I only use this argument when people are asking for BUFFS. Like “BUFF MERCY. BUFF ZARYA.” Pickrates, if anything, isn’t necessarily an indicator of “OP”, but more of an indicator of “this person is viable and balanced, hence why they’re being selected a lot.” Which also means the hero is currently designed well.
Unless it’s Hanzo…Hanzo needs a minor nerf. I like new Hanzo, but he’s doing too much right now. He replaces all DPS.
I agree, they buffed Junk because his pickrate was low, and then he became broken. I think he’s in a good spot now
The difference being that Rein would go back to lower pickrates if Brigitte wasn’t so useful.
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But you also have to consider that maybe the meta is making Mercy the better healer as her GA is especially useful when your team has to spread out. So yes it is a double standard imo
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Doing anything based off of one statistic alone is stupid.
Using overbuff stats at all to support an opinion is already a travesty. I’d rather somebody use their own anecdotal evidence, at least I that has a modicum of validity.
Honestly, they kind of gave themselves backed up in a corner with how the game is now. Tweaking one little thing to Y character can make X character godly and Z player unplayable. But we’ve gotten to a point where those little tweaks, even if it’s a slight health or damage reduction all of a sudden dominos and explodes a completely different character.
And then reworking other heroes completely throws off the game balanced as they shoehorn a character to retrofit a solution to the problem they created.
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Yeah, but a month or so ago people would have said that Winston needs a nerf. He is a bad spot right now, but that’s because he’s a dive tank in a non-dive meta. He’ll only ever be good in a dive comp. You can actually almost directly measure the amount of dive actually happening via Winston’s pick rate.
It’s okay if a hero has a really high pickrate.
It’s also okay if a hero has a really high winrate.
It’s not okay if a hero is picked in almost every game and has a really high winrate. It means that a team with that hero has an andvantage against a team without him.
You are right. Even if not in a great place, some heroes are just people’s jam and have enough people maining them that nerfs don’t affect pick rate as significantly as they do the actual power levels.
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Wait… What? That looks like you’re contradicting yourself.
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But only recently he was obsolete, because he couldn’t deal that well with dive, and now he’s high again :V
on the other side of this coin, low pickrates do not mean things need buffs. sometimes you just aren’t favored by the meta.
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They ‘nerf’ (balance) through what Jeff considered a ‘triangle’; players opinions, developers opinions and concrete data compiled from the game.
So, if a hero is picked a lot (IE Mercy), players are going to notice and they are going to complain. However, the data will also show some interesting facts; besides high pick rate (which is a piece of data worth considering when discussing a heros balance, of course) if a hero is picked a lot and has an out of place winrate or other strange statistics, then the data is in favor of a balance change as well. Then and there, you already have two points of the triangle in favor of that balance change. And, while not impossible, odds are that the developing team feels something is off too, if a lot of players are feeling that way.
I think it’s a really fair way of balancing, usually. I do feel that more ‘popular’ heros get away with far more for far longer than they ought to be able to…
Also, just fyi, high pickrate is a huge red flag indicator when a hero does need looking into. If a hero is picked nearly every game, there has to be a reason for that. Absolutely. If a hero was just rebalanced, or tweaked, or released, of course the data will be off for a little while…but only a little while. If that hero remains there, there is a finite reason why they are considered a nearly must-pick.
Just looking at winrate is actually a fairly poor indication, to be honest. Look at Symmetra and Torb; they have pretty high winrates compared to the rest of the cast…but they’re considered troll-picks and are even being worked on for balance changes now…not because of their winrates, but because of their playstyle. They have high winrates because they’re such niche-picks. Jeff went over this in a post a long time back as well.
And because they’re fun to play
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If you click on the 6 month button, and ignore the dip on brig patch week #1.
Mercy’s pickrate trend seems to be unaffected by this meta
https://www.overbuff.com/heroes/mercy/trends
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Thing is, every hero counters Mercy, any hero that attacks her either forces her to disengage or pull out her pistol, which means she doesn’t heal anymore.
A moba style game needs heroes/characters that’ll never need a meta to be good, that’s just healthy. Especially now that moth meta is over and she’s far more balanced, and not a must pick but always viable. 
Heck, if we look at this week, and healers only, perhaps this makes it more blindingly obvious:
https://i.imgur.com/OARtq2p.jpg
The Problem whit balancing at Pickrate is that u really didnt know why players pick and play a Character
Some ppl picks a Hero because the Hero is viable or very strong and some player like me plays a Hero because they love the Character or the Gameplay
For me it is the same whit Brigitte and Orisa ( on my Main acc ) i main them because i love the Gameplay, Design and the Heroes in Genral is still would main them if they are Trash-Tier
This why there are so many Genji Mains in the Game they didnt play him because he is a strong Hero just alot ppl ( not me ) loves Ninjas, Cyborgs, Cyborg Ninjas, Naruto or his Gameplay
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