I frequently hear complaints that Blizzard has failed in balancing the game. My own personal opinion aside, I was wondering if there is an actual consensus on WHAT heroes are too op/ up. Now, I know many people are unsatisfied with the latest patch, but the changes ARE new and I was wondering if there was any other problems that the community collectively agree about. From what I have heard, there should be plenty XD
Edit: I really want to know problems beyond the recent reaper changes. I know yall are angry, but it would be great yall could share more than just that!!
Cheers!
A problem I see myself is that like half of the dps are bad.
And instead of buffing them so they can actually deal with tanks and not being unnecessary (like in goats), they chose to make a change that will literally buff Zarya, the most meta tank with Rein and will also make Orisa, the replacement for Rein in several situlations, useless.
Especially with the Reaper buffs
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The changes on the PTR are a good move imo.
It’s just that the majority of voices you’ll hear are people who play the heroes hurt by the changes who don’t play where meta matters. There are a lot of people out there though who do play dps heroes, main tanks other than Rein or who play where meta matters who this change will help. They just don’t tend to be as active on forums I guess.
Changes are trash and make no logical sense besides their very enclosed spectacle that they try to hype you for through an event where they want you to watch very chosen streamers to unlock cosmetics.
Tanks are weak, tank players are tired, and they eat nerfs finishing off the last bit of motivation they had in playing a role they loved.
They refuse to read, they lie, they disrespect their audience on public streams.
At this point they just need a concrete backlash, a good slap in the face, massive dislikes on their videos like Diablo got and boycotts, so that they start to realize that they must listen.
Devs can cancel the Reaper buff, and give him a better ShadowStep, and maybe a bit more armor pierce.
Reaper
-
Hellfire Shotguns
- Damage reduced by -2 against armor, instead of -3.
-
ShadowStep
- First half is nearly instant and invulnerable.
- Second half is unchanged.
Also an Orisa buff would be nice:
Orisa
- +50 additional Armor.
-
Protective Barrier
- Can be used while on cooldown to reposition the barrier.
- Repositioning the barrier reduces it’s remaining shield hitpoints by half.
- Deploying a barrier after the cooldown has reset gives a full health barrier.
McCree: 3 sec cooldown on Fth, because cheese and low ranks
Doomfist: Minigrav on uppercut enemies, faster falling Ult, 20m Slam travel distance
Roadhog: Ult charge given to enemies and healers reduced by 20%.
Mercy: Staff R button = 2seconds of either, 2x heals or 30% dmgboost with attacks pierce through multiple enemies. 10sec cooldown.
Bastion: E ability gives 200 overshield health for 5 seconds. 10sec cooldown.
OR E ability is lower damage tank mode, Q ability is SelfNanoBoost. (Fyi, Damage resistance is capped at 50%).
Torbjorn: Critical hitbox reduced by 25% to no include beard. +50armor on overload. Ultimate ignores Defence Matrix. (Like Hammonds Ult).
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Hmmm. I understand how the latest changes really nerfed tanks.
That being said, what is your opinion on GOATS? Will you deny that it was a tank dominated meta?
No single hero which is straight up OP. Just comp synergies which are potentially too good.
UP are Doom after the sledge hammer nerf, Sombra like always and the usual Symm, Torb and Bastion are very “niche”
Reaper needs help as well, but they are already buffing him.
The game as of PTR is by far the most balanced it has ever been
After playing the PTR a bit, the changes to tanks (As a collective group) are minimal. As we write, tanks in the live game and on PTR die fast enough on their own that armor is basically health anyway.
But,
It is the mentality behind what Blizzard is changing, and has changed that makes the difference. Tanks since the release of the game have become harder and harder to get value out of. There have been times in drastically high level play where tanks have been, and are, the component that determines the win or the loss of a match. All of us common folk, the vast majority of people who play tank or flex to tank, are beholden to our team as a victory modifier. We make the space for the Damage Dealers to operate in. If, and basically when, the PTR goes live what you will see is a drop in the players who will pick a tank based on what value they can get out of it.
GOATS comp is played by the highest ranked players in the game. Even Jeff Kaplan stated “people who play the META don’t actually play the META, they are just playing the heroes that make up the META.” (paraphrased). For me, GOATS comp is just high level players being uncreative to drastic degree. GOATS didn’t exist until Bridgette did.
Tanks and Supports, and yes even Damage Dealers have been in every META save GOATS comp. Is the solution to GOATS, and every META afterwards to abolish tanks? The public en masse will see far fewer tank players, no matter how they pan out after PTR, not because the changes hurt them but because the changes are ridiculously stupid.
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Thank you for your detailed response!! Am I right to say that tanks are not very viable in the ladder, as the relative lack of communication and team synergy greatly reduce their fun and viability?
i will be honest: I was never a huge fan of the rock/ paper/ scissors mentality. I don’t mean you shouldn’t learn to flex, but I feel that many heroes are not given the outplay potential for players to solo queue and still contribute to the team. I feel tanks fill a really tricky spot there though. How do you be the centerpiece of the team while becoming less reliant on team coordination and not be op?
Edit: I also appreciate the need for coordination and teamwork. But I feel like a lot of heroes like mercy lack autonomy and individual impact.
orisa needs mega buffs man its literally rediculous how bad she has been and after this patch she is useless .
Tanks are “viable in ladder” if you consider not having one as a detriment to your team. I play a considerable amount of time on Reinhardt. I do so because I find it enjoyable. The consensus on the forums, as far as I have read, is people play Reinhardt because they have to, not because they want to. In the competitive mode I was ranked silver to start out and quickly climbed to platinum where I have remained the last 5-6 seasons. My ability to do so was partly due to my own acumen on Reinhardt and my teams ability to play well off of my tanking. I don’t particularly find Platinum rank games difficult, as I have played multiple scrims with players ranging from T500 down to Diamond. Those games by far are the most difficult. I was allowed to participate in those games not because of my rank, but because of the team leader realizing my ability to play Reinhardt was superior to most they have played with. As far as “lack of communication” is concerned. I have a hand written log of my competitive games. In that log lack of communication is the leading cause of games where we failed to have a chance at winning. You can have a close game with equally skilled players who all communicate, but without communication you will lose a vast majority of your games regardless of skill.
Rock/Paper/Scissors is a difficult balancing mantra. Blizzard themselves failed at this in World of Warcraft. I think looking at why and not what is the most revealing. Why did Blizzard fail at the R/P/S balancing in WoW? Once people start watching the games being played, no one is willing to view players playing mitigation roles effectively. This takes the “Rock” out of the equation. In Season 6 of World of Warcraft Arenas you could play a protection Warrior and Protection Paladin. It lasted 3 months before Blizzard decimated this way of playing. Fewer people watched WoW arenas, so I am not surprised Blizzard would go this route with Overwatch.
Tricky how? They are supposed to soak up damage. They all have tools to do so effectively. All tanks have minus Roadhog since the beginning of the game. Roadhog was even changed to be more of a tank to fit Blizzard’s caste of what a tank should be. What tanks shouldn’t be doing is dishing out so much damage. Any tank, in any game, that can deal damage is normally out of place. I do not know why Blizzard decided it was a good idea for any of them to be kill secure monsters, but they did. Once Bridgette was released and armor became ready available and used to extreme values, suddenly its a problem…with tanks.
Tanks have to be able to mitigate incoming damage. This is their primary purpose. In a game where objectives reign supreme, their secondary objective becomes making space for their team to work in. The second you allow them to encroach on Damage Dealers and Support roles you have huge problem. Again to use Bridgette as an example; She encroached on the tank role to the point where her ultimate was like having a 7th member on your team. Instead of reworking the issue, Blizzard with their heavy hand, reduced the value of an entire mechanic. Tanks have never really been Over Powered on their own. There is generally another reason for their absolute dominance. In the case of Overwatch, until GOATS they were simply 2/6 of a team at every level of play.
Sadly though, as I have stated multiple times, tank players including me will just refuse to play them anymore. With the constant cycle of Support nerfs, Damage Dealer buffs and now a Tank nerf I and many other tank players just refuse to put up with it anymore. It’s not about strength, its about principle.
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I agree with this its incredibly hard to climb as orisa or rein .I was hard stuck in gold for months then i got a new account and shot right up to almost masters .The one thing i realised is its too hard to carry aweful players in this game and in gold and plat the players are god aweful playing tank is literally a waste of time .