Counterpicking in the tank role is already problematic and far too common, but it bleeds into the DPS role and even the support role
I do not like this direction
What are your thoughts?
3 Likes
That is just the nature of a game that allows for swapping which is why most of them⌠Do not. Itâs an OBVIOUS problem that most developers catch before during the planning phase. 
4 Likes
Wait, people counterpick in overwatch?
THIS IS MADNESS
2 Likes
Yeah, right?
If it happens from time to time itâs ok, but if you start to see a similar pattern that the rank roster has, than you should be alarmed
Without cross-role countering, tankswap would be even worse than it is now. Letâs say I roll out of the gate as Zarya and the enemy goes Rein or Winston.
In a world where a DPS can switch to Bastion or another barrier buster, I get to stay on Zarya. I can back him up with a bubble while he pops barriers.
In a world without a Bastion or similar, I have to swap or Iâm screwing over my entire team.
Iâd rather the other roles have options because while it can work against me, it can also work very much in my favour, too.
I think the game feels better when it feels like there are viable options. For example, one thing I donât like about tanking is the practicality of taking the fight to a Pharah. Not having a good option against fliers simply feels bad.
1 Like
The game is supposed to be a team based game and rely on teamwork.
The team convering each other backs, while in some particular cases, when thereâs too many counters the most reasonable thing to do is to swap. I mean:
If the enemy has junk, sombra, ana, brig and orisa. Playing as wreckingball wouldnât be a good experience.
The player would feel, wouldnât be required the team to say so. While if was simply one of them, would be fine due the team could offset that.
I mean, if the enemy team has pharah and your team have something like mei and sym. If Iâm on tank I would pick winston or d.va to reduce the uptime of the pharah.
While being the diver of the team, while the other portion hold the objective. Going back and fourth reagrouping with them, while creating space for them.
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Counterpicking is a core game mechanic.
Itâs literally why we have the option to switch heroes in the spawn point.
I swear, the current generation of Overwatch players feel like they just⌠completely forgot what Overwatch is supposed to be and think itâs a completely different game from what it is and it just makes me scratch my head.
Yes, you will get countered, especially if youâre playing an annoying hero, or youâre playing a hero particularly well. Again, core game mechanic.
6 Likes
Overwatch is the first game to exploit bad balancing as a game mechanic that was contrived by its players to be intentional. Not allowed to play what you want; you just have to deal with it, or play a better game .
Contrived by its players? No, again, quite literally part of the game design.
Hell, during Overwatch 1 there were more hard counters than there are now, so swapping was not only encouraged, it was considered mandatory and if you one-tricked, you were looked down by players on your team, a lot.
Overwatch 2 turned a lot of those hard counters into soft counters. So you didnât have to swap if you were a good player, but smart players will still counterswap, especially if one player on the opposite team is clearly the lynchpin of their team.
There is a reason for example, that D.VA cannot block beam weapons. Because Zarya and Symmetra are her counters. There is a reason why Genji cannot deflect Meiâs primary fire, because she counters him. Itâs a literal design choice.
3 Likes
This is nothing more than âweâve always done it this wayâ and is not an argument. So what if itâs a game mechanic? That doesnât make it better than an alternative.
Nobody needs to swap to hard counters every death and itâs not fun for the player on the other end. Not a single person enjoys dealing with it.
Swapping should be locked once the match starts other than to heroes already selected. That way you can swap off a bad matchup but only to a mirror. The better player should win not the one who is willing to press H the most.
It literally is an argument.
Again, itâs a core mechanic of the game. Itâs why the ability to swap heroes after the game starts, exists. Itâs why Blizzard specifically created vulnerabilities for certain heroes that other heroes can exploit. Because those heroes counter them.
But you wonât know what the players on the opposite team are going to be playing most of the time. So what, you run out into the game, realize that the enemy has picked a hero that counters your pick and youâre just supposed to stick with your chosen hero? Youâre not supposed to swap to get rid of their advantage? If the enemy hero is playing an annoying hero like Genji or Sombra, youâre not supposed to swap to counter them and remove the advantages they have?
How about no.
You donât want to deal with swapping? Play another game. Sounds like CoD might be more your style.
3 Likes
âItâs always been this wayâ is not an argument.
No, we shouldnât be catering to players who want to win due to inherent, massive advantages. The game is most fun and competitive when the best players win.
Remember, the devs confirmed long ago that the vast majority of players are 1 or 2 tricks. Allowing a minority of the playerbase to ruin the game for the majority juat because they refuse to play on an even footing is not sustainable. Itâs already killed the tank role and is moving onto dps now.
Ah, so what you want is for Overwatch to be a completely different game to what it is. Gotcha. So if I decide to play Reinhardt and I zoom out of the spawn point only to find that the enemy team is compromised of Pharah, Bastion, Doomfist, Zenyatta and Moira, youâd just prefer I get absolutely curbstomped because those heroes all shred my chosen pick, rather than me being able to swap to a different tank that can negate some of the advantages they have. Am I reading that right?
3 Likes
For most players it wouldnât be. Most only play 1-3 heroes, as the devs confirmed. Those insisting on playing rock paper scissors are the minority.
No, you canât read. Try again.
You literally said the following:
So if Iâm getting countered, under your abysmal version of Overwatch, I would not be able to swap to a different hero. My only choice is to âtryâ to win, but fail, because I am at a severe disadvantage.
Disadvantages mind you, that come naturally from the characterâs individual kits, not because theyâre specifically designed to counter Reinhardt. If I played him, I wouldnât be able to hit Pharah for 90% of the match, because my only ranged attack travels slowly and any competent Pharah player can easily dodge it.
My shield would get shredded by Bastion 90% of the time, so there goes my primary defensive ability. Doomfist is one of the most mobile tanks in the game, so heâs going to run circles around me. What is your solution to this, oh intelligent wonder?
1 Like
Read that part. Slowly.
And read what I stated at the start, genius.
As in, those are the heroes they âalready selectedâ, they didnât swap to them, they chose them right out of the gate. Theyâre all popular heroes to play as well. So theyâve all got natural Reinhardt counters that can also perform well against other heroes, and I have Reinhardt and canât swap off Reinhardt to negate the natural advantages they have against me.
Do everyone a favour and leave the game design to people who actually do it for a living. Itâs painfully obvious you have no idea what youâre talking about.
1 Like
Basically this.
Correct. This is not a 1v1 match so those âcountersâ are soft really and teamwork actually pulls more weight and has more impact than âmy hero has an advantage against your heroâ.
Its not a new direction though 
âbetterâ or âworseâ are subjective. The core mechanic being a foundation of the game is not. Its like complaining about Snipers in an FPS , quite weird really.
I think you picked the wrong game bud. I guess that would be OTPs dreams but news flash:
One tricking (and never switching) is NOT playing the game the way it was intended (and created).
5 Likes
Exactly. Hell, during Overwatch 1 one-tricking was extremely frowned upon. People were even pushing Blizzard to make it reportable.
4 Likes
In that scenario you could swap to Doom because heâs already selected. Your team could also swap to mirror.
Why are you so against needing to outplay people?
This change wouldnât impact one tricks. They wouldnt swap to mirror regardless.
Either way the devs confirmed that most players only play 1-3 heroes and those insisting on playing rock paper scissors are the minority.