I’m not a Pharah main but my PFP is of Pharah lmao
What was that old saying… “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” and it’s actually valid here
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Genji is dominant at all levels of play. So, no he is not.
If the same heroes are the top heroes over and over for years on end, yes it is a problem.
Also, if you pay attention to their balancing and even what they say about it: They are actually not trying to make a balanced and fair game. Genji is one of the top heroes because they think he is fun to WATCH. They balance around spectating. They haven’t changed him because they like him being OP. But that doesn’t make it a good choice.
Most of people not talking about him is change bias. Genji has been over tuned for sol long they people focus on what changed.
But lots of high level players have talked about issues with his kit.
The other problem is with how long he has been OP is that most people who play him have just moved up ranks and set there so long. People are used to dealing with him. But that doesn’t mean he is balanced. He would not be so dominant if he was.
If you are talking about content creators, that is kind of by design. None of their tier lists match what actually plays out in game. They just focus again on what is noticeable, meaning change. It is not interesting to say every patch the top dps are Soldier/Genji every single time. But that is what plays out in game. Content creators are incentivized to talk about heroes that are making a splash by making big shifts.
And yet what plays out in game is that he is. But again, that is not interesting content because it would just be a repeat of last season, and the one before, and the one before.
The game should change who is on the top regularly. But it doesn’t. So content creators focus on what changes.
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So it’s not just me!
Wtf Blizzard? Let us be our cute ghost selves on the forums!
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Oh look at that full 180 illari. Almost like WE HAVE SAID IT FROM THE NERF to BEGIN WITH! Yikes these devs man😂
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Genji with 250 health is just hell to deal with. Add on to that the reduced amount of aiming and further range he can play at and still get full value and he’s eating good.
He’s in like 75% of my games and just runs rough shot over who ever be wants.
Always was annoying. Worse after the s9 patch.
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Ya all dps like this, this isn’t a junk specific
Why on gods green earth would you buff widows falloff? She already out ranges everybody making it extremely obnoxious or just completely unviable to duel her why make that interaction worse???
Use flanks, and you will have access to her in both short to mid ranges depending on the map. In doing so you can avoid that advantage entirely.
Oh… you’re right. Hadn’t noticed. Well, it’s still a good thing. I find I’m dying a lot more to her mech than before though. Same for a few other heroes, like Reaper (but I don’t play him, so I’m not gonna complain he’s too strong when I don’t have first hand knowledge of the hero).
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did they seriously not touch lifeweaver lmfao??? just delete him at this point every season they just abandon him i know his playstyle doesnt fit into overwatch but holy man. Atleast increase to his heal charge so we can do full charge heals easier.
What does that mean lol…winning more than he should across the board? Being picked a lot? What?
You think it’s a problem. I don’t…and atm, nether does Blizzard lol…
Balancing around spectating may have been true in the past when OWL was still a thing. It isn’t anymore lol… but also, over the entire history of OWL, Genji wasn’t played more than heroes that were unfun to spectate.
lol sure, they are biased or got used to dealing with him being op. I am not biased and I won’t stand for balance injustice!!
big lol really…
Because they don’t based the tier on appearance. They may see soldier or Genji a lot but don’t feel like they are op when “playing out in game” nor do they dominate the game.
If we assume these content creators are incentivized to make a splash, rating Genji a tier S+ and claim he has been for every season…would make a tsunami lol…
The last time he was in S was maybe in season 1, it’s been 8 seasons of not rating him like the op monster he always has been…make a splash lol…!
Both of those issues are caused by low (or high) ranked balance. Sojourn is like the opposite of Zarya, never stomping in low ranks but one of the best heros in higher elo. Zarya Pub stomps but gets absolutely slaughtered in high elo (even after the buff Dva into Zarya will still be playable).
I wish they would drop Zaryas beam width so much that it was smaller then it was even last season and push more power to her secondary fire while also making that radius smaller.
And maybe change bubble, somehow???
I don’t know, it seems to me that it would turn into a circle, buff this and then nerf that and in the end we’re back to the same point
For me, passives are cool and lazy at the same time.
Blizz force a lot of things onto the tank which makes it very difficult to balance
Tank needs to survive and they use Movement, Self healing/Overhealth and some form of damage mitigation (shield/damage reduction)
Take two of these three and now you create a tank
In OW1 a tank could die as easily or more, the difference was that in theory there was another tank that provided cover, in OW2 this function does not exist
I think that instead of creating passive or nerf/buff something blizz need to give DPS/Support more ultility, they should have more skills that communicate and help the tank
Because there is no point in increasing a tank’s strengths, he will still be vulnerable to his weaknesses
and there is no point in eliminating weaknesses, as this makes it very oppressive
So one way to mitigate this problem is to leave it to other roles
Obviously this would create problems if implemented poorly, I’m not want any dps or support with shield
but imagine a dps/support with the ability to absorb a certain % of damage from another hero and reallocate a certain % of the damage that this hero took as a heal for another hero
there is an interaction between the roles
Zarya did this interaction, she provided protection in exchange for power, the concept is the same
LW it was a good idea but poorly implemented
Give double jump a cooldown like Hanzo lunge and it’ll feel a lot less awful.
we have to see some sym buff next week or ill lose it im not wise enough to outwit bigger damage
It is like heroes with lots of movement gained more from the extra time it takes to kill them (easier to get away). And like heroes with strong defensives gained more from that extra time as well (more time to react). And a hero that has both gained even more…odd that. 
That is what happens when Blizzard takes an already OP hero and makes global changes that benefit them more than almost all (if not all) heroes AND give them a buff on top of it.
And the fact he has not been nerfed tells you just how much Blizzard cares about a fair and balanced game.
Both.
He has been neck in neck with Soldier for the most picked. And Blizzard confirmed he was one of the most played AND his unmirrored win rate was above 50% several seasons ago. And since than ALL the changes to him or ones that impact him have been beneficial to him. So, we can conclude it is still the case.
You don’t because you like having the advantage of playing a stronger hero than the people you are against. That doesn’t make it a good thing.
Again, Blizzard has not been trying to make a balanced game.
That just isn’t true. They balance around viewing still. They have repeatedly linked clips and fun to watch with balance choices. Nothing has changed.
And quite frankly, if you take even a second to look, you can see they are still making the same choices.
Literally all the data we have says he is not balanced. That is not some content creator saying, ‘well I think.’ Everyone has some level of personal bias, that is human. And change bias is a real thing. The way you get around that is to use data, not ‘I feel like.’
NONE of those tier list prediction creators do any kind of data determination. They just go off their gut feeling, which is inherently flawed.
Key words. That is exactly what happens when you just get used to seeing X or Y hero.
Personally I think the majority of the issue is deflect. It is just FAR to easy a CD. And they have removed basically all counter play options against it.
Being picked a lot is not an issue, and his win rates are around 50% so….no problem. Maybe he was well above 50% “several seasons ago” but doesn’t seem to be the case now. He did get damage nerfed so it’s dishonest to say all the changes benefited him lol…
Also, genji balance doesn’t exist in a vaccim so even if he didn’t get changed too much, that doesn’t mean changes to other heroes won’t bring down his win rates.
I don’t have a problem with hero at the top not changing. Genji just happen to be there lol…
Obviously not lol… Financial gains and player sentiment matter more to them than the game being truly balanced. As they say, balance is about fun, not balance. That’s why some frustrating but balanced heroes get nerfed or stay in the trash can lol…
This is not me agreeing genji is op or out of balance, not at all, but simply that I agree blizzard’s priority for gameplay isn’t balance.
Viewing by…whom? 20k twitch viewers? lmao……
Show me examples of those clips and the correlation of balance being adjusted around those clips lol…
Actually we don’t have data for that, not from overbuff.
It’s how everyone sees balance, by feeling and personal bias lol…including you, because none of us has enough data for scientific analysis of balance.
One of the three most wanted genji nerfs that’s never gonna happen lol…
Junk is still versatile even without his 1-2 combo. He has to be more coordinated with his dive. He can still tank bust and brawl(kinda). I say kinda because I think he still loses every 1v1 up close.
Also junk still has that poke potential. But ngl, I haven’t been enjoying these new health changes that the dps and supports received. Also not enjoying these dps passives.
That is just not well thought out. Win rate is a terrible measure because the things that impact it are people playing they hero that do not regularly play the hero. Because, and I don’t understand why people can’t wrap their heads around this, anyone playing the hero regularly is going to naturally go towards a 50/50 win because of the matchmaker. OP heroes just let people climb higher until the hero’s OP status no longer makes up for their lower skill. And given how often he is played, the VAST majority of people playing him are going to be regulars.
All of the S9 changes benefit him MORE than other heroes.
I suspect the second part is the reason for the first part.
They are not balancing for a fun game. If they were, Genji would not be the top. As you have noted, he is more frustrating to be killed by than most heroes. If they were all about sacrificing balance for fun gameplay he would be weak.
They are focused on what they think ups spectating. Twitch views, youtube clips, etc. They are using that as the metric. Likely the focus started because of OWL, but it is still there. Hopefully that will change as we get further and further away from OWL. But for now I suspect they are still trying to bank on returns from their new esport endeavor.
Mei was nerfed to the ground in OWL specifically to remove her from OWL, which they even said they were trying to do
Cassidy started getting buffs when OWL announcers started talking about watching people ‘click on heads.’
Going into OWL they specifically told us that they were keeping Ana sleep dart because it made for ‘good clips.’
When Sojourn was OP early on they were asked about the frustration playing against it and their reply was, “but it makes for good clips.”
When they mega buffed Genji they even told us it was to get him in OWL.
Etc, etc.
It is not a new thing.
Sure we do. Pick rate and performance data.