One Tricking Shouldn't Be Reportable, But It CAN Be Throwing

General Discussion
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I’ve seen plenty of posts discussing one tricking in the game. And usually when people are talking about one tricks, they’re referring to niche heroes. Those that can be almost overpowered in certain scenarios, but overall just struggle.

I think most people view it as 2 options. Either one tricking is throwing and should be reportable, or one tricking is never throwing and shouldn’t be reportable. But I think it’s a mix of the 2.

One tricking should never be reportable, as at the end of the day everyone has the option to play the hero they want. And there are plenty of times where it doesn’t harm the games.

But it can certainly be throwing in some instances. And there seems to be an extreme reluctance for people to admit as much. If somebody repeatedly plays a hero into a team of hard counters, and refuses to switch because of their self-imposed handicap, that’s throwing. Regardless of if you win or lose.

The way I see it there are 2 main issues tied to one tricking that Blizzard could address to improve the game. Alt accounts and niche heroes.

The way alt accounts work in Overwatch makes one tricking unfair at times. The way one tricking should be balanced is that if a person chooses to do it, it’s their sr that’s at stake. But as soon as alts get into the mix this isn’t entirely true. Which can be seen with alot of Unranked to Gm series. Someone will make a new account, one trick a hero, and if they lose it has zero impact on the account they actually care about. Meaning you keep the wins, while your team has to share the losses.

As far as niche heroes it’s a rocky road. They have to make some heroes more generic to improve their utility. But that will likely leave many unhappy. While I think Bastion and Doomfist are much better balanced in Overwatch 2, I can see why people who main them might be displeased. As soon as a hero becomes less niche, they lose some of what made them special.

Feel free to agree or disagree. Or say my take is braindead.

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It all depends on how you define throwing. As far as I know, the common definition (at the very least my definition) is to intentionally try to lose the game or in some way not perform your best.

Being at a disadvantage, even if intentionally, isn’t the same thing. If you’re a boxer and you tie one arm behind your back but still try your absolute best it’s not throwing, it’s playing at a disadvantage.

Also, I don’t understand the point of this if you don’t think it should be reportable? Is this just a semantics argument? I’m cool if we’re discussing words/language and its usage, I just don’t fully understand the premise of the discussion.

EDIT: Because I’ve had like, 4 people respond to this post without reading the rest of the conversation, my position is different.

I agree with dabfist saying that a better term is “sabotage.”

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it just means they need to make all the niche heroes viable and get them out of that niche so that people don’t feel like its a troll/throwing pick…Can’t really hate on the player. Blizzard is horribly bad at balancing their games

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I think the issue is people are awful at assessing if the person playing a hero IS throwing if they don’t swap.

Take me for instance, your friendly neighbourhood RobotWizard. I’m good on projectile weapons, but hitscan never clicked.

I’m happy to swap, but if you want me to switch to a regular hitscan to take on Pharah, then you are basically asking me to throw the match.

I’m not a one trick, since I do play a bunch of heroes, and usually I can make Pharah’s life hell on the heroes I do take.

So anyway, I think the issue is people are EXTREMELY ill equipped to know if someone of throwing or not, or if they should switch, and if they should switch, who they should switch to.

An extreme case of this, was back when I played Moira, and was getting an alt out of low ranks. I was DPS Moiraing my little booty off, and had a win rate of 70%.

But if you asked my team, I was throwing every match… with a 70% win rate…

Even while they were winning, and I was killing the enemies backline, and DPS they were complaining I was throwing.

So I’m on board with you. It could be throwing, but honestly, people are in no position to access it, so it shouldn’t be reportable.

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How is playing at a disadvantage that you set for yourself which directly impacts not just you, but your teammates as well not throwing?

The point is to share an opinion as well as discuss possible solutions. Same as most posts people make on a problem.

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The problem is one tricks get abused a lot. No one want to switch if their team is abusing them because you’re giving them what they want and it’s degrading.

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Well, if you are at the SR for your one tricked hero. You will be winning just as much as your team, so… if you are throwing, then so are they.

More so, it may be the best hero for you, or crazy OP at the current time, in which case, you are also not throwing (and WOULD be throwing if you switched).

I think people do better though, if they know a bunch of different heroes, and can switch to deal with different conditions.

So, yes? maybe?

But your team can’t know if someone can or can’t, so trying to report them for it? I don’t think that works.

I mean, I wouldn’t report anyone myself for it, but I would be a little put out if a team mate kept playing Ball / Doom into Sombra and spent the game hacked though - so I totally get peoples frustration :slight_smile:

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Someone can throw and still win. People do it all the time. As much as they may not want to say so, people who one trick niche heroes likely get carried from time to time.

As I said, I agree it shouldn’t be reported.

Agree. That’s why I specified niche heroes, as opposed to just one tricking heroes who always perform about the same in every situation.

This is definitely a huge problem. But at the same time, some one tricks can be really toxic. I’ve seen quite a few people told to off themselves merely for asking someone to swap.

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You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

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Tell me what it means then.

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Is it throwing though, if they have the same change of winning on their single hero, as the rest of the team does, when they are switching, and are at the correct SR for one tricking that hero?

I’ll leave that for the philosophers I guess.

Totally, I mean, toxicity is a problem in Overwatch, and the game DOES promote it. (I’m doing a writeup on how and why it does it - I mean, the developers made choices which promote toxicity, but they did so for good reasons weirdly enough)

Anyway, we basically agree on the details of how and why it can be throwing, and it isn’t really reportable. (Good post by the way!)

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Because they’re still trying to win. By your logic playing anything offmeta is automatically throwing.

People can, and should play the game how they want. It’s not their responsibility to play the game the way you want it to be played. It’s frustrating, absolutely, to have a Doomfist on your team running into Hog, Sombra, and Cassidy, but that doesn’t mean they’re throwing.

I don’t understand what “solutions” there are to be had if you don’t think it should be reportable. I mean, advocate for less one tricking, I guess, and hope someone gets the message? But I doubt the average diehard one trick is unaware that they have counters.

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Or at least, it is hard to determine if they are throwing (more than if they swapped).

I think that the solution is people chill a little.

Anyway, I don’t think there is a solution for people who get angry that queuing for “sign me up with a bunch of randoms mode” get randoms, or at least not one which is going to work for them :slight_smile:

Asking to play with Randoms => leads to you play with Randoms, seems to be a system which is working as intended.

Maybe they should, I don’t know, if they want a particular team, maybe form that team?

Maybe Blizzard could make LFG less painful and give it more options? Maybe that is the real answer in all of this?

Psychological assessment matchmaking, so you get paired up with people who are less frustrating for the way you play? (I am only partially only joking, it could be done!)

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I think there’s a pretty big difference between playing off meta, and one tricking. If the enemy is also playing off meta, then the meta isn’t an issue. Just like if a one trick isn’t being countered it’s not an issue. Which is why I said it CAN be throwing, and not it IS throwing.

I agree. Putting aside the obvious cases (cheating, being toxic, etc.).

Did you get all the way down my post? I provided what I believe could be changed to benefit the game at large, as well as the issues surrounding one tricking. But if you disagree with them I’m happy to hear why.

This would be great all around. But I think one part of what makes people rage at one tricks, is they feel refusing to switch no matter what, while they themselves are willing to switch isn’t sportsman like. Which I kinda understand. I would love to play Brig every single game. But I will switch if it feels like I’m ramming my head against a wall. And then there are those who wouldn’t switch in the same situation.

But of course people shouldn’t be forced to play the way I do.

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I’m doing some tweaking to my matchmaking code in the background here, and honestly…

"Psychological assessment matchmaking, so you get paired up with people who are less frustrating for the way you play? "

Actually could be done, and does have some merit…

I for one PREFER to play with one tricks (I’ll do a post on why some other time).

Oh my god, we could actually do this.

This changes everything… is it genius or straight up evil?

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I hope Blizzard addresses the plethora of “soft throwers” we have in terms of not trying to play with the team, or being on a bad hero. Looking at all the Lucio mains playing vs full spam/Pharmercy comps, Rein 1 tricks forcing 5 people to flex to have a CHANCE to win the game, people who only play cheese heroes like Junkrat etc.

In OW2, these people need to be actioned upon, if the game is to have longevity. Because fundamentally, while most playstyles are viable, there IS a right way to play the game, you never need a Lucio vs Pharmercy comp and you never need a Sym OTP vs Pharmercy comp and you never need a Rein OTP vs 6 man spam comp.

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It sounds like you should form your own teams. It could be something that Guilds / Clans may solve for you.

I don’t think Blizzard can really solve it another way.

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in what crazy world, is tying an arm behind your back, in a sport where 1 shot will put you in hospital, not throwing.

you are literally sandbagging things and strutting around like you arn’t.

the only thing you could do more to lose on purpose is take a dive.

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I mean, that’s true, but where is the line drawn, and by who? If it can be throwing, but it’s not, then that means it’s not one tricking that’s the problem. It’s an absolute refusal on the part of some people to adjust when they’re being countered. Which is a hugely nebulous and vague concept.

Or one tricking, it would seem, unless I’m mistaken.

I did, and I don’t see what you suggested as solutions. You mentioned that alts and niche heroes contribute to the problem, but that’s all that I see? I might be missing something entirely lol

Well, to be quite honest given that “unranked to GM” exists for every hero, I think my example is actually extreme. I’ll avoid using dumb analogies: playing at a disadvantage isn’t throwing unless you are intentionally trying to lose. You can overcome a disadvantage with strong execution. It doesn’t always happen, but it doesn’t mean it’s throwing either.

There isn’t an official rubric to define gaming terms, so it all comes down to how you define the term “throwing.” By my definition it’s not throwing. Your definition might be more broad, and that’s okay.

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You are definitely mistaken. I didn’t say that people shouldn’t be allowed to one trick, or play whatever character they want.

And as far as alt accounts, if they make accounts connected one tricking isn’t as unfair to teammates. Because as I said, if someone one tricks on an alt account, it doesn’t hurt them as much as it does their teammates if they lose.