If utility defines supports then Hanzo is now a support?
Well when playing this game I suppose so, but in a Moba shield support totally can work. Developers diff I will call it.
Utility is very supportive. Hanzo has a bit with his arrow. Everyone on the team can see targets and use that knowledge to inform there positioning and strategy changes.
Turrets sort of do this too but Symmetra has to call out stuff. When her turrets die. Like turrets destroyed enemies are near would be nice. If allies can see that message and like a small few second ping at that location that would be a utility buff to sentry turrets for example. Like a psuedo hanzo wall arrow.
They designed Sym that way at first but players hated having her when they could have a healer that heals their mistakes away…
Community decided all supports must be able to heal. Symmetra was put in dps where she kept her original identity as more of a zone defence character with team utility.
LoL/DotA are an entirely different genre that has some similarities to OW due to how both are ultimately based off a specific RTS but aside that they dont play the same.
In LoL, assassins can be supports if they have any way to feed gold to their ADCs.
In OW, supports are defined by their ability to reliably heal their teammates when needed and on demand. Doesnt need to have giant numbers but all successful supports can do that to a point.
OW supports and MOBA supports are kind of very different concepts. In OW there is no gold, which is the main role of the LoL support. To feed gold to their adc and not be completely useless with their low gold income once/if lategame starts.
Would you consider Soldier a Support just because he can heal other people?
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Utility is utility. ‘‘supportive’’ is a meaningless and ambiguous word that means nothing. Like you are practically admitting that its entirely ambiguous to define the support role by utility because then anyone that isnt a pure dps hero can be a ‘‘support’’.
Does Moira stop being a support because she has no utility?
No one in their right mind could say that Hanzo or Widow are supports despite having utility. And thats because the defense category was the damage + utility role, not support. Support was always the healing + utility + damage role. Sym was always the exception to the rule.
Would you consider Soldier’s healing ‘‘reliable and on-demand’’ like I said several times a support needs to have to be a support, or do you just enjoy strawmanning with useless gotchas?
Would you consider Zenyatta’s single target 30 HPS that requires LOS reliable and on-demand? He is an example of a Support that is more utility based and much less about healing, and he’s one of the best Supports in the game (OW1 at least).
When you think about it, Soldier does more HPS than Zenyatta if you’re stationary and grouped.
You and I both know that 
Yeah which kind of eliminates any creativity that can go into this game when it comes to support. Technically all supports has their own version of healing, but that’s about it.
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Its ok to have supporting abilities in all 3 roles since its a team game. But some heroes have a bunch of team utility. Like Mei’s kit. Wall to isolate victims makes burst moments of 1 vs 5s. Or her aoe area denial 4 second stun.
Widow’s ult is very supportive team utility which can help enable kills.
The powerful heroes in dps category have most of there value in raw damage and playmaking potential. Which is very good for high end players. The team utility is good if you utilize its value well to. You or your team mates.
Blizz changed the support role for the community to always have a form of healing. I dont think they will chanfe it back to how they first envisioned the game. As healing was the ultimate way of supporting your team. Healing away mistakes.
Yes. It doesnt have massive numbers, but thats doesnt stop it from being reliable and being always available.
In fact, did you know that it was so reliable and efficient at keeping flankers alive it was given a LoS requirement?
If you are defining supports by their ability to healbot a tank then maybe you need to get your head out of colon.
His ‘‘utility’’ is literally just damage. He is in funnily enough one of the best examples that utility doesnt define the support role.
You really desperate to prove a point, arent you. To the point of intentionally ignoring Transcendence.
I think that concept alone is what kind of killed Overwatch appeal. It became obvious like we know what the support will always be. Nothing else gonna change so if it shot themselves in the foot. Sure the healing hero can come with cool unique abilities, but they’re mostly the healing support type and nothing else. I believe that’s why the E-sport scene wasn’t always going to look great for them.
For the Nth time they didnt give Lucio or Zen healing 2 years into the game.
The support role has always been defined by their ability to heal their team in a reliable way. Whatever there has been an out of ult healing creep is another matter altogether.
Sym was reworked away from being an attempt at support twice.
Blizz has made a bumch of healers in there games. Overwatch heroes have few abilities.
Still a bunch of different ways to make mew supports that arent in the game yet.
No I think you get a little pressed when someone disagrees with you. I’m the same though, but never over a video game. That’s just sad.
Supports could have been so much more than being strictly healers. It made the role so uninspired. Moira could have provided lifesteal rather than doing flat healing by holding down M1. It limits their creativity when making Supports.
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Yeah we’ll see how Overwatch 2 handles it.
I am honestly appalled at how you all seem to have this distorted and absurd notion of how OW was at release. Y’all act like they gave Lucio and Zen healing after launch because ~the community~ was bad or something.
Symmetra was a support but not a healer. The devs tried to make non healing supports work but the community hated it. And switched there philosophy.
And continues to make it more of a utility dps.
Symmetra still plays as her old style as a damage dealer. She plays like a hybrid of all 3 roles imo. And just never heals.
Supports mean whatever blizz wants it to. Symmetra basically healed less then Sombra and she too is a dps and very lethal rn.
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They always told people to switch off Sym and go healer… Sym was hated because she couldnt heal the rest of her team.
Nope he’s just stating opinions as you are. Don’t need to be triggered over it.
We all saw how Overwatch evolved into as well. It didn’t go well and it died. The same will happen to Overwatch 2 pvp side that is. The visuals are nice, but the QoL aren’t there.
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