Over the past few days I’ve been getting back into Overwatch in preparation for the new content. I’ve played a few dozen games to get accustomed to the game again.
It wasn’t until the last game I played that I realized I had never seen or even thought about Hazard. It was the first time I’ve seen someone pick him, on either team.
Be glad you didn’t experience him from a couple patches ago 
What rank are you? Hazard has been the #1 choice in basically every single game I’ve played.
I was playing unranked. I could see him being picked more in high rank comp if he’s decently powerful.
I think hazard finally shows what a dumb idea damage block abilities are.
Just become immortal with the press of a button. Wow, such interaction, such counterplay opportunities.
Oh yeah that would make sense! He’s meta right now in comp, so I was confused LOL
I turbo played the game for like the past 3 days or so bc I wanted to finish the BP, and I’ve had an absolutely horrible time. In an effort to grind the BP asap, as I was very behind on it, I had to go for weekly challenges for that big xp and queue for all roles and play non top 3 characters. No Kiri, no Juno and no Dva for me. So, for the most part, it has been nothing but painful tankwatch time, and it was horrible. Straight up just afk sometimes to farm matches. God awful.
Anyways, during all that time grinding, I ran into a lot of Hazards. I wish you were right bc that character is annoying af, but sadly its just another Mauga situation with that tank too, I think.
Its the new guy people like to hate. Because god forbid there is a Tank with no HP sustain that gets used a lot on T500.
Then you play the game below GM and sure, you see some, but its not OP at all … but you know, haters gonna hate, someone has to be the number#1 [insert role] hated hero and the easiest, is just looking at T500 lists and go hurrr durrr we hate this now!
Console or PC? He’s a lot more prevelant on PC than console, but I don’t know to what degree
He is very fun to play and very good, definitely climbed to one of my top favorite tanks to play. He is on the harder side of tanks to play well I think since you need good positioning, timings, and aim so you don’t get killed while still doing acceptable damage. That plus being vulnerable to the usual Ana shtick if not played carefully is probably what curbs his usage.
PC, but crossplay with friends on console.
I don’t think the crossplay would affect it really, so yeah I guess he’s just not popular in a casual setting
I wonder the reason? I still think Ana has an effect on the popularity of specific tanks since she influences them so much
Hazard was literally the most played tank for several weeks following his release and even now I still see him often.
How could he possibly be a flop? Because he coincidentally wasn’t in many (or any) of your games the past couple days? Kind of an odd take. He’s one of the more fun tanks to play imo
It may or may not be that Hazard’s block is busted for reasons, but blocks as a mechanic aren’t busted. They’re dealt with by CC and debuffs or simply the threat of them, generally. Meanwhile, as a downside, Doom and Ram aren’t doing any damage while they’re blocking, except when Ram ults.
Such a flop he dominates rank, i wish my heroes were that bad too
In comp hazard vs orisa is all over the ranks. The good news about hazard tho is that his walls force you to work on mercy techs a lot more so it helps to practice those glide techs to heal over them.
Hazard was not a major problem for most players, because he’s relatively demanding at a mechanical level, at least compared to other tanks.
But he was (and still kinda is) busted in high ranks, because people unlock his full potential there.
When played properly, he just does too much.
Because of what happens outside T500 many times does not represent at all what its happening in the rest 90% of the ranks.
But sure, if he is used a lot in T500, that means he is not a flop and its just a skill issue.
Fixed.
But that’s because he was OP. They weaken him and nobody plays him. Just like Mauga. He isn’t necessarily played because he is so fun, but more because he was OP. If he is middle-of-the-pack after nerfs and nobody plays him, like Mauga, then he is a flop.
He is also a flop because of how unfun he is to play against. He has way too much going on with his kit. Too many ways to do damage, so much mobility, both a block and a wall, and damage while blocking. They basically threw everything at him and it shows in how unfun he is to play against.
they nerfed him by one sec
And people stopped playing him at most ranks because he was no longer quite as OP as he was before. A good indication he’s not a popular hero just because of his design being fun. If that was the case then people would keep playing him in QP at least.