Now to be clear, I am NOT proposing this as a thing that is right for Overwatch.
Just curious what others thoughts are on the idea of making players lose ult charge on death.
Basically get rid of passive ult charge rate, increase the percentage earned from damage and healing, and make players lose ult if they die.
It would reward just afking untill you get your ultimate.
Are you sure about that? 
Sure, that’s totally what medics did in TF2 to get their über.
But my question is why?
Also can you imagine ults that you gain already pretty fast?
God it would be awful.
Seeing a riptire every 2 seconds
seeing a pulse bomb every 2 seconds
No thanks nightmare fuel right there
I could see one of two things happening.
Either A) The game becomes less dependent on ult economy, leading to a faster and riskier style of play as players are encouraged to end teamfights quickly without the use of ultimates.
Or B) Ult economy remains at the forefront of strategy, leading to a much slower and more conservative style of play as players are more careful not to expose themselves to enemy fire, fearful of losing their ult progress.
If I could trust A to happen I’d actually be in favor of this change. But I tend to believe B would be the inevitable outcome, and that wouldn’t be much fun IMO.
it would lead to the side that wins the first fight steamrolling the game as the other team will have 0% ult vs whatever the winners have.
Its a valid point but I would also like to point out ult charge rates can be adjusted on individual rates. Nothing that could not be addressed if this were ever done.
For my part? I could see this encouraging more thoughtful play and less wreckless behavior. More value in living and more appreciation for proper positioning and engagement.
Not to mention the pure adrenaline rush of not only getting an ult but being able to utilize it effectively.
Of course I will admit I come from TF2 medic main as my background and just loved the feel of dodging fire long enough to have that impact on the game.
Admittedly both are possible outcomes. In fact we may see a bit of both. However, I would like to think that if ult charge could only be earned from actual actions like damage and healing it might prevent B from happening as often.
Perhaps some additional changes would help push towards A? Like instead of damage dealt overall it would be damage dealt that lead to an elim? So elims and assists and damage healed that was done specifically by enemies?
Potentially, Not certain how to address that really save that I could see people being far more liberal with their ults for fear of losing it.
In TF2 the mantra of every medic was “Pop it, don’t drop it!” meaning that if you felt like you were about to die it is better to attempt to use your uber (ult in overwatch’s case) then die not knowing if it could have made a difference.
but here is the thing
How would it be done
For example lets say (the stats I am gonna use ARE NOT REAL just wanna note that)
Tracer gets her ult in 4s constant damage and picks etc before this system is applied
Junkrat gets his ult in 5s constant etc before this system
If you were to apply this sytem and make junkrat 3s and make tracers ult 3s as well you just made tracers ult useless.
Ya know?
ya basically made it so its like whats the point of it if there is a better fast charging ult.
Honestly I just think OW needs to drastically nerf most Ults in the game. They should not be so much an “I win button”. Some are basically fine, no one ever felt Widow’s Ult instantly gave a team a win. Same could be say with Brig’s Rally or Orisa’s Super Charger.
Some ults though, those mostly focused on killing multiple enemies at once tend to be way to much. Now that shields, healing etc are all being nerfed so time to kill is going way up perhaps it’s time to nerf Ults.
We no longer need the 6 man kill to capture an objective.
I know you said these stats aren’t real but these times are way shorter then I was thinking.
I was thinking more along the lines of increasing charge via action so that it is on par with current rates on average or maybe slightly faster. Not “I shot two people in the head twice as McCree so its high noon!” fast.
Of course charge rates would be adjusted based on statisical power. Tracer should of course get hers faster then that of other ultimates with more kick. After all, charge rates are typically slower or faster based on power.
Tracer has more of her punch loaded into her weapons and abilities and pulse bomb is just icing on the cake most of the time. Just like Widow or doomfist.
It would be interesting wouldn’t it? One issue I have had with ultimates (especially ever since mass res left) is that many matches are won or lost based on who had the most ultimates for the last fight of the game.
Died a bunch of times trying to take point b anubis? “Everyone! Save your ults for the final push and we’ll dump them all at the same time!”
It’d definitely encourage counterpicking more
It is why I almost always hate defense. You defend the points for 5, 10 minutes what ever for the map. It can be an utter curb stomp. One second the enemy pushes Q and you lose due to just how fast they can cap a point. It’s especially annoying with Sigma with how his Ult lifts you off the point and very few hero’s have a means to counter it.
Once someone gets their ult they just hang back and not really get into the battle.
Over all this sounds horrible.
That is a variable I had not even considered but I am all for!
So many people are unwilling to swap because they “almost have ult!”.
Meanwhile they keep dying, doing nothing for the team but feed ult to the enemy team, and finally attempt to ult but turns out Lucio was not the ult we needed when a Sombra was on the enemy team waiting with EMP.
I feel that. Even the more mechanically based ults can still turn the tide way to easily in favor of the team who has been making poor decisions all game. IMHO that is.
I could see this happening on occasion sure… but what would be the point of nursing an ultimate that never gets used?
In my experience once someone has a powerful ability in their pocket they are typically very eager to use it. Especially if death is likely to rob them of it.
I can’t see a Genji sitting and waiting on his blade for very long and risking a widow tapping him on the head while he sits back throwing shurikens. Nor could I see that person hiding in spawn.
However, perhaps an additional thing could be done? Perhaps Ult decay? If you don’t contribute to elims and/or healing your ult starts to decay?
I don’t know. Kind of hard to see this being needed but I think that would be an option. What do you think?
Mystery Heroes already does the “losing charge” part in practice. It leads to frutrating situations as you get killed just as you get your ult full, using the ults basically off cooldown, and the already mentioned steamroll effect where the winners of the first teamfight are likely to roll on (though that one’s made worse in MH, by the winners also staying on a comp that’s apparently working).
Removing passive charge and increasing active is another thing entirely, and could be tested in custom games rather easily. What it would at least do is increase apparent skill caps between people, as skilled players would get their ults way faster than unskilled ones. That difference is already quite amazing sometimes…
Not just potentially, this is literally what will happen
Happens in mystery heroes all the time
It would mean that the winner of the first teamfight takes the match.
I don’t find speaking in hypothetical absolutes all that productive as no one can predict the outcome of a change like this with absolute certainty. You are most certainly entitle to your opinion on it though.
If you ever played mystery heroes you know that things will go like that because your suggestion is quite literally reality there
There are games that you just lose because you never have ults but the enemy team does. Its one of mystery heroess major flaws
I think if you want to make the game more dynamic you should tune down almost all ults in this game, keep them as game changers but not a button to win teamfights (such as make Reins ult an AoE knockdown and remove the stun)