So how are your games going lately? [megathread]

[Orby]

My win rate with Mei just skyrocked lately... It's like I got injected with a pro Mei lol.

I used to suck at Mei, then all of a sudden 1 good game with her turned into many. Did she get a buff I wasnt aware of recently?

[xerus]

Thanks, fixed.

That is the only skin of hers I really dislike. I think its the blond hair.

[ThatsOurEric]

The new Arcade Mode, 6 v 6 elim is interesting. Eventually, you run outta characters you're good with.

And then you're doomed. :P

[Deleted]

Total Mayhem is how the game should be in none ranked imo.
Having an absolute blast being able to get faster Ults and living longer

[DeadmanWalking]

The new Arcade Mode, 6 v 6 elim is interesting. Eventually, you run outta characters you're good with.

And then you're doomed. :P

I've had a few games where it didn't lock us out...

- - - Updated - - -

Total Mayhem is how the game should be in none ranked imo.
Having an absolute blast being able to get faster Ults and living longer

The problem with the mode is that 90% of the time defenders win, especially with a payload involvedbecause with faster defense cool downs and super high health all the defender has to do is run the clock out until a split second away from the payload makes the attacker win.

[Deleted]

The problem with the mode is that 90% of the time defenders win, especially with a payload involvedbecause with faster defense cool downs and super high health all the defender has to do is run the clock out until a split second away from the payload makes the attacker win.

Thats part of the fun of this mode though. If your playing it as you would normally like I did at first you will get very frustrated and annoyed that you are not going to get it to the end. I suspect this whole mode has been set up in such away that you are NOT meant to get it to the end, instead it is used as a focal point for people to engage in a free-for-all fight.

Once I realized this, I switch tactics from "trying to win" by playing the objective, to "kill every single mother f**ker" in site, and had WAY more fun than playing the objective in the normal way. I have always though, and still do think that a dedicated Team Deathmatch, and a normal Death match mode (with random spawn locations EG Quake / UT ) with scoring based on either solo or team Kills deciding the overall winners would be a great mode and played by a lot of people.

[Tziva]

I like Mayhem a lot, but I totally get why some people don't.

I don't mind the disparity between attack/defend (especially since it can be offset quite a lot if you pick optimal heroes), the only thing that kinda bugs me is the disparity between heroes themselves in that mode. Some are obviously much better to pick than others, which is why like every game has nearly identical comps. Heroes that don't have ults that can overcome the health gain or that provide minimal benefit for being up more often (Widow, Symm) are vastly devalued. And of course people still pick them.

[DeadmanWalking]

Thats part of the fun of this mode though. If your playing it as you would normally like I did at first you will get very frustrated and annoyed that you are not going to get it to the end. I suspect this whole mode has been set up in such away that you are NOT meant to get it to the end, instead it is used as a focal point for people to engage in a free-for-all fight.

Once I realized this, I switch tactics from "trying to win" by playing the objective, to "kill every single mother f**ker" in site, and had WAY more fun than playing the objective in the normal way. I have always though, and still do think that a dedicated Team Deathmatch, and a normal Death match mode (with random spawn locations EG Quake / UT ) with scoring based on either solo or team Kills deciding the overall winners would be a great mode and played by a lot of people.

Nobody designs a mode purposely to give one team a 10% chance of success especially when the mode is in arcade that requires 3 wins for loot boxes. I get that you enjoy this mode but I enjoy having a fair Chance at successfully getting my 9 wins in. At this point if I am on mayhem attack I leave before the team picks characters because I don't appreciate wasting my time when I can just look for another team.

[Endus]

The new 6v6 lockout elimination brawl is fun. More fun than the 3v3. Your team's gonna need to play 18 different heroes to win, which burns through a lot of the roster. It's less tactical, but more chaotic, and matches so far have been pretty fast; kills tend to snowball and with 12 of you in a small map, there's nowhere to hide.

I understand why people are complaining about Mayhem, but I think it's misplaced. You need to counter the abusive tactics. Healing isn't boosted at all, so focusing someone down is still totally feasible. Do you have a Mei ruining everything? Use Sombra and get your team to kill her; she can't use any of her abilities when she's Hacked. A Winston being a giant flying monkey who never dies? Just focus him down; he's only hard to kill if you try and 1v1 him. It's only going to take a couple seconds if you coordinate.

People say you get on Defense and it's an automatic win; I've seen a LOT of Assault runs on Mayhem where you get a Zarya to drop Graviton on the point, Sombra EMPs, and then everyone womboes while the enemy team can't do anything. Team kill, payload advances, win. It's usually not that hard to push the payload to the final point, the issue is the spawn timers at that point, and the above is nearly a guaranteed win; if they're staying out of range of Graviton Surge, they're too far away to stop you pushing the payload.

[DeadmanWalking]

The new 6v6 lockout elimination brawl is fun. More fun than the 3v3. Your team's gonna need to play 18 different heroes to win, which burns through a lot of the roster. It's less tactical, but more chaotic, and matches so far have been pretty fast; kills tend to snowball and with 12 of you in a small map, there's nowhere to hide.

I understand why people are complaining about Mayhem, but I think it's misplaced. You need to counter the abusive tactics. Healing isn't boosted at all, so focusing someone down is still totally feasible. Do you have a Mei ruining everything? Use Sombra and get your team to kill her; she can't use any of her abilities when she's Hacked. A Winston being a giant flying monkey who never dies? Just focus him down; he's only hard to kill if you try and 1v1 him. It's only going to take a couple seconds if you coordinate.

People say you get on Defense and it's an automatic win; I've seen a LOT of Assault runs on Mayhem where you get a Zarya to drop Graviton on the point, Sombra EMPs, and then everyone womboes while the enemy team can't do anything. Team kill, payload advances, win. It's usually not that hard to push the payload to the final point, the issue is the spawn timers at that point, and the above is nearly a guaranteed win; if they're staying out of range of Graviton Surge, they're too far away to stop you pushing the payload.

My typical tactic is to go Zarya on defense and run the timer down then graviton bomb away from the payload drawing the enemy away for a fraction of a second and then I collect my loot boxes.

[Jessicka]

Made the mistake of logging US servers (switched to update my profile pic and forgot to swap back after logging out and wandering off) and playing some games. Bloody hell, people there treat QP more seriously than EU does comp, and yet either the MMR is weirdly offset to EU, or people are just really really bad (or just completely tilted from how seriously they take it?) Strange experience, not one I have a wish to repeat any time soon. Just glad I didn't click the comp button!

[ThatsOurEric]

Had 4:35 to touch a point and NO ONE could kill Pharah. Pocketed by a Mercy of course.

Nerfs. This character needs them like yesterday.

[Woobels]

Had 4:35 to touch a point and NO ONE could kill Pharah. Pocketed by a Mercy of course.

Nerfs. This character needs them like yesterday.

How do you propose they nerf her? If no one could kill Pharah in 4:35 minutes you're going to have to accept that you need to get good.

But they nerfed Roadhog to appease lower ranked players so Pharah's nerfs are probably inevitable, despite her not being that good at the higher ranks.

I agree PharMercy is too punishing but just destroying a single hero because of a synergistic duo is not the answer.

[Jessicka]

Had 4:35 to touch a point and NO ONE could kill Pharah. Pocketed by a Mercy of course.

Nerfs. This character needs them like yesterday.

No, people need to stop fucking ignoring her. She's not actually that hard to deal with, even with Mercy healing, but people just won't look up. That's if even you have someone who can shoot her, otherwise they just deny responsibility because they can't hit her.

Couple of matches today this happened, and I, D.Va, am the only one actually shooting Pharah. In spite of having a McCree and 76 having switched from being worthless on Torb, Mei and Symmetra. If they even pick those heroes I guess I shouldn't have high hopes of their ideas of strategy or actual ability.

Also, it's amazing how you can say something like "I'm switching off D.Va because I'm getting hard countered by Sombra", and 30s later someone switches to D.Va and is shocked to get the same result. >.<

[ThatsOurEric]

How do you propose they nerf her? If no one could kill Pharah in 4:35 minutes you're going to have to accept that you need to get good.

Well we were trying. But its not like the enemy team is going to stand there and let us shoot her.

The biggest issue with Pharah is her damage and flight. Her weapon needs a damage nerf and her flying should be
changed to her ult. So when she ults, she has limited flight and THEN can rain justice or whatever. Similarly to how
Junkrat's tire can travel around until you toggle it to explode.

But they nerfed Roadhog to appease lower ranked players so Pharah's nerfs are probably inevitable, despite her not being that good at the higher ranks.

I think the idea of Roadhog having a one-hit kill mechanic without it being an ult is a bit too strong. Especially with the
range of the hook having been extended (there was nothing wrong with its range before, it was an unnecessary buff).

I agree PharMercy is too punishing but just destroying a single hero because of a synergistic duo is not the answer.

Its not the Mercy, its Pharah herself.

Pharah changes the entire flow of combat. Now we need to shoot up, and look AWAY from the point of contention.
There are plenty of characters who can shoot at her, but she can kill her aggressors much faster than the other way
around.

She has no strong counter with the exception of Widowmaker. Although that in itself is a game of "who sees who
first." Plenty of characters can shoot at her, but the diminishing damage & accuracy of their shots to shoot her from
long range compared to her having none of that with her shots gives her a tremendous advantage.

At most, there are characters who can "harass" her. But no one really strongly counters her. Coupled by the fact that
she can fly and her weapon deals stupid amounts of damage and travels quickly means that she has a big advantage
over the cast.

No, people need to stop fucking ignoring her. She's not actually that hard to deal with, even with Mercy healing, but people just won't look up. That's if even you have someone who can shoot her, otherwise they just deny responsibility because they can't hit her.

According to some people, its best to just ignore her. I don't think that's at all feasible, but that's some other people.

And just because someone can shoot her does NOT mean they can kill her. She only needs two rockets to kill anyone at 250
health and below. The same cannot be said for the rest since now you have to factor bullet travel speed, reduced damage
from a distance, aiming, and weapon spread (for some characters).

[Endus]

I agree PharMercy is too punishing but just destroying a single hero because of a synergistic duo is not the answer.

I don't even think Pharmercy is that bad. The issue with it is that, since so much of the roster has no real capacity to shoot back, it forces you to either ignore her or swap your comp just to counter that one hero. At lower ranks, IME, that's less likely to happen, particularly if it's the Phamercy combo, because you need more than a single hitscan to take that out properly (or a decent Widowmaker, admittedly), which is why it's seen as OP, but that's player obstinacy, not game balance.

Pretty much any other hero, and you've got "heroes that are strong against them" and "heroes that are less strong". But can still contribute to a kill, with teamwork. A good Genji, for instance, may be more easily countered by certain heroes, but even the heroes he's strong against can help take him down. Pharah, that's really not the case. Non-hitscan heroes have vanishingly small chances of hitting Pharah, because bullet travel time makes it difficult to predict her chaotic movements, especially since most aren't that rapid-fire (Orisa being the exception, but even there, it's a crapshoot). There are a lot of short-range heroes with no real distance or vertical range.

Just run through the roster; DPS heroes that can't effectively attack a Pharah at all if she chooses to stay out of reach;
Reaper
Tracer
Hanzo
Junkrat
Mei
Torbjorn

And I'm excluding Genji pretty much solely because he can sometimes get vertical enough to use his double jump and sword dash to tag Pharah. Otherwise, he'd be on this list too.

This leaves us with;
Genji
McCree
Pharah
Soldier: 76
Sombra
Bastion
Widowmaker

It's almost an even split, and if you disagree with where I've put Genji, it's even worse.

Zenyatta is countered by heroes like Tracer and Genji. They can flank him and he's got no escape tools or defense tools. But he CAN Discord them, call it out to his allies, and he can chuck orbs at them and pray. It's stacked against him, but he's [i]not unable to fight back[i]. He's got a poor chance, but it's a chance.

A Pharah when the enemy is running Reaper and Junkrat? They've got no chance. And that's the issue; Pharah's basically the only hero that this comes down in so binary a fashion. Half the offense heroes can't help take her down, let alone have even an even chance; two offense heroes working together against a single hero that counters them both can often win. Not the case if that hero's Pharah.

I'm not sure there's an easy solution, other than perhaps easing up damage falloff ranges and/or putting in more hitscan options that can at least shoot back at Pharah and help.

[Jessicka]

You only have to look at that list of who can hit her and the problem is immediately apparent. Only 76 there is even considered remotely viable by a good chunk of the community, so even if you do switch to Widow, Sombra, Bastion or McCree to deal with her - your team might not be happy about it and that has consequences all it's own. That builds a reluctance to even try.

[Mordin Solus]

i'm gonna throw my hat in the discussion and agree with jessicka that the problem is not the strength of pharah but the player ability. in most of my matches even if its not a phrah but a tracer or genji, players just dont give a flying f and flat out ignore enemies, yes its hard to hit a player that is flying, but if some1 actualy switched to a hero that could hit her or even payed attention to her if they were already S76 or mcree, you wouldnt hear so many complain that is "OP"

[Mask]

I honestly don't see any problem with Pharah at all. People say she rarely gets played in the competitive scene, and I play in the low tier shit scene. So where is she such an issue?

[DeadmanWalking]

I've been saying for a while that Pharah needs a direct counter, one with a jet pack who can get up there and have interesting sky battles.