Defense Heroes

[Numenator]

I'm sure many of you have already seen the latest tournament data with McJesus having an incredibly high (justifiably so) pick rate.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveove ... urnaments/
You'll also see that Zenyatta is no longer at 0% pick rate (finally) and mercy has dropped off thanks to the recent patch.
I'll frequently refer to pick rates before 1.1 in the future, so please use these links and read over the pick rates as you'd like with the links below.
http://www.planetoverwatch.org/14-overw ... he-maps-go
http://www.planetoverwatch.org/16-overw ... from-above
http://www.planetoverwatch.org/18-overw ... ut-of-time
http://www.planetoverwatch.org/19-overw ... eve-of-ana
The current meta by "professional players" (this is in quotations as there aren't really many full-time teams that practice everyday) is a consistent one and has been for several weeks now.
I know it seems like offensive heroes are always what seem overpowered, but I believe that isn't the case (possibly excluding McCree). I believe an entire class of heroes is just completely under powered, thus leading to a meta of everything excluding them.
I'll go over the meta here, but if you instead just want my explanation of why defense heroes are terrible, scroll down to the section titled Defensive Heroes.
Further below that is my Final Word section which you can use as the TL;DR. I would suggest, however, that you at least read the defensive heroes section.
It looks like this:
Main tank
Off tank
Flanker
Mid-range dps (Well, McCree can currently do a bit better than that)
Healer
Off-healer
Anyone who watches tournaments knows this is pretty much 100% what offensive teams pick. But I'd argue that isn't the problem. The problem is that defensive teams also almost 100% of the time go with this exact setup.
Main tanks are usually Reinhardt or Zarya which have a pretty even pick rate.
Off tanks are D.Va, Roadhog, and Winston. D.Va used to hover around 10% pick rate while Roadhog and Winston hovered around 40-50% pick rate.
Thanks to the McCheese and Zenyatta duo, Roadhog is currently getting shredded in the meta, but I suspect McCree will see some changes that will bring Roadhog back into a niche in a later patch.
Flankers include Genji, Reaper, and Tracer. Genji's pick rate used to be incredibly low, as in <5% pick rates in tournaments. But thanks to McCree, Zenyatta, and D.Va, Genji has renewed general purpose as being a very mobile flanker who, in the hands of the right player, can avoid being shot in the face by McCree and Zenyatta.
Reaper's pick rate has always been good as his escape is excellent for any situation, I suspect he'll always be fine.
Tracer has always been the least picked of the flankers (excluding that terrible Lucio+Tracer meta) due to her difficult to use nature. Sure she can be annoying, but her low health pool makes her easy to kill by an enemy Reaper, Genji, Pharah, or McCree that know how to aim and position themselves relative to Tracer.
Mid-range DPS include McCree, Soldier 76, and Pharah.
It's going to be a McCree meta until blizzard gets around to balancing him better. The only reason Soldier and Pharah aren't going to be near 100% pick rate, or even 10% pick rate, is because McCree can do the job of mid-range (32 meters is a stretch for mid-range), better than they can.
McCree also happens to destroy Pharah with his longer range, so I don't expect to see Pharah climb above 5%.
Soldier 76, even with his seemingly unnecessary burst-fire nerf (Blizzard is simply trying to control macro users), is still capable of using single-shot aim and burst fire to do a lot of damage. He still sees a little bit of use in certain situations, but of course, McCree is just best suited to the role for now.
Healer and Off-healer
Support heroes are represented here. It looks as if the current meta will shape up to have Lucio (Absolutely godly) and Zenyatta as the two main healers, with Mercy seeing use as desired. Ana's place in the meta is still not determined as she is so new, so I won't speculate what her uses will be.
I should note that there is another "support" character as well. You may have forgotten, but Symmetra is currently considered a support character (I'd certainly label her as defense) and currently has a pick rate of a whopping 0%. Again, I'd like to state that I believe she should be considered a defensive hero. Everything in her kit, even her shields, are balanced towards being defensive.
Defense Heroes
In the current meta, and even the meta shaping up prior to the most recent patch, defense heroes have always had a terrible time finding a niche to fill.
Here is the list of defense heroes, including one that I consider to be a misclassified defense hero: Bastion, Hanzo, Junkrat, Mei, Symmetra, Torbjörn, and Widowmaker. Let's go through them one at a time.
Bastion
Bastion's pick rate has always been absolutely horrid. We're talking consistently <5% pick rate for a couple of months, only being beaten out by Hanzo, Mei, Zenyatta, and now Symmetra in lower pick rates.
In sentry mode, Bastion can do 450 damage per second if every one of the 30 rounds he shoots in a second lands a body-shot. This is higher if he lands head shots as well. This is insane on paper, and as everyone who was a noob at one time remembers, he absolutely shreds people who have no idea how to deal with him.
Problem is, pretty much everyone can deal with him so well at this point that he just takes up an extra spot on your team that could be better utilized by someone else. Remember, he's supposed to be a defense hero used for defensive purposes, but even so, offensive heroes are preferred to him as they can actually move, use abilities, and actively harass the enemy team.
His self-heal is useful if he manages to kill his attacker, but otherwise he'll die.
His recon mode does 140 400 damage per clip if every bullet lands. He's very loud when in this mode as his footsteps sound like thunder. He's also a bit taller than Roadhog in recon mode as well. Talk about overkill.
And his ultimate is just horrid. 205 damage per shot in a 4m radius, but this can be counteracted by the highly picked Genji, McCree, Reinhardt, Zarya, Lucio, and Zenyatta.
Best case scenario, you could have a Reinhardt stand in front of Bastion with his shield up while Bastion tries to fire at enemies, but unfortunately, most maps provide cover from Bastion fire and alternative routes to intercept him, which makes him even more useless.
Hanzo
Poor guy. His pick rate has always been low, but never this low. He's always had problems nailing people with his projectile arrow, even with the once broken hit-boxes. Since 1.1, those hit-boxes have been tightened and Hanzo was given nothing to help him in return.
Hanzo moves slowly with arrows knocked, can only do 29-125 damage with body shots based on how drawn his bow is, and has potentially the worst ult in the game. His kit has a couple of nice abilities, but overall you're better off picking someone else in his place. With no escape besides wall climb, he's easily picked off by offensive heroes.
Junkrat
Make way for the defensive hero with the highest pick rate! The only problem is said pick rate is still less than 1%...
Junkrat is really great at disrupting other defensive heroes like bastion and torbjorn. Not as good as pharah I'd argue, but still pretty good. When confronted by offensive heroes, he can use his concussion mine to deal 120 damage and launch his attacker away. His ult does 600 damage head on and is great for killing off teams that are grouped together.
All of this sounds great, but unfortunately his edge against other defensive heroes doesn't matter if they are never picked. McCree can simply pot-shot Junkrat's face. Genji and Reaper can deal with him easily. And people don't usually all group up around the objective tightly anymore, rendering his ult less useful.
He's the best of a bad bunch, and is still almost never picked due to his limited usefulness. It's sad.
Mei
In my opinion, the absolute worst character in the game. She shouldn't even drop a soul when killed by a Reaper.
I can't think of any situation where Mei is worth more than any other character. Not a single situation. She has consistently had the lowest or second lowest pick rate for months on end and for good reason.
Her damage is completely unreliable. Having to spray someone with ice for several seconds to line up a headshot is horrible. The damage of her secondary fire, even with a headshot, is a horrible 150 even though it's a projectile icicle that's now even harder to land thanks to the recent patch fixing hit-boxes.
Her wall is difficult to aim, has a slow cooldown, and can easily hinder your team more than it helps in most situations.
Her Cryo-Freeze ability is more annoying than anything and simply provides her with minimum sustain as she's locked away for 4 seconds unable to do anything while she heals 150 hp.
And her ult... Jesus Christ her ult. It's so terrible. It's easy to avoid, you're given ample warning because she yells that she's using it before it even activates, and many characters can simply use an ability to escape it before they freeze.
The best way to describe Mei as a hero is annoying. The only reason I expect that her pick rate has moved from 0% to 0.2% is that her wall has limited use in interrupting McCree's ult, Reinhardt's charge, and blocking Zarya's ult in certain situations.
The worst part is that no one wants her buffed in any capacity because she is so overtly annoying. Getting frozen is annoying. Fighting Mei is annoying. Mei is annoying.
Still, her pick rate has always been abysmal. She needs to either be buffed, or completely reworked. When a hero enters the realm of 0% pick rate, you know it's bad.
Symmetra
0% pick rate. 0%.
Very few heroes have entered the realm of being so useless that they are never picked. Two of those heroes were buffed because they entered that realm once before (Zen and D.Va).
What does 0% pick rate say about a hero? That they have almost no conceivable use and are better played as any other hero. Even if you are playing competitive, you are better off actually picking a support that can, you know, support your team with heals.
Nothing about Symmetra really makes sense.
She's classified as a support, but the best she can do is give her team members 25 extra health in the form of shields.
She has a teleporter as her ultimate, even though it's very easily found by flankers and destroyed, thus making her slowly charged ultimate nearly worthless.
Her turrets are easily dealt with, even when faced with 6 of them.
And her photon projector... Oh how poorly it functions. The left click has you get very close to danger in order to deal with foes, but you have a measly 200 hp pool. It works great when someone runs into your trap of 6 turrets, but even then, many heroes, especially flankers, can use an ability to escape and deal with you quickly. And the alternative fire... It's so easily dodge and takes so long to fire that I don't see a purpose to using it.
Symmetra deserves to have such a low pick rate. And role she may have is better fulfilled by anyone else. It doesn't matter the map or mode, you are better off with someone else in her place.
Torbjörn
I like Torbjörn. His rivet gun is very satisfying and feels as if it does the right amount of damage. With proper aim, you can even kill enemy Reapers with the alt fire if you get lucky.
However, Torbjörn doesn't have any method of escape and can only sustain himself through the deaths of others when he uses armor packs.
His turret isn't really worth talking about. Each shot does 14 damage at a rate of 2-4 shots per second. Winston and D.Va are both frequently picked off tanks and can easily kill the turret, reaper and genji have an escape, Reinhardt can block the damage, McCree can snipe it down, and everyone else can simply stand behind a corner to avoid being damaged by it.
The only time Torbjörn is actually potentially dangerous is when his ult has charged. However, this doesn't give him enough to make him worth picking as he can still be dealt as if he were a Reinhardt with a shotgun. His turret won't die as easily, but you just have to avoid its fire for 12 seconds, or Reinhardt could block it for the entire duration.
Widowmaker
Poor girl. Widowmaker used to have a very high pick rate (Like 70%) before her well deserved nerf 6 feet under the dirt. Back then she could just shoot Zenyatta and Tracer in the toe to kill them off. Her ult was also incredibly difficult to hear.
But now? Widowmaker is a 200 hp sniper who finds little use in being played because enemy flankers can easily destroy her. She has an escape, but it has a very long cooldown. Her sniper rifle damage may indeed be too low now that Zenyatta no longer has to worry about being body shot.
I'd argue that any place she may have in the meta is taken by McCree. There aren't really many maps that require long range sniping as pretty much every map has tight corners preventing her from actually sniping. With perfect aim, headshots can do 300 damage and kill everyone who isn't a tank off, but unfortunately you're dealing with characters running and jumping all over the place and you scope slowly.
Main points
Defensive heroes suck. All of them have basically no niche to fill currently as any potential niche is countered by enemy flankers/off tanks incredibly well. Worse still, some defensive heroes are just worthless in any situation as any other competent player can easily shut them down.
One major issue that's on Blizzard to fix is the rate at which offensive teams win in comparison to defensive teams when it comes to payload matches. This is a particularly horrible situation as newer players win more on defense than on offense!
http://2p.com/42417310_1/Overwatch-Stat ... -JoeLW.htm
This information is of course old news and may have changed recently, but I can understand why Blizzard thinks that defensive heroes shouldn't be touched. Perhaps Widowmaker was just tilting these results, who knows.
When it comes to tournaments, both teams nearly always win on offense if easily matched. It just comes down to which team does it faster. Thus, both teams stick with the current 6 man meta in an effort to focus on killing the enemy team, instead of defending a point diligently. Thus, defensive heroes are kicked to the curb in this meta.
But you know, there's an issue that's even bigger in my opinion: No one wants defensive heroes buffed because they're annoying. I've been on the forums for a long time, since open beta. People don't talk about nerfing or buffing defense heroes (well, sometimes someone complains about bastion being overpowered heh), because whenever someone makes a thread saying that Mei needs a buff the OP will be showered with downvotes and told how annoying Mei is. (In the Blizz forums that is.)
The same goes for any defense hero. They're all designed to stop offensive heroes from advancing, and that's, well, annoying to deal with. They're all so easy to deal with that they're nothing more than a nuisance, but still, people don't want to buff annoying heroes.
Some will simply argue that pro games, competitive mode, and quick play are completely different and insist that the game be balanced over all of these modes. Unfortunately, I think that is simply impossible to accomplish and silly to think. Look at any other successful game with an Esports scene. You'll note that every one of them has the company focused on balancing their characters around competitive, while the more casual players simply play the game and have fun either way after they get used to changes.
Yes, I hated it when I didn't know how to deal with bastion and was always completely stomped, but eventually I figured out how to deal with him. That goes for every defense class hero. You just learn how to deal with them and they stop being relevant. That's fine for quick play, but in the competitive scene you can't have nearly half of the roster under a 1% pick rate. Low hero diversity makes for predictable tournaments picks and outcomes.
Final word
Blizzard, I must ask that you figure out how to balance the defense class heroes into the game. Currently, they're all so easy to deal with that they don't serve a purpose in pretty much any situation.
I would simply suggest buffs, but that most likely isn't the best solution. Some defense heroes require reworks in order to be relevant at all.
It's incredibly difficult to balance things in order to promote diversity in a meta I understand, but the way things are now, I don't think defense heroes will ever see an increase on use. The meta is currently shaped in a way that easily deals with any defensive hero thanks to the combination of tanks, healers, and flankers.
I know they're annoying to deal with, but unfortunately, it looks like they're going to have to be really annoying to have any purpose at all. Defense heroes should be capable of being utilized in such a way that tanks, flankers, or healers are completely interrupted in some way. I wish I had solutions to each and every hero, but I don't.
I just want to make it very well known that in their current state, defense class heroes are so near to worthless that they are almost never picked for any reason, even when a team is on defense.
If you could suggest in the comments ways you would fix one or more of the defense heroes, I think it would be the best for healthy discussion.
I realize that in the future we will have more maps and heroes that will be produced. But it is currently very obvious that none of the defensive heroes are in a place where they can be properly utilized well enough to justify picking them more than 1% of the time.
Thanks for your time, and sorry about the ridiculously long post.