sees that Symmetra and Torb aren’t even in the top 10 as low as Bronze.
Can we stop perpetuating that they’re “ez no-skill heroes who can’t ever be buffed because they’ll make low-tier unplayable” now?
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Mr. Kaplan,
First off, hello! I hope you’re having a wonderful start to your week. I want to tell you how much I love Brigitte and that I think you guys really hit a home run with her design. I do have a concern that I was hoping you could address (I know you did a month or two back, but the game has changed dramatically since then):
Reinhardt has evaporated from use in high level play, with the small exception of King’s Row, Lijiang: Control Center, and occasionally last point Eichenwalde (he is sometimes used on Horizon, but only in quad tank comps). Is he still a hero that you believe to be balanced, or is the team at least keeping an eye on him? I’d also like to point out that the top maps from the map poll you made are generally maps where Rein can see play, which I believe points to the idea that players like maps where deathball style comps are viable.
Regardless of your answer I want to thank you for all of the hard work you and your team put in. I love this game, and I am really looking forward to all of the really cool content you guys have planned for he future.
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I’m not a developer so I don’t know, and I don’t care if they change Dva again and I need to adapt again as when they changed DM-bot to this aggressive Dva version, even if i’m Dva main I want the game to be the most balanced as possible with all the heroes in a good place with their respective counters.
But there always has to be a hero who is the 1st place. if you now nerf Dva there will be a new 1st, so you have to nerf because ‘‘pickrate’’ and then there will be another one so you have to nerf it, and then another one, and another one … and so on to infinity.
If you ask me, I preferred the DM-Bot version, they changed it because people complained and now we have this, and a few weeks ago the developers said that right now they don’t have Dva in their sights to change anything, so more than nerf Dva they would have to buff her counters, like Reaper.
That was S3.va, S2.va had 100/400, not 200/400.
Yep, seeing a ton of Reaper, Sym, Torb, and Bastion in those official low-tier rankings. Clearly they’re what “works” and people “pick” them for that reason. Uh-huh.
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Oh hell no, Reaper already completely shreds D.Va and has amazing survivability thanks to his vampire health pool. If a D.Va player is especially good, or if there’s a phenomenal Winston, teams pull Reaper out instantly to counter. Otherwise, there are better overall DPS picks for most team comps than his tank bursting abilities.
Then the comparison is apt, just not for the reason he wants it to. There isn’t a trickle down effect to trickle down economics, as we’ve seen over the past few decades. So just like how the real world analogy doesn’t have any trickle down, neither does it trickle down into the lower tiers of gameplay.
Personally I always felt that balancing to the top X% was a bad metric, as it doesn’t reasonably answer the play of the vast bulk of the playerbase. I think it would make more sense to balance to the average and then adjust numbers for league play. Just imo.
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I think it’s real to an extant, but what you say is true too.
D.va seems balanced then totally balanced.
What, I mostly play Ana, she is amazing with a Good Genji and. Good Reindhart. I climbed from low platinum to diamond in one day playing mostly her.
Her kit is amazing now, especially if your Zen, Lucio or Moira heal you so you can focus on getting antiheal on the enemy.
What is your issue with her?
Well, I think our efforts to suggest to stop playing Mercy for a buff, was ignored by many, many mercy mains.
lol remember when Dva was clearly Op and Dva mains wanted her to stay the same, she was an unkillable beast (outside of hog hooking her)
The fact that she needs to take focus from another support to be able to use her kit
The fact that all the effort you put in, playing ANY other support offers more value for easier results
The fact that if you have ANY weak player on your team you suffer for it as Ana.
If the team is playing spot on, and actually defending you the moment you’re under attack, yes, Ana can be amazing.
Or you could play any other combo of supports and have an easier time and more flexible team comps. Why do you think she’s not in the top 10 for GM where they’re always trying to win? Or sees very little play in OWL?
People play Ana because she IS fun, super interesting, and has a great kit. The problem is, what she offers is so much harder to get real constant value out of that any other support is usually just a better pick.
As of Season 9, Ana has the LOWEST winrate on average. Even HANZO wins more games on average than Ana does.
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Jeff, is this measured by playtime or by number of picks?
Also, no Pharah?! Sad!
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interesting how D.va is near the top in nearly every rank…
Thanks for the list Jeff I wonder where the new hero will place in the list
I literally had someone on the old forums tell me without a shred of irony that d.va needed 35% ironclad and no critbox to be viable, just after the addition of missiles
I’ve long since given up on the idea of the forums ever having coherent balance opinions. Especially when it comes to d.va.
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The reason d.va is so high on the list is pretty simple.
Good comp teams have 2 tanks.
The ‘main’ tank’s duties prioritize damage blocked and there are three tanks that do that well in different ways, so the main tank is chosen from Reinhardt, Orisa, and Winston depending on the map being played.
The second tank, or the off-tank is the one that generally prioritizes damage and disruption. D.va excels at that so she is the first choice between her, Roadhog and Zarya.
Roadhog sees more play with Orisa, and Zarya gets comboed with Rein on King’s Row and Lijaing’s control center, maps where her graviton can be exploited well.
Thus it follows that the most versatile off-tank is ‘played’ the most.
Personally, the only time I feel D.va can be described as oppressive, is when you face a stack 3 or so of her in mystery heroes.
But it’s easy to see why she tops the list, and I wouldn’t say it’s because she’s ‘OP’.
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Should we be worried about heroes near the top of the list? Nerfs incoming?
Just goes to show what you “see” isn’t necessarily true. None of you have the data Blizzard has on their own game. Stop thinking you know better…
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