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over 3 years ago - /u/DanielZKlein - Direct link

I just finished watching the VODs from yesterday's ALGS Grand Finals and... Wattson was all over the place? True, she was no longer on every single team, but still easily on 50-60% on teams. Just rewound the final game and counted; there was a Wattson on 4 of the 6 last squads? (I was watching the NA tournament; maybe you were watching a different region?)

Not saying that she shouldn't be buffed in normal play, but let's please base our assessments on reality. She is still dominant in pro play.

The second part of your analysis that I'm going to respectfully disagree with is that she's useless; on Olympus or elsewhere. You're confusing two things: pick rate and effectiveness. Yes, she's lowest pick rate (at high skill Rampart is slightly below her right now but that's splitting hairs), but her win rate is very good across all skill bands. She is top 4 across most power metrics.

So why isn't she picked more? Because humans aren't robots that are optimized for winning. We play because it's fun, and clearly there's something in her play pattern that isn't super fun for most people. This is very different from her being useless. On the one hand, it means we can't just put power into her until she's more widely played because she's already very near the top of our power charts; on the other hand, it means that putting power into her won't even address the problem. It's not that people pick her, fail to be effective on her, and then stop playing her. Clearly the people who do run her have more success on her than on most other characters. There's something about the FEELING of playing her that isn't attractive enough, and power doesn't fix that.

So yes, your suggestion for a rework is most promising, but again we run into two problems: first off, reworks are incredibly expensive in terms of developer time. The two you mentioned (Mirage and Lifeline) were what I would call very small scope reworks, and even they took weeks of multiple devs' time. That's time that we could be putting into new Legends, new modes, weapons, etc. The second part is that she fulfills a great function in competitive. I don't think she should be 100% or near 100% pick rate in competitive (I don't think anyone should be; looking at you, Wraith), but having her at some level of presence gives frontlines definition and teams identity (teams with Wattson are going to move slowly and hold each piece of ground they take; teams with, say, Bloodhound or Crypto are going to be pushing forward aggressively; that's cool and makes the viewing experience as well as the playing experience more nuanced). So some level of an ability to hold ground should be maintained I think, which leaves us with the question of how much of her less than exciting moment to moment play stems from the fact that her expression of power is so cerebral and calculating?

My own personal theory is that you have a case of positive vs negative action outcomes. A successful Pathfinder for instance will get his team to high ground where they can engage from; a successful Bloodhound might mark an enemy team that's out of position; again it leads to positive action where his team can push the enemy. A successful Wattson, however, is successful but creating absence of action: enemies will NOT come through his door/chokepoint, or enemies will not be using grenades at our position. This is still success, and judging from her winrate very meaningful success, but it's success that doesn't necessarily feel great in the moment. It's hard to know you won a game because a team that could have pushed you chose not to.

Anyway, where does that leave us with Wattson? Ideally we find a rework that makes at least part of her kit exciting in the moment while not losing her identity as a structure giver; in the meantime, I could be convinced to buff her here and there just to throw Wattson mains like yourself a bone but with absolutely no hope that any such buff would change any of the underlying problems (low pick rate and lack of satisfaction).

over 3 years ago - /u/DanielZKlein - Direct link

Originally posted by arl1002

What about a 'control panel' on the fence? Where using a shield (like charging the Sentinel) you can choose between turning the fence less visible or giving more damage when someone passes?

I feel that would only make her more cerebral, which seems to be the main problem with her.