This is a proper reorganized response to that one thread about supports sucking and needing to be changed. I said my two-cents there already, but I really need to clarify. If you think that’s a better take, go like that guy’s post, but I’ll still be here.
Okay.
Let’s start with considering the accusation.
Supports desperately need a change, do they?
Then the question is why?
Is it because of queue times?
Is there something inherently unfun about playing support?
Do they truly need a rework?
I’d absolutely say no.
But even if they did, what could they do?
No matter what they do, there is absolutely no way they can fix whatever problems with a rework or balance change.
Do you really think if they did some huge overhaul to supports that it would rebalance queue times?
People just don’t like playing support.
There will ALWAYS be less of a demand for support players. ALWAYS.
If you REALLY think it’s possible to have something even relatively close to a 20-40-40 queue ratio, quit kidding yourself, ya moron.
Support has never been as popular as damage dealing
and it NEVER WILL.
People would rather kill stuff than heal the team.
I know I would.
I play a bunch of Moira just to cover for my incompetent DPS players.
You don’t see epic clips on montages where Mercy carries their team by keeping them topped off.
Do you?
The appeal of the imposing tanks and the lethal DPS is not as intriguing as the satisfaction of knowing that
YOU,
as a support,
have won this game
because YOU
were the reason
that YOUR team was alive.
That sounds great to me!
But even so…
I’d rather get a 5k with a Rip-Tire.
Those feel like heaven.
As a support player, I realize the role isn’t popular.
I realize things would change if people stopped queueing for Tank and Damage.
But I also realize that
THAT.
IS NOT.
HAPPENING.
Are supports not fun?
Is that the issue with them?
Or, again, is it that you get more of a feeling of fun getting epic 4 mans with your Death Blossom than prevent your team from dying with a well-coordinated Immortality Field?
To all of the quote-unquote support mains who are getting tired of the role, I’m sorry that you’re in such a support slump, but your feelings might just be due to the accumulating bitterness towards the game.
I for one, over the years, have gone from being a tank main, to a damage main, to now a support main.
I’m currently having the time of my life playing support.
Each and every one of them is well-designed and fun to play. (Mercy is extremely fun, like holy cow)
And plenty of people agree with me on that fact. As too are there plenty of people who disagree with me.
We are getting new players, and plenty of them are blossoming into great support mains.
I’m sure there’s a couple of support players, your Lucio one-tricks, that you watch on Twitch or YouTube.
In the end, one’s perception of “fun” is completely subjective.
But even if they aren’t fun, surely the Overwatch team should change them in order to satisfy the bulk of the fanbase.
It’s important that every hero is appealing to the players and
clearly
they are not.
Actions must be done!
The support class obviously needs a rework. But…
how do we even do that?
Is a rework possible?
Is it necessary?
What can we do?
How about we give them more healing!
No… the last thing we want are a bunch of broken healbots…
We should give them more damage; then they can win even more 1v1s!
No… that’s hardly a problem… We raise the health of damage output of these folks, we’ll have another Mace to the Face problem. Every team will have the same supports and the ones who don’t will lose. (Or the players will just give up and think they’ll lose. ಠ_ಠ)
Maybe we could have supports that provide support in other ways than healing!
No… do we really want that? Imagine if the old Sym was in the support role. And she was on your team. You don’t want that.
Ooh!
I’ve got it!
Instead of having two supports, we could have one mega- WHO AM I KIDDING?!
I don’t think people realize how convenient the change from 2 to 1 tank was for both the dev team and the players.
It’s not as easy to rework supports like they did with tanks.
It may be impossible.
I mean that.
So maybe it’s just the individuals in the support roster. Let’s see…
Ana’s fine.
Bap’s fine.
Brig’s better than ever… Fine.
Kiriko… we’ll put a pin in her. Broken ult, but otherwise fine.
Lucio’s fine.
Moira’s fine. Suck it up before she sucks you. >:]
Mercy: “I used to be able to do this cool exploit where I could jump straight up really high in the air but now ANYBODY can do it in ANY direction and now I’m not as special. :(” Shaddap. Mercy’s the best she’s ever been. She’s fine.
Zen’s funny :)… and also fine.
They can heal.
They can kill. (Not really Mercy, but that’s not her job.)
They can… utility?
No issues with the support heroes… wait… what needs reworked again?
What could REALLY be done to rework the roster?
If you’ve got any ideas on how to “fix” the support role, be sure to say something.
Give them a speed increase and see how you feel dealing with a Moira fading onto your rump.
And will whatever change you make fix the problems with queues?
Will it satisfy your one-note definition of fun?
Step away from the screen, go into your bathroom, look at yourself in the mirror, and tell yourself…
“The queue times would be fixed if we just changed supports.” like you mean it.
Sometimes I don’t even think the community knows what it wants.
So… what can be done to fix queue times and interest in support?
Well… not too much regarding numbers and reworks,
but they’re already doing a few things right.
First of all, giving extra Battle Pass XP for the least popular role is good motivation.
Second of all, they’re adding more supports. That’s all we really need, right?
And finally,
one thing we can all do
is to take a deep breath,
put on your best attitude
and your biggest smile
and play a game of support.
Who knows?
You might just suddenly click with Mercy.
Just in general, we need to stop making lame-as excuses.
Supports do not need changed.
EDIT: tl;dr Balance changes aren’t going to fix queue times, but there are definitely other things they can do. About 40 comments in and we’re finally getting some good ideas in here.
