So you wanna pick a main?
Why not follow the age old criteria as “the tule of cool?” Because its a good starting point that can eventually be disappointing when you do establish playstyles, understand your own skills on a personal level, and start accepting your flaws/strengths as a whole.
While yes I am referring to being an effective player under that hero, make no mistake, the only reason anyone picks up a main in a PVP game is to "wreck face. So you’re not too far off fron that initial thought process of “I’m gonna main X and win so much!” as your own personal goal.
So taking these truths inti consideration it would behoof a player to also take some consideration to how they play and how best to administer their skills across a mass variety of choices.
So to start. Go with the “Rule of Cool”. Get familiar with the game pace, the heros, the maps, the mechanics, and various interactions. Once you get pass the “new player stage” you’ll start to develop a deeper understanding of the game and yourself as a whole.
From here once you’ve establish your foundation, you can experiment and explore across the roster. Starting with some heros that share similar skills needed with your starting “Main”.
This is meant to branch out for you to see which aprticular skills and kits you prefer using. Do you prefer being tanky and having self sustain? Are you better at this range over that range? Do you get giddy with high bursts over a split secone comapred to constant damage over time in a spray and pray method? Its up to you how you want to explore this.
That is also a great time to actually understand how other players and their heros think. Which aides in your learning curve on mastering the game entirely.
Eventually you’ll find something that clicks that meets all the criteria you want. Which is fun to play, matches your playstyle, and proves to be a long time partner you can count on through the thick of things.
Some mistakes players often make is,
-Devoting too much into one hero. Even the best one trick players have pocket picks or an alternate hero of their choice to handle different situations that your main cannot. Truth of the matter is OW is expanding and reducing the effect of one trick devotees on a massive scaling. So its best to ensure you have another hero to fall back on in case the balance state drives your main into a corner.
-Becoming overtly attached to their mains. This is rather unhealthy as proven by 100s of psycological gaming cases. How do you know if you’re in too deep? Well take a bias test. If you get triggered by someone roasting your main and then feel the need to lash out, you’re probably in a very unhealthy relationship to a set of pixels here.
-Thinking their skillsets as a gamer will eventually mesh with their hero. There’s a fallacy here in which many a player I’ve witnessed tried as best as they could to make X main work, but ultimately they gave up and only really started enjoying the game and their true main hero/es when they took their skillsets into consideration. Some of these players I’ve known for years and they remain stuck with their chosen mains but have barely even improved. Its easier to climb out of that hole when you understand the various tools given to you.
-Belief in that a main needs to be super personal to be considered “fun”. It doesn’t. In fact making something super personal in a video game is considered unhealthy because the mindset of being attacked “personally” by certain factors can be ever more triggering resulting in more frustration at a heightened level. I’m not saying you can’t choose a hero based upon their color schemes or gender. But the moment you decide “this hero is me! They’re mine! I am this hero! I am great!” That’s when you know you’re diving too far into the pool here. To have a healtier gaming lifestyle you still need to be able to differiatiate reality from fantasy here. That that hero is not you, but you pilot that hero. The sooner you accept this the less likely you are to be mad about something and will enjoy the game so much more.
So this is how I found my true main. This is how I treat my WBall. I love to play him and in many ways I accept his faults and weaknesses and will do what I can to make up for my partners downsides as best as I can. I know I can trust in my main through thick and thin. I am nomever offended nor afraid. For I am a WBall main. And I will boop you. Lol.
And that’s how I enjoy OW and how I believe how many more people can come to enjoy our game if they find their true mains.
