(WARNING: Somewhat of a rant but the truth)
I get that DPS are still played and is the biggest section of Overwatch but in reality the goats meta just shows what happens when you nerf DPS at doing the only thing they’re good at. Even till this day some characters that haven’t even gotten nerf yet people are constantly asking nerfs.
Throughout this game’s history the most requested and easiest characters to nerf are the DPS because they have the biggest fan based and so many of them that it doesn’t matter if you piss off a few of its players unlike support and tanks. People believe the devs cater to DPS but through the last 2 years its mostly supports then its tanks.
Let’s go back and think of some of the changes that really slowly started to why tanks and support started taking over the game.
The Mercy rework was the beginning and what started the movement of what a support should be. We all can agree that she was broken and is what influenced the changes that happen to the support heroes where they buffed all of them except of Brigitte and Zenyatta. Of course Mercy took the final nerf that ended her for being best support when they nerf her heals to 50 HPS.
This makes me wonder what Moira would have been like upon released if the Mercy rework never happened. Moira was the first example of when the devs started catering to the supports when support players asked for a support hero that can defend itself from flankers since DPS and even tanks at times didn’t protect them.
Brigitte was the second example of this when they decided to allow her to beat Tracer and Genji the two DPS where the devs refused to nerf but instead decided to make a counter to them. Funny thing is they got nerf when the counter play was added to the game which was just insult to injury. Notice how Brigitte gets heavily nerf repeatedly in the damage area of her kit because long behold she was like a DPS. Even Ana back when she had 80 DMG was complained about because she was like a DPS back then as well.
Here are some DPS characters that have been nerf for being too strong…
(I’m counting from season 4 and above also I’m including universal nerfs such as characters being added to the game.)
Doomfist - Has received a nerf to every single thing in his entire kit even though he had tons of counter play. His ult was nerf for Ana and Zenyatta players who didn’t switch to characters that deal with surviving that ultimate better. Only was good because of the meta and gets nerf in a meta where he’s needed to stop it which is GOATS.
Genji - Who probably received the most universal nerfs to his kit as more support heroes came out with more sustain the harder his job became along with going through his deflect ability.
Junkrat - Was strong during the whole Mercy meta who also was good countering Quad Tank when Moira was introduced but received nerf after nerf till his projectile size was nerf which put in into the coffin even though he would technically be a good Goats counter if he was still as strong.
Solider: 76 - Ever since damage was reduced from 20 DMG he’s been trash and all the buffs he’s received has done nothing till now where he got his damage reverted back to 20 DMG which probably still won’t do anything.
Sombra - Who got worst after small rework got nerf which made her get buffed again. She’s the best DPS left to deal with Goats after Doomfist was nerf into the ground but of course it won’t be long till she gets nerf again because people are complaining about her again.
Tracer - Brigitte was Tracer’s biggest universal nerf enough said.
Now lets look at some tanks and supports who held a history of being very strong . This does not mean they have never been nerf. Usually when they get nerf they get a buff to compensate.
Lucio - Has been relevant since forever except for the Mercy meta but became relevant again once the Mercy meta was over. Even after his rework they nerf one thing but made everything else in his kit better. This character is only receiving nerfs now because GOATS is getting out of hand and the devs have no choice but to nerf Lucio considering nobody ever complains about Lucio until people realized just nerfing Brigitte won’t make GOATS go away.
Zenyatta - Another support hero that has been relevant since forever besides triple tank but was the only other support who was used a lot during the Mercy meta. He’s recently only received an alt fire nerf because of pro player Jjonak but now is receiving nerfs again because just nerfing Brigitte won’t make GOATS go away. I’ll say this character never really received nerfs only because he was easy to kill. The game has changed since then and showing during the Mercy meta he was very hard to kill and now since triple support is a thing he’s hard to kill again so yeah the nerfs had to start coming in again.
D.Va - Oh boy…f-ing Dva the hero who has seems to be relevant for every single meta. Even after her rework she managed to hold a pick rate of 90%+ for OWL season 1 and OW WC. This character seems to dodge the bullet every single time. No DPS hero will every reach the level she has have.
These factors are the reason why GOATS is a thing.
Reinhardt - Can be a DPS if given the sustain and an ultimate that’s better than most DPS.
Zarya - Can be a DPS and has a higher damage output than most DPS heroes and an ultimate that’s better than most DPS.
D.Va - Is a DPS and a Tank with mobility better than most DPS along with burst along with damage negation and an ultimate that could potentially wipe an entire team.
Lucio - A support who can fight off DPS and sometimes out brawl them and has crazy mobility and utility.
Zenyatta - A support that has a damage output than most DPS and gives damage boost for the entire team against one character.
Brigitte - The best support brawler in the game along with the best sustain and stun in the game.
Moira - The 2nd best support brawler in the game along with the highest heals and the 2nd best sustain in the game. (Yes Moira does still get used for GOATS sometimes)
With a comp a like this why you ever need a DPS? Nerfing Brigitte alone won’t stop this comp. Please wake up and notice this!
EDIT
So apparently some people think I don’t know that there’s more to the story of why GOATS is a thing but I didn’t add it because people will say TL;DR. My focus was mostly the actions of people on the forums that led to certain situations that we are in now. If this was the beginning of Overwatch I would say DPS did get the most catered too. But it’s not the beginning and because there’s less support and tanks the devs listen to them more now which makes sense.
Also another thing my intention was not to show that support and tanks never got nerf. It was more to say that when a DPS gets nerf its usually a harder hit. For supports they don’t really ever receive a hard nerf unless they’ve been dominate too long for which Mercy and Ana has been. Even with the recent nerfs for supports most of the time they usually get something in return almost every time they receive a nerf which doesn’t come off as a hard nerf like for some DPS heroes.
