What went wrong with Symmetra?

General Discussion
58

So, what you’re saying is because professional players utilize those gimmicks with success, means everyone who plays the game can do the same thing, with the same amount of success, right?

And not that I particularly care, but you have less than 10 hours on any of those characters based on your profile. I’m going to assume that this is a smurf account, however, and that you have more play time than what you show in your profile. (As in, the profiles are jacked to begin with in the web viewer)

I’m not saying that you can’t play smart with Symmetra, quite the contrary. What I’m saying is that what works for one character, does not necessarily work for other characters. I can watch pros pull off stuff until my eyes bleed on Youtube, Twitch, etc all day long, that doesn’t make ME any better at doing those things for watching them.

My largest problem with Symmetra is as I stated before, her wind up is exceedingly long for the amount of reward you get for getting there. You have to basically dodge bullets in melee range in order to charge your beam effectively in combat in order to use it. Without attention being paid to you by a healer during that time, the chances are NOT in your favor to reach that level of charge before your life hits 0.

Does that mean it can’t happen? No, not at all. Statistically speaking, you’re far more likely to die before you reach that point, than you are to reach it and be successful due to the attrition of your health while attempting to do so.

There is no mechanic available that is going to allow you to survive longer aside from luck mostly, and skill secondly.

If your opponent is equally skilled as you, and NOT playing Symmetra, they automatically have the advantage. That isn’t what I call balance.

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59

Volley do charges up to deal more damage.

Yeah, you’re right, they’re different speed. So are 2.0 and 3.0 orbs.

2.0 orbs had splash dmg? I learn something new every day.

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60

If I remember correctly, before she even left the PTR everyone was saying she was not going to be viable…

So Blizzards ego is what happened to Symm. They were told they were wrong and they put that information right into the shredder.

61

Sym 3.0 is fine.

It sucks that her play style was changed so much for those that loved 2.0, but 3.0 was made to be more viable on attack (which was a success).

She arguably is in the best spot balance-wise she has ever been.

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64

I think the idea of balance with her kit is there, but I don’t think it’s actualized yet.

She needs some tweaks. They’ve got it close, but not quite there yet.

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65

screeches in Symmetra main with over 100hours

anyway here have this

HOW TO FIX SYMMETRA - from a Symmetra main

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66

She lost her uniqueness/purpose. She offered the kind of utility no one else did. Sure, it made her rather situational, but it also made it clear where she was going to work. Now? A subpar dps who, in theory, can work in more places than before but rarely does so because her dps lacks (all her abilities require waiting and lost some unique factors e.g. piercing orbs) and your team doesn’t want to work with you (“Hey let’s pass the choke with my tele!” -> everyone ignores you).

I still like playing her but my experience is very inconsistent when it comes to her effectiveness because of these elements. Some tweaks are needed IMO.

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67

Just being open minded about it, I wonder if that takes patch intervention, or new play will emerge as people figure it all out. shrug dunno.

Like we never thought she was good enough for the pros, and now we have lil Bastion clusters teleporting around the map lol. That happened all on its own.

68

Ya I get that too, especially because of how team dependent she is. Like if you’re the best Genji player ever with a horrible team you can still do your thing to some extent. If you’re Symm with the bad news bears… well… you aint doin much lol

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69

Yeah, I think that’s one of my major gripes about her, she’s just so danged reliant on a healer.

I mean, the same could be said for the majority of the tanks as well, but that’s expected. You expect a tank to take damage, and get healed…

Most other DPS characters either have a self heal, a mobility option, or a combination to allow themselves to stay standing during fights. Symmetra has turrets! A teleporter! A wall of walking through! No self heal, no get out of jail free card, no escape mechanic… Just “Hey, hit me in the face until I die!”

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70

Yep. I think that’s really the only thing left to gripe about. And I mean if Blizz came out and said “look, Symm isn’t meant to be self reliant like that, she needs a team to protect her” ok cool I’ll do my best to work with that.

But if all I have to go on is other short-mid range Damage Heroes? Ya… she has a clear vacancy where an “Oh S&#%” ability needs to be.

71

Yep, hence the reason I suggested a succor style teleporter in another thread.

Left click, standard teleporter, right click, succor teleporter. Instantly teleports Symmetra 15m away, and it’s instantly deployed for teammates to get out of grav, etc… Can’t teleport ults, just people. Teleporter is instantly deployed in the direction Symmetra is facing 15m away.

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72

That’d do it. Personally I want a Mirror Image ability that makes like 3 Hard Light Symmetras with like 30 health. They dont do damage but look identical and act independently. Might save your life, very vulnerable to AOE, sounds fair to me :stuck_out_tongue:

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73

Symmetra was just never popular to begin with, as far as I can tell. Even ignoring her gameplay, she doesn’t seem… distinctive enough as a character compared to many other heroes. Maybe it’s just me.

74

Yeah exactly. With 2.0 I could get value out of her working “independently”. I loved to make the flankers’ day miserable while simultaneously disrupting the enemy’s push attempts. Because she had 6 turrets to damage and track their movements and the barrier to allow her to get up to their face, I was usually able to deal with flankers by my own. Piercing orbs I used to disrupt the action at the chokes. Yeah with a bad team those games were usually still lost but I always felt like I was actually performing my role well. With 3.0 if my team is bad it almost feels like I’m just there as an accessory and occasional distraction. Her dps can’t keep up without protection and her utility option doesn’t do much if your team is unwilling to use it.

75

I dig her, and her philosophical angle. But I think there was a clear missed opportunity with her not having enough… how do I say… Green Lantern? lol

76

But doesn’t Zenyatta do the philosophical stuff in a much more appealing manner? Either way, they should do something to make her stand out more, in my opinion.

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77

Right but different, Zen is about well Zen :stuck_out_tongue: Symm has a controversial viewpoint of what makes a better world. It’s just interesting. I always liked characters like that. Like take Dr Doom for example or Magneto. They’re “bad guys” but they’re just following a personal philosophy.

To what you said though, ya… they could really go into the Vishkar a little more, would be nice. Maybe if we get a second Vishkar hero.

78

Turrets move too slow, shield cant be used reactively to block anything, in the time i’ve charged my beam to full i could have already killed my target on literally any other dps hero and last time i used teleporter i was 18 years old, i’m now 25 with three kids and STILL waiting for that thing to deploy.

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79

I laughed, I’ll admit it lol

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