I got off two matches where the enemy ran Pharah, and when she is far away, we can hear her flying (especially if she uses the Shift ability), but when she is right overhead, it seems like she is completely silent. This also happens a lot in FFA and 1v1s as I’ve noticed. A Pharah overhead is much quieter than if she were to walk right around you.
In the two matches, Pharah sneaked above the entire team (yes, six people), and not one single person heard her until she popped her ult. My game music and voice sound is usually turned down a lot, and sound effects are way up so I hear better, and even with max volume, I could not hear her jets. I might make a video testing it, but do you think she’s a little too quiet?
More useless?
Mei’s ult is probably most useless right now. McCree also makes himself vulnerable.
If a character’s ult only has value in the fact that you can’t even hear the character at all (which is a really big deal, try playing Overwatch with no sound, see how easily you get flanked and unexpectedly killed), when you are supposed to hear that character, then that’s just bad game design right there.
That said, isn’t it funny how the stealthiest character in the game (the one with barely audible thrusters) happens to be stealthier than a character who is meant to be stealthy??
Haha I know exactly what you mean! Happens a lot in me and my friends games. I’m forever complaining how Pharah seems to have stealth mode on her jets because she is literally silent and suddenly she’s right there above us ulting.
Like, a lot of the time she isn’t even that high above us either. She’s quite close over our heads but still absolutely no sign of her… then BANG “JUSTICE REIGNS FROM ABOVE”. It frightens the sh*t out of me, I’ll be honest with ya.
You watch the kill cam and she’s there hovering for a good 30seconds, probably chuckling away, “ha idiots”…
Yeah, as if I’m supposed to believe that you can’t hear those extreme air pressured jet thrusters tickling the top of your hair…
Okay, some other ults are also pretty bad. I didn’t say Pharah’s was by far the worst. My point is it will become even worse at it is if her jets are made louder.
If a character’s ult only has value in the fact that you can’t even hear the character at all (which is a really big deal, try playing Overwatch with no sound, see how easily you get flanked and unexpectedly killed), when you are supposed to hear that character, then that’s just bad game design right there.
Who says you are supposed to easily hear Pharah when she is hovering? The Jump Jet is very loud, the Hover Jets not so much, I am pretty sure this is deliberate. And there are other ways of using Barrage, of course, but sneaking from behind is the best one. Just like many other ults but no other ult leaves rooted to the spot for 3 whole seconds.
Yeah, as if I’m supposed to believe that you can’t hear those extreme air pressured jet thrusters tickling the top of your hair…
Well, if realism is the problem we should also complain you can survive even one hit from her rockets (or Junkrat’s bombs or anyone’s bullets, really).
So, when she uses her thrusters, her mobility should be quieter compared to even Zenyatta’s nonexistent footsteps? A character’s volume depends on how much damage they will inflict (compare how Reaper and Soldier sound, as well as Pharah’s footsteps), but when airborne, you can hear Pharah, but only far away. If she is overhead, you can’t hear her, as I said before. Distance, yes, close up, no. Explain that, please.
Don’t forget Barrage’s damage is extremely high, just like Reaper’s ult. So both are easily punishable and leave you more or less standing still. Except you can hear Reaper when he uses Wraith and see him coming. You can’t hear Pharah. Asking her thrusters to have the same volume as her footsteps isn’t a big nerf. She has the most reliable vertical mobility in the game, capable of sustained flight (if you can manage your fuel right), so if walking is discouraged because flying both makes you hard to hit AND stealthy, that’s really bad game design.
I’d argue that’s because it’s one of the biggest issues with her that makes her a little unfair. Every other hero you can hear, but not Pharah. You can hear Sombra coming out of stealth, you can’t hear Pharah at all when above.
Not always. Roadhog is louder than any DPS, for instance.
Don’t forget Barrage’s damage is extremely high, just like Reaper’s ult. So both are easily punishable and leave you more or less standing still. Except you can hear Reaper when he uses Wraith and see him coming.
Any half-decent Reaper doesn’t ult right after using Wraith. They wait in high places and jump or use some other sneaky move.
Also, there is far less cover in the air then on the ground. So, while it might not be that easy to hear Pharah, it’s easier to see her than a flanking Tracer, Sombra or Genji.
She has the most reliable vertical mobility in the game, capable of sustained flight (if you can manage your fuel right), so if walking is discouraged because flying both makes you hard to hit AND stealthy, that’s really bad game design.
Sustained flight for more than 10 seconds requires you to use Jump Jets which are loud. In other words, Pharah can’t get around half of the map relying just on her hover jets without walking or using the jump jet. In my experience, other flankers are far more likely to get the drop on you than Pharah, so these “super quiet” jets don’t seem to do their job very well.
Other flankers are more audible because of their footsteps, Pharah’s jets are very quiet. Half the POTGs I see on YouTube with Pharah is her flying over the enemy team for a few seconds before ulting, and no one looks up because no one hears her.
Reaper can drop down, sure, but you’d hear his teleport or his extra loud footsteps beforehand. Moreover, he drops down to ground level, making him easy to punish as McCree or Brigitte. On the other hand, Barrage is much harder unless your DPS can actually hit something in the sky and don’t panic / run away.
Flankers do their job because they are afraid of Pharah. Tracer can easily die to her, and they usually have far more game awareness and scouting while the actual team is there for the fight. If you were to tune her jets to match her footsteps in close range, it would bring a lot of awareness and make her a lot more easily counterable. I get easily disoriented when going against Pharah because one moment I hear her, then I do not her her at all. Kill cam shows she was flying around me right above, but because she was so close, her jets were inaudible.
On the other hand, Barrage is much harder unless your DPS can actually hit something in the sky and don’t panic / run away.
DPS? Any hero with range longer than Symmetra’s can kill Pharah with ease while she is ulting, There is a reason why "Justice reins from…aaah! is a meme. It’s not harder to stop than Death Blossom by any stretch of the imagination.
Half the POTGs I see on YouTube with Pharah is her flying over the enemy team for a few seconds before ulting, and no one looks up because no one hears her.
You don’t expect people to upload clips where someone sees or hear Pharah and shoot her before she can do anything, can you? Any ult can seem OP based on youtube clips because those show pretty much only the spectacular successes, not the terrible failures. Try playing Pharah to see if it’s that easy to sneak from behind and ult successfully.
I am not arguing that Barrage is an OP ability, I am arguing that Pharah is far too stealthy. Stay on point.
But since you want to argue, McCree’s high noon interruption is an even bigger meme that’s even in the Hero previews (see: Ana, Doomfist). Her ult has a high damage potential and damage starts immediately, and projectiles can kill after her death. That’s why she has the drawback of staying still. The problem is that with her stealth, she can easily activate it with little to no counterplay, that’s why there are so many potgs of that sort. If she flies above you, you will not hear her. If she flies any more distance away, you’ll start to hear her, but not when she is overhead. That’s my argument.
lif you believe that pharahs ult is bad the i dont know wht to think. and pharah isnt the only stationary or slow ult user. you have mccree, reaper, roadhog, bastion in the beginning of his ult, and you dont have to be behind to use pharahs ult. just using it in the middle of a teamfight can work as long as you can get 2 or more kills or 1 priority kill its valuable. and it is easy to sneak behind with pharah.
Even if you get the drop on a group of enemies quite often one of them will turn around and kill you before you can do much damage. If you think Barrage has little to no counterplay I don’t even know what to tell you except to actually try it and see how wrong that claim is.
I’m just saying it’s not just you, it used to be a popular topic back in the day. I agree she’s too quiet. I got solo-ulted once while rezzing behind a wall, thinking I was perfectly safe, completely unaware there was a Pharah just a few feet above me.
If you use your thrusters above the team in the middle of a team fight, 1) no one will hear you, 2) no one will notice you because they are in the middle of a team fight. Use your ult. Even one second gets off 30 rockets, and each rocket does 40 damage. That’s 1200 DPS. A second on a priority target or two targets is all you need to give your team the upperhand.
If the thrusters were more audible (I’m not saying make them super obvious, I’m saying make them as loud as her footsteps), then it’d be a little better and give more awareness.
I should also add, this just shows that her ult isn’t bad like you say it is. McCree’s is far worse, and a lot other heroes have a bigger disadvantage when using their own with a far less DPS in exchange. To say Pharah’s ult is bad and use it as a reason to keep thrusters near silent when overhead (again, overhead, you can hear her from afar, but not when she is overhead) is just a terrible counterargument.
This thread isn’t “Pharah’s barrage is OP nerf,” this thread is “Pharah isn’t a stealth character so make her thrusters a little more audible.”
I didn’t see this part of your reply, but, Roadhog also has a huge healthpool, Take a Breather, and the potential to combo squishies with ease (hook, shoot, melee).
Indeed but trading your ult just to kill one enemy and be killed yourself is a waste of an ult still.
Most DPS ults can do lots of damage if the enemy team is distracted by fighting the rest of your team and honestly if they are so distracted it won’t matter much how loud you are anyway.
I should also add, this just shows that her ult isn’t bad like you say it is. McCree’s is far worse, and a lot other heroes have a bigger disadvantage when using their own with a far less DPS in exchange.
Who are these “other heroes”? I can only think of Doomfist but he at least survives his ult far more often than Pharah. And no offense but have you ever played Pharah? Her ult sounds amazing on paper and it can be amazing in the right circumstances… it’s just that its success rate is low and the likelihood of dying is the highest. Genji’s ult, for instance, has far less damage on paper but in reality it’s far more effective because it allows you to get past barriers, avoid enemy fire and pick your targets.
