I didn’t mean in this thread specifically but whatever.
When I played on console, I also had multiple accounts (since it’s waaaaay easier there and smurfing is much more prevalent). I played a flex account that primarily had me on Mercy that I didn’t play much of and was in gold. I had a Sombra one trick account that almost got to diamond that I stopped playing from some personal things in my life that happened, but namely the few Sym accounts that kept dipping into GM.
I got a PC that could run OW eventually, was an idiot and got used to m+kB while using a 20 sens on Sym since I didn’t have to aim (was a mistake in the long run), but eventually I ended up with the same results, though diamond+ is much more difficult on PC comparatively to console and was a struggle.
When the rework happened and I had to slowly dial back my sens a lot (and occasionally switch to Moira, and even she was slightly difficult to track with at such high sensitivities), I couldn’t hit GM as reliably, but it also stopped mattering because at that point I’d been banned a few times, with one being justified, but all others bc massreportsymlol. I had bought this account to do exactly what I was already doing, but now I just play Deathmatch because I can’t get banned for no reason if I don’t have teammates that report me, and it’s actually much more fun to me than the base game. Unfortunately, people still be toxic tho. I even get reported for playing her in FFA. The OW community is insane.
So… You don’t play her in ranked… Like, it’s worst then it’s ever been for her. Yeah quickplay you can own, but ranked? Diff story. It all makes sense now.
Straight up sym will never become popular because of her incredible negative stigma. Sym mains, from my experience, all my friend’s experience, from videos I’ve seen online, and other forum posters are typically non-cooperative, arrogant, and inflammatory.
Sym is an incredibly static character with abilities that don’t move and are easy to destroy. Try balancing that in a game of high speed and quick reaction times.
Lets be real, she plays like zaria but without the armor and shields.
Ive been requesting either give her a little more damage or more health… we know how bugged it is to place a teleporter with bridges and angles., Why cant the teleporter just land on top of a railng,.why should it keep blinking up and down endlessly? while you waste time while trying to evade for you life while finding the correct placement…
Until her teleporter is perfected, she needs a little more health and damage to mitigate her buggy “Evasive” buff
Well, the rare times I do actually get a sym player (because so few people actually want to pick sym), they are rude. The ratio of not rude:rude is wack.
When I play Symmetra after the games over I often get abused by people who play heroes like Genji, Tracer, McCree and Widow.
The insults vary and often focus on me personally rather than the hero itself.
It is just what happens in online multiplayer games when someone feels they are not achieving, They tend to lash out.
Symmetra is a difficult hero to master because she isn’t just about reacting or aiming well, She is about intelligent utilization of her kit and strategic thinking which some people just can’t do well. You will see people who want to make the hero work but can’t lashing out because they refuse to accept their own flaws.
You will also see the usual outcome of beating someone into oblivion which is that they start hurling personal insults at you after you stomped them into the underworld.
It happens with all heroes unfortunately but the nature of Symmetra might make you see it more frequently just because people struggle to make her work.
It’s not the mains, It is the people who can’t accept they played badly.
Intelligent utilization of kit and ult management is required by every single other hero to be good. Aim simply makes it harder for heroes that require it, unlike sym.
Sym mains get frustrated because their hero has a hard skill ceiling that is surpassed by a lot of heroes in higher ranks. So even if they sink in 1000hrs into playing sym they won’t progress much. Sure it might work against uncoordinated silver/gold/plat teams, but beyond that no.
There are big differences though, Some kits have panic buttons or allow fast escapes when they mess up their positioning.
“Whoops I shouldn’t have done that, I will easily escape now”
As Symmetra you tend to die if you do that, You cannot become immortal, You cannot quickly get away without prior planning and you cannot block being fired upon like heroes with barriers or Mei wall for example.
Symmetra has to place ahead of time or it wont even get deployed, It isn’t just reacting to the situation but planning what is about to happen.
Symmetras skill ceiling is a lot higher than most realize and that’s okay it just means when they actually encounter a good one they will be very surprised.
You’re proving my point, her kit is awful and doesn’t let her be flexible in the slightest. It’s one-dimensional which makes it easy, but also bad. Those two things can go hand in hand.
Maybe 1/100 will be good, but for most people 99% of the time they get a garbage sym player. That’s the reality. No hero should be balanced like that.
It is very flexible if you are good at strategic thinking and intelligently utilizing her kit as I said before.
I don’t want to write an essay on ways you can use her but some quick examples.
Her Orbs require you to shoot not where your opponent is now but where they are going to be, If you cannot predict enemy movements you are going to miss a lot of shots.
Some people are good with hitscan as they aim where enemies are, Some are better with projecticles because they are better at calculating where they need to aim.
Teleporter can allow me to throw a turret to cut off a retreating enemy who is much faster than me, I often will throw a turret along their escape path, Shoot an orb and hide for 0.25 seconds or so, Then I pop back out after the orb hits and decide whether I teleport or just allow the turret to finish them.
So they go from wanting to fight me to wanting to run away and trying to escape kills them because I planned ahead.
Direction turrets go into a teleporter is the direction they come out, Turrets can be repositioned even off walls if you place the teleporter/turret in the right place.
Most people will throw new turrets making them stay in cooldown rather than using ones that could be moved forward.
Her photon barrier ultimate can be totally useless if used badly or borderline OP if used well.
It can make turrets basically immortal, It can force enemies into your range or position you want, It can allow your team to gain lots of ground while the enemy cannot shoot you or It can protect your Widow, Ashe or Bastion.
It’s usefulness is directly tied to your ability to think out a plan of utilization rather than here’s a bunch of Enemies Q to win.
I disagree, More heroes should require different skill sets and utilize peoples natural talents.
In my opinion this is the beauty of overwatch and why a hero shooter appeals to me so much more than a game like call of duty.
Having a hero that not everyone can pull off is great because it means those rare times you meet someone who can pull them off it is so much more special.
This of course is only as long as the developers can balance the heroes around people who are able to use them well.
I appreicate the effort you put into the post but frankly it’s irrelevant. Stat’s speak louder than forum posters and sym’s pick rate continues to be abismal and it’s because her kit is slow and boooring for the vast majority of the player base.
Additionally, the pro scene has literally never touched her once during an OWL game. Zero. Explain to me how the pros don’t actually know OW and sym is legit viable.
There are no stats on why players don’t use her.
I disagree that it’s because it is a boring kit and more they can’t get value out of it so they don’t play her.
Boring is extremely subjective.
There are plenty of players who do not play Genji, Tracer or Widowmaker because they cannot use them, It often has nothing to do with them being boring heroes.
Symmetra has been used in the Overwatch league and currently Symmetra is close to being balanced but needs slight buffs not reworks but buffs, She is getting buffed in the next day or two on the PTR.
Pros play what they have practiced, If a hero isn’t the meta they are not going to practice them very often if at all.
Believe it or not but Pros have to learn things just like everyone else, A pro playing a hero for the first time ever will not play anywhere near the same skill level as a hero they have practiced.
Once Goats is no longer the comp played majority of the time in OWL and Symmetra gets her buff they are more likely to practice her and we will see her more often.
I’m sorry but I can tell you’re a big sym fan which is totally fine. Also you’re correct, boring is subjective. Like how some people love waiting in line for a prescription, sooo many people itching to line up. That’s how I view sym.
But factually her pick rates across the board are abysmal from the lowest to highest level. In a videogame, characters that are either awful or dead boring don’t get picked. So which one is it?
Sometimes things favour different skillsets, If someone lacks the skills required to do something they are unlikely to do it very often if at all.
Just because someone is a higher rank with a particular hero doesn’t mean they are equally good with all heroes or that they have all skillsets at a high level.
Heroes require different levels of positioning where as some can make mistakes and hit their “Whoopsie” button and have that mistake undone and still do well.
If they didn’t have the ability to do that with their preferred hero their rank would be a lot lower.
Other players can brute force their way forward by aiming faster, Reacting faster.
Also worth mentioning is not all high ranked players are able to shot call, Some have to follow others because they cannot think in the way required.
High rank does not mean high skilled in every possible way.
It is very important to understand this point because if something requires intelligence some people are just not going to be capable regardless of how well they play with some other hero and regardless of their 95% accuracy.
Symmetra has a skillset that isn’t going to work for everyone, If you can’t see any value in being able to force the enemy to reposition or splitting a fight by using her ultimate you are not going to get value out of her ultimate, Ultimates are a big part of this game.
Low pick rate does not necessarily mean boring or awful, It can also be “I am personally not good with it so I personally wont use it”
Such mental gymnastics. I’m sorry but no, pro players are better than you and me in every possible metric you can come up with, and don’t pick sym because she is never the best choice in any situation.
Also, every hero has a skill set that won’t work for everyone because just like you said, fun is subjective and people climb using different skills. But no one reaches pro level without having every skill at a top 500 or better level. So yes, when they say sym is broken and needs a MAJOR change I trust them. Not random forum dwellers like you and I.
It is hardly mental gymnastics but that’s fine if you choose to disagree and believe pros can pick up any hero and instantly perform then that’s fine I have no reason to continue this discussion.
I have stated that pros use metas and use things they have practiced because they often want to play their best at the highest level they can.
Dafran used Torb in Overwatch league because he has practiced the hero.
I would have to check to be sure but I don’t imagine Torb is used very often by other pros who have not practiced him.
It is a perfect example of a hero being good if the pro has practiced and not as good if they haven’t.
Pros still require practice just like everyone else.
You can believe who ever you like and what ever you like that’s totally fine but I am going to turn off notifications for this thread because I don’t like wasting my time.