Why does ‘Meta’ exist?
For those of you who don’t know, “Meta” is what is the most effective heroes in the current game. It is used to refer to the best heroes to play.
But my question is, why does ‘Meta’ exist?
Overwatch is a game with 27 heroes.
- Ana
- Bastion
- Brigitte
- Dva
- Doomfist
- Genji
- Hanzo
- Junkrat
- Lucio
- Mecree
- Mei
- Mercy
- Moira
- Orisa
- Pharah
- Reaper
- Reinhart
- Roadhog
- Soldier:76
- Sombra
- Symettra
- Torbjorn
- Tracer
- Widowmaker
- Winston
- Zarya
- Zenyatta
But among those 27 heroes, only a few are ‘Meta.’ **(Please read the: "EDIT section!)
Ana- Bastion
- Brigitte
Dva- Doomfist
- Genji
- Hanzo
Junkrat- Lucio
- Mecree
- Mei
- Mercy
- Moira
- Orisa
Pharah- Reaper
- Reinhart
Roadhog- Soldier:76
- Sombra
- Symettra
- Torbjorn
- Tracer
- Widowmaker
- Winston
- Zarya
- Zenyatta
The problem I have with is that you should be able to theoretically play any hero and be able to make contributions to the team, but that is far from true. Unless you play ‘Meta’ heroes, good luck constantly winning duels and carrying your team. In a game like Overwatch I just feel like this isn’t right and it’s one of the factors that is really making me hate this game.
Discuss!
**EDIT: For some reason the cross out text which is working fine in my text edit / preview, is not working for the text itself. The ‘Meta’ heroes are Brigitte, Zenyatta, Zarya, Hanzo, Reinhart, Mercy, and Moira.
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Yup the game just goes from heroes being OP, must play, good, decent, situational, bad, throwing and it shouldnt be like this, any hero should be just as impactful as the next one, but when blizzard change a hero they dont BALANCE, they either make him OP, must play, bad or throw.
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Did you cross out the names to say which are Meta or which aren’t? Either way that list would be incorrect.
Read the **Edit part of the list.
It’s impossible for a Meta to not exist.
The best thing you can do is to make it map dependent.
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No game is gonna get this perfect, because not everyone is going to agree. It’s a fun game, especially in comp., that’s all I care about. And Meta is also a community driven opinion. Some go against it and do quite well. Also improves their mrchanical skill, cause they have to rely on that more than the advantages of their hero.
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I don’t like the idea of a “meta.” In my ideal game, every hero would be viable in one way or another 
A triple tank comp would be able to take on a dive comp, and so on. But I know that’s an impossibility, so I can only keep dreaming.
In Overwatch, the meta is usually so strong because balancing characters is hard. When buffing/nerfing a character, you’re not just affecting that hero, you’re also affecting his counters, synergy picks, and possibly the meta as a whole.
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Meta is almost always perception-based. Too many people take it too seriously. Realistically, you can play anything effectively right now. Something being off-meta doesn’t mean it’s bad, but the perception that it is leads to less picks, which leads to even lower pickrates, which leads to even more negative perception. It’s silly.
Also affecting how many people will quite playing the game.
No you can’t. I’m flagging this as spam because it is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Go into comp right now and play Tracer or Reaper and tell me how you do.
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If you designed 27 distinctly different shovels and asked a thousand dudes to dig a ditch with whichever shovel they wanted there would inevitably be favorites. If you went back and redesigned the shovels there would again be favorites. It would be almost impossible to design shovels that were different, yet equally desired for the job.
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Firstly, thanks for admitting to false reporting before you do it. Secondly, if you think Tracer or Reaper are literally unplayable right now, the problem is with your skill, not the characters.
Aka they are heroes who are mostly in the back… the next hero might be a surprise for them.
Metas will always exist. They have to exist for the game to feel interesting. The heroes need to be unique. That uniqueness also makes them niche. Some niches are more powerful than others. Sometimes heroes are designed to be more niche than other. Tracer can be played in a lot of situations. More then Sombra. But Sombra also has hack. So Sombra can be more powerful than Tracer in certain situations.
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I think it’s existed for quite a while, even in some older games
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Is this coming from a 1 trick 3800 Mercy main with 31% accuracy with Mercy and 33% with Tracer? You got to masters for playing an auto aim hero, and your talking to me about skill. Please stop because I have better accuracy than you on Tracer and I am platinum. If anyone’s skill is bad it’s your’s.
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Every game has a meta. Even single player games.
I think the fact that you think anything you just said is relevant says everything about you that we need to know.
That said, you play on PC. Aiming is waaay easier on PC. You should have much higher accuracy than that.
The meta is not really the “best heroes to play”, it’s more like the tier 1 composition that have shown the most chances of winning in a 27 heroes pool where there are various different possible composition.
The meta is settled when sufficient time has passed for people to get used to heroes and to counter heroes. The meta composition make you win most of game in a state of “equilibrium” of other team compositions. Which means that it’s a team that would win most of the time even if the opponent team changes its composition.
But the meta being a very effective team in a state of equilibrium doesn’t mean it’s the best team to play. If you happen to take a completely different composition but a one which is played very well, it could theorically completely obliterate the team that uses that meta composition.
An exemple would be that there would theorically be a composition where sombra would be a “meta” if all the people in that team played Really good their specific picks. But for that to happen you need a team that is willing to try out new things and not restrict themselves by what is already happening in the current meta.
An other exemple of that would be the tripple tank meta that some competitive players use to surprise the oponent, force them to change their picks and take the first point.
So the meta is not really “the best picks” but more like the best team in a state of “equilibrium”. You can make a very great team that would counter any meta if players are courageous enough to try new things.