what-hath-science-wrought:

muchymozzarella:

The reason so many people hate certain Overwatch characters like Symmetra, Torb, Junkrat, Mercy, etc, are because these characters have mechanics that are the furthest from your typical FPS, so more people don’t know how to play them well and are pressured out of trying by those enforcing the meta. 

It takes an entirely different skillset than “point and shoot” to maximize these characters. With Symmetra, Torb and Junkrat, you have to be unpredictable and creative with where you put your tools, yourself, and where you will do most damage or help your team the most. They’re “damage support” and defensive, utilitarian characters whose kit needs to be maximized in a way that supports the team. And people hate them more often than not because they usually end up picking up more damage than the DPS, which is where all the vitriol comes from.

They’ll give excuses like “oh you don’t need to aim with them” but you never hear these excuses when it comes to Winston and Zarya–because that’s not actually why people hate these characters; it’s just a convenient excuse to hide their lack of proficiency. 

With Mercy, her skill is specific to healing, so DPS are unwilling to play her but will turn around and say it takes no skill to play her–because they judge Mercy by their own standards, ie damage and elims, while Mercy’s skill lies almost entirely in healing and surviving. It’s like judging a strawberry cake for not having the most chocolate sprinkles. 

The only reason people, mostly DPS mains, say it “takes no skill” to play these characters is because they don’t have the skill. They don’t have the kind of skill that is required for these characters, and are embittered by this fact. 

Meta is not a balanced team composition. Meta is based on popular tactics and compositions, and people enforce the meta because they don’t want to adjust to “unusual” picks. A balanced team comp is that of people adjusting to each other’s strengths and picking up each other’s weaknesses, regardless of hero pick.

Meanwhile people hate Mei and Bastion because they are terrifying merchants of death, but pretty gr9 to have on your team

I mean, I guess. Still, I hate symmetra because she has a 120 dps lock-on weapon that has a ten-meter range and can do damage around corners. She can kill any full-health hero in less than two seconds. That sort of damage should have some risk or challenge associated with it, but it doesn’t. That makes getting killed by her feel unearned.