I was incredibly dismissive and critical the day 5v5 was announced. I lost online OW gaming friends because of it because they thought I was becoming too critical.
Recently reconnected and started playing with them again and they all came to the same realizations as I originally did about 5v5. They fully agree with how I initially and always felt. Especially the one who was a tank main 99% of the time in OW1/6v6.
Then when S9 changes came out, I knew the game was going to feel worse because EVERYONE’s accuracy was going to increase even on notorious for being lobby hostage holders heroes (like the bad Widows we used to all get in QP). Hated and still hate those changes too as I can somewhat frequently see a shot whizz past my hero but still get counted as a hit when it used to not, and even the bad Widows can go games on end with KDs of 2-4:1 in QP when they used to be negative KDs and never switch.
This time with Perks I decided not to formulate any initial opinion other than a concern other than how some heroes clearly got better perks than others and that perks in general are just buffing the entire game’s damage and anti-heal with no compensation this time.
I have now played like 4 games and have yet to win a single game. Very small sample size obviously, but the system just feels BAD.
Now I feel like you have to obsess and play a certain way as only some actions contribute to that Perk level up you badly need to keep up with the enemy players. I already feel myself playing differently and dying more as the only way to really get your levels is kills and damage (a much slower rate).
It also feels like different roles (or maybe even heroes individually) gain their levels slower than others. I have played Ball as my 2nd most played with a significant total # of hours. I tried playing him and I was the LAST ONE to get my FIRST perk level up because Ball isnt about confirming kills all the time and there are many times in a match where you won’t necessarily be going for immense damage #s.
Another major feeling oversight is just weird little “quirks” that the Devs decided to go with.
I was really looking forward to having more options to Duplicate and trying out the extra sticky bombs but…Echo can NOT gain perk level progress while using her Ult AND she can NOT use the selected perks of the hero she copied. She is just the base form of that hero.
BOTH OF THESE are major DISADVANTAGES in this new Perk System. I felt DISINCENTIVIZED to use Duplicate as it was time wasted while everyone else was Perk Leveling and I wasn’t for up to 10+ seconds.
ALSO, being stuck in the base form of the hero you selected to Duplicate is a MASSIVE disadvantage when everyone else is all decked and buffed out with their Perks and you are just…standard power level from the past.
Also feels VERY BAD being stuck as the SOLO tank in a new system where swapping just puts you at a near unrecoverable disadvantage due to getting your Perk Level reset AND with how everyone’s perks have no true negatives! Every perk amounts to either more damage, more CC, or more anti-heal. Zero survivability compensation.
I am really struggling to see how this will work out well in the long run as it feels perks will be used now to avoid any base level balancing of heroes because they will just turn around and say “ah maybe we should just slightly nerf DOUBLE NADE instead of nerfing nade itself” and other kinds of things like that.