point for that type of hero. We’re beyond having any heroes in the game like that anymore unfortunately.
She has spent the longest time as the number one pick across any rank until just recently…
#1 Pick /=/ must pick or lose.
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Even when people said she was the #1 pick that was often only in OWL. On ladder, Reinhardt and Zarya were actually picked more often than her for a pretty good chunk of that time. She was only truly the #1 pick for a couple seasons when she was in her most OP state.
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Except it was clear she was. You were significantly more likely to lose without her than with her at any rank, so unless you want to lose she was a near must pick for 100% of the player-base.
You realize that means nothing in terms of balance if true right? Keeping a hero from receiving changes because of time restricions is silly and doesn’t achieve the goal of making the game better for everyone.
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Both Zarya and rein had significant periods where they were left out (Dive for instance), D.Va never had such instances, until the last few months she was an ever-present across every rank. She had a brief spell early on after one of her nerfs where she wasnt quite as picked, but it didnt last long. She has consistently been in the top 1-3 spots more than any other hero. And present in just about every meta.
The problem with that line of thought is the fact that the amount of options is also part of the mix. If Sigma was added any time sooner I can promise you he would have taken alot of her numbers if not all of them. Zarya and D.va were the only two non-main tanks with team defense until his release.
Its not about how good he is totally but just his sheer existence as a hero means that they could pick between him and d.va. And given his kit I think he would have been prefered.
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Zarya yes, but for Rein even during dive he was still pretty popular. Just not at the highest levels of play. The only time they have really both been completely down has been during this double shield meta. But even now, Rein isn’t THAT bad.
The only tanks that have ever been as bad as D.Va is right now are Roadhog and Winston, but mostly Roadhog.
Actually, Ana has had that honor. And I think Reinhardt has too. And both Mercy and Lucio have been pretty close.
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The only must-picks in this game were Moth Mercy and S3 Ana.
D.Va was never a must-pick.
3-3 happened not due to the DPS being too weak, but because some of them were way too strong, enforcing an entire comp to shut them down (namely Widow and Hanzo). Same reason Double Barrier took over.
https://www.omnicmeta.com/blog/overwatch_hero_meta_report_pc_mar_22_2018.html
Ladder pickrates, from a month before she started getting her string of nerfs.
With that pickrate, this month in GM, she’d be in the 5th spot.
BTW look at Rein being “left out.” (This was still Dive).
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No, hanzo and widow only became strong picks because Brigitte’s armour made it impossible for literally any other hero to kill her or her team…
Before that Tracer, Junk, Genji, McCree etc were all viable but none very strong.
One shots became the one and only way to kill anything because of the monstrosity that was Brig for over a year.
Widow replaced Genji in Dive (despite Dive countering her) at the highest level, and Hanzo became busted due to his rework.
They both put other DPS to shame.
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Yes and putting awful DPS to shame doesnt mean they are stronger than the tanks and healers in the game. DPS have been hot garbage ever since just after early dive. And even before that they were the least influential heroes. And being the best of them is hsrdly worth bragging about.
Hanzo and Widow becoming higher picks was a response to the ridiculous state if Brig and her armour. You could just as viably run Junk, Tracer, Genji or ecen McCree (map dependant) at the highest level of dive instead of Widow. Brig caused the absolute necessity for Hanzo and Widow. It was that or just dont kill anything.
Double Sniper and GravDragon were so the tanks/supports fault.
No, it was due to Widow and Hanzo being broken, GOATS was an answer to the problem.
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Man. That’s all the worse then. Thankyou though for the info GeniusMage.
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Reminder shatter is also 20 meters but Rein is melee
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Yeah this new patch still won’t bring her back. She’ll need another buff after this, or more depending on what they give her. (Of course if I’m wrong and she does come back after this ptr then I’m ok with that too, though I really doubt it.)
Geoff said in the past that D.Va wasn’t designed for wreaking havok and dealing tons of damage which is why they nerfed tanking (survivability) and dps. Matrix remained strong which is why she was still picked. But times changed. Now DM got nerfed and the number of counters increased so she’s poopoo now.
If Blizzard decides to stick to the current design idea then yeah, restore DM. Revert that bs range nerf, or at the very least maybe pick a middle ground of 12.5m range. 10m is just too damn short.
She’d need one other buff though unless of course they nerf characters that counter her and/or ignore DM. Or make DM crazy powerful that it simply becomes a must, which I wouldn’t be in favor of. I vote for bringing back CC resistance passive.
If they do decide that it’s time to make her less reliant on one ability then perhaps maybe look at other parts of her kit for changes? I mean yeah DM is the core of her kit but once it gets countered her effectiveness drops immensely. Perhaps do to D.Va what they did to the shield tanks that just got changed. Take power away from shielding and distribute it to somewhere else. They already took power from DM but didn’t compensate that with anything which is why she ended up in the dumpster. This honestly reeked of OWL favoring because she was not nearly as powerful on ladder as her OWL pickrate might make some believe.
Anyway, non-DM buffs they could give her:
- Small buff to primary fire. Maybe add 1 pellet? It would bring back her old dps while keeping the higher consistency post-change due to more pellets.
- Buff falloff range like with Tracer.
- Buff to Micro Missiles, by far the weakest part of her kit. Changes could be reduce the delay before the missiles fire, make the missiles fly faster, small damage buff, lower cooldown, increase AOE, increase missile count. They’re mostly used to help finish off targets or break shield. Perhaps an MM buff could help reduce shield spam if that will still be necessary after this patch. (I mean, you never know.) Or just help her in duels.
- Bring back CC resistance. She suffers pretty hard from all the damn CC overload in this game and could use that passive she once had now more than ever.
- Bring back her old boosters damage.
- Armor buff and/or critbox size reduction
- Reduce movement penalty when firing (might change the feel of the character too much tho, idk how to feel about this)
Just a few suggestions off the top of my head.
Personally I’m in favor of CC resistance and 15m (or 12.5m…) DM range. …And maybe the old boop damage, I miss that. ~.~
If they decide to redistribute her power then it’s either make her more tanky or more damage dealing.
Buffing her damage might be fun but also dangerous, I’m not sure if I trust Blizzard messing with that. They’d probably turn her into a flying death machine then give her another wave of nerfs and the cycle will continue. So I guess more tanky is the way to go? Then again making her more tanky might make her just as dangerous since it’ll be harder to kill her when she dives you.
Eh, idk anymore. Just pick a strength for her (damage, tanky, matrix) and a playstyle (dive/bully, staying with team and peeling, something else?) and stick to it. She had peeling with matrix before her last nerfs gutted it. Now they’re slowly reverting that… make up your minds already ffs.
God damn I wrote a tl;dr again.
But for real tho, please bring back CC resistance.
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to be fair she has been a staple pick for the entire games lifespan pretty much