Tracer Nerf is Too Harsh?

General Discussion
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Like I clarified earlier, Sym/Torb is really only toxic in lower ranks.

However, pre-patch Doom could CC you to death, and Moira gets an unusual level of value from how mechanically easy she is to play.

Sombra’s hack is still one of the most valuable DPS ability in both games because it grants her map control and it works on almost every character, barring those who don’t rely on cooldowns. EMP is a fast building ult and was (and still probably will be) an almost instant win condition in anything above metal ranks. She can even overturn 6v4s if the correct plays are made.

Example of a T500 Sombra:

Mei has self heal, a versatile wall that blocks LOS and isolates main tanks, and can instant freeze to kill anybody without burst damage. At a high level the only real counter is another Mei.

Example of a T500 Mei:

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Lmfao! If that was the case in owl they’d play mei over sojourn.

2 Likes
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They nerf only Tracers damage but removing most of her counters completely. The maps also favor Tracer and other flankers a lot.

So in the end the damage nerf was justified because she got so many indirect buffs.

2 Likes
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Yeah, no.
Tracer has been busted for the entirety of OW1. Do people forget that blizzard made a character that BROKE THE GAME for YEARS to counter her. Said character also needed to create role queue and it all comes back from not wanting to nerf tracer.
Sorry but tracer players had their time to shine long enough. Blizzard finally made the character more balanced and I don’t wanna head back to the sh*t show that’s OW1 tracer

6 Likes
25

Tracer is a tickle monster now. Sure, you can live easier and won’t get CC’ed, but her backline assassin playstyle is mostly dead unless the enemy has zero peel. If you want kills just play Widow or Sojourn IMO.

3 Likes
26

you see, you were doing so well in your comment, till you said this. genji is not overperforming nor too strong in OW2. hes just good. thats it. tracer is also fine as is as youve said. neither of those dive dps heroes need nerfing or buffing. if we wanna talk about too strong in OW2, lets look at sojourn please.

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Genji was mediocre to bad for majority of ow1’s lifespan and got dropped by the pros within two weeks for a nerfed version of tracer which shows how strong she is.

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this should be framed as pretty much THE historical pov of tracer

1 Like
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Tracer is generally fine. The problem I’m having on the Beta playing her is the amount of AoE or DoT damage being spammed.

Junker Queen getting you with Knife.
Sojourn’s Field
Moira’s Damage Orbs
Brig Swinging
Ashe’s Dynamite
…

Whatever.

Often, in matches, you’re dealing with at least 3 of these things stacked on top of each other. It’s really hard to play this character when you’re basically having to run into/through/around 2-4 AOE damage sources (many relatively passive) all match.

It just isn’t fun or productive.

I don’t play Genji, much, but he fares a lot better because his vertical mobility allows him better ways to get around things, and opens up more flanking paths for him.

2 Likes
30

I can’t play Sombra. Too much DoTs and AoE damage being spammed (this is less problematic at the highest ranks - they play less cheesy comps) and Zens are basically just hiding behind a teammate/LoSing for half a second and getting Trance off after EMP. It’s very hard to not get outplayed by it, so you basically need to force Trance before EMP a lot. Same with Sound Barrier.

It requires too much team coordination to get consistent value out of her - for the average Gold or Plat team, IME.

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waiting for the ladders. im wondering if tracer will dominate top 500 ladders again in ow2. i kind of doubt it but im sure she will be represented. wonder who the new top dog will be. who will have the most representation? sojourn? widow?

real curious

ill be surprised if genji is the new top dog. i mean he is strong in this new 5v5 model but i dont see him dominating in gm 500…

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You do realize that she had the same movement speed she has had for over 6 years, and she had the big 17% dmg nerf at the beginning of last beta too? Like, her dmg was not insanely high, it’s the lowest it’s ever been.

Still think tracer is a decent pick overall, in the hands of a skilled player.

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Anyone who says Tracer “ran rings around the whole match” and was “OP as hell” at any point in beta is clearly lying to support their agenda. Not even worth addressing them.

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34

she should be strong the higher up you go in ranks because she’s requires true skill (like doom)

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Harsh? She should’ve been nerfed harder. You should be glad she didn’t end up like Mei or Sym.

1 Like
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nope nope nope don’t care i really don’t care and no one besides tracer mains should care either.

tracer has DOMINATED since 2016 until 218, and then dominated again in 2019. tracer deserved this nerf and deserves nothing else like no changes anymore. this nerf was good don’t encourage the devs to buff her and make her super strong

1 Like
37

If we consider OWL and T500, then she’s still decent, but if we consider the balance of the casual rank games, she’s middling or worse than avg. at best.

I honestly think it’s not that Tracer has too high skill floor. Other characters have too low skill floor, and even many casual players absolutely hate that.

2 Likes
38

It’s funny how Tracer has probably been the only hero in the game that has never been forced to swap because she’s had almost zero hard counters, except against release Brig. The idea of swapping because you’re being countered is a foreign idea to most Tracer players.

7 Likes
39

I think the no counters idea is a little weird. It’s not that Tracer doesn’t have any counters aside from Brig and the builders, she just has the most 50/50 matchups in the game that rely on player skill for the counter to win. At least for me personally that’s what I loved the most about her from perspective, she felt fair to play.

A good Cassidy can just either flash you when you get too close or just two-tap headshot you if you try to poke in higher ranks. Plus in OW2 he gets increased survivability from his combat roll so he can get of 12 high damage shots if a Tracer gets too aggro after recall.

A Sombra can deny you value after a hack in both games. In OW1 Sombra’s health pool and translocating ability just either outlasts you and kills you or she can TP out, in which case only Sombra is getting value out of the duel from denying you access to the backline.

A better Genji will kill a better Tracer a high percentage of the time in my experience. This is more of a skill based matchup as I was talking about. Who wins is determined by skill and advantages each player has in a given situation.

Reaper doesn’t have as much of a skill ceiling as Tracer, nor does he have a neutral game, but in an enclosed space Reaper can shine with his burst damage and tankiness. His forgiving passive and his wraith allow him to get peel freely with you unable to do anything about it.

You can try poking out a Mei but she’s a general counter against flankers. Getting behind her to burst her down works too if she’s unaware, but 1) she’ll generally have peel if she’s in the middle of a team and 2) a good Mei can two-tap headshot you with her secondary fire, so poke battles are inherently riskier. Reaper is the better choice her than Tracer up close.

The Ana matchup is tipped more towards Tracer, but Ana can still Anti-nade and you force out your recall if she can’t hit the sleep. A well positioned Ana will get peel, it’s just than in OW2 they can outheal your burst instead of relying on cooldowns like Bap immortal field.

You shouldn’t really be dueling tanks at all if you’re low as Tracer. Her best matchup is against Winston and Rein since they have no way to deal with you, but anyone else takes too much time to kill in a straight duel for you to get value.

Obviously hitscans can punish sloppy rotations and rollouts when outside of her effective range. Tracer’s entire win condition relies on her getting into effective range and getting the most value out of her recall.

Brig and the builders are just instant swaps for me if we’re talking about pub games. An annoying Moira is also just dumb to duel so I swap to characters that have an easier time in these specific situations. It’s almost like Tracer can’t be effective if used in the wrong engagement ranges or against the wrong characters.

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Regardless, wasn’t she still a problem at the top ranks? I thought she already was a problem in OW1 but without an off tank aka the peeler in chief and CC reductions, that doesn’t sound like a fun time for anyone except tracer (who you acknowledge as probably the step by east character).

Aren’t they all useless against her cos she can swoop in, kill any squishy and reverse out. If that was the case wouldn’t they be using them instead of Tracer at the top and she wouldn’t be the top character? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

A two v one where a support hit both themselves and you with a (bs ability, Anna can get stuffed) small aoe splash and your character is one of the most mobile and deadly in the game? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Also… Little to no value? You’ve forced both Supports to burn abilities and attack you as opposed to supporting/attacking the rest of the team. All it cost you was Recall…

You list an ult combination and a combination of two or more characters.

I’lll acknowledge that Sombra lland to a lesser extent Mei) can be tricky. Sombra especially in OWL is devastating when you’ve got a game based on using abilities and a character who takes that away… :man_facepalming:t2:

I dunno… she’s certainly not a problem for low ranks or middle ranks the higher you go the bigger the problem. Didn’t you also acknowledge she was the strongest character…?

So, is it just that one guy makes X a better pick than her?

They did just give zen a new kick cos he was struggling, I guess there’s some teething issues though if he’s suddenly the strongest as weren’t all the Supports struggling with flankers with the loss of the peeler in chief?

If you decrease her fire rate, wouldn’t it work out to be more or less the same…?

Effective range could be an interesting change, with either fall off of spread changes :thinking: however, would that make it more awkward as you’d have to engage engage enemies at a different distance? :woman_shrugging:t2: