I formerly one-trick, thus I would like to share. I’m glad that I got rid of this habit as it feels free and flexible.
One-tricking has the safest feeling of not causing much failures since you feel more confident and attached to that hero. Failure attempts feel very sucked, although those are important steps of learning and improving.
Some people also have anxieties when dealing with failures and being flamed by others for playing poorly. Complaints or heavy flaming such as, “Go back to your own main hero”.
I used to have a lot of anxieties when playing DPS since DPS mostly takes the blame when things go south, but I can just turn off the chat by pressing “CTRL + SHIFT + C”.
True, I won’t be hearing important text chat callouts but this allows me to focus on the gameplay more instead of worry about how others think of you.
A lot of people also get caught up in the excuse of “Well, I’m a (hero a) player, so I shouldn’t play (hero b).” or with roles too, for example “I’m not a dps player, I’m a support player, so I won’t play widow.”
I’m sure everyone has their own reasons (fear of letting teammates down, lack of confidence, feeling underqualified, ego) but the result is the same they end up limiting themselves and get stuck playing certain things.
@ reader if it applies to you, go outside your comfort zone, everyone sucks until they don’t and it’s actually really easy to get through that phase.
Few people get into Top 500 without one tricking. For climbing, its the easiest surest way. While I think learning say three characters in a role is good idea, after playing since just before Moira came out, I can no longer knock the idea of one-tricking and I was an adamant critic for a long time of the practice, now I see why people do it.
Sure there are people good at say Triathlons, but most Olympic medalists are definitely one-tricks… for good reason.
Exactly this. Oh look, its ah-me, one-trick, y’all have to adapt because i want it that way. Oh look, they are countering me, noone dare to criticize, papa Jeff said so, i can play what hero i want when i want, i paid for the game!
I would rather have a one trick on my team that’s good or even great with their hero and know it well and how it works with each map well than have someone playing a meta hero that’s so so.
People will also be over all better at the game doing something they enjoy. If I’m forced to play a hero I’m not crazy about then I may not mentally put all my effort into it.
Pick a hero you greatly enjoy and master that hero IMO. If you enjoy several heroes then good, enjoy them all and play what you’re in the mood to play for that day.
What about games like, say, being on Junkertown and your team is be slaughtered by a Pharmecy and you’ve got a Symmetra/Junkrat DPS duo who will not play anything else.
Tell me you don’t want to just spare the pain with a forfeit option and move onto the next.
Enemy sees this and swaps to a hero to counter me. They are no longer enjoying the game as much because they were forced to swap to a less fun hero.
I see they swapped to counter me. I then swap to counter them. Now I’m not enjoying the game anymore because I was forced to swap to a hero I don’t enjoy as much.
Everyone keeps swapping and no one enjoys the game.
Awesome game we have here.
IMO, just do what you enjoy. Don’t let other dictate what you should be playing.
Not everyone is an all-rounder. For any player, I’d personally prefer they played what they’re good at than switch to a hero they are unfamiliar with or simply bad at.
Some players struggle with other issues that limit their hero pool, such as disabilities (used to play with a guy who’d lost some fingers on one of his hands, so could only play heroes like Reinhardt and Mercy) or, in my case, abysmal internet that ensures I can only play Mercy and Moira some days if I want to contribute at all.
I honestly understand why people are nervous to stray away from their comfort zones as well, considering some people can be brutal and Ranked is not a suitable place to learn new characters. Learning how to play Widowmaker in a Diamond Ranked game with at least one loudmouth yelling in one’s ear is not a constructive environment…
There are definitely some truly toxic one-tricks who go as far as to throw if they can’t get their main hero, but those players are in the minority. Most one-tricks know how to play other heroes if required of them, and even if they can’t competently play the most desirable hero at that time, they will still perform at their best to ensure their hero gets value and the team benefits from their actions. Having a limited hero pool doesn’t translate to “bad team player; selfish, awful person” like one person already tried to claim in this thread.
That’s a bold assumption, many people enjoy multiple heroes and also performing well.
The game has been balanced since the beginning to allow people to swap heroes mid match. If you want to OTP when it’s clearly not working that’s your choice and I never blame anyone, but I absolutely think you are not helping your team as much as you could.
I personally don’t understand how they don’t get bored of that hero
I love Sombra, but playing her all the time sometimes does get boring, especially nowadays with how crap she is on ladder
It really hasn’t though. Sure you can swap but it doesn’t mean you can counter the other team any better. It also doesn’t mean you will help your team any better.
In the end people are allowed to play whatever hero they want. Other team members do not have the right to dictate what you play. One tricking is not reportable either as long as the person is still trying to win. It even makes this clear on the report screen.
If a one trick is bad then they will drop in rank and you won’t see them anymore. I see one trick Junkrats in GM and maintain that rank because they are good at what they do.
Counter take, in the end people are allowed to play whatever hero they want because balance is predicated on the fact that people can (and should for best chances of winning) adapt to the enemy composition and particular map/point.
Being hard stuck playing one hero will never be the optimal way to be a good team mate to me. Sorry.
In your example, it’s obviously true a Junkrat OTP can reach GM – but I’m not convinced it’s not at the expense of their team mates along the way. The other DPS is probably often forced to play something outside of their comfort zone because the OTP refuses to.
I failed hard-core. I one tricked a hero to silver, and still dropping. If I was worried about failure, I think I would have stopped after like 2 to 300 SR fallen. I one trick for fun. Nothing more, nothing less. It really is that simple.
I find with Hammond I can get value without having to worry about the support of teammates, because that’s fool’s gold.
Also, only certain heroes face opprobrium for one tricking. One trick Ana, Ashe, or Rein? Fine. One trick Sym, Moira, or Hammond? Prepare to be reported into the Shadow Realm.
