Because theyāre slow, have to stand around a lot babysitting, get CCed constantly. They also tend to not do much damage with the exception of the only semi-popular tanks.
Iāve seen the idea for a hitscan/sniper barrier tank floating around, and itās not that terrible of an idea, unless youāve got a good grasp of how to not make it broken or OP.
I agree with this.
Itās possible for a decent tank to look like a T500 player when they have an organized team that uses the space they create, fights around them, and properly supports them and communicates with them.
That exact same tank can look like Bronze feeder without their team behind them.
I have had some of the most amazing games on tank when the DPS were helping finish the targets Iād weakened and my support was healing me once in a while.
Iāve also had the worst games on tank, that tilted me to the point of shutting down for the night when I press āWā and get stunned, rocked, booped, or frozen just to die slowly calling for heals (or help of any kind).
Tanks must have teammates helping them to do well.
1 Like
Tanking is unpopular because it is perceived as boring or as a punching bag. However, both perceptions are only true if you are bad at the role. The truth of the matter is, tanks are the most impactful and (when played correctly) the most powerful role in the game.
And honestly, I do not want that to change. Let tanking be hard and inaccessible: that is what makes the role so special and so amazing to me. I have been a tank main for as long as I have been playing this game. Iāve sunk hundreds of hours into tank characters (mostly Rein, but I also have played a lot of Orisa and Sigma, and a decent amount of Zarya and Winston), and honestly can say that they all have the greatest depth of any hero in the game (apart from Ana and Lucio in the support category).
I mean, I like protecting teammates.
Thatās hard to do when the barrier dies faster than I do.
3 Likes
Any thoughts on this concept?
I think I did a pretty good job at fixing the ācanāt do anything unless my teammates allow me toā.
Funny thing is that this is what the developers expected. Jeff said that in the beginning, they knew Tank would be the least played role and did stuff on that thought, until of course, everyone and their worship of the almighty 2-2-2 meta changed that drastically.
Also I would just like to point out that the only reason we have 2-2-2 lock is not because of 5 DPS, but because of GOATs.
Tanks are mostly unpopular because you have to rely on a bunch of selfish teammates to support your plays. When you get a good group of teammates, tanking feels great (win or lose). When you donāt, you want to quit the role altogether.
I mean those are certainly smaller factors. But Iām willing to bet the bigger issue is power creep and nerfs.
So many tanks have basically been nerfed and then DPS has been buffed at the same time. Leaving a large power vacuum that unfortunately only Reinhardt fills, and even he is a shadow of his former self.
Tanks didnāt start leaving until these major nerfs hit and never got re-examined. While the tank changes might make a big difference in say OWL or plat and above it only made lower ranks a giant pain in the rear for tanks.
These issue were also not present until bliz started focusing on the pro league and pushed away the casual community the game was built for.
1 Like
Because theyāre not dps.
Itās because tanks are not balanced what so ever.
Reasons to not pick tank:
- your whole role is built around absorbing damage, so your teammates donāt have to. Which already clashes with how FPS is played;
- you supposed to keep attention on yourself, but you lack tools for it. You just not scary;
- you have to rely on your team to assist you. Needless to say, itās not best idea;
- no feeling of ātankā. You arenāt that resilient, unless supports keep you healed;
We used to have more tanks and flex players before the role was gutted and damage creep happened. Nobody wants to play tanks because they are A$$
1 Like
We only had GOATS because of the Brig launch being OP. Its not a role issue
How do we even know a large group of tanks left? My queues are roughly the same. I mean, I am sure a lot of tanks did leave, but so did support and dps. Everyone is leaving.
Actually, Goats would have appeared anyway. For 2 main reasons:
- damage becomes excessively high, so DPS canāt be healed through damage they themselves output.
- certain healer, that could reverse deaths, was kicked out of the meta;
Those reasons combined led to conclusion, that you have to stack up sustain, to survive that damage.
1 Like
This thread is really why I want a run and gun style tank.
Though I do think a āranged hitscanā precision tank isnt the correct way to go. Tanks by and large, IMO, should be up close things getting in your face making space. A tank that can be lethal āfrom rangeā, isnt really a tank.
What id LOVE to see is a tank that is rewarded with a team defense mechanic for shooting opponents.
IE:
Imagine a tank with a shotgun, who has a tankability that works like a small shield burst. Tap the ability- BaM, every team mate in range gets a small burst of shields (blue hp).
Give that ability a relatively moderate cooldown- Say 10-15~ seconds.
However
Have it so that every pellet landed from their shotgun- call it a ākinetic shotgunā, restores a very small portion of this cooldown- To the point where if they land all their pellets from a shot, they can get the cooldown back for the shield-burst notably faster (In a few seconds, instead of the 10-15).
The goal is youve got a tank who goes in, and from a players perspective is focusing almost entirely on DAMAGE KILL PEW PEW PEW, but at the same time their team is actively getting tangible damage mitigation in the form of blue-hp shields.
Your first 3 points apply more to support than tanks imo. For meā¦tanks are not fun because blizzard nerfed them all to the ground. Orisa is not fun anymore. Sigma is not fun anymore. D.Va is not fun anymore. Hog is not fun anymore. I never like Winston ever anyway. Ball is ok but Iām afraid heāll get gutted at some point too. Rein has always been boring to me. That leaves only Zarya as the tank I enjoy playing. And even she might get nerfed too with how the community lynch mob is calling for her head.
Anytime a tank is fun and impactful they get nerfed into irrelevance. Orisa used to be my favorite tank but now she just feels like a boring bot. A good way to keep people from playing tank is to continuously nerf heroes for no reason.
1 Like
Sigma was never broken. Actually he was the one of the best design heroes that blizzard has created. He was a great main tank next to Reinhardt. The problem was that all the other tanks were in a poor spot except Reinhardt and Zarya.
Before sigma came in the ladder meta at diamond and above was orisa hog though rein zarya was and is the only synergy that works in plat and below coz it doesnt require as much teamwork unless you get one of those games where everyone wants to comm and play together, rein zarya is ātheā solo q comp for lower ranks and even rein hog/ball works as well. Rein Zarya requires much more teamwork with resource management in higher elos though