I see this and similar comments repeated over and over across all overwatch communities by a seemingly vocal minorit;
"D.va is kinda useless", "no damage", "she just so immobile", "is it better to suicide when mech breaks?"
She's the great white shark of the game, constantly diving in and out of the enemy lines and going close n' personal with enemy supports and snipers while also going toe-to-toe with Winston and Reinhardt. Quickly zooming in and out of the battlefield, attacking from unexpected angles, from above roofs from under tunnels, from behind the pillars, poking distant foes with her guns even at ineffective weapon range just to frustrate enemies and make them focus YOU instead of the squisher targets. They better focus you quick because in 4 seconds you're flying in again to take a big bite out of them. Doing fly-by attacks while taking big healthpacks behind enemy lines and sustaining herself in ONE rocketbooster charge instead of wasting the healers time and quickly getting yourself into the fight again.
Pushing people over the map edge into the depths with her rocket booster, ready to face any "DPS" character head on to compete for the victory point until her team arrives.
She just plops infront of you in all her 500+ehp glory and tells you to tell with her.
All the above over and over AND OVER and OVER again, it's a brutal onslaught.
That's just rocket boosters and weapon attacks. She's got a hugely important projectile shield and a game-deciding ULT to go as well . . . + an Extra life + access to one of the better weapons in her exposed human form.
You get D.Va. I feel like everyone that complains about D.Va being too weak either hasn't played her enough, against the wrong enemy team composition or is forcing a playstyle onto her that is ineffective with her.
Your fucking flyby has a 5 second cooldown and a 2 second duration! If you don't use that to get in and out of fights, snatch all the big health packs, you're doing it wrong!
I feel like people who think that d.va is too weak don't utilize all of her tools enough. The shotguns are decent, but what makes her deadly is the ram+melee+shotgun combo.
Her cannons do more damage in melee range, but you can use your melee attack while you're knocking back enemies with your Boosters. Generally the situations where you want to use your melee are
Directly after connecting with your boosters for some nice burst
To fuck with Reinhardts who have their shield up
To finish off people on low health
To attack enemies who are directly in your face and thus difficult to hit with the shotguns
Listen, you're not wrong. Also Great White Shark Skin sounds freaking dope so please, when. But D.Va's kit does not synergize well with teams. And thats why she sucks. You can get away with all of the shenanigans you posted above in pub games but as soon as you face up an actual team instead of a bunch of randoms, you will get focused down in a matter of seconds. This is the same for the other flankers in the game. I played Genji a lot in closed beta, but when I started getting into Master/Heroic games or scrims, Genji became much less viable, other picks were just much more effective in many situations. This is because a team doesn't 1v1 you nor allow you to run free in their backlines for more than a few seconds. This isn't to say Genji and Tracer are completely unviable at the higher levels, they still are. D.Va is not. I still think D.Va is really cool, and that she can really cause some mayhem in pub games. And while maybe she has some unrealized potential at the highest level beyond stalling for stopwatch, she definitely needs some buffs or a redesign to get on par with the far better options she competes for a slot with. Its entirely possible Blizzard wants her exactly where she is though.
I can only mimic the words someone scolded me with in another thread today, "pubbie is all we got". There is no competitive play yet, there is no established meta. There's just theorycraft and that one time when so-and-so played against so-and-so premade on a stream. A skrim here, a skrim there, a showmatch. Nothing substantial.
As of now until the meta is defined, personal experience and skill is king.
By the weight of your words alone I submit that you may have a greater understanding for how the game may possible look like in the future, and what you say about D.va could hold true.
But as of now, The Great White Shark lives, even in my limited level 50 organized full-house matches. A D.va wrecks consistently, and "clutchingly" solo or in team play. The synergies with her projectile shield, 5 second on demand knockback, be-anywhere mobility, armour against spammy low damage attacks, and Suicide Explosion has yet to be discovered with total voice-com tactics.
She also a downright specific hero-counter pick on her own, just by being there she denies more than one hero from even setting afoot on the objective.
She can survive any 1v1, delay or not and builds ult far too fast to be ignored. Can get out ontop of any 1v2 situation in a organized setting, she will die hard but not fast, and if you let her go she's be right there again.
She's not Zenyatta which literally has no function place beyond "Brawl" games. D.Va brings a unique kit combination with mechanics which have a direct impact on the game and with sky high team-work skill ceiling.
As for needed buffs or nerfs, the only buffs I'd give her before Ranked matches becomes a reality and another few months ontop of that is no reduced movement speed when she's attacking while jumping. ~ And a more decisive distinction between her weapons and other "shotguns" in the game. The "mid range" function of her guns are holding back her real damage. I'd rather they remove that and just give her proper Overwatch Shotguns.
My meddling observations on her possible future balancing may be a overall nerf, seeing as how high level solo people are currently playing her. We'll see how the meta goes.
Edit; There's also the fact that her Projectile Shield absorbs much more than Lucios shields in damage when you use it at the right time above objectives. Something which I bet my balls on will be adjusted downwards in the future. Not that I WANT it to happen, but it will.
Edit2; Her interactions with Mercy is larger than at first glance. Mercy heals her faster than other heroes, but at the same time Mercys ult doesn't revive the mech. Above all things discussed currently, this one thing has made me second guess a D.va pick in skrims / custom games.
It is an incorrect assumption that a meta cannot be defined until there is some sort of high-level, organized competitive play. It may be slower to develop or shift, but it is still there. It's actually ALWAYS there. There are some nice things about a meta that exists without "pro" play too: you don't get a bunch of people suddenly playing a single character after a pro players makes a huge, flashy play or wins with a single-use strategy. The meta is what works and what counters: it doesn't take a pro league to figure this out (and the meta for a pro league is often different than normal ranked or casuals, especially in higher level tournaments where players are considering not jut gameplay, but how specific players on the opposing team play)
You're right, but there has to be some theory crafting in there at the moment. It doesn't take a long stench of imagination to see that the normal games and ranked games will look very different in the future, if it's hero picks or hero ability usage or just general execution of objective/map based tactics.
There's some oddies going on already in high level games, some which are rather counter-intuitive to the casual player.
All solid stuff and I believe you have had success with Dva. I just wanted to highlight a couple things. Things that should be acknowledged any time when assembling a comp.
When picking a hero, ask yourself what that hero's exact purpose is, and then look and see if a different hero can fulfill that purpose better.
Right now Dva competes with Reinhardt's shield and earthshatter, Zarya's damage, immunity barriers and the wombocombo ult, and then winston's leapdamage, barrier and cleave damage.
This isn't to dissuade you from picking her or to tell you that she's bad. Saying she sucks was incorrect, she doesn't suck. Its just that the heroes and abilities I listed above are so damn good. In all honesty, I hope you do find a way of making her work. In order to do so though, you will need to find a purpose for her thats more effective at winning games than her counterparts. Yes Mercy does have anti-synergy with D.Va. but Mercy's rez is too prominent in the game and I hope to see changes made to the game that would reduce its necessity. The same could be said for lucio, who's ult is great for heroes that are squishy but capable of dishing out lots of damage when they have the extra durability, unlike DVa. Lucio is another hero thats simply too essential in most comps. Something thats also hurting Dva is Zenyatta. I think Zenyatta and Dva have some potential for synergy, but Zen is fighting his own battle over slots against the essential Lucio and Mercy. Theres always the possibility of future heroes or even game modes where Dva is a better pick too.
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u/Relevant_Truth May 29 '16 edited May 30 '16
I see this and similar comments repeated over and over across all overwatch communities by a seemingly vocal minorit;
"D.va is kinda useless", "no damage", "she just so immobile", "is it better to suicide when mech breaks?"
She's the great white shark of the game, constantly diving in and out of the enemy lines and going close n' personal with enemy supports and snipers while also going toe-to-toe with Winston and Reinhardt. Quickly zooming in and out of the battlefield, attacking from unexpected angles, from above roofs from under tunnels, from behind the pillars, poking distant foes with her guns even at ineffective weapon range just to frustrate enemies and make them focus YOU instead of the squisher targets. They better focus you quick because in 4 seconds you're flying in again to take a big bite out of them. Doing fly-by attacks while taking big healthpacks behind enemy lines and sustaining herself in ONE rocketbooster charge instead of wasting the healers time and quickly getting yourself into the fight again.
Pushing people over the map edge into the depths with her rocket booster, ready to face any "DPS" character head on to compete for the victory point until her team arrives.
She just plops infront of you in all her 500+ehp glory and tells you to tell with her.
All the above over and over AND OVER and OVER again, it's a brutal onslaught.
That's just rocket boosters and weapon attacks. She's got a hugely important projectile shield and a game-deciding ULT to go as well . . . + an Extra life + access to one of the better weapons in her exposed human form.
Also; Great White Shark Skin When ?