So how are your games going lately? [megathread]

[Raetary]

what genji needs is a slight shuriken dmg nerf, and a nerf his katana range, its far too damn long.
that's it.

[Eapoe]

Still having fun, but not spending anywhere near the amount of time playing as I used to. As others stated, it's getting to a point where you see/play the same characters every map and it gets old. On QP, at least you get some variety and mix up the comps and can mess around, but as a solo player (most of the time), I'd rather spend my time with comp than QP.

[Wildpantz]

Got placement ay 67 solo player. First few dropped to 45 then took time off up to 58 atm

[Eapoe]

When people say the meta is "stale" what exactly do they mean by that?
Because the meta changed like 10 times during the first season alone...?

Think they mainly mean the 2/2/2 setup and the same small selection of characters who fill that role. For the most part all defense players are out, with characters like Pharah, Sym, and Winston almost never being picked. Most healer teams are Lucio/Zen now since the buff to Zen and nerf to Mercy, with Ana being too risky for most players. 76 got edged out by McCree.
The meta setup has not changed, just 1 character switched out for another in an assigned role based on nerfs/buffs. Would be nice if there could ever be a balance where you start seeing defense heroes at high ranks at a more consistent pace, or you could play Pharah because her counter picks are also not countering flankers and tanks. Most time when people talk about the meta they aren't specifically talking the characters as much as the setup of 2/2/2.

[Jessicka]

He was unplayable when he had 150hp. To nerf Genji, you need to buff other characters.

Think that was because you'd one shot him with a body shot from WM, same issue Zen had. Both are super strong since that's far from possible now.

[Endus]

When people say the meta is "stale" what exactly do they mean by that?
Because the meta changed like 10 times during the first season alone...?

It's been trending to heavily focus on a small roster of characters, with everyone else relegated to the dustbin of "never play". This leads to both teams playing the same heroes, and showcasing pretty much the same matches, with very little of the active counterplay that the game was expected to provide.

Really, they need to look at those top heroes, and accentuate their vulnerabilities while leaving their strengths (with a few exceptions; I think the 30m range on Lucio's heal is nuts, and it should be 15-20m instead). If a hero is strong against everyone, that's a problem. And that's where we're getting, because if there were counters to the heroes in this meta, they'd get picked to counter it.

Zenyatta's probably fine (I think the current state of Mercy/Ana are more about subjective perspective than game strength), but a bunch of the attack heroes need to be toned back a bit, by making them more vulnerable. They should be the "glass cannons", where Defense heroes are a bit sturdier (if through effective use of abilities rather than straight HP totals).

Genji, for instance, has a decent health pool, a huge defensive cooldown with a shortish CD and a potential 20% uptime, AND huge mobility. This means he's a deadly bruiser while he wants to be in the mix, with the mobility to easily get back out the moment he doesn't want to be any more. Add to that the weakness of his Deflect is SUPPOSED to be beam weapons, but those are much harder to hit him with due to that same mobility; if he Swift Strikes through Zarya, Zarya's gonna have to spin and re-acquire him, and if he double jumped at the end, he can be out of there before she can effectively react, so it's not just a 180 spin that's required. The one exception to that is Symmetra, who can "lock on" her beam, but she'll die pretty much instantly.

He's hard to use effectively, because there's a lot going on, but heroes need to be balanced around their PEAK performance, not how badly someone can arse them up.

If I had to make changes, it would be to consider dropping his health to 175, changing his Deflect CD to 12-16 seconds from 8 (so it's something you have to plan around), and changing his move cancellation to completely negate his right-click/melee/Swift Strike combo, which slaps 150+ damage on someone in less than half a second, if they're in melee range. Just require his shuriken animation to finish, as well as melee, before you can queue up another ability. Same goes for pretty much anyone else, but he's the only one that I know of who can so readily abuse it.

[Anzaman]

Think they should reduce the range of Dragonblade, decrease the area effect for Deflect, and do something about the move cancellation.

Went to mess up with brother in 1v1 custom game as two Genji's dueling in Nepal - I climbed all the way to ceiling at control point and he slashed me to death from floor-level. The range of the blade just feels unreal.

[Nitro Fun]

Hovering around 50-57. It's going well some days and then another day you get the most stupid team.

[epLe]

The range of dragonblade is only 5m, exactly the same as Reinhardts M1 Rocket Hammer attack.
It just feels more correct on Rein due to his size, but any lower range would seriously nerf the Dragonblade.

[Deleted]

what genji needs is a slight shuriken dmg nerf, and a nerf his katana range, its far too damn long.
that's it.

I agree. A very slight nerf to shuriken damage and a big nerf to the slash range of the ult. Means you'd have to actually make an effort when you ult, not just hit in someones general direction.

- - - Updated - - -

It's been trending to heavily focus on a small roster of characters, with everyone else relegated to the dustbin of "never play". This leads to both teams playing the same heroes, and showcasing pretty much the same matches, with very little of the active counterplay that the game was expected to provide.

Really, they need to look at those top heroes, and accentuate their vulnerabilities while leaving their strengths (with a few exceptions; I think the 30m range on Lucio's heal is nuts, and it should be 15-20m instead). If a hero is strong against everyone, that's a problem. And that's where we're getting, because if there were counters to the heroes in this meta, they'd get picked to counter it.

Zenyatta's probably fine (I think the current state of Mercy/Ana are more about subjective perspective than game strength), but a bunch of the attack heroes need to be toned back a bit, by making them more vulnerable. They should be the "glass cannons", where Defense heroes are a bit sturdier (if through effective use of abilities rather than straight HP totals).

Genji, for instance, has a decent health pool, a huge defensive cooldown with a shortish CD and a potential 20% uptime, AND huge mobility. This means he's a deadly bruiser while he wants to be in the mix, with the mobility to easily get back out the moment he doesn't want to be any more. Add to that the weakness of his Deflect is SUPPOSED to be beam weapons, but those are much harder to hit him with due to that same mobility; if he Swift Strikes through Zarya, Zarya's gonna have to spin and re-acquire him, and if he double jumped at the end, he can be out of there before she can effectively react, so it's not just a 180 spin that's required. The one exception to that is Symmetra, who can "lock on" her beam, but she'll die pretty much instantly.

He's hard to use effectively, because there's a lot going on, but heroes need to be balanced around their PEAK performance, not how badly someone can arse them up.

If I had to make changes, it would be to consider dropping his health to 175, changing his Deflect CD to 12-16 seconds from 8 (so it's something you have to plan around), and changing his move cancellation to completely negate his right-click/melee/Swift Strike combo, which slaps 150+ damage on someone in less than half a second, if they're in melee range. Just require his shuriken animation to finish, as well as melee, before you can queue up another ability. Same goes for pretty much anyone else, but he's the only one that I know of who can so readily abuse it.

Winston is a good pick against Genji. Winston is pretty solid overall. A bit low on the damage, but against Tracer and Genji it's enough.

[Deleted]

I'm still having so much fun I'm genuinely worried that both No Mans Sky and Legion are released in the next few weeks. I just don't have time.

[Deleted]

Think they mainly mean the 2/2/2 setup and the same small selection of characters who fill that role. For the most part all defense players are out, with characters like Pharah, Sym, and Winston almost never being picked. Most healer teams are Lucio/Zen now since the buff to Zen and nerf to Mercy, with Ana being too risky for most players. 76 got edged out by McCree.
The meta setup has not changed, just 1 character switched out for another in an assigned role based on nerfs/buffs. Would be nice if there could ever be a balance where you start seeing defense heroes at high ranks at a more consistent pace, or you could play Pharah because her counter picks are also not countering flankers and tanks. Most time when people talk about the meta they aren't specifically talking the characters as much as the setup of 2/2/2.

well I don't know about that.
the 2/2/2 setup seems fine and it doesn't say much tbh. because the roles are set arbitrary by blizzard anyway. Some characters are just too strong, that's the reason why we have the same picks over and over again, you could do that by allowing teams to ban a hero but that's it....unless you manage to balance them perfectly. Zens dmg boost for example is OP as fuck, not picking him basically means you put a 40%+ dmg debuff on your team throughout your match. It's also one of the reasons why they are so few DPS picks, they are not needed anymore.

Ban a Mccree and Phara will show up, soldiers too because you need to counter Pharah etc.etc.

It's the best way to stir things up imho. 1 ban is enough, max 2.

[Trollfat]

Think they should reduce the range of Dragonblade, decrease the area effect for Deflect, and do something about the move cancellation.

These right here are the fixes genji needs. He'll nearly out range mei's primary fire with his dragonblade and can reflect kill a bastion who's not even aiming any where close to him.

Additionally, I don't think the attack heroes are too strong (besides Mccree - they can NOT balance him), I think the defense heroes are weak. Mei, Hanzo, and Bastion need serious buffs. Mei is also a broken buggy mess - it's clear Blizzard doesn't get much feedback from competitive Mei players (there aren't any). I'll throw in Winston too, who is completely useless in the current single-pick meta which features Mccree, Reaper, and no snipers or Symmetra. What people don't realize is that the absence of these heroes only makes Genji stronger.

- - - Updated - - -

Unrelated to hero balance, but I think there should be a penalty in place where if someone selects Leave Game -> Yes in a competitive match they instantly fall one rank. They also need harsher penalties for people that fail to finish 90% of their games in general.

[Deleted]

I'll throw in Winston too, who is completely useless in the current single-pick meta which features Mccree, Reaper, and no snipers or Symmetra. What people don't realize is that the absence of these heroes only makes Genji stronger.

where is this comming from? When I check the planetoverwatch's stats, Winston is in the top 5 of heroes picked. (Overall)
And one of the most picked heroes in KotH. Not just this week, but for the last 2 months.

[BearyWatch]

At level 10, still have a long way to go

[Temp name]

At level 10, still have a long way to go

The only thing you get out of more levels is more skins and so on.
Or you know, more experience with the game.

[Jessicka]

The only thing you get out of more levels is more skins and so on.
Or you know, more experience with the game.

Probably not even seen all the maps yet at that level

[ati87]

These right here are the fixes genji needs. He'll nearly out range mei's primary fire with his dragonblade and can reflect kill a bastion who's not even aiming any where close to him.

Additionally, I don't think the attack heroes are too strong (besides Mccree - they can NOT balance him), I think the defense heroes are weak. Mei, Hanzo, and Bastion need serious buffs. Mei is also a broken buggy mess - it's clear Blizzard doesn't get much feedback from competitive Mei players (there aren't any). I'll throw in Winston too, who is completely useless in the current single-pick meta which features Mccree, Reaper, and no snipers or Symmetra. What people don't realize is that the absence of these heroes only makes Genji stronger.

- - - Updated - - -

Unrelated to hero balance, but I think there should be a penalty in place where if someone selects Leave Game -> Yes in a competitive match they instantly fall one rank. They also need harsher penalties for people that fail to finish 90% of their games in general.

In what way are Bastion, Hanzo etc. to weak? When you say weak I read that they are lacking in the damage area but non that's not really the case with defensive hero's, most of the time I'm more afraid of being hit by defensive hero's then from any other character.

Their weakness doesn't come from lack of damage but because they aren't as flexibel as offensive hero's.

Example yesterday I had a match in competitive and I destroyed their Bastion on my D.vA because he was standing still and I could flank him, or because I intercepterend his attack and my teammate killed him in af few seconds because he was in turret mode.

This game favors speed and close range combat, if you have to stand still to attack or if you aren't pushing the objective you lose.

[BearyWatch]

oh, well Since TI6 (DOTA) is on I am spending all my free hours on that. So many games to play and so little time T.T

[Temp name]

Probably not even seen all the maps yet at that level

At level 10? You'd have to have pretty bad luck. There's 9 maps (I think? Or was it 11?), with ~3 matches per level average for level 10, you should've seen them all.

That said you might not have played both sides of a map, and you definitely don't know the maps.