I disagree with you here. We’ve gone through multiple metas in the OWL since it started. There was dive, double sniper, goats, bunker and double shield. The tracer buff doesn’t make her queen of the meta, it only makes dive more playable.
Dive is a good option against double shield. Double shield is a good option against bunker. Bunker is a good option against a rushdown/deathall style comp. Rushdown is a good option against dive.
I think balance is closer than it’s been ever before.
I’d argue it’s higher than 2%, easily.
You are being far too diplomatic.
Nah I’m not being sarcastic, I would’ve used “/s” if I was.
Um in what world was torb ever a viable pick?
Edit: typo
Metas go through change, as well, as balance changes are implemented. That doesn’t mean each iteration of a Meta is an entirely new thing.
Double Sniper was baiscally Dive Meta with two different DPS.
GOATs went through Iterations, as well. First it was Moira, and then it was Zenyatta GOATs.
Double Barrier is nothing but another Bunker Comp. We just swapped out Roadhog and Mei for Doomfist (who can secure easy kills - replacing Halt-Hook) and Sigma (who has damage block and a CC, like Mei) - the latter being a new hero. Before that, some teams were running Snipers in Bunker (Hanzo-Reaper was run a lot).
The META really has more to do with how the Heroes within the Meta - and the comp itself - functions, than what specific heroes are in it. You’re looking at it through an extremely simplistic lens - which is unsurprising, since most lower-ranked players do that. THis is why people would run “GOATs,” but then you’d realize they’re actually not… they’re just picking GOATs Heroes. Function, Interaction, and Interplay is what makes a Meta.
Baptiste was sometimes run in GOATs when he was added in, as well. (There were like 3-4 Variants of GOATs.)
When you account for these relatively minor changes, we have Dive, GOATs and Bunker - since that’s what Double Barrier was.
Problem with Bunker (incl. Double Barrier) is it’s boring to watch, and it’s boring to play. It actually feels way worse as DPS than it does as a Support - and is just boring to play as Tank, unless you’re the Sigma. These comps don’t leave much room for dynamic gameplay, which causes them to become monotanous very quickly.
GOATs was largely similar, in that respect.
Dive, less so, which is why people were exasperated with it - but never on the level of GOATs and Bunker.
People were over Double Barrier incredibly quickly. So it’s not just a matter of “people complain about every META.” THis META put people off right out of the gate, when they realize how boring it is to watch.
Another reason why people hated GOATs was due to the fact that that META basically forced people off-role onto heroes they couldn’t play well. You had Pro-Level Elite Widowmaker/Tracer players struggling on Zarya, DPS Players put on Brigitte for the better part of an entire season.
It was awful for the players, and awful for the audience to watch… Unless you are a super casual viewer and don’t really know anything about OW and the people involved.
Even in “Double Barrier” teams would still swap off of Reaper to Mei or Bastion, and sometimes run PharMercy. SF Shock ran Bastion/PharMercy/Baptiste. It is nothing more than Bunker 1.5.
Tracer needs far less aim to kill supports.
well that explains why moira couldn’t do anything -_- why does blizz keep listening to dumbasses who scream nerf the support heroes that are meant to be played aggressively.
This has nothing to do with Tracer’s buffs, she could already do this before the buffs. Hell, even Reaper can spawn camp you more effectively then Tracer. The real problem is that Tracer hasn’t been in the meta for a long time, and everyone has forgotten how to play against her.
Let me remind you that even in the dive meta, Tracer was only in the top 10 most played heroes in Masters and above, she was never an actual problem in any rank below that because she was barely played. This buff won’t change anything about Tracer, other then making her pick rate higher.
What exactly am I supposed to do with this sentence, which is speculation presumably born from bias rather than knowledge and experience?
It’s generally accepted that Tracer requires a minimum of 38% accuracy to be played at a viable level. Are you regularly achieving this with Tracer?
If your healers are in spawn, your entire team should be falling back (assuming that you haven’t won the team fight.) You’re not going to win a 4v6 without healing most times anyway.
Plus, most healers should be losing against a Tracer tbh. Perhaps in a 2v1, they should have better luck, but that’s dependent on what healers are being played and the skill of all three heroes involved.
(And hey, this is coming from a hardcore support main.)
Im a Mercy one trick in FFA. I know how hard to kill Tracer even if her aim is trash. Just bc of recall and speed for HP.
Ok. Remove any damage ability from supports. bC hEALers sHOuLd be losing!
So you made a whole thread complaining about tracer yet your dps did not swap and stay back to help your healers.
It is a team game, remember your whole team as-well can go back and help your team.
It really not a hard concept, Then you keep helping your team so you force her swap because she becomes useless.
2 players die again and again. 4 other players have to retreat. Bc of one character! What a great balance!
In most scenarios, yes, a support should not be able to duel a DPS unless it’s part of their utility (like Zen.) They can still clean up kills during big team fights, which is why they should have damaging abilities, but in general, except if the support is a higher skill level than the DPS, yes, I do believe a support shouldn’t be able to win the duel. 
I do believe every should have a chance. But Tracer is just ez duel kill. And every tracermain says about his/her great AIM.
Be honest, tracermains. Your character is not that hard as you pretend she is.
I appreciate the info that you provided here, though I still disagree with your assessment as well as the insinuation that as a lower ranked player I don’t understand what is happening. I don’t have the mechanical skill required to perform at high level, but I understand the interactions.
You were incorrect about the double sniper meta, it was most common with Orisa/Rein and Hog, making it definitively not dive. Also, while there are minor distinctions in the toons picked during each general meta I listed, there are major playstyle differences only with major meta shifts. Within the general meta there were always variants, IE Sombra-Tracer in dive, Genji-Tracer dive, Pharmercy dive. Deathball variants plugged Repaer and Mei for the Beyblade or any number of triple tank groupings.
In general, every meta with the exception of the most recent double shield was a product of support changes. Mercy res changes allowed Dive to flourish, further mercy changes empowered double sniper because the entry pick forced the mercy res, Ana enabled deathball style comps, brigitte was single handedly responsible for Goats, and baptiste for bunker.
In contrast 2-2-2 is the culprit for double shield. Empowering dive - hence the tracer, and Winston buffs make an alternative 2-2-2 comp viable. It’s not the defacto win button that well played GOATS was and in fact Dive is not even as good as it once was.
In general, the tracer buffs simply let her compete with other dps. She still has a very high skill floor, and most tracer play below the highest levels of this game = throwing. Blame power creep in general, but the tracer buffs were badly needed.
Oh yeah, Tracer’s buff definitely helped her win duels more easily, since she can create more distance and has a bit more forgiveness if her aim isn’t on point. And with most 1v1s, everyone has a chance, since it’s skill dependent on both sides, but I do think DPS should have the advantage, since their main job is damage.
Just for the scenario described by OP, I’m curious what the supports supposedly were lol. Because a 2v1 of that type, the supports should win, even with Tracer’s changes. One to heal the other, one to kill the Tracer. Maybe a Mercy-Brig duo would have difficulties, assuming Tracer stayed at her new max range but idk.
tracer still sucks when people don’t pick dva, winston or hammond. As long as those tanks are not META tracer is not either. For me it looks we are going back to halt hook. Especially after road buff
There are 31 different answers to each of these questions, and each of those answers varies according to rank, map, position and numerous other unquantifiable variables. However I’m surmising that you don’t play Tracer, and thus you have no direct personal experience with her mechanical tracking requirements.
I strongly encourage you to play her! The best way to learn counterplay against an enemy is to learn how to play that enemy. That’s the reason I started playing Doomfist and it helped me immensely.
Statistically, Tracer dies 36% more frequently than Mercy in comp. Her survivability isn’t great, but it isn’t terrible either.
FFA is a whole different world, and it’s not a very habitable one for Mercy. However if you understand Tracer’s movement patterns and how her players think, it’s still a winnable duel (though she of course has the advantage).