What are those Widowmaker arguements

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Sure thing. I got you bro.

Basically, Widow violates formal Counterplay Guidelines. That causes a big “Feels Bad”. (i.e. Qualitative Counterplay Issue).

Here’s the definition of “Counterplay” as described by the most senior gameplay designers at Riot and Valve. Respectively, Tom Cadwell, and Robin Walker.

Counterplay

“After you make your Choice, your Opponent should have the capability, to respond with their Choice, which includes the awareness that a Choice exists, and enough time to understand and react with their Choice”.

  • https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2477
  • https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:JAlbor/GDC_2013:_Teamplay_and_Counterplay_in_League_of_Legends

Which is true of literally every oneshot Sniper weapon in any videogame.

The Catch,
Every other modern shooter game in existence, have a fix for the “Feels bad” caused by the oneshot.

Widowmaker,
Does not.

https://reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/12wi53y/hottake_snipers_are_strangling_playerbase_growth/

And essentially Widow got massive direct and indirect buffs between the end of OW1 and Season 12.
And she’s never gotten her rework.
If anything, her bullets got larger, and she’s more resistant to burst damage.

But yeah, Widow has been a problem, on a “Gameplay Feel” basis, for basically the entire history of Overwatch.

OW1 metas

  • TripleTank = Block the Widow/Hanzo
  • Dive = Dive the Widow/Hanzo
  • Quad Tank = Block the Widow/Hanzo
  • Double Sniper = Widow and Hanzo
  • Grav Dragon = Hanzo and Mercy
  • GOATs = Block the Widow/Hanzo
  • DoubleBarrier = Block the Widow/Hanzo

That’s like 95% of the meta duration in OW1, being dictated by ranged oneshots.

_

I am actually quite upset at the developers for this stuff.
Their playerbase could have been so much larger.

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