“They’re really hard to balance and if they go too far out of their niche they’ll dominate”
Bastion I can kind of understand. We can handle him in low ranks, we know how to counter him, but Bastion can just barrel through uncoordinated teams like a knife storm in a sea of butter.
Reaper a little less. Like yeah he has short range shot guns that can hurt, and giving him a vampiric health buff certainly didn’t hurt him, but he’s a blip on the radar screen next to Mccree, Widow, Junkrat, Hanzo, Genji, Dva, Tracer. There’s a lot more to fear than the Reaper.
But Symmetra? Seriously? Everyone counters her and stands a chance against her (even a lone cornered Mercy) and she counters no one significant, save perchance herself. Symmetra mains dating back to the old forum in our 6k megathread talked about how to balance her without making her op. Everyone still sees Symmetra as a troll pick and a lot of folks still don’t have interact even bound.
But oh nooo I guess if a hero jumps from a very low pick rate to just a slightly larger pick rate, they’ll just show up everywhere!!
God forbid a “new” hero breaks the old and tired same 6 or so heroes popularly picked from the past 2.5 years. Because she just made such a popular splash in owl, right?
Buff Symmetra, don’t be afraid. It’s unlikely the same people who play the precious Shimadas play such a magnificent undervalued Queen anyway.
the shimadas are allways kind of meta.
maybe it’s mostly nano-blade and grav dragon. but yeah i can never say they’re really out of meta fully, like either they are on the brink of not being meta or they are meta.
I dont see symmetra as a troll pick but I do hate having her on my team. She isn’t even weak. I have seen symm just plow through an enemy team who wont turn around to deal with her.
Problem is, you run into a team who DOES turn around and kill her. She then feeds all game and never switches. Symm isnt weak. It’s her players that give her a bad name.
I have seen mercy mains switch, I have seen widowmakers switch to rein because they noticed it would help. I have seen the SUPER RARE genji player switch to a healer!
The day I see a symm main switch to help their team is the day pigs fly.
I mean yeah, the Shimadas are meta. If I have to see Genji’s squirming butt and Hanzo’s left nipple every other match, they’re certainly not off meta.
And I think it’s obvious I’m venting. I would think you would too if the devs made a weak excuse to not pay proper attention to your hero who is in need of attention — oh and they talk about buffing heroes your hero has had a history of problems with (Winston) and who don’t need no buffs (Zarya, who is also quite literally stronger than 3.0 Symmetra in practically every way; she’s Zarya Poppins y’all.)
Well meta is what’s mostly ran and is the path of least resistance, which I recall is GOATS. There is also no meta really for quickplay/arcade modes, since people play what they like, not what’s going to give them a win.
Genji is balanced in my eyes (and a lot of other people besides the forums) and is Viable but he never dictates a meta (he was ran in metas, but mostly tagged along for the ride, never really took the wheel)
Hanzo, it’s hard to tell, he was never meta or really viable before in his 1.0 form, and in his 2.0 Gravdragon is the only thing I can recall (which was much more uncounterable and a path of easy resistance, nanoblade has a lot more counters and is easier to deny value, so it’s more of a combo than a meta)
Some heroes are used often because of popularity and playstyle/design, not necessarily strength.
It’s like this scenario:
Would you rather work at a job you DESPISE but gain lots of money from, or work at a job you love but make minimum wage.
I brought the others in because they were also addressed. And had I not, someone would have inevitably brought them up. I also think characters ignored by balance favors should be paid attention too.
You can look around the forum and find several threads by me and other Symmetra players who talk about Symmetra more eloquently, but like I said, this is my “I have Mcfrickenhadit” thread.
the reward is increased with skill which isn’t true for every hero in the same way.
you can’t really touch them without making them easier and subsequently broken at high tiers.
and the reverse happens for the heroes who are good at low tiers but is lacking in high tiers, if you buff them for high tiers they will be broken in low tiers.
the only way to change this is a complete rework of the hero itself.
my suggestion though is to not change anything because metas aren’t static.
i’m mean i personally didnt like sym’s rework too, but you can’t really say they don’t care when they did something. if they didn’t care they would of just done nothing.
Heroes should exist who’s power scales with the skill of the player very well. But there should also be starter heroes who casuals can pick up and play so they can enjoy and stick to the game. But if the starter heroes are so much better than the more demanding heroes, what’s the point of playing the demanding heroes?
It’s just the flaw in the games fundamental design, which you can’t really change.
Psst…they probably would have if it wasn’t for the owl commentators and this one little owl factoid at halftime this one match blaring “HEY SYMMETRA IS THE ONLY HERO NOT PICKED IN THE OWL”
I’m basing this off of memory, but I do remember Mercer saying “We saw statistics, and noticed that Symmetra had very little time in OWL, and hoped that the rework would change that”