Why is “good balance” always tied to a certain clique of heroes?

So whenever I see pros, streamers, and the forums drone on about this holier than thou Balance on a hero or just the game in general there seems to be a clique of heroes they measure that by, and they are:

Rein, Soldier, Genji/Tracer, McCree, Widow, sometimes Ash, and Ana.

Anything outside of these heroes that may become viable to win with is considered some “cheese”, “no skill”, “low IQ” and this bad for the game.

So much so that it’s basically coming down to the game is only really playable for those heroes. Why is this so?

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You just answered your own question. Skill elitists only want heroes they consider “high skill” to be viable.

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Also Luci, Zenyatt and An some people say that doomfis and Sombr too. But why Ash? She is always blamed because of her Dynamit.

Oh well, just remember that Jeff recently said that there are many skill deltas and he doesn’t plan on making this game like CS:GO :slight_smile:

Don’t ever feel ashamed of the hero you play, carry on playing them and make sure you have plenty of fun!

I love Moira and Reaper a lot and everyone constantly tells me how they take no skill and “boring” but you know something? I love them and that is all that matters.

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Oh wow didn’t know they blamed her for that. Ashe I think it’s because she’s hitscan. Generally anything hitscan they want to be able to counter / win against any comp

What about Winston? He has limited tanking resources, is he not allowed to be viable too?Gosh… :pleading_face:

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You have my sympathy

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no it’s not lol ???

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Let’s remember that the only ones allowed by the community to have easy damage mechanics are tanks. They tried it on supports (Moira and Brig), but they ended up being hated (or throw picks in support Symmetra’s case)

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They don’t ride hard for him as they do someone like Rein.

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I would point out as well, that if these heroes become pronounced in the meta, they tend to get called low-skill as well. (Except Widow, she tends to avoid criticism because people love getting instant gratification for headshots.)

Soldier was referred to as spray-n-pray when he was at the top of the DPS picks. Seagull is a proud “Tracist”. McCree gets called “McRightClick”. Reinhardt is the big-brain main tank until he dominates the meta for a long time, in which case he is just press W and Winston is the real skilled tank. Or vice versa.

Some of it is down to people getting salty about getting killed by a hero, some of it is down to people who never really made peace with what Overwatch is (an asymmetric hero shooter) as opposed to what they wished it was (aka CS:GO or CoD, but cartoons). Some of it is down to over-glorifying aim and under-appreciating strategy. Some of it is down to frustration with the current meta (i.e. nobody called Orisa low skill or boring until bunker happened, and then double-shield).

I’ve noticed a trend where some gamers really can’t handle just not liking a thing, but they have to prove that the thing is wrong. i.e., “I don’t like fighting Brig, she is therefore low skill trash that doesn’t deserve to exist”; or “I don’t like playing as Mercy, therefore she is brainless”; or, “I don’t enjoy Overwatch, therefore it is a baby game for babies”. It is not enough to have a preference, they must be righteously justified in their preference.

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Mei and Reper became meta for a quick second and it was a big issue, same for DF/Sombra.

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Rein-the purest shield tank. represents the most effectiveness of the full team huddle.

widow-the most bad positioning punisher the game has. maps must always
be designed with her in mind in attack and def.

tracer-the most glass cannon dps you can have. whats the most risk/value you can have for a dps.

soldier-the most balanced hit scan. if soldier can’t work then more balance is required.

basically, they represent the pillars of the game.
if they all work then other heros can be built around their design.

thats my guess at least.

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It’s kinda simple … most “pro/streamers” players come from FPS games(which they played with little success compared to OW), so they don’t want to have to learn new things…
It’s like every other job … people want to get paid as much as possible, for as little effort as possible…

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Excepting McCree and Ashe, that was the season 4 meta, and that was the most strategically diverse meta ever, and easily peak overwatch.

Additionally, outskilling any one of them is for the most part, a reasonable strategy.

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it doesnt have to be like csgo, play off meta if you want to, if playing low skill heroes is all you wanna do then play low skill heroes, just dont expect to be allowed into high elos, or that your heroes should be meta. It makes the game worse.

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But other heros can get some mechanics reworks to be harder to play and viable?

What is the point to learn harder skills heros if you can get the same or higher value with a low skill heros or a lot worse when now you see a lot of matchs some teams pick a full low skills comps and get massive value…

Really i want all heros viables but you cant just buff lower skills heros with no destroy the game. They needs mechanics reworks.

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Like I’ve said before

A character can be seen as a high skill cap hero, until they’re meta, and then they’re not.

Look at Reinhardt
Or Ana
Or McCree
Or Sombra
Or Winston
Or Widowmaker
Or Doomfist
Or Brigitte
Or Orisa

In November (You know, 6 months ago) people were BEGGING for Ana to be meta over Moira because “Moira is braindead and has no right being meta”. And now people are complaining about Ana being braindead and too easy to get max value from.

You literally cannot win with these people. The fact that Zen is currently seeing more meta playtime than Ana in Contenders and OWL doesn’t matter because “High pickrate on ladder = opopop”

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They also want winston and d.va viable.

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Because egos.

But I wouldn’t put Soldier on that list, he just gets flak for being a “Basic CoD hero”.