DPS is probably the least impactful role in the game right now, as a DPS player you really have to rely on your tanks and supports to do their jobs well before you can really make a huge impact on the game. DPS is also the simplest role in the game in terms of what their job is - dealing damage and getting kills. That’s why it’s so easy to know if your DPS are doing their job or not.
This is why I think DPS players always get the blame no matter what. Supports and tanks, but mostly supports, have a completely unrealistic expectation of what a DPS is supposed to do and if they’re not lighting up the kill feed every two-seconds - they’re not “doing their job.”
The DPS are expected to solo carry the game without being enabled by their team and god forbid they ask for any help, because if they do queue the stereotypical response “DPS kill something.”
It’s not the Mercy healing a full hp Rein instead of pocketing Ashe that’s the problem, it’s not the Zarya taking 4 fights the build her grav, it’s not the fact that nobody peels for widow when she’s dived by Winston, no, it’s the “DPS aren’t killing anything” that’s the problem.
It’s hard to tell when you’re tanks aren’t creating space and it’s hard to tell when the supports aren’t prioritizing heals correctly. The only time you really notice the mistakes your tanks made or that your Mercy is healing Hog instead of pocketing DPS is after the fact - but the kill feed is always visible to everyone. That’s why DPS always get the blame.
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It’s particularly bad if you’re on certain heroes, like Widowmaker, Sym and Sombra. If you’re not getting constant 4k+s, you are very likely to still be blamed even if you’re killing enemy heroes and doing your part.
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Every role gets unfair blame, and every role tries to turn itself into a pity party. I wish we could just stop.
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Dps shouldnt need to rely on a support to get kills. 2 supports 4 people to heal. Choosing to flank or not to flank all impact who gets healed. Then there is how far you dive… It is always dps fault when thing dont happen because then it is just a battle of attrition. It is why zen seems strong at some times and weak at other times. Some dps dont see advantage of hitting discord target…
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just hard boost your team so bad they can’t complain without the enemy team flaming them
I wish it would stop too but I don’t believe tanks get blame as much as DPS and supports because kills and heals are the easiest things to see
This I don’t get.
Tanks need to space otherwise DPS don’t get good angle of attack and are at a disadvantage against enemy DPS.
Supports are now playmakers with some of the most powerful abilities in the game on cooldown so saying it’s “always” DPS fault seems like exactly the kind of gross simplification OP is talking about.
All roles have a part to play to get kills and even if the DPS are the ones that get kills, it doesn’t actually mean they’ve played well.
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Yep. DPS usually have to play around the tanks, not the other way around. There are a few exceptions, but generally, tanks are the ones “making the path” for the rest of the team.
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They get the blame because they need healing.
If I had to hazard a guess, its because its the role with the most tools (characters for specific jobs, or general purpose) and thus, suffers the most from people trying to force the wrong tool (character mains shouldn’t be called a role main of any of the 3 tbh).
Every role has this problem to some degree, its just noticed more for DPS, especially for characters with higher skill ceilings, or extremely niche play styles.
Being a mystery heroes connoisseur main, I play everything, and I wish everyone else tried the same. It takes a week to become competent with a character, which is a generous estimate and likely takes even less time. Don’t fall into the trap of character maining. I did this as Pharah when I first played, and then Mercy to be able to function as either part of Pharmercy. You reach a dead end playing this way, and now I try not to. I’m still working off my mercy hours lmao one day she won’t be my top pick…
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You clearly don;t play on ladder. Dps are 99% of the time off flanking and doing their own thing.
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The problem you describe is the whole team being stupid.
This game has the most unique feature:
A team wherein every member of the team believes that the team has the responsibility to coalesce around them, and that as they go off on their merry little route, and get annihilated by themselves, that this represents a failure of everyone on the team except them.
The real solution is to set up some basic structure, have at least one active on voice comms, stick together on approach, allow the shot caller to pick targets…and no matter what, follow the shotcallers instructions.
Any random bronze team, doing this basic thing would be in Platinum within a month, and have an advantage in Platinum over others.
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All roles get the blame, not just dps. Sometimes dps go on there own, supports are tunnel visioning on something else, or tanks decided they like being shattered often by Rein.
It’s whatever role I’m not on 
so you can’t play solo in a team game, it’s not fps watch yet
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Some people cannot accept that they might be part of the problem, so they blame others instead. This is a problem with all roles.
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I gripe to both dps and tanks, especially tanks. I’m healing you and I have ult, PUSH da*mit!
I’m assuming you are a tank main and if this happens a hell lot more than it should, it’s probably because you are not making space and dps feel compelled to find kills by forcing risky, stupid flanks, because…thread title.
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I’m assuming you are a dps one trick, and don’t know how to play with tanks and blame them for your mistakes. For starters, you realize you are supposed to apply area pressure for tanks, right? They don’t just magically take space in a vacuum. I you are not either
A.Breaking Barrier
B.Focusing Tank target
C.Peeling for healers
Or
D.Securing enemy healer picks
You are doing poorly. Most dps do D but fail at it, when A-C would have been better choices.
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In all my time playing other roles, i was blamed too when playing tanks or healers.
And less times when i picked dps, and i suck at this role. Still was blamed, but usually when like playing snipers or something. But that was also because a lot of times i was carried, or just playing mccree was good enaugh as i could stun people or something.
But maybe because i was not looking for scape goats, and blamed only people who openly were throwing or atacking teammates.
People can get healed for whole game, and not notice that in plat and go with “Where was healing?! WHy no one heal?”
Or best "ana why you didnt nano me?! " genji style, especialy AFTER I SAID IN CHAT MY ULT CHARGE IS NOT READY BEFORE WE STARTED FIGHT
For tanks its usually “Why you didnt move forward?!” vs “Tank why you go in there alone” When you get tired of complains about not moving forward, pick diving tank, and go in as they wanted.
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