So how are your games going lately? [megathread]

[Coldkil]

Done another bunch of placements last night - i think i miss only the last one. I stand at 4 win, and i had the general inpression that i didn't play really well, so i'm taking most of the blame on me. Though it's been a pretty balanced experience, i just think that if played better we could have got the edge on a couple more games.

Only two matches really sood out for their badness:
- one was Gibraltar, started on defense. No one takes the healer (i was tank). No need to say how it has gone; we actually managed to keep them in line a little at first checkpoint, but too many deaths led to a pretty fast loss. Attack round went pretty fine, we nearly managed to get the cart to the end, but it was clear that if we had an healer during defense it would have been really different and maybe a win.
- second was Ilio; Junkrat guy continues going on "we need snipers", and the proceeds to run around the map hunting for kills instead of getting to point; in the end it was only me and the friend grouped with me that tried to egt it buyt we were swarmed by the opposing team. Lots of hero swaps, no ultimates (obviously). Second round he just decided to afk and leave so we lost. Again, the opponents didn't look that hard to beat or at least to have a fun game with - but we were doomed from beginning.

[Very Tired]

Is it just me or did they remove the total games played statistic from the in game menu?

[Roose]

I am disappointed to see that your rating can dip down past brackets. I was really hoping that they made it so that a losing streak would not fuck you as bad. I do not care about keeping an icon, I want to be able to play this game and not end up in "ELO hell" which does exist.

I have been playing a lot of Reinhardt and Dva in competitive so far. I have no idea why, but I seem to have a significantly lower win rate. I think that I play Dva pretty well, but my win rate has always been lower with her than others. I have also dropped like 250 points and am winning over half my matches, and that is with draws holding down win rate. I want to play more than just offense but I feel like I am penalized for it. The only way I climbed last season was with Reaper and Tracer, and it seems that is still the case. I find it very hard to believe that I am significantly better with a character that I play less. The win rates say it, though, and so does my rank.

Something needs to be done to make playing non-offense characters more rewarding.

[Endus]

I am disappointed to see that your rating can dip down past brackets. I was really hoping that they made it so that a losing streak would not fuck you as bad. I do not care about keeping an icon, I want to be able to play this game and not end up in "ELO hell" which does exist.

I have been playing a lot of Reinhardt and Dva in competitive so far. I have no idea why, but I seem to have a significantly lower win rate. I think that I play Dva pretty well, but my win rate has always been lower with her than others. I have also dropped like 250 points and am winning over half my matches, and that is with draws holding down win rate. I want to play more than just offense but I feel like I am penalized for it. The only way I climbed last season was with Reaper and Tracer, and it seems that is still the case. I find it very hard to believe that I am significantly better with a character that I play less. The win rates say it, though, and so does my rank.

Something needs to be done to make playing non-offense characters more rewarding.

Again;

1> "ELO Hell" doesn't exist. When you're dropping in rank, you're being paired against equally-low-ranked players. Yes, your teammates are likely to be "worse", but so is the enemy team. If you're really that much better, you should be able to swing that equal match in your team's favor, more often than not.

2> Win/loss ratio is nearly irrelevant. The amount of rank you win or lose is based on your personal performance in that match, compared to other players at that rank. If you perform above that average, you'll win more than you lose. If not, you'll lose more than you win. That will tend to see you climb or drop in rank, even with a 50/50 win ratio. I've had matches where I lost, and lost almost no rank (less than 10 points). I've had victories where I earned something like 50. I've had some loss streaks, but

3> People really need to stop thinking about "climbing" the ranks. That's not how the system is intended to work. It's meant to find your general rank, and you'll hover around that point the entire season. The purpose is to ensure you're getting competitive matches against comparably-ranked players, not to serve as some progression system. The only way you can reasonably expect to climb in rank is by improving your gameplay at a significantly faster rate than most other people who are playing (and most people in Competitive are trying to get better, so there's a baseline of regular improvement that's presumed).

I really don't think that playing non-offense characters isn't "rewarding". I play mostly tank or support, and I'm not plummeting in rank at all. Heck, checking my stats, I've got a 42% win rate, and I'm only a few points below where placements stuck me, and a solid 100 points above where I bottomed out.

[Temp name]

I really don't think that playing non-offense characters isn't "rewarding". I play mostly tank or support, and I'm not plummeting in rank at all. Heck, checking my stats, I've got a 42% win rate, and I'm only a few points below where placements stuck me, and a solid 100 points above where I bottomed out.

Just for curiosity, where is your winrate if you count draws as 50% winning? (If there's a way to track draws)

[Roose]

I fully agree that everyone encounters the same obstacles. I agree that personal performance should matter. I just want more consistent results. I am tired of losing streaks, and depending on winning streaks.

You can get out of the lower brackets, sure. But why do you have to? They should do what they need to do to make a system where you only go up in rank. Reduce gains and eliminate rank loss. One reason people get so salty is because the loss of rank is demoralizing. People's skill does not vary that much. How many people actually get worse as they play?

I do not care about ranking down and knlw I can get back up, but to me the games that you get in get worse and worse the lower you go. I do not enjoy them as much. They make me want to stop playing and I know I am not alone. Some people think that they deserve a better rank and get upset, not me. I just want to stay in a bracket where I feel I am not dominating or holding a team back. I do not care about the number until I see my quality of matches start to decline. I myself am not playing any worse or better. It gets frustrating and I do not play video games with that as a desired state.

[Daws001]

I am disappointed to see that your rating can dip down past brackets. I was really hoping that they made it so that a losing streak would not fuck you as bad. I do not care about keeping an icon...

Yeah, I don't like the disconnect between our tier icon and SR. Blizz stated,

Because skill rating was the only gauge players had for their relative performance, and because the number constantly fluctuated throughout the season, changes in value could be frustrating. We didn't intend for competitive players to focus on that one number, and so this season, we’re introducing seven discrete skill tiers. [Source]

I'm still focusing on SR over the icon, especially now that they're not in sync, so it's not really working for me the way they intended. Also, we already have a highest SR stat so really...the icon feels a bit pointless and overshadowed. I think the tier system would feel more successful if SR followed the same rules as the icon and your SR wouldn't drop below your tier's minimum rating (save for masters).

I just think the big thing is that losing feels too punishing and you lose a lot in this game. Not only can your rating drop out of tiers (what's the point of tiers then?) but you get zero points for the losing effort. It's a bit much.

All that said, after my soul crushing loser weekend, I've been having fun on Mercy and just got her cute spray tonight. /joy

[Endus]

I just think the big thing is that losing feels too punishing and you lose a lot in this game. Not only can your rating drop out of tiers (what's the point of tiers then?) but you get zero points for the losing effort. It's a bit much.

I'm not sure how many times I can say this, but the ranking system in Overwatch is not intended as a progression system. It's entirely expected and deliberate that most people will fall down to/climb up to a given rank, and then fluctuate within about 150 points of that for the most part.

The tier system is meant to provide broad classifications for communication purposes; "I'm a gold-level player", and also to work out end-of-season rewards, which is why you "save" the highest tier you reach that season for that purpose.

Dropping a tier doesn't cost you that end-of-season reward, but it's going to affect your long-term rank, meaning you'll likely not place that high in the next season.

I also don't really understand the "lack of reward" argument. The only exclusive reward for not-losing is competitive points, whose sole purpose is weapon skins. You still earn XP while losing (minus the bonus for winning, of course), and experience leads to leveling up leads to loot boxes, which is plenty of reward.

[Deleted]

Again;

1> "ELO Hell" doesn't exist. When you're dropping in rank, you're being paired against equally-low-ranked players. Yes, your teammates are likely to be "worse", but so is the enemy team. If you're really that much better, you should be able to swing that equal match in your team's favor, more often than not.

2> Win/loss ratio is nearly irrelevant. The amount of rank you win or lose is based on your personal performance in that match, compared to other players at that rank. If you perform above that average, you'll win more than you lose. If not, you'll lose more than you win. That will tend to see you climb or drop in rank, even with a 50/50 win ratio. I've had matches where I lost, and lost almost no rank (less than 10 points). I've had victories where I earned something like 50. I've had some loss streaks, but

3> People really need to stop thinking about "climbing" the ranks. That's not how the system is intended to work. It's meant to find your general rank, and you'll hover around that point the entire season. The purpose is to ensure you're getting competitive matches against comparably-ranked players, not to serve as some progression system. The only way you can reasonably expect to climb in rank is by improving your gameplay at a significantly faster rate than most other people who are playing (and most people in Competitive are trying to get better, so there's a baseline of regular improvement that's presumed).

I really don't think that playing non-offense characters isn't "rewarding". I play mostly tank or support, and I'm not plummeting in rank at all. Heck, checking my stats, I've got a 42% win rate, and I'm only a few points below where placements stuck me, and a solid 100 points above where I bottomed out.

It's utter horseshit and you know it.. My placement matches were a complete clusterfuck, in one of them I had 4 tanks on defence... We got railed. In one someone left, we got beat.. Think I ended on 7 losses 2 wins and a draw or something equally as shit, it's near impossible to post good personal stats when you are paired with utter idiots. The ones where the first 4 picks are tracer, genji, McGee and widow on defence and they are terrible.. I ended with a placement of 2200ish, I've climbed up to 2500+ Yet last weekend I got into a dreaded loss streak where every team I got on was utterly shite and the opponents played as a team and easily beat us.. I dropped over 200 points. This is the problem, you can easily get unlucky.. I generally pick last so I select the gap in our team, but I generally get penalised for doing so as if I go tank no one supports me so I die.. A lot.. Similar with healer.

P.s. Don't bother with the whole Jimmyboreknowitall, you are a total blizzard fanboy.. The system whilst improved needs changes as there is still this ELO hole potential which is a complete killer to a ranking system you progress through.

[Coldkil]

Think I ended on 7 losses 2 wins and a draw or something equally as shit, it's near impossible to post good personal stats when you are paired with utter idiots. The ones where the first 4 picks are tracer, genji, McGee and widow on defence and they are terrible.. I ended with a placement of 2200ish, I've climbed up to 2500+ Yet last weekend I got into a dreaded loss streak where every team I got on was utterly shite and the opponents played as a team and easily beat us.. I dropped over 200 points.

I did 5/5 on placements and got ranked 1900 more or less. So yes, wlr doesn't count shit and apparently im bad as hell. Did only 1 ranked match (solo queue) and lost around 50 points; this means i'm just bad at everything. In fact, i win when i play with a friend or two, but alone i'm just not bringing my weight. I'm a good team player, but not as good solo.

One thing i agree with you anyway: ELO hell does exist. The more you dip down, the more people playing plain bad/trolling/leaving increases substantially to the point it doesn't matter anymore how well you can play; there will be someone fucking up the game, and if you're lucky it's in the enemy team.

Current season i'm finding myself having a HUGE objective time with any character i have played. This is due mostly to the fact that i don't go around hunting kills because everyone else does - so i get less damage/kills and usually more deaths because i'm defending the cart/point. I think this makes the system rate me bad because i don't contribute as much; but hell, if i'm going away there is no one on the objective, so i'm kinda ?_? at this point. The ranked match i was on fire basically the entire duration (junkrat defense/s76 offense) but got hit hard for the loss (at least i think 50 points is a lot).

Maybe it's just me, but it's how games are rolling atm. If i keep losing rating is not a problem until i cannot group anymore with friends (which would really suck) and i don't end like previous season into the troll games region.

The problem of lower ratings is not the lower rating (which i couldn't care less); it's the fact people down here have a different mentality (more or less "who cares anymore i'm losing so i can do whatever i want") so games tend to be just bad experiences.

[Graeham]

It doesn't help that support players are still a 'lesser' contributor in terms of medals and such so usually I end up having to bite the bullet and play one myself which I wouldn't mind if it weren't even more of a burden upon a loss. I like the idea of there being no downgrading after a loss - meaning that points increase more slowly instead and in response to victories. They can, of course, decay over time.

But yeah, the term 'disheartening' springs to mind fairly often. I play to win and I don't mind losing but I do mind being stuck in cycle of losing streaks destroying any progress I happen to make. Finding like-minded players to team up with has proven difficult too. It seems like people who don't already know people in advance are at a loss. If I stumble across a great player I reach out to them and let them know that I appreciated their performance and would like to play together again but...many don't have any interest in competitive or just don't respond. Not that they're obliged to, of course.

[Zelendria]

You can get out of the lower brackets, sure. But why do you have to? They should do what they need to do to make a system where you only go up in rank. Reduce gains and eliminate rank loss. One reason people get so salty is because the loss of rank is demoralizing. People's skill does not vary that much. How many people actually get worse as they play?

This statement couldn't be more untrue.
People's skill as you move down through the ranks becomes more and more wildly different the further you go. I bet everybody has had games where they are MVP, god, motherfucking death machine. Directly followed by not being able to hit a barn door at 6ft.
People don't get worse with practice I agree, but that doesn't mean they become consistently good, otherwise they would be further up the rankings.
Everybody hits a plateau as well

Some people think that they deserve a better rank and get upset, not me. I just want to stay in a bracket where I feel I am not dominating or holding a team back. I do not care about the number until I see my quality of matches start to decline. I myself am not playing any worse or better. It gets frustrating and I do not play video games with that as a desired state.

Yes you do.
You posted that you're disappointed you have dropped a bracket... What makes you think you ever belonged there in the first place?


As a general statement... How many people evaluate their own performances? It's so easy to say things like 'I lost X in a row because of shitty team mates'. 'OMG my team was complete shit'. YOU are 1 of 6 in that team. Are you saying you were super awesome because by simply playing enough, if this is the case, you will carry games you shouldn't be in.
One of the worst comments I see when I'm messing around in QM is 'We need a <insert hero>'. Usually made by someone with a bad pick themselves or they haven't actually picked at all... Here's an idea YOU pick it.

[effs]

Bit off-topic but in case anyone is interested

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDMoTmRBI4Q

[Endus]

Yes you do.
You posted that you're disappointed you have dropped a bracket... What makes you think you ever belonged there in the first place?

That's kind of my issue. People complain about losing rank and then not being able to make it back up; what that suggests is that your new lower rank is appropriate.

I had a losing streak shortly after my placement matches, and dropped a good 200 points. I then earned that back, and set a new season high for myself (by three whopping points, but still). I've since been waffling around that point, and hope I can push just a little bit higher (in high Gold, hoping to touch Platinum to get better end-of-season rewards, even if I fall back down afterwards).

Take a look at how many points you gain on a win, and how many you lose for a loss. That will tell you whether this is luck, or whether it's you. Actually track it. Write it down. If you lose more for losses than you gain for wins, regardless of how many of each there are, it means you're underperforming for your rank; a 50/50 win rate would result in a slow decay of your rank level.

As a general statement... How many people evaluate their own performances? It's so easy to say things like 'I lost X in a row because of shitty team mates'. 'OMG my team was complete shit'. YOU are 1 of 6 in that team. Are you saying you were super awesome because by simply playing enough, if this is the case, you will carry games you shouldn't be in.
One of the worst comments I see when I'm messing around in QM is 'We need a <insert hero>'. Usually made by someone with a bad pick themselves or they haven't actually picked at all... Here's an idea YOU pick it.

Yeah. About the only time I'll comment on my team's performance in a negative light is a pretty niche situation; if I'm playing a healer, and I'm getting Silver or higher damage done. Elims I ignore because it just means you touched someone before they died, that's why D.va often has gold elims, spraying bullets everywhere. But if I'm getting silver damage done (or gold), it means me as Zenyatta is outdamaging the guys playing damage-dealers. If we're rolling 2 tanks/2 heals/2 DPS, we can't afford a Genji who hides in the back and occasionaly dashes out to get the last hit on their healer.

The only time I'll raise a team comp issue is if I'm already playing the sole tank/healer, and I think we need another of either; I can't swap because I'll open a bigger hole than I fill. Otherwise, if I think we need a Lucio, and I'm playing Soldier, I'll swap to Lucio.

[Rudol Von Stroheim]

That's kind of my issue. People complain about losing rank and then not being able to make it back up; what that suggests is that your new lower rank is appropriate.

I had a losing streak shortly after my placement matches, and dropped a good 200 points. I then earned that back, and set a new season high for myself (by three whopping points, but still). I've since been waffling around that point, and hope I can push just a little bit higher (in high Gold, hoping to touch Platinum to get better end-of-season rewards, even if I fall back down afterwards).

Take a look at how many points you gain on a win, and how many you lose for a loss. That will tell you whether this is luck, or whether it's you. Actually track it. Write it down. If you lose more for losses than you gain for wins, regardless of how many of each there are, it means you're underperforming for your rank; a 50/50 win rate would result in a slow decay of your rank level.



Yeah. About the only time I'll comment on my team's performance in a negative light is a pretty niche situation; if I'm playing a healer, and I'm getting Silver or higher damage done. Elims I ignore because it just means you touched someone before they died, that's why D.va often has gold elims, spraying bullets everywhere. But if I'm getting silver damage done (or gold), it means me as Zenyatta is outdamaging the guys playing damage-dealers. If we're rolling 2 tanks/2 heals/2 DPS, we can't afford a Genji who hides in the back and occasionaly dashes out to get the last hit on their healer.

The only time I'll raise a team comp issue is if I'm already playing the sole tank/healer, and I think we need another of either; I can't swap because I'll open a bigger hole than I fill. Otherwise, if I think we need a Lucio, and I'm playing Soldier, I'll swap to Lucio.

I had a 300 point losing streak here and one of the things I was noticing is firstly, I kept having a lot of troll players. People who would seemingly intentionally play goofy picks and then even leave the match as well on top of that. One in particular was a Symettra on the KotH-styled game-mode and setup her portal overlooking a cliff. I find this all bizarre because I placed platinum, got to 2675 and I'm still getting players like this? Secondly, for whatever reason, I kept being on "overdog" teams meaning I never gained much and always lost more. Even though truthfully, the ranking system, seems a bit broke and doesn't(at least not yet) accurately reflect one's potential.

I keep clawing back to the 2400-2500 region but I feel somewhat limited due to my mains. I either go Reinhardt, Lucio, or Mercy much of the time. The problem with these three is as important as they are to the team's composition, they're not something that can really "carry" a bad team. Where as I've plenty of times seen a damage player or two simply wipe us out effortlessly while ours can't even manage with a Reinhardt shield and heals/buffs giving them all the opportunity in the world. It's a real motivation killer noticing this.

That said, it's still early yet. I've got about 20+ games with Mercy and a few here and there with several others. I'm also not going to change my emphasis on support. It's what I'm good at it, it's what I enjoy, I'm sticking with it. So I've started instead to focus on the enjoyment of the game, screw my stupid ranking.

[Coldkil]

I'm also not going to change my emphasis on support. It's what I'm good at it, it's what I enjoy, I'm sticking with it. So I've started instead to focus on the enjoyment of the game, screw my stupid ranking.

I cannot agree more with this.

Point is that especially at lower ratings this is ruined by people making crap decisions - will it be leaving, trolling or fighting all around the map but not at the point. The lower you get, the worse it becomes so us "not good" people are basically left in there forced into crap games.

However i'm at a compared 37.5 rating when i was 28 in season 1. Definitely a good improvement and hope it turns better - i'm so near gold and now i want it.

[Rudol Von Stroheim]

I cannot agree more with this.

Point is that especially at lower ratings this is ruined by people making crap decisions - will it be leaving, trolling or fighting all around the map but not at the point. The lower you get, the worse it becomes so us "not good" people are basically left in there forced into crap games.

However i'm at a compared 37.5 rating when i was 28 in season 1. Definitely a good improvement and hope it turns better - i'm so near gold and now i want it.

I don't know how I managed platinum, I really don't and I still stay around the platinum ranking even with all of my losses. Hell my win-rate with Mercy is still almost 70%.

...Just, UGH, I can taste that diamond and the game doesn't want to help me along.

[Endus]

I had a 300 point losing streak here and one of the things I was noticing is firstly, I kept having a lot of troll players. People who would seemingly intentionally play goofy picks and then even leave the match as well on top of that. One in particular was a Symettra on the KotH-styled game-mode and setup her portal overlooking a cliff. I find this all bizarre because I placed platinum, got to 2675 and I'm still getting players like this? Secondly, for whatever reason, I kept being on "overdog" teams meaning I never gained much and always lost more. Even though truthfully, the ranking system, seems a bit broke and doesn't(at least not yet) accurately reflect one's potential.

I've yet to see any real evidence that the "average" rank is being dragged downwards over time, and that's really the only actual evidence of an issue in their ranking system that there could be. If the average is sticking around the same value (Whatever that may be; Overbuff.com and Masteroverwatch.com both have limited samples so I'm not sure how accurate their stats are), then the ranking system is working fine; individuals moving up or down are moving around as expected.

A lot of this is bias (and I don't mean that as a slur); people only see what they see, and often don't notice their own mistakes that other people spot. See that guy who just ignores the Reaper who jumps down and shoots him in the back? Frustrated that he's so blind? He legitimately didn't see him. The next time around, it's gonna be you cursing that Reaper for appearing out of nowhere. This isn't your teammates being worse than you, it's you blaming them for their failures, but thinking your own failures are because the game is "unfair".

The better way to go in is to presume that EVERY time you die, it's because YOU fucked up. If you're a tank and you died because you had no heals, WHY didn't you have heals? Did you Charge in when your healers were dead? Was Mercy not dumb enough to follow you into the entire enemy team when everyone else on your team is dead? These are your errors, even if you didn't notice them in the heat of the moment.

I keep clawing back to the 2400-2500 region but I feel somewhat limited due to my mains. I either go Reinhardt, Lucio, or Mercy much of the time. The problem with these three is as important as they are to the team's composition, they're not something that can really "carry" a bad team. Where as I've plenty of times seen a damage player or two simply wipe us out effortlessly while ours can't even manage with a Reinhardt shield and heals/buffs giving them all the opportunity in the world. It's a real motivation killer noticing this.

I've been on both sides of that, in the same rank range. Sometimes, I'm the Soldier who's killing their entire back team in a single ult because I flanked and they didn't notice. Sometimes, I'm the Zenyatta who gets slaughtered by the same tactic.

Also, don't get stuck "maining" heroes. Rein's useful at times, especially with certain offense heroes (Soldier 76 particularly IMO), but he's not the tank you "need" in every match. Same for healers; I actually think Mercy's significantly overrated, even after her most recent buff. She's either healing OR dealing damage. So while her heals ARE decently strong, Zenyatta's are weaker BUT he A> has respectable offensive power in his own right that doesn't require sacrificing his healing, and 2> has a MUCH better buff than Mercy's; Discord Orb boosts EVERYONE's damage against the target, not one hero's. The only case where Mercy's really outshines Zenyatta's is in buffing someone during their ultimate, which is pretty niche.

Sure, rez is nice, but I've won plenty of games with Zen's ultimate, where Mercy's rez would've gotten us killed or never been useful. Zarya just snagged half the team with her black hole? Pop Zen's ultimate, and you'll probably all survive, where with Mercy, you'd be one of the first to die and never get a chance to rez anyone. Your team's losing the point, and your team's almost back but won't make it? Pop Zen's ult and dance on the point while invincible, to buy time. Etc.

The rez is good, but it's not that great. Especially not when it lets everyone see where the rezzed participants are. You're basically hoping the team gets nuked by their combo-ults AND Mercy escapes, so she can rez and you can return the favor, and that's risky. It LOOKS good when you can pull it off, but I find Transcendance more consistently useful.

I mean, if you LIKE Mercy, by all means, I'm not saying she's bad. I'm just arguing against the mindset some people have that "these heroes have to be in any competitive match". You can kind of make that case with Lucio, since he's the only AoE healer (which is an issue), but everyone else is VERY much up to player preference, within comp expectations. The latest tier list by Overbuff that I'm aware of has nobody at the high-competitive level in the S or A tiers, at all; there's some preference to certain heroes, but no "OMG always pick this guy" ones.

[Rudol Von Stroheim]

I've yet to see any real evidence that the "average" rank is being dragged downwards over time, and that's really the only actual evidence of an issue in their ranking system that there could be. If the average is sticking around the same value (Whatever that may be; Overbuff.com and Masteroverwatch.com both have limited samples so I'm not sure how accurate their stats are), then the ranking system is working fine; individuals moving up or down are moving around as expected.

A lot of this is bias (and I don't mean that as a slur); people only see what they see, and often don't notice their own mistakes that other people spot. See that guy who just ignores the Reaper who jumps down and shoots him in the back? Frustrated that he's so blind? He legitimately didn't see him. The next time around, it's gonna be you cursing that Reaper for appearing out of nowhere. This isn't your teammates being worse than you, it's you blaming them for their failures, but thinking your own failures are because the game is "unfair".

The better way to go in is to presume that EVERY time you die, it's because YOU fucked up. If you're a tank and you died because you had no heals, WHY didn't you have heals? Did you Charge in when your healers were dead? Was Mercy not dumb enough to follow you into the entire enemy team when everyone else on your team is dead? These are your errors, even if you didn't notice them in the heat of the moment.



I've been on both sides of that, in the same rank range. Sometimes, I'm the Soldier who's killing their entire back team in a single ult because I flanked and they didn't notice. Sometimes, I'm the Zenyatta who gets slaughtered by the same tactic.

Also, don't get stuck "maining" heroes. Rein's useful at times, especially with certain offense heroes (Soldier 76 particularly IMO), but he's not the tank you "need" in every match. Same for healers; I actually think Mercy's significantly overrated, even after her most recent buff. She's either healing OR dealing damage. So while her heals ARE decently strong, Zenyatta's are weaker BUT he A> has respectable offensive power in his own right that doesn't require sacrificing his healing, and 2> has a MUCH better buff than Mercy's; Discord Orb boosts EVERYONE's damage against the target, not one hero's. The only case where Mercy's really outshines Zenyatta's is in buffing someone during their ultimate, which is pretty niche.

Sure, rez is nice, but I've won plenty of games with Zen's ultimate, where Mercy's rez would've gotten us killed or never been useful. Zarya just snagged half the team with her black hole? Pop Zen's ultimate, and you'll probably all survive, where with Mercy, you'd be one of the first to die and never get a chance to rez anyone. Your team's losing the point, and your team's almost back but won't make it? Pop Zen's ult and dance on the point while invincible, to buy time. Etc.

The rez is good, but it's not that great. Especially not when it lets everyone see where the rezzed participants are. You're basically hoping the team gets nuked by their combo-ults AND Mercy escapes, so she can rez and you can return the favor, and that's risky. It LOOKS good when you can pull it off, but I find Transcendance more consistently useful.

I mean, if you LIKE Mercy, by all means, I'm not saying she's bad. I'm just arguing against the mindset some people have that "these heroes have to be in any competitive match". You can kind of make that case with Lucio, since he's the only AoE healer (which is an issue), but everyone else is VERY much up to player preference, within comp expectations. The latest tier list by Overbuff that I'm aware of has nobody at the high-competitive level in the S or A tiers, at all; there's some preference to certain heroes, but no "OMG always pick this guy" ones.

Mercy calls to me most as an individual and I enjoy those big clutch plays with her resurrect. That said, I often get cards for assists versus healing as I make it a priority to power up my biggest players as much as humanly possible. I figure, the sooner the enemy dies, the sooner we get relief. Yes there are some instances where all I can do is spam heal and try to keep us in the game but any opportunity I see, I swap to damage focus.

I'm also good at sound notifications and such. I can hear a Reaper coming up behind us before anyone else typically. Not to mention I have gained a good sense of ultimate timings so I tend to avoid the really bad clusters and instead swoop in at the last second to revive the entire team; hence my high win-rating with her despite most people I know feeling she's basically a lost cause except in more ideal situations. Knowing when to hide, when to damage, when to revive, etc... there's a lot more to it than many would like to consider and much of it is instincts earned.

Lucio I pick for KotH maps for obvious reasons.

Reinhardt I select a fair amount because in terms of presence as a tank, he by far has the most. A good sense of timing and working with your team can make him stand out from the crowd. I'm also, again, mindful of ultimates and try to keep my shield ready for big plays to save my team in a pinch; rather than simply burn it out constantly. Combine him with an Ana and you can achieve some pretty damning results.

I'm not good with damage. Simple as that. I've always been more of a healer and supporter individual. I like to empower people. I have no desire to whip out my dick and slap others with it. Hell, I'm getting rid of it down the road, so why would I? :P Again, I'd rather eat a thousand losses and argue the system might be broke rather than try to be a "jack of all trades". Especially when I am running into diamond-tier players and masters for that matter who play almost one hero exclusively and it's often a damage-dealer.

To me, at the immediate moment, ranked is a bit broke. Definitely needs more work. In what capacity? I cannot say. I don't have enough data to make that call. I could come up with possibilities all day long and not solve anything. It's something only Blizzard can figure out. If they don't want people "maining" then they need to figure out how to deal with the damage-players that are in fact doing as much with extreme success.

...or alternatively allow people to main and ensure that ALL heroes(or at least most) have similar opportunities. Right now I will readily alternate between three heroes and do good at them. That's more than most can say.

[Zelendria]

I read all that, and the bit stuck in my mind is 'getting rid of it'.... Dicks out for Harambe gone a bit OTT right? :P