Support NeoGAF

[Nimby]

The inner edgelord within me kinda likes that Reaper design.

And, on a related note, it's a disturbing thought to think that Roadhog could've been a pure mutant, along with having a pig's head stitched onto his own. (Which that idea is kind of reused for his Junkenstein's Monster skin.) Some of the early concept art for Junkrat & Roadhog look pretty disturbing.

I though it was the muddy or something, but after reading that the old group concept art I posted has him wearing an actual pig face.

Some of the older designs, especially the Project Titan ones scream like they came from a Gearbox game.

 

[Blues1990]

I though it was the muddy or something, but after reading that the old group concept art I posted has him wearing an actual pig face.

Some of the older designs, especially the Project Titan ones scream like they came from a Gearbox game.

Some of those early designs do look really cool. I love the design for that female Omnic (which a lot of people have made theories that it belongs to Athena), along with Symmetra's combat droid & her bulkier armour. I would be down with that armour for Genji being a new Legendary skin.

 

[bjork]

Yeah don't do that in competitive.

It was in quick play, but if I can be helpful to the team, what difference does it make?

 

[Nephix]

That you should kill yourslef?? What? :/
Did you report them?

Idk. what to say tbh. Just mute them or leave the game completely. That's the smartest thing you can do. Also don't let that bother you so much, because thank god these ppl are minority.

I always report them but I keep getting matched with these same people on comp so it doesn't seem like reporting does anything.
Actually he also said something like "you diamond piece of shit go kill yourself" and started spamming the chat with his main account battletag; can I report him there too somehow?

 

[ohkay]

It was in quick play, but if I can be helpful to the team, what difference does it make?

You will instantly tilt some teammates because Symmetra is nowhere near optimal on attack

 

[Kito]

Climbed to 2750 (PC) in solo queue and I'm now in the top 1000 Mercys ;_;!

 

[bjork]

You will instantly tilt some teammates because Symmetra is nowhere near optimal on attack

Kinda hope to have a better handle on more character by the time I can even play competitive, but if I become some super player with my girl, let them tilt.

 

[Red Arremer]

This old concept art is new to me

Cool to see some of the proto-characters. Symmetra having had walking turrets is interesting as well.
Also interesting tidbit in comparison to the newer concept art is that the Athena concept was almost completely untouched by this.

Pretty sure crossbow girl was the OG sombra concept - I think they said that in the eurogamer interview after Sombra reveal.

Nah, crossbow is not OG Sombra.
Original Sombra was what eventually turned into Genji, along with splitting Hanzo into 2 characters. The Sombra concept was called Omniblade and was using throwing knives.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Nah, crossbow is not OG Sombra.
Original Sombra was what eventually turned into Genji, along with splitting Hanzo into 2 characters. The Sombra concept was called Omniblade and was using throwing knives.

Ahh okay, that's where i got confused

i thought sombra -> genji and hanzo

so really it's

og genzo -> hanzo
og genzo + og sombra -> genji

?

 

[Red Arremer]

Ahh okay, that's where i got confused

i thought sombra -> genji and hanzo

so really it's

og genzo -> hanzo
og genzo + og sombra -> genji

?

Essentially, yeah.
Genji was pieced together out of several character concepts, while the leftovers of Genzo turned into Hanzo. Though Omniblade also had the sonar arrow (then knife) ability which was given to Hanzo, so in a way, OG Sombra is the Shimadas' mum.
Here's one for the shipper community.

 

[Bumbletron]

I'm late to the Widowmaker party but attack Widowmaker > defense Widowmaker tbh

Yeah, definitely. However, I've been working on it and thinking about it more, and I've realized that Widow needs a strong frontline to be able to work. Even if you are waiting for picks, you can't play safe and be patient. If you play cautiously and give up space, she won't have any area to really operate in and will go down too easily. This is why she is worse on defense: people tend to play too cautiously because they know that when the team pushes it's only 5, but the idea is that your frontline is so strong that they start to give ground/retreat, and that's how Widow should be getting her picks. How is the enemy supposed to take care of the Widow in back when they have 5 people in their face? This is where Widow is strongest.

It's the same on offense and defense really. I just hate that I'm so shitty at it. I push forward correctly with Rein, but I end up getting melted a lot of the time. I still need more work on it.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

so in a way, OG Sombra is the Shimadas' mum.
Here's one for the shipper community.

LOL i don't even want to go there tbh.

Yeah, definitely. However, I've been working on it and thinking about it more, and I've realized that Widow needs a strong frontline to be able to work. Even if you are waiting for picks, you can't play safe and be patient. If you play cautiously and give up space, she won't have any area to really operate in and will go down too easily. This is why she is worse on defense: people tend to play too cautiously because they know that when the team pushes it's only 5, but the idea is that your frontline is so strong that they start to give ground/retreat, and that's how Widow should be getting her picks. How is the enemy supposed to take care of the Widow in back when they have 5 people in their face? This is where Widow is strongest.

It's the same on offense and defense really. I just hate that I'm so shitty at it. I push forward correctly with Rein, but I end up getting melted a lot of the time. I still need more work on it.

yeah - i've noticed a lot of defense widows seem to stay in one place just trying to snipe people and then if she dies she has to spend ages running back and then so many of them go back to the same space and never get on the point, even as it's being taken. attack widow when your team has pushing momentum is more effective imo, she should be moving frequently and constantly repositioning to try and get a better shot at the battlefield. she can also push and contest the payload for a short time if she needs to due to the thinness of her hitboxes.

 

[Red Arremer]

Here's that team concept shot that I was referring to when talking about Athena.
Looks like the big red robot guy, the shirtless cyborg dude on the left and Hazmat suit who eventually got replaced by Ana also stuck around until much later into the roster's development.

 

[Antiwhippy]

It's crazy how they thought torbjorn would somehow become a centrepiece character lmao.

 

[AaronMT86]

Original "Frostbite" (Mei) in this concept drawing is pretty cool

https://pp.vk.me/c636023/v636023940/40559/uu4E5HiWAWU.jpg

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Original "Frostbite" (Mei) in this concept drawing is pretty cool

https://pp.vk.me/c636023/v636023940/40559/uu4E5HiWAWU.jpg

it is, but i love current mei tbh.

Spoiler

i also disregard the tennis sticker, mei is thicc and juicy #believe

 

[Bumbletron]

LOL i don't even want to go there tbh.


yeah - i've noticed a lot of defense widows seem to stay in one place just trying to snipe people and then if she dies she has to spend ages running back and then so many of them go back to the same space and never get on the point, even as it's being taken. attack widow when your team has pushing momentum is more effective imo, she should be moving frequently and constantly repositioning to try and get a better shot at the battlefield. she can also push and contest the payload for a short time if she needs to due to the thinness of her hitboxes.

Yeah, like the idea is that your team gives you plenty of room to relocate around in/work with.

Really the same concept applies to Pharah as well. Your frontline has to be good/strong enough to sustain, not necessarily win, a 4v6 so that the enemy team can't focus them down. That's all there really is to it. If you run a comp with a pharah/widow, and can't pull it off, it is a failure on the part of the tanks/supports unfortunately.

Same applies to defense, but take Anubis for example: You can't just hold the regular high ground if you are running widow, because once they go off to the side two things happen: A) You can't push them because you are down a bit going into a tight choke, and B ) your widow won't have sightlines to do her job effectively as you fight there. So you need a team that is built to keep people from going for those things. I actually think that Junkrat has better synergy with Widow than many believe, because it does everything that Widow needs to be at her most effective. Breaks Rein Shield, makes teams hesitant to push, forces them to panic/split off, and the typical counters for Junkrat are all fairly susceptible to Widow.

 

[Red Arremer]

It's crazy how they thought torbjorn would somehow become a centrepiece character lmao.

I think it's less about him being a centerpiece character, and more the fact that they clearly had finalized his design fairly early on while still figuring out shit for most of the other characters, so they were more sure about placing him in a more central position.

Also, if you go by height, Torbjörn is the smallest character on the roster, so clearly he has to stand in the front in order to not get covered by everyone else.

Original "Frostbite" (Mei) in this concept drawing is pretty cool

https://pp.vk.me/c636023/v636023940/40559/uu4E5HiWAWU.jpg

It's pretty neat, yeah, but I'm very glad they didn't go with yet another lean athletic supermodel design.

 

[caesar]

Small hitbox mei would be horrible.

 

[RecRoulette]

Project Titan stuff I've never seen: http://imgur.com/a/eqMIP

Reader huh.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Wondering if they'll do some quick fixes with the winter patch. While I think this meta is more flexible than people think the default "easy" team comp and playstyle is real fucking boring to watch if I'm being honest. Even moreso than the 50% discord meta or the beyblade meta.

I think they're going in the right direction but they need to do more tweaks. Soldier, roadhog and DVa (And I love dva) just makes this meta too boring.

 

[RespectThySole]

Wondering if they'll do some quick fixes with the winter patch. While I think this meta is more flexible than people think the default "easy" team comp and playstyle is real fucking boring to watch if I'm being honest. Even moreso than the 50% discord meta or the beyblade meta.

I think they're going in the right direction but they need to do more tweaks. Soldier, roadhog and DVa (And I love dva) just makes this meta too boring.

The winter premier was an eyesore with those 4 tank comps.

 

[MarioHead3]

Wondering if they'll do some quick fixes with the winter patch. While I think this meta is more flexible than people think the default "easy" team comp and playstyle is real fucking boring to watch if I'm being honest. Even moreso than the 50% discord meta or the beyblade meta.

I think they're going in the right direction but they need to do more tweaks. Soldier, roadhog and DVa (And I love dva) just makes this meta too boring.

I don't think they'll make any major balance changes without some kind of warning/PTR testing.

 

[Antiwhippy]

The winter premier was an eyesore with those 4 tank comps.

Yeah it really was. Also doesn't help that the casters were so fucking boring.

At some point they have to address ana. She's pretty much the lynchpin of these tank heavy comps.

 

[Astral/H3X]

Yeah it really was. Also doesn't help that the casters were so fucking boring.

At some point they have to address ana. She's pretty much the lynchpin of these tank heavy comps.

I mean, Ana is a "high skill healer" -- she's hard to use right but powerful if done properly. I don't think there's any issue with her being strong, so much as the triple tank.

 

[Astral/H3X]

Wondering if they'll do some quick fixes with the winter patch. While I think this meta is more flexible than people think the default "easy" team comp and playstyle is real fucking boring to watch if I'm being honest. Even moreso than the 50% discord meta or the beyblade meta.

I think they're going in the right direction but they need to do more tweaks. Soldier, roadhog and DVa (And I love dva) just makes this meta too boring.

I'm still of the opinion that Dva is not too strong, but rather Soldier makes every other tank weaker except her. I think once soldier gets tuned people will worry less about Dva.

Oops double posted. Mah bad

 

[MarioHead3]

I mean, Ana is a "high skill healer" -- she's hard to use right but powerful if done properly. I don't think there's any issue with her being strong, so much as the triple tank.

It becomes an issue in high-level play, which is obviously all that's shown at big competitive events.

The solution is clearly to have a separate league for exceptionally shitty players.

 

[Antiwhippy]

I mean, Ana is a "high skill healer" -- she's hard to use right but powerful if done properly. I don't think there's any issue with her being strong, so much as the triple tank.

Genji is a high skill character but they nerfed the shit out of him.

The things that make her strong aren't the high skilled parts of her, and I say this as an ana main. Playing ana with mainly tanks is honestly dead easy. Just throw your grenade either at them or the enemy, just keep dumping heals because their hitboxes are so big that you barely have to aim.

 

[ohkay]

It's all the grenade, they just need to tune that

 

[Data West]

If 'high skill characters' were allowed to go unchecked as top tier becasue ti takes skill then no one would ever really main any hero except 'high skill' characters

 

[Nimby]

Ana is the most bullshit character. It's like playing against your Granny in a card game or some shit, she too good.

She really needs a nerf for everything she does:
- She can hold her own in a fight.
- Strongest healing potential in the game.
- Sleep dart is powerful, best CC in the game. Longest lasting and available every 12 seconds.
- Bionade breaks healing. Makes certain characters not as viable (Pharah, Junk, Hanzo, Widow).
- Bionade effectively gives her 300 fucking HP. Plus sleep dart, plus some good team coordination means you probably ain't putting Granny to bed.
- Bionade anti-heal is one of the most useful abilities in the game. A basic ability shuts down an entire ultimate (Zenyatta).
- Nano Boost is still pretty fucking good.

 

[MarioHead3]

The things that make her strong aren't the high skilled parts of her, and I say this as an ana main.

im sorry what

 

[Bumbletron]

I'm still of the opinion that Dva is not too strong, but rather Soldier makes every other tank weaker except her. I think once soldier gets tuned people will worry less about Dva.

Oops double posted. Mah bad

Nah, D.Va is bad news for everyone with Ana around. D.Va does way too much damage on her own anyway. Like, I'm talking tanks die in maybe a second and a half to her, and you can't get away from that either.

Ana is definitely stupid as well, though. The grenade doesn't require skill at all, and it is by far the most powerful part of her kit. Like, I don't know why they doubled the radius on that thing. That is insane

 

[Antiwhippy]

im sorry what

Look, you can have more than one main.

 

[Human Trashcan]

I've lost 1-on-1 fights against Ana as D.va, and now, I may be terrible, but that shit aint right.

 

[Data West]

I always thought it was silly that the grenade did burst healing, burst damage, healing boost AND debuffs

like.

that's a lot of stuff for one skill to do with splash range.

 

[MarioHead3]

Look, you can have more than one main.

I don't even know who you are anymore man.

 

[Human Trashcan]

I always thought it was silly that the grenade did burst healing, burst damage, healing boost AND debuffs

like.

that's a lot of stuff for one skill to do with splash range.

I definitely feel like the damage component needs to be taken off, OR the debuff, but my gut says damage.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Eh, as strong as ana is she should not be winning 1v1 vs dva.

 

[AaronMT86]

Thoughts on Winston's shield cool-down being reduced?

 

[Blues1990]

it is, but i love current mei tbh.

Spoiler

i also disregard the tennis sticker, mei is thicc and juicy #believe

Yeah, I don't see how a random spray confirms it. People are just dumb, and Mei's legs and butt say otherwise.

 

[Bumbletron]

Thoughts on Winston's shield cool-down being reduced?

Is it being reduced? I used to be a huge advocate for it, but recently I've been diving really well with Genji/Tracer/D.Va and find it is doing its job more than well enough. I actually think that it is fine as is nowadays.

Although, if it were stronger, you could just jump in and throw it on Ana when your team pushes and they would be screwed, so that would be a huge plus lol

 

[Antiwhippy]

Once DVa gets toned down winston will be back. There's real no need to change anything about him.

 

[Blues1990]

Is it being reduced? I used to be a huge advocate for it, but recently I've been diving really well with Genji/Tracer/D.Va and find it is doing its job more than well enough. I actually think that it is fine as is nowadays.

I wouldn't mind a health bar that indicates how long it lasts before it pops. It would help me so much, as I sometimes rely on Winston's bubble shield to protect me if there isn't a Reinhardt or Zarya around.

 

[AaronMT86]

Is it being reduced? I used to be a huge advocate for it, but recently I've been diving really well with Genji/Tracer/D.Va and find it is doing its job more than well enough. I actually think that it is fine as is nowadays.

Although, if it were stronger, you could just jump in and throw it on Ana when your team pushes and they would be screwed, so that would be a huge plus lol

Should clarify, it's not, but it's a wish-list item for me. I find it too fragile and the cool-down too large.

 

[Data West]

Winston's bubble could use a poke up but nothing too serious

the problem is someone got int othe game files and gave Soldier 76 absurb damage and thought it was ok to do that. and now Winston's bubble gets shredded.

 

[Bumbletron]

Should clarify, it's not, but it's a wish-list item for me. I find it too fragile and the cool-down too large.

Yeah, recently for me it's been useful to keep targets from being Ana/Zen healed, or to keep my Genji safe as we kill them. It's a great isolation tool, and reducing cd on it could actually break my big buddy as we know him.

Like people don't realize that the bubble literally only has to last half a second to do its job. When you dive right targets don't have more time on the clock than that. Hell, yesterday I worked with a tracer, and we both went in on an enemy tracer. She died before I even hit the ground.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Letting S76 and DVa out from PTR completely unchanged was one of the dumbest moves I've seen in awhile.

 

[Data West]

Its always funny when people post 'PTR changes dont always go live'

most of them do tho

 

[ISOM]

Letting S76 and DVa out from PTR completely unchanged was one of the dumbest moves I've seen in awhile.

And yet they didn't allow Hanzo's hitbox buff out of ptr, injustica.