I’ve taken some notes about what’s strong and what isn’t currently in the game, and thought about ways to balance the game. I don’t think I’m right about everything in here, but please hear me out.
The Overwatch meta is :
- High burst damage at mid-long range (i. e. Widow/Hanzo, Pharah)
- High healing output (Mercy/Moira)
H. b. damage in response to H. healing output (after Mercy rework and Moira)
- Widow buff (July '17)
- Hanzo rework (April '18)
- Pharah on a lesser level
- Junkrat can also be strong (is seen sometimes)
Sustained dmg and low heals : off-meta
Low heals : not as effective/forgiving as high healing
S. dmg : can’t pierce through high healing unlike burst dmg
Solutions ?
- nerfs to high healing (scale over time heals for Mercy 30/45/60 and Moira 40/60/80)
- buffs to Ana : ability to heal through enemy shields + ability to recover 1/7th of healing/damage done for every successful shot = better alternative to Mercy
- nerf to Mercy’s dmg boost (30% -> 24%) + Rez (Valk only) = nerf to double sniper comps = nerf to burst dmg
- nerfs to Hanzo : from 6 Storm Arrows to 4, Lunge on a 7 second cooldown
- nerfs to Widow (?) : Grappling Hook on a 10 second cooldown
- already existing buffs to 76, Recon Bastion to improve sustained dmg + already existing buffs to McCree and Mei to improve lower-burst damage = viable alternatives to high burst damage/insta-kills
- nerf to Brigitte (?) : Bash on a 8 second cooldown (0.75 second stun duration) to make flanking/close-range heroes more viable in the meta
Objectives :
- bring low-healing output and sustained damage back in the game
- make high healing/burst damage/insta-kills less potent
- make flankers (Tracer, Genji, Sombra) viable in more situations while leaving some answers to them nonetheless (Brig, McCree, Hog, Moira)
Do you agree with any of this or not at all? This game is definitely in a weird place in terms of balance, and while Wrecking Ball will most certainly shake things up in the meta, would the changes I’ve proposed been enough to shift the meta?
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Lets just DOUBLE Everyone’s Health.
And Ammo.
But leave their damage alone…
This’ll fix EVERYTHING. /s
Ok, i’m tired… And i Didn’t Exactly read this whole thing, but… i get your point.
I’ll come back in the morning with some kinda detailed response…
And i’ll probably hand out likes. 
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Here is the meta’s current problem
Find a team comp that works, everyone copy it instead of countering it. Complain about every character in comp until they are nerfed and then repeat the cycle
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I agree with you. There definitely is counterplay to the current meta heroes, and Wrecking Ball will most likely be a solid answer to these double sniper comps. Instead of mirroring the enemy meta team comp, we should look for these answers and other strong picks.
But people don’t do it. They don’t feel enclined to do so. They’ll stay in their comfort zone, playing what they want to play, instead of learning a new hero. Myself included, unfortunately.
That’s why, since no one can make the jump, balancing out everything without completely nerfing it into the abyss is kind of a backup plan to that. That’s all I could come up with. Sorry.
The countering philosophy is what has broken this game. It makes it impossible to balance, and encourages an arms race that leads to power creep.
The sooner people realise that, the sooner the game will be fixed.
so the key to balance is to just copy the meta and only the meta and have no other options viable
Then why don’t we delete every character but 6 and just all play the same balanced game
Because that’s what I said? Where did you get that from?
Here you said countering makes game unbalanced and the opposite of countering is a mirror comp
Mirror comps just limit gameplay to 6 current player choices
there’s many ways, but that would mean blizz will have to work more. And they’re not gonna do it. Patch once per month or four is their pace
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I’m not advocating for the ‘opposite’ of countering. I’m advocating the abandonment of counters within the design philosophy of the game.
The devs shouldn’t be making characters to counter x or y, they should just be trying to make cool characters that are balanced and fun.
counters will always exist, there will be certain abilities that deny the abilities of other characters
they are creating fun characters the problem is 99% of the player base won’t play them
Only if the devs create them. It’s a design choice. They don’t have to base the game on countering and, in my opinion, it would be better if they didn’t.
Oh, about my use of the term “burst healing”, replace it with “high healing output”. Mercy’s healing isn’t burst healing like Ana’s or Brig’s, but much like Moira’s, it’s high enough to outdo sustained damage and most lower burst damage output. Sorry about that.
Ana is another problem I think. She does have burst heal you know
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Countering doesnt make it impossible to balance. It just makes people impossible to Onetrick. Flexing isnt easy and that seems a problem too though
And that’s exactly the problem I’ve got. Should I nerf Ana’s healing for it not to favor a high burst damage meta, when she’s the main healer with the most weaknesses, and supposing the changes I’ve proposed would increase the pickrates of most flankers against which she is weak? Or should I leave her be? That, I don’t know.
Sometime I wonder if we can rework Ana as subheal. LOS needed heal can never really work as a good ranged healer. If it does work then we have no reason to use supports with less range either
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Yeah, that’s what’s weird about her. The Dive meta didn’t help as well. I want Ana to be good and rewarding for players but thinking of ideas to balance her is kind of a pain.
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One tricking wouldn’t be a problem if countering wasn’t a thing so that’s neither here nor there.
People would be able to pick characters that suit them instead of trying to force a square peg into a round hole in order to counter some other player’s pick.
Ultimately it comes down to whether you want to win because you were more skilful or because you picked x and they picked y. I prefer the former.
Overwatch has always been a game about counterpicking, though. That’s why you’re able to switch characters as much as you want during a match. The idea of forgetting about counterplay seems really opposed to what Overwatch is, in my opinion.