In this case if your complaint is she isnāt played in the upper ranks both donāt even get a look in.
Since the same issues are in lower and upper in this case.
Which goes back to, this wonāt be a pure buff, because of low ranks.
So, I mostly agree. But, even as a Pharah player (when I do play dps), she can get out of hand quickly if sheās too strong. I donāt exactly know what her hitbox is like, but that could indeed use a tune, Iām genuinely not sure. She does have a horizontal movement ability, but itās just her conc blast. Maybe a cooldown reduction on that would make you feel more mobile?
But really, I think the best thing that would help pharah is probably coming eventually anyway: a new aerial hero.
I highly suspect that whenever Echo comes out, she will be able to fly to some degree, based on the video of her. That could be just a bit, like mercy, or a whole lot, like Pharah. Even if it isnāt Echo exactly, I think the best thing to help Pharah would be another character in the sky. That gives hitscans 2 targets to worry about, D.va 2 enemies to fly out, and possibly another healer in the sky with you to help give you health.
It really sounds like the problem with Pharah right now is that she needs a ton of space and aerial cover, and with another able body in the sky, you could have a LOT more space to work with.
Itās more that she canāt be, because sheās essentially a throw pick due to how easy it is to kill her when you can aim.
pharah is a character that forces counterplay, and she isnt even in a bad state right now. Low pickrate is really just because its mccrees meta. The ānerfā to her just punishes bad players. I play her in 3.7k scrims and perform pretty great (because i can actually hit my rockets onto a target because i learned projectile speeds instead of relying on AOE)
1 Like
So we fix that, but, we fix it in a way which doesnāt make her a must pick at low ranks right?
This is why things like self concussion is a good place to start. Because high ranked players use it a lot for mobility and low ranked players donāt.
So it gives us a thing which we can tweak for high ranked play only.
1 Like
Sheās not played almost at all by the top 50% of rankedā¦
I.e. The entire range of where the gameplay balance should be decided.
So yeah.
If anything Iād say reduce her explosion radius more on console, then do some of these buffs, and maybe a mercy buff.
1 Like
Well of course, but the problem is how do you do this? This is where my idea to give her horizontal movement in the air comes into play. Conc blast is not the most reliable (you need a wall or other object to push yourself off from), nor does it do what I would like to see this ability do, plus having an actual movement ability would allow Pharah to use her conc blast more for re-positioning enemies.
Bad plan. It will make lower ranks not be able to hit her at all, and upper ranks are better at compensating, so it would help lower ranks more than upper which is the reverse of what we want.
Upper ranks do more direct hits and play closer, so extra direct hit damage + falloff may work.
I think what pharah needs, or at least would help her a lot-
Is fluidity.
I often hate the word clunky to describe heroes
But pharah is clunky
Rocket Boost
Jet. Jet. Jump. Jump. Tap tap. Jump. Tap. Jet. Tap. Jump. Jump.
Oh okay itās off cooldown
Booost
Jump. Jump. Tap. Tap. Pfft pfft pfft tap jump.
Clunky.
Make her flight mechanics more fluid.
If you want her to fly, just let her fly. Maybe give a few additional conditions on it if youāre worried about the issues of free flight.
Give it a cooldown between uses, where she needs to touch the ground to begin the cooldown. (Or dont. Again she can just be the flying hero. Iām fine with that too. She can already fly indefinitely)
Limit her flight ceiling- only let her ascend up to 15 meters above the ground (PLACE HOLDER NUMBER), with her slowly falling to that flight deck if she ascends high off a piece of terrain and goes out over it.
Replace the rocket boost with an air-dash similar to a tracer blink, letting her choose the direction, forward backward side to side, no direction goes up, holding crouch goes down.
Make her flight mechanics feel good. Not sluggish.
Donāt give her a huge boost of speed like mercy has- Iād keep her around base speed if not slightly slower- relying on her dash for quick repositioning. she will still after all be a mobile target in the air, just make her feel fluid.
1 Like
Sideways airdodge would be nice.
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/TenseFrailGordonsetter-size_restricted.gif
Sheās a giant floating rectangle, sheās really not hard to hit 
But Iām talking about an ability similar to Hanzoās leap where itās just a really quick side juke and itās on a cooldown, so it wouldnāt really be that oppressive even at lower ranks.
Exactly what Iām suggesting.
At upper ranks.
At lower they have trouble hitting her now, making her even more op in lower will lead to more nerfs, which is why you need to avoid changes which are stronger at lower ranks than at higher ones.
Which sideways Dodge most certainly does.
It is the reverse of what you need, because it makes her so much stronger in the ranks where they are having trouble hitting their shots now.
Upper ranks will barely notice it.
They are hitting faster moving targets already.
1 Like
Do D.va and Sombra really have that much trouble?
Iād like to see Pharahs health changed into unhealable shields. That way pharmercy doesnt ruin the game at low levels, but pharah is still able to stay active in the fight and not have to slowly retreat for health packs any time she takes moderate damage.
She would be much easier to balance.
1 Like
Are you seriously suggesting that low ranks didnāt have more of an issue with pharah?
To try to push this through?
She is played at low ranks BECAUSE they have this issue.
They did. But now D.va boosters are on a 4sec cooldown, and youāre airborne for about 3sec.
And Sombra buff means picking Sombra and playing her like a Soldier 76 almost is a reasonable playstyle.
Iāve played in bronze and silver. Iāve climbed over time and have taken multiple accounts out of silver, so I do know how it goes down there.
People can hit Pharah down there. Sheās not hard to hit. It isnāt that they canāt hit her so much as it is that they choose not to. They either donāt look up or just choose to stay on Junkrat and Reaper and not swap. Thatās bronze. Then in silver, youāll have people swap but when 76 is being ignored by his healers, itās very easy to kill him before he can kill you.
So itās not that they canāt hit Pharah so much as it is that they just have no coordination or teamwork or desire to actually counter. When they do, Pharah has the same issue down there she has in higher ranks.
You are suggesting a buff which will effect low ranks more than upper ones, WHILE trying to get her a pick rate in upper ranks, that will end super badly.
It is like that youāre guy saying adding armor will make her less dependant on Mercy, where it will have the reverse effect.
1 Like
You could say that about just about any buff to any hero.
No seriously, you can nerf parts of the kit which is mostly used in low ranks and buff the parts which are mostly used in high ranks.
Self concussion isnāt used in low ranks. So you can buff the hell out of it, without effecting low ranked play.
You can make her rockets have less splash and have faster travel time, which means high ranked players will get more direct hits, and low ranked players wonāt get as much from a miss.
You can absolutely buff / nerf for particular ranks ESPECIALLY with pharah.
2 Likes