There is one question which is as old as Reinhardt himself: “why did you drop your shield?”
Last night in a game of QP, I got asked that timeless question again in the teamchat. And this time, it really got me thinking, even though it was being asked in a context in which I…
A) didnt know what the person was talking about
B) didn’t have time to explain, even if I did
What is the function of the question? It is only to cast blame. It doesn’t achieve any good results. O, wise members of the forum, will there ever be a time when the DPS stoically accept the fact that the shields have limits, that shields are gifts to be appreciated, and that tanks are not shieldbots but human beings with real human emotions?
Call your shield health and say when you’re dropping it. If they get killed then it’s on them. Other than that they are depending on you to keep them safe while the try to get a pick. Nobody can read their teammates minds.
DPs players feeling entitled to our protection and heals all while arguing how much more skilled they are than us and how they carry games. What else is new
Your teammates are usually standing still behind your shield to aim better, and the enemy widow usually aims at their heads waiting for you to drop your shield. If you are planning to drop your shield just tell them before you do it so they can hide.
and if you can’t use VC use the team chat at the beginning to tell them: If I said “thanks!” (or VL or what ever) that means I’ll drop my shield.
Just saying, a shield dropping at the wrong time or without warning can just as easily screw over healers as it does DPS, and people will still get upset about it.
It isn’t always a DPS vs The World scenario, ya know.
You have to communicate. I always call out my shield health at half, quarter, and just before I drop it. This usually enables the team to find cover in time. If you don’t let them know, they have a right to be mad, as this is a team game. You have to help the team and just dropping shield and running with no warning is not helping. If not in vc, I flash my shield and start backing up to signal it is going down.
On a slightly related note, yesterday I saw the funniest rein fail yet. He tried to shield my teams dva bomb, but he angled his shield up and it landed and went under the shield to kill all of them
Because I need to recharge it since clearly, it isn’t an infinite shield of health
So I could attack if need be since DPS aren’t doing their roles if enemies are getting too close to me here.
Because I CAN
Keeping it up is vital though so yeah, if you usually do and people are complaining, then it’s on them. If you really aren’t holding your shield up, then no point being a Rein fam.
I hear ya OP, it can sound awfully nit-picky in the heat of a fight, leaving you thinking “wow bro, at least I’m playing tank at all can I just play the game?”
But when there are a lot of squishy’s on your team relying on that shield for cover, it’s nice to try and get into the habit of letting them know:
“yo I’m gonna fire strike” and if possible, position yourself in front of a squishy to body block for that split second
You know, not much different than letting them know “watch out my shield is about to break”
I can definitely understand how annoying it can be, but take pride in the fact that players are actually there relying on you to help them. There’s a lot of responsibility to tanking which is why a lot of people avoid the role and would rather complain ;D
I forgot to mention, the real saying that gets me mad is, “keep that shield up rein.” I know, I can’t have it up forever though. I am a very vocal player and always communicate about my shield. I don’t need the reminder from someone who doesn’t main rein or understand that his shield is not infinite. This annoys me a million times more than any other thing people say.
I have mained Rein the last few seasons. Over 40 hours on him this season.
There is never a reason for a DPS or healer to die behind you unless you make a mistake.
If your fire-striking, say so.
If you are getting low on shield, say you plan to drop it.
Rarely will someone die if you follow those two basic rules.
The reason you get asked it, is probably because you randomly drop your shield to throw a fire-strike while your team is behind you, without warning. And asking why you did so is a fairly reasonable question.
I drop my shield when it’s about to break, when I am about to Firestrike to break up a large group of people, or when my DPS is not doing crap by utilizing my shield, so I may as well go play aggressive Reinhardt on the objective.
There’s usually more than one reason involved.
On the flip side, my team should also recognize when my shield is cracking, especially since it’s obvious and Reinhardt also says “barrier is failing”.
Yes, but that only lets them roughly know.
A Widow head-shotting someone takes a few hundreths of a second at most.
So you need to call exactly when you are letting go. You can’t just leave them with a vague idea that it will drop soon
It’s a main tanks responsibility to dictate the push, and limit the chances of his team getting picked. Simple call outs are a must.
Well duh, but my shield is cracking and my DPS have a short amount of time to follow me, when I do announce it and I’m obviously moving forward, and to also make picks while my shield is up. It goes both ways.
Tanks shouldn’t have to take all the blame all the time (they do make mistakes, so I’m not saying they should be immune to fault), but also, people just need to work together and not point fingers.
I try to play Rein as often as I can these days. But on the off chance he is picked quicker than I can, it is unbelievable how often 1) he isn’t in VC 2) how sporadic his fire-strikes are 3) how often his shield drops unexpectedly.
If people are asking “why did you drop your shield” (I have never… never had this asked to me), you have done something most likely considerably wrong.
No one is asking just for the lulz, they are asking because you made a nonsensical move.
My Rein win percentage on my main over 20 hours is 78%, no one has ever found themselves let down by my shielding. Call outs are the biggest reason for this. It is your job to be vocal if you want to win.
This season
40 hours on all accounts this season alone.
WP on Main 78% (20ish hours)
WP on alt 100% (only a few games however)
WP on second alt 65% (remaining hours)
Average is just over 70% when combined. I rarely use to play him. But in recent seasons I have found he is probably my best hard cary hero.
The key is to be quick and concise with your call outs, and make sure your intentions are always clear.
I play mostly quick play these days. I’m not in voice chat, nor are most people in voice chat so it would be insane to make callouts falling onto deaf ears. Rein shield is dynamic and is lowered many times during the game. It’s not fun to narrate common actions, and I’m not going to do it. People should just accept the fact that the shield will drop sometimes. Don’t stand still behind the shield… strafe as always.