So how are your games going lately? [megathread]

[Traveler Voltin]

Yeah. I have tried using her before and sucked

[Tharkkun]

Yeah. I have tried using her before and sucked

She takes some practice but a good Pharah is a game breaker at the higher levels of play right now. It's the only character my group of friends consistently has problems with.

[Traveler Voltin]

Finished all 10 matches
I am 1664
Good or bad?

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And now i am down to 1421

[ThatsOurEric]

Who knew that trying to get 9 wins for the weekly loot boxes for Arcade mode would be
the equivalent of fist fighting an attacking Great White Shark underwater?

[Deleted]

Finished all 10 matches
I am 1664
Good or bad?

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And now i am down to 1421

Good compared to someone at 800. Bad compared to someone at 4500.

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That is what they did. Once orisa shield was down then reinhardt's shield went up.
We could not make it out of the base.

Winston, genji, tracer, soldier/pharah, lucio, ana/mercy. Just dive them past the shields.

[Raetary]

i hate this community sometimes.


if im already telling you that im horrifically bad as rein, THEN WHY ON EARTH DO YOU FORCE ME TO PLAY HIM!?

"you are worthless hog!"
"you suck ass!"
"ffs switch off hog noob"

yet im the one who ended up with 32% of my teams dmg done.

[DeadmanWalking]

i hate this community sometimes.


if im already telling you that im horrifically bad as rein, THEN WHY ON EARTH DO YOU FORCE ME TO PLAY HIM!?

"you are worthless hog!"
"you suck ass!"
"ffs switch off hog noob"

yet im the one who ended up with 32% of my teams dmg done.

I don't know why people feel the need to be insulting when they ask people to change in this game but I also don't understand why people take insults seriously and personally in this game. You can insult me all you want and I am just going to ignore it and then forget it. I'm not going to waste my time complaining about it on the internet. I separate my feelings from what happens in a game.

[Deleted]

Playing at about 1600 had a ten game spell where 6 of the games had platinum players in, went on a big losing streak lost like 200 sr and now I just cba anymore.

The games down here are a total crapshoot, one game, people stick together, play together other times its like trying to her cats. The moment you feel you have a bit of a good thing going, poof, it all dissapears.

[Tziva]

People are often really unskilled at asking constructively. That's often the biggest problem. I've never had an issue saying, "that pharah is keeping healers locked down, Junkrat can you go hitscan?" but I'm in so many matches with people are like "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU MORON GO SOLDIER NOW." Half the time the hypothetical Junk gets offended and then sticks on his character no matter how bad he's doing and how little it contributes to the team just because he's mad at being called a moron. Like... I know joke of the internet is that all of us gaming nerds have no social skills but how fucking hard is it to have a cooperative conversation like goddamn adults.

[DeadmanWalking]

Playing at about 1600 had a ten game spell where 6 of the games had platinum players in, went on a big losing streak lost like 200 sr and now I just cba anymore.

The games down here are a total crapshoot, one game, people stick together, play together other times its like trying to her cats. The moment you feel you have a bit of a good thing going, poof, it all dissapears.

So um... if I am following what you said correctly... you pushed a "random group" button and didn't get "the best of the best" in every game? It's almost like if you hit a button that gives you random teammates the game... gives you random teammates?

If only there was a way to make friends with people who you feel are good players and then invite them to play with you...

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People are often really unskilled at asking constructively. That's often the biggest problem. I've never had an issue saying, "that pharah is keeping healers locked down, Junkrat can you go hitscan?" but I'm in so many matches with people are like "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU MORON GO SOLDIER NOW." Half the time the hypothetical Junk gets offended and then sticks on his character no matter how bad he's doing and how little it contributes to the team just because he's mad at being called a moron. Like... I know joke of the internet is that all of us gaming nerds have no social skills but how fucking hard is it to have a cooperative conversation like goddamn adults.

Then you get;
"Genji, that Mei just killed you five times in a row with ease and there are three other players on their team that you can't deflect so you have no defense. Change to something that will help us win."

"No way shit face, I'm gold damage, you ain't shit."

[Tziva]

Then you get;
"Genji, that Mei just killed you five times in a row with ease and there are three other players on their team that you can't deflect so you have no defense. Change to something that will help us win."

"No way shit face, I'm gold damage, you ain't shit."

Oh yeah there's definitely that too, or people who just don't give a shit regardless, but the people who are yelling insults right away instead of asking nicely are just shooting themselves in the foot by killing any opportunity for cooperation before the match is even far underway.

[DeadmanWalking]

Oh yeah there's definitely that too, or people who just don't give a shit regardless, but the people who are yelling insults right away instead of asking nicely are just shooting themselves in the foot by killing any opportunity for cooperation before the match is even far underway.

Your Overwatch has a good video where they explain that the difference between pros and non pros isn't skill but rather the ability to separate their feelings from the game. It made a lot of sense to me.

[Endus]

People are often really unskilled at asking constructively. That's often the biggest problem. I've never had an issue saying, "that pharah is keeping healers locked down, Junkrat can you go hitscan?" but I'm in so many matches with people are like "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU MORON GO SOLDIER NOW." Half the time the hypothetical Junk gets offended and then sticks on his character no matter how bad he's doing and how little it contributes to the team just because he's mad at being called a moron. Like... I know joke of the internet is that all of us gaming nerds have no social skills but how fucking hard is it to have a cooperative conversation like goddamn adults.

Playing in mid-gold, I'm at least finding that it's the former, 2/3 of the time. People are suprisingly chill, IMO, compared to most MOBAs by way of comparison. You definitely still get ragers, but that's what reports are for.

But I'd also REALLY like people to stop thinking Soldier's some golden Pharah counter. His ult can kill her easy, but it can kill almost ANY non-tank just as easy. If she's ulting someone else, she's an easy kill for Soldier 76. If she's a ways off and weaving, you'd better be a pro at keeping dead-accurate on a small moving target while dodging yourself, or I'd lay even money on the Pharah winning that fight. It's hard to hit Soldier directly, but splash damage makes accuracy less critical. If you want Pharah countered and dead 95% of the time, you want a good Widowmaker, not a Soldier 76. Or you need Soldier cooperating with 1-2 others on the team to focus-fire the Pharah, especially if she has Mercy backup.

[Traveler Voltin]

I feel like i am going to hit the buttom and never get out

[Tziva]

But I'd also REALLY like people to stop thinking Soldier's some golden Pharah counter. His ult can kill her easy, but it can kill almost ANY non-tank just as easy. If she's ulting someone else, she's an easy kill for Soldier 76. If she's a ways off and weaving, you'd better be a pro at keeping dead-accurate on a small moving target while dodging yourself, or I'd lay even money on the Pharah winning that fight. It's hard to hit Soldier directly, but splash damage makes accuracy less critical. If you want Pharah countered and dead 95% of the time, you want a good Widowmaker, not a Soldier 76. Or you need Soldier cooperating with 1-2 others on the team to focus-fire the Pharah, especially if she has Mercy backup.

I both agree and don't agree with this.

The issue is not that soldier is the best counter for Pharah, it's that he's the easiest. He's a hitscan, and he's got good range, and is one of the more basic heroes to play. An okay Soldier can take care of a Pharah while other hitscans have a higher skillfloor and may not be as successful unless they're actually good on those heroes. Soldier is also useful overall between his sprint and heals and helix rocket for good burst. I agree with people when they suggest him for a Pharah counter because the odds are that the guy who has all his hours on Junkrat or Symmetra is going to be able to contribute more to the group on him than, say, a Widow. That is why people recommend him, and I definitely agree with that.

But yeah, he probably won't win if Pharah is targetting him directly, but in my experience Pharah is almost certainly targetting the supports or turrets or tanks first. And, yes, if you're great at taking out Pharahs on a Widow or a McCree or a Zenyatta than by all means go for it. But if that's not happening and the Pharah is a problem for our group, I'm going to recommend Soldier as the one to pick assuming the player themselves doesn't have a strong preference for someone else they can do it successfully on.

[Onikaroshi]

Looks to be some really boring event skins coming soon according to an Xbox leak.. man, was hoping for cooler skins

[Endus]

I both agree and don't agree with this.

The issue is not that soldier is the best counter for Pharah, it's that he's the easiest. He's a hitscan, and he's got good range, and is one of the more basic heroes to play. An okay Soldier can take care of a Pharah while other hitscans have a higher skillfloor and may not be as successful unless they're actually good on those heroes. Soldier is also useful overall between his sprint and heals and helix rocket for good burst. I agree with people when they suggest him for a Pharah counter because the odds are that the guy who has all his hours on Junkrat or Symmetra is going to be able to contribute more to the group on him than, say, a Widow. That is why people recommend him, and I definitely agree with that.

But yeah, he probably won't win if Pharah is targetting him directly, but in my experience Pharah is almost certainly targetting the supports or turrets or tanks first. And, yes, if you're great at taking out Pharahs on a Widow or a McCree or a Zenyatta than by all means go for it. But if that's not happening and the Pharah is a problem for our group, I'm going to recommend Soldier as the one to pick assuming the player themselves doesn't have a strong preference for someone else they can do it successfully on.

I think my issue with this is the term "counter". Soldier has a huge amount of flexibility, and that extends to hitscan shooting at range. But when we say "counter" we don't mean "someone who has a 50/50 chance of winning that fight", we mean someone who is the rock to their scissors, and I just don't see that with Soldier 76 and Pharah. At best, they're both Rocks; there's no real advantage. Soldier 76 CAN shoot back, unlike a Junkrat or Mei (in most cases). Which means he's not scissors, but he's also not paper. Widowmaker's closer, in that regard; with line-of-sight and a second and a half to charge her shot, she can one-shot Pharah out of the air, every time, and Pharah NEEDS that line-of-sight to rain down rockets; her flight puts her at greater risk of Widowmaker having a clean shot, since it takes Pharah away from the shelter of the architecture.

Soldier's a really good default pick, since he can harass a Pharah if there is one and is a strong candidate otherwise. I just think we need separate terms for things; if the game is rock-paper-scissors, then Rock is Scissors' "counter". Two rocks aren't "counters" to each other, they're just not as useless against each other as scissors would be. Two rocks can probably take out another rock, for instance. My issue isn't that you can't fight back against a Pharah with Soldier; you can. If you're better than she is, you can probably win. But if you've got a problem Pharah who's wrecking your team and is on her game, taking Soldier isn't going to automatically "counter" her and stop it; she might pick you off and keep on destroying your team.

Doesn't mean Soldier's a bad option, automatically; he just usually needs some help. A Zenyatta Discording Pharah, or a McCree shooting at her too, or an Orisa providing AA harassment, something. If you've got a rock wrecking your scissors team, swapping to a bunch of rocks can probably mitigate that, but it's not a counter in the same way that swapping to paper would be.


I play a lot of Pharah, lately, more than I play Soldier. I can tell you from experience, that if the enemy team has a McCree or Soldier 76, they get my focus when I see them, at least to ensure I'm getting out of their LOS. If I'm gonna Rain Justice, they're often my first target, precisely BECAUSE they could take me out mid-ult so easily. And because I focus them, I often win those contests, and keep wrecking their team while they're respawning. I'm sure it's frustrating. I honestly think Pharah's a little TOO secure a pick, in the mid-range, though I'm not sure how to fix that; hosing her damage or health would make her nearly useless. Really, I think we just need more healer/tank options, and ones with tools that can better counter Pharah; Orisa's KINDA helps, but a tank with a ranged "cannon" weapon, a hitscan with a brief charge-up before firing (think Mei's gun, but hitscan) might be a really good fit.

As it stands, if my team's facing a Pharah and we need a counter, and I'm it (because I'm not on a healer/tank we need), I'm more likely to pick Bastion than Soldier 76; he's got more health and better self-healing, and his damage is nearly identical to Soldier's for taking out Pharah.

[Jessicka]

Just worth pointing out that Pharah has one of the largest, if not the largest hit box of all the DPS, save maybe Bastion and with a large head box. Even Sombra with her huge spread will have little trouble hitting her with most of her rounds. Sombra is in fact a pretty decent counter to her.

The trouble, as ever, is people expect that one player on their team is enough, and that's especially a problem for Pharmercy when you're looking at a 1v2. Even the best 76 won't win every duel, or can get themselves killed by someone else leaving their team exposed for a while. That's a set up issue. It's like expecting Winston to deal with Widow then complaining that Widows protected and he can't get past Reaper.

[Grimbold of Skullcrusher]

Just lost 9 out of 10 placements. Rating 1061... So not very good, lol.

[GennGreymane]

When it comes to asking people to change, I generally main support so I always state i can switch the type of healing needed if thats also the problem. I never try to make it about them. Sometimes people won't switch and thats okay. I just haaaatttteeeee when its not a 2/2/2 I mean I can live with most comps if its 2/2/2, but if its like 3 or worse... 4 DPS in a diamond level game... COME ON! And we all know its for sure not gonna be 3 healers! Its gonna be 1 healer! AKA ME! I ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY HEAL! ITS TOO MUCH SOMETIMES MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED TO OFF HEAL OR GET AN OFF HEAL SO I CAN BREATHE!!!!