I made an entire OP about it.
Tank pick rates are hilariously unbalanced, and no one is playing them as evidenced by DPS queue times going up and up.
2 Likes
Because this game is meant to be competitive. Balancing it any way other than top-down instantly makes it a purely casual game.
That also means that there’s no reason to try and get better. Players like myself just wouldn’t play the game as much, if at all, because we’d know that the better we got at it, the more the game would fight against us.
The tanks are balanced badly and are generally unfun for most people. But that’s not a consequence of their balancing methodology. Balanced for casuals and the average player doesn’t inherently mean more fun.
those don’t describe a flaw of top down balance though. if anything you could just argue that the devs balance poorly even though I personally wouldnt.
TF2 managed to be a game that was made to be casual, but could be taken to a higher competitive level if you wanted to take it that far, because it was just a well-designed game.
(Also Equalizer mechanics like Crits could be and were always disabled in Competitive-minded matches.)
CS:GO literally has a Casual mode where certain rules are changed to accommodate a less hardcore preference.
I don’t see how it’s so hard for Overwatch to do what’s already been done, especially since it’s a game built on doing what’s already been done with a lot more polish.
12 Likes
Oh so you found some truth about this game. That’s good, but yeah their direction of this game is forever lost. Whatever their focus on has been distorted due to distraction of OWL and catering to players who don’t like counters. This game was fine, but only for 1year.
1 Like
Would be kinda easy to fix Tank balance+popularity if they just did this.
Well, despite some of the changes, I think devs generally aim for balance somewhere around high Plat, or low Diamond.
But GOATs stuff was a unusual circumstance.
Pharah’s 1-button pseudo-rocket jump didn’t give you that impression?
1 Like
Most heroes are balanced at most ranks of the game.
Sure, there are like four particular problem heroes on ladder, but that’s basically it.
Rein is too strong on ladder.
Bastion, Sombra, Orisa are too weak on ladder.
That’s it. That’s basically the major outlines of problem heroes.
Overall I think Blizz generally do a pretty good job on balance.
The casual majority believe in crazy things sometimes. If they got their way, the game would be even more unbalanced.
I think it’s a weird mix between this and pro level. Which is why it doesn’t work that well for a lot of heroes.
1 Like
While I partly agree with the topicstarter (heroes shouldn’t be trash in ranked simply because they are good in pro play) balancing around plat will mean that, for example, Widowmaker will be stupidly overpowered in master+ while Reaper or Bastion will be completely useless at master+.
2 Likes
Well also low level too.
But still generally around low Diamond, but they make exceptions for Pro, GM, and Bronze tier.
For instance, Bastion can’t seem to be not-garbage because Bronze tier players would burst into flames with rage.
The tricky part is coming up with buffs and nerfs that target specific ELOs. While not negatively affecting the other ELOs.
Rocket jump in other games wasn’t used to vault to the top of the skybox. It’s not meant to be a easier version of that. It’s an entirely different mechanic.
People shouldn’t be punished because they don’t play in the OWL, several heroes are “balanced” because they are balanced in the OWL. Dva, Sombra, Mei, all great in the OWL, but are bad for the rest of the 99%.
9 Likes
very true.
i wonder if any games balanced for each tier of play successfully, then.
it seems like the only option (however much work it would be) to quell the screams.
Which is why balance will always be terrible. You cant and shouldn’t design a tool for people who cant/wont use it correctly. You design it for correct use.
2 Likes
because usually when you balance things from the top, you also balance things for the bottom.
if you were to buff heroes that say, low elo players aren’t necessarily very good with, for the high elo people it would be a disaster because they are better than they already are for example.
Fun is subjective, it is very fun for me.
If you don’t like it then don’t play it, there are a lot of games out there you can play.
Not really. That just means they can’t buff his Sentry form.
But they could easily make his Recon or Tank forms less garbage.
2 Likes