After playing the beta, supports had it rough. They also practically removed CC from the game. Which made it more of a shooting gallery rather than strategic FPS like overwatch 1.
It seems like supports should be the only one with CC. Gives them more survivability, adds more strategy, and supports a better role. Just having heals also make support a little bland. This should give them more spice. Note that I’m primarily a DPS player so it’s not like i’m just asking to make the hero’s i play stronger.
And tanked her winrate overnight by 10% because she became awful
Both bap and ana having under 50% unmirrored winrates before, and ana still having a below 50% after (although, this is probably due to her being so popular. She is quite strong). You forget they added 3 seconds to sleep dart CD and nerfed her nade duration by 1 second.
Before zen got his kick he too was tied for being the worst support with mercy. The extra hp was too strong, and he’s now back to 200hp
Objectively, supports did have it rough. Net nerfed when the first beta dropped with the only positive buff being the passive was not a good look. They were, and to some extent still are, at the mercy of the enemy. Blizzard said this themselves when they reported that supports were dying 10-15% more in diamond and above (I don’t remember the exact figure).
What are you talking about? There’s still plenty of CC in this game. I hope your idea of CC isn’t just exclusively to hard CC, aka stuns.
Supports never had it rough. they’re still doing well in OW2. Although I will say that supports barely got anything in the beta as opposed to the other two roles (such as major changes or new heroes). Mercy however needs some reverting, the only support that i can think of that needs some revising ever since her recent GA changes.
I disagree that supports need more damage, or healing or CC to be interesting in OW2.
Some of them do need ways to stall a flanker so they can run away or try to out sustain them until backup arrives. Flankers should always have the edge but some supports need ways to stall. And I don’t think CC is the best way to do it.
We are running under the idea that supports didn’t die enough in ow1. That is the core of the fundamental problem being dealt with. All the double shield talk misses that the problem there wasn’t the barriers as much as it was the sustain in general. Part of that is all the barrier but a larger part of that is support healing output and more importantly the ease in which they can output that healing.
Now I don’t know what the magic number is but having a situation where supports are under more pressure and thus die more frequently is the goal.
The magic number is where you have them queuing for the experience. If they are not enjoying it, you went too far.
For DPS being in fights all the time is the ideal, they don’t like down time where they are just shooting shields for instance. Because while that is happening, they are not getting to play the game they signed up for.
For Tanks getting in there and doing Tank stuff is what they want to do, they don’t like down time where they are CCed all the time. Because while that is happening, they are not getting to play the game they signed up for.
For Supports getting in and doing support stuff is what they want to do, they don’t like having to be dragged into fights all the time. Because while that is happening, they are not getting to play the game they signed up for.
See the issue here. You stop a role getting to play the game their role is about, they won’t enjoy it.
If the supports are not queuing as much for OW2, then it obviously has gone too far.
Last time i checked i was not promised that I would be:
Only in fights 24/7 as a dps
Would be allowed to put up a shield with my other tank and stand there for 5 minutes
Get to CC targets and get free value on support
People were promised a competitive shooter that you can swap heroes mid game in, nothing else
While Moira took an L, her new ability was really strong. The issue was the fluidity of how to play her that messed her up. She felt too clunky. Before that she played well enough in the OW2 environment. They also reverted the change so she’s in a decent spot for now.
Ana is fine, despite the win rate. She’s strong as ever, and possibly could use a nerf, but that should wait till we play the new heroes.
Bapt is in a decent spot depending on the comp.
Zen was nearly OP. They should just nerf discord down to 10-15% and give him back the extra HP if they give a buff.
Yes the game has moved on. It’s moved away from low skill abilities. Its moved away from CC, it’s moving BACK towards the first person shooter it should’ve stayed from the start. Plently of people will still play support, the ones that got carried CC will have to leave.
The betas have shown other numbers. Support is the new bottle neck because the DPS job was made easier, they removed the restriction of tanks and buffed them while making the job of the supports harder and making them target number one.
Fox Girl will fix things for a while but after that we need a solution.
I am going with this really. In the new game, fights end up so fast and damage numbers are up so high as well, support gameplay is feels really uninteresting and unmotivating. Even in OWL, almost all highlight is now on quick flashy dps plays getting 4-5 kills… which while felt really interesting to begin with, has withered off drastically
I’ve been saying this for a loooong time. Reduce the amount of damage, burst damage specifically but also generally, and then reduce the amount of healing. That will make the game feel more like original overwatch where health bars were able to be in places other than full or empty.
A lot if issues with the game would have been avoided if supports were the primary holders of CC. When you combine CC with good follow up damage (see McCree) is when you get interactions people feel are obnoxious or “cheap”. Since supports rarely have burst damage to immediately kill 200 hp heroes, let alone tanks, it would require cooperation to get full value out of it.
That doesn’t mean all CC has to be restricted to supports - Rein’s charge is an example of CC that works for tanks because it has quite a few drawbacks and is loudly announced (making it not feel as cheap). For DPS though I feel stuns should be out of the question, but some displacement is fine (like Pharah’s boop).
As someone who has historically been a support main and am now more 50/50 between tank and support I played almost entirely tank in the beta (and brig). The changes, shockingly enough, made tank not constantly miserable to play. After junkerqueen was added gg queue times.
Support felt basically exactly the same to me the only difference being that my aim is not great and playing a hero like ana you spend less time just pocketing tanks. Flex support IS harder. You have to like actually shoot the enemy team more now. That’s ok.