She’s a defensive builder. That’s her role and her core design. Similar to Torbjorn, and similar to Bastion.
This is false.
Symmetra’s utility is very team-oriented, but this isn’t unique to Symmetra herself, either. Soldier, likewise, sees great benefits and returns when using his Biotic Field for his team too.
Not unique to Symmetra. You think Soldier benefits from using his Tactical Visor while Reinhardt or D.va mech are lurking around without the aid of his team? What about Genji’s Dragonblade? Or Tracer’s Pulse Bomb? These are not unique cases, nor is Symmetra’s.
This is false.
There is no lack of agency with Teleporter. Teleporter can be used to move Torbjorn’s turret, or move Junkrat’s Trap. It can be use to teleport Sentries at a greater distance or other devices and players in places that they cannot normally reach. That is agency, that is value.
This is largely incorrect.
Agency and value.
Partially true. It can be argued than many members of the team have to play around other characters to maximize their value. Again, Tracer’s value with Pulse Bomb is maximized when using Gravity Surge or other similar abilities that can force enemy teams closer together.
And likewise, Mei and Wrecking Ball benefit when using their ultimates in conjunction with each other. Symmetra isn’t really different here, but it’s harder for players to see the value in Teleporter.
This is incorrect. Symmetra earns value through the use of her devices beyond just teleporter. Sentries can slow targets, in addition to damaging them, assisting nearby allies or simply controlling or denying space from the enemy team.
Using this argument, would mean that Junkrat earns no value unless players deliberately directing targets into his trap to gain value.
This is a driving point behind Support abilities and core design fundamentals. It is not something Damage-role heroes with utility options are given or granted to. See Torbjorn’s former armor packs, Soldier’s Biotic Field, or Sombra’s Hack/EMP. None of these abilities force an interaction or are granted as a benefit to nearby allies. Zenyatta’s Discord works under the same restraints; but he has other mechanics that allows him to interact with others more forcefully.
Her old Photon Shield/Barrier ability granted everyone 25 shield health. It was largely a click and forget, and that was an interaction that Symmetra herself did for her team. It was not the most effective ability.
It, unfortunately, doesn’t resolve any issues. Healing is there, but it’s not on-demand and the designer clearly overlooked core elements behind Support designs that Symmetra does not have, nor attempted to have with Experimental.
Photon Barrier from its second iteration isn’t likely to come back, since it now belongs to Sigma. Shield Generator just creates too much stalling power when paired with Rally, but OW2 partially solves this issue. Still there are other issues.
Not quite the same. Amp Matrix argument works, but Immortality Field can be aimed and placed under a target Baptiste chooses to forcefully interact with. Of course that doesn’t mean the target has to stay under it, but the effect is there. Again, not unusual for Supports to have this core-design mechanic.
Benefits are still there.
Again this is false. Teleporter is not the only way to get value for Symmetra, and it never has been.
Correct.
Incorrect. Zen earns value outside of Discord and damage, Harmony Orb and Transcendence he can force upon others through his interactions.
Players don’t have to stand in it, that’s the point. It’s not a forced interaction. Regen Burst works as a supplemental effect here for the shortcomings of Amp and Immortality Field.
Same for Symmetra. Not unique here.
False.
Blizzard wants healing on all Supports, two forms of it; the rest of the kit can be built out from there. There is no way that if Symmetra goes Support, she won’t have healing, but it can certainly be low-powered (or have different peaks, like Zenyatta’s).
Sentries have had more impact, historically, then Teleporter has had. Sentries slow in addition to dealing damage. That slow is fairly significant, and slowing effects in general are exceptionally rare at present in Overwatch (there are more damage over time effects than slows).
There is value in Teleporter - no it’s not great, but it is there - tweaking teleporter can have some effect, but you’re still running into the same situations that Baptiste has with players not utilizing his ultimate because they’re not forced interactions.
Symmetra does have agency and does have value beyond teleporter, and the frequent disregard really tends to show a lack of basic understanding of how the hero works or plays.
You have to understand that a lack of pick-rates or popularity does not be-little or mean that the character is worthless (for whatever reason). It’s clearly understood that Sombra is one of the most powerful heroes in the game with Hack and EMP, but she sees so little popularity in the higher ranks - not because of her lack of power - but for other reasons.
I’m glad that many of you are starting to come to the realization that Teleporter would likely have to see some kind of removal in order to improve Symmetra in other ways. Doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be moved to another character, nor would losing it mean Symmetra could no longer maintain her builder-archetype and concept.
You’re misunderstanding their use. Sentries each have a coverage of 8-10 meters, which means a total area coverage of over 30 meters (larger than most capture points). Much like Torbjorn’s turret, they’re not there to solo individual or groups of targets, but assist with elimination, by slowing and damaging. To think otherwise, really tends to show a lack of understanding of how builder-archetypes work - especially those in Overwatch. They’re there to help supplement the damage from other angles and to threaten and control points of entry or space. Yes, they can be easily removed, but for some heroes, hitting three different targets (with a total of 90 hp) tends to take a significant amount of time. Just by melee-ing each individual Sentry would take 3 seconds, or at least 120 damage per sentry.
The problem here, is that, again, the Sentries are supplementary, they’re not supposed to replace real healing from a primary source. This is why the current Experimental Symmetra doesn’t work.
This is false.
Very easily I could remove Sentries and replace it with a Disco-Ball Dance Routine that does nothing but cause Symmetra to break into a dance. I did not fix any issues doing this.
No, this is false. None of these heroes are utilitarian. If you more utilitarian elements you look at Ana. Zen, Brigitte and Lucio are all very strong area effect healers, focusing on healing over time.
This is really bad logic.
Correct.