ive been playing this ♥♥♥♥ game since 2016. this is probably the worst its been since post echo release where there were almost no patches and no cotent updates. the balance of this game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful. they balance around casuals and low ranks so much to the point where the low skill cieling/low skill floor characters (kiriko, jetpack cat, sojourn, bastion, mauga, ram, dmon) have all been the best characters since their release. it is awful. i dont understand why they balance the game like this. dmon has a 57.7% average win rate across all ranks. but she was terrible on release. they buffed her through a hot fix and she was fine. then buffed her again. and then again. for no reason. they are so slow to make any meaningful changes. the most recent patch (September 8, 2026) did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO CHANGE ANYTHING. they nerfed kirko, jetpack cat, mauga, dmon and they are STILL THE BEST CHARACTERS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE ROLLS. they also nerfed zen, which has by far been the WORST support in the game for a while. in the upcoming season patch (october 2026) they said theyll make some meaningful changes but i just doubt it. they said this with the sept 8 patch and that patch did nothing. in season 9 they also made a disastrous change to the health pool and projectile sizes. the higher health pool sizes make dps feel awful to play. and the projectile size increase made hitscan go from a role that actually required skill and time to get good at, to this role where anyone with a funcitoning brain stem can play. i understand they increased the health pools because theres 1 tank because of 5v5 but like. COME ON. maybe just switch the game back to 6v6. 5v5 has been a failed experiment. the amount of people that play 6v6 is also only growing because it is just more enjoyable. the only reason i play 5v5 is, 1. its more competitive and thats what the game is balanced around and 2. its role queue. if they make 6v6 role queue instead of open queue, i think most people would start playing 6v6 way more then 5v5. including myself.
the community is also ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful too. these people complain about characters that are actually ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrible or are just not that good, like sombra or genji. they complain so much instead of getting better and learning to play the game properly. so many people just straight up do not understand this games fundamentals. it is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crazy. now, obvisously that just contradicts what i said about the low skill cieling characters being the best characters (kiriko, jetpack cat, sojourn, bastion, mauga, ram, dmon). why not just learn to play against them? well, i have. and it is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ miserable because they are so uninteractive and brain dead. they literally require no brain activity or mechanics to play. dps is also the worst role in the game by far. nearly every tank and support character is good. except for zen (support) and junker queen (tank). but for dps, the only viable characters that wont make you want to go ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crazy are hitscan role characters (cass, sojourn, freja, widow, hanzo, soldier. i know freja and sojourn arent "hitscan" but hitscan players play them so thats their role.). and then some flex dps characters like bastion, sym, tracer and shion. however tracer and shion do such little gun damage. it is torture.
the monetization... the monetization for this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game is ATROCIOUS. the most recent bundle, the le serrafim collab, is over 200 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dollars (CAD). the thing that sucks is that apparently theyve already made more money on this one then the last le serrafim collab so there just going to keep putting the prices up. and the devs wont see most of the money. you know, the people that actually make the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game. the hire ups who make all these stupid decisions will see this money.
if this game was still overwatch 1 and the majority of the community still played the competitive mode like in overwatch 1, this game would be dead. burned to ashes. the only reason this game isnt dead yet is because it is now a casual game instead of a competitive game which sucks. at overwatch's peak of competitiveness, it is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ amazing. it is an amazing esport. unfortunatly blizzard doesnt put a lot of money into the scene. in the overwatch world cup (2026) there was a moment that a lot of people said was the reason why overwatch is a great competitive game and i 100% agree. this is the clip: https://www.twitch.tv/ow_esports/clip/DarlingBitterKoalaWholeWheat-1NfM0Eg1YNCyzeHM?range=7d. that clip is nothing short of absolutly amazing. it reminds why i fell in love with this game. there is such a high skill cieling in this game. which in my opinion surpasses a lot of other esports. it just sucks that they balance the game in the direction of such low skill. the game doesnt even have to be balanced 100% so everything is fair either. thats impossible with a game like overwatch. but, it would be nice if when a patch came out, the meta would actually shift and change. do this every 2 seasons or so, so that the game feels fresh and exciting. instead of the same brain dead characters being meta, make winston meta. make tracer meta. make lucio meta. PLEASE. just something different. these are all characters the community has loved for the past 10 years and it just sucks to see these deep and skillful characters be outclassed by the brain dead skill-less characters. i dont know why the balance team is so terrified of dive being meta. its so annoying. a lot of people including myself regard peak dive (2017-2018) to be the peak of overwatch. because it was FUN. you could play the characters that were FUN. the game actually made you take time to learn characters that required skill.
will i still play this game? yes.
the only reason i would recommend this game is if you just want some casual fun. since 2016, i have held the belief that this game is by far the BEST casual shooter market. it always has been and it always will be. but if you are looking for a competitive experience, BE WARNED, this is not the game for you.
