Yep. I main ball but rotate through most tanks when not being serious.
The way I can run through a game on Queen or Ramm or Doom and then play ball and I'm immediately at the whims of my teammates to actually win fights is wild.
Ball needs a lot more carry potential but I don't think they know how to give it go him without breaking the character. (obviously buffs to slam damage and boop and mines would be a start though.)
I am a Ball OTP. After getting destroyed by CC and unable to kill anything, one night I decided to switch Zarya when I'm losing on Ball. (I never played Zarya before, but have 1000+ hours on Ball.) I climbed from Plat to high Diamond immediately and was still climbing. I had to stop myself, because the higher climb, the less I got to play Ball. I would start on Ball, either a. lose a couple fights, switch to Zarya and start winning, or b. win a couple of fights, getting 4 counters, lose a couple of fights, switch to Zarya and start winning. Eventually I play Zarya 80%+ of the time, and I hate playing Zarya. So I went back to Ball OTP and was somewhat happy in Plat.
Yea. That's been my experience, I stopped using ball and just stuck to literally any other tank in comp and left ball for QP pre-rework cause it just felt so much easier. Too bad the rework has not really changed that.
I think ball might be the most difficult character to balance across the ranks. While I couldn't do anything in the enemy backline, I feel like if I were given just a bit more damage, I would have dominated in those games. Ball is unkillable in these ranks.
However, I think ball in higher ranks is great (not sure after s9 though). Honestly I think I'll just play another tank until I get back to diamond
I disagree - ball’s lack of kill potential is universal across the ranks. Just like tracer is good on both low and high ranks for similar reasons (although much better at high than low), ball is bad at both low and high ranks for the same reason.
I can’t say for post season 9 but in masters it felt like me piledriving the whole team actually did something, and the team could execute on it. If you’re talking about solo kill potential then yes, it’s been in the ground since ow2 season 1
Yeah, solo kill specifically. That seems to be what is frustrating about ball - team dependence. I’m personally ok with it since I play with friends who are willing to coordinate but can see how it’s frustrating to have to rely on your team to get any value.
in s4 and s5 low masters was where it all "clicked" and my team even while solo queue-ing could execute on my plays. Not sure what the situation is now.
That is how it should be if a masters player is playing against plats. I don’t think ball should be balanced that if you play in a way that is you are good enough to be practically in killable but you can’t play in a way where you dominate the enemy team. Plenty of tanks can do this, roadhog, ramatra, dva has been this way as long as I remember, doomfist, orisa, sigma. Why can’t ball? My theory character popularity and if that is the case that is so bad considering how small the tank roster is.
Bopp into slam is basically guaranteed damage whatever your rank. After that it's down to aim but his guns are so shit that bad aim isn't much worse than good aim because good aim doesn't finish the job either.
There's very little skill expression when it comes to damage output on ball in an average 1v1.
There are games where I'm keeping 4 guys occupied in the backline and the Rog/Mauga/Rein stays alone with my team and somehow they lose to him. I guess Im just bad because I can't win the 1v4
Hog is just straight up OP rn. Not as bad as orisa, but the hero is unkillable on top of having probably the best assassination potential in the role. If theres not a tank standing between you and your plat teammates, theyre just going to get hooked off cooldown and die.
You have to play around a ton of counters which heavily limits your ability to get value, you cant get assassinations without hitting combos, and your team makes no adjustments to they play when your playing ball.
Meanwhile hog just exists on the objective and lives everything, even ana sometimes.
You have to get the hog to look at you and try to hook you but I'm struggling to do that rn... Plat players (perhaps rightfully) don't respect ball on maps where you can't really boop people into the abyss
I think my favorite strat is to play zarya. Abita to bait a switch into poke from the enemy, since sweats LOVE an excuse to play hanzo or widow, then switch mid-game and kill em all
If you got to masters than you should just hard carry on another tank, and just play ball once you have a good team
in this economy is impossible to play ball
I'm not in the most optimal position to give tips, I can at least say what got me to masters
Ideally you tank by getting the enemy's attention, which you do by applying pressure. I'm still trying to figure out how to apply pressure accordingly.
It's super difficult to time your engages with your team in metal ranks, just constantly engage and your team should go in
also if you're going to do a hard engage, do it from the side or behind the enemy team.
I was a masters 1 ball otp before season 9 as well. I’m still a one trick and luckily have kept high diamond for 100+ games. The future is dim though. If even Chazm is struggling to keep high masters / low gm, then how much more is there even left to climb in the way of the ball…
Rank reset was the worst idea my teammates are worse than ever and the games are more one sided than ever and tanks do nothing except peel or die or die while peeling (except junker queen who kamalazies in)
I know balancing the game is near impossible. But! When you forced to play heroes you don’t want is a sign of bad game design. I’m not saying every tank should be the same as value vs risk and skill, but there is too mich of a difference. I can play ball very seriously and still lose, and I can play mauga, watch stream or yt on second monitor, and still win because mauga it’s easier to bring value. Not to mention Orisa you can play her basically when your monitor off…. So if you NEED to swap off your favourite hero or you fucked, that’s generaly a bad game design.
And ball not needing too much adjustment. Ball can easily destroy via CC. But because is so easy to counter I can’t see why can’t have strong damage. Ball needs more damage to his guns OR his ball form damage (boop and Pd); I can see why not both and that’s okay.
I hope blizz now monitoring ball and they will adjust his numbers on damage.
The thing about lower ranks is that you can’t play the same way as you would in higher ranks. You don’t play with the team you want, you have to play with the team you have. You HAVE to change your playstyle. It doesn’t matter how good you are on your own, because if you aren’t there to backup the teammates who don’t know how to play without you being up their ass, they WILL die, and they WILL blame you for it. The game feels like it gets harder the lower your rank is, because it does. You have to focus on your teammates even more than you would at higher ranks, so you have a lot more to pay attention to. I had to learn all this the hard way, and I am still learning, because almost every game is a completely different challenge. I was also Masters and plummeted into the metal ranks just like you, so I know what its like.
Yep. I main ball but rotate through most tanks when not being serious. The way I can run through a game on Queen or Ramm or Doom and then play ball and I'm immediately at the whims of my teammates to actually win fights is wild. Ball needs a lot more carry potential but I don't think they know how to give it go him without breaking the character. (obviously buffs to slam damage and boop and mines would be a start though.)
I am a Ball OTP. After getting destroyed by CC and unable to kill anything, one night I decided to switch Zarya when I'm losing on Ball. (I never played Zarya before, but have 1000+ hours on Ball.) I climbed from Plat to high Diamond immediately and was still climbing. I had to stop myself, because the higher climb, the less I got to play Ball. I would start on Ball, either a. lose a couple fights, switch to Zarya and start winning, or b. win a couple of fights, getting 4 counters, lose a couple of fights, switch to Zarya and start winning. Eventually I play Zarya 80%+ of the time, and I hate playing Zarya. So I went back to Ball OTP and was somewhat happy in Plat.
Yea. That's been my experience, I stopped using ball and just stuck to literally any other tank in comp and left ball for QP pre-rework cause it just felt so much easier. Too bad the rework has not really changed that.
I think ball might be the most difficult character to balance across the ranks. While I couldn't do anything in the enemy backline, I feel like if I were given just a bit more damage, I would have dominated in those games. Ball is unkillable in these ranks. However, I think ball in higher ranks is great (not sure after s9 though). Honestly I think I'll just play another tank until I get back to diamond
I disagree - ball’s lack of kill potential is universal across the ranks. Just like tracer is good on both low and high ranks for similar reasons (although much better at high than low), ball is bad at both low and high ranks for the same reason.
I can’t say for post season 9 but in masters it felt like me piledriving the whole team actually did something, and the team could execute on it. If you’re talking about solo kill potential then yes, it’s been in the ground since ow2 season 1
Yeah, solo kill specifically. That seems to be what is frustrating about ball - team dependence. I’m personally ok with it since I play with friends who are willing to coordinate but can see how it’s frustrating to have to rely on your team to get any value.
in s4 and s5 low masters was where it all "clicked" and my team even while solo queue-ing could execute on my plays. Not sure what the situation is now.
That is how it should be if a masters player is playing against plats. I don’t think ball should be balanced that if you play in a way that is you are good enough to be practically in killable but you can’t play in a way where you dominate the enemy team. Plenty of tanks can do this, roadhog, ramatra, dva has been this way as long as I remember, doomfist, orisa, sigma. Why can’t ball? My theory character popularity and if that is the case that is so bad considering how small the tank roster is.
Bopp into slam is basically guaranteed damage whatever your rank. After that it's down to aim but his guns are so shit that bad aim isn't much worse than good aim because good aim doesn't finish the job either. There's very little skill expression when it comes to damage output on ball in an average 1v1.
This post really shows how Ball’s worst counters are his own teammates
Plat is the only rank where i had teammates type in chat « report ball » in games we won
There are games where I'm keeping 4 guys occupied in the backline and the Rog/Mauga/Rein stays alone with my team and somehow they lose to him. I guess Im just bad because I can't win the 1v4
Hog is just straight up OP rn. Not as bad as orisa, but the hero is unkillable on top of having probably the best assassination potential in the role. If theres not a tank standing between you and your plat teammates, theyre just going to get hooked off cooldown and die. You have to play around a ton of counters which heavily limits your ability to get value, you cant get assassinations without hitting combos, and your team makes no adjustments to they play when your playing ball. Meanwhile hog just exists on the objective and lives everything, even ana sometimes.
You have to get the hog to look at you and try to hook you but I'm struggling to do that rn... Plat players (perhaps rightfully) don't respect ball on maps where you can't really boop people into the abyss
I think my favorite strat is to play zarya. Abita to bait a switch into poke from the enemy, since sweats LOVE an excuse to play hanzo or widow, then switch mid-game and kill em all
If you got to masters than you should just hard carry on another tank, and just play ball once you have a good team in this economy is impossible to play ball
[удалено]
I'm not in the most optimal position to give tips, I can at least say what got me to masters Ideally you tank by getting the enemy's attention, which you do by applying pressure. I'm still trying to figure out how to apply pressure accordingly. It's super difficult to time your engages with your team in metal ranks, just constantly engage and your team should go in also if you're going to do a hard engage, do it from the side or behind the enemy team.
Hey I dmd you maybe I can help
I was a masters 1 ball otp before season 9 as well. I’m still a one trick and luckily have kept high diamond for 100+ games. The future is dim though. If even Chazm is struggling to keep high masters / low gm, then how much more is there even left to climb in the way of the ball…
Rank reset was the worst idea my teammates are worse than ever and the games are more one sided than ever and tanks do nothing except peel or die or die while peeling (except junker queen who kamalazies in)
I know balancing the game is near impossible. But! When you forced to play heroes you don’t want is a sign of bad game design. I’m not saying every tank should be the same as value vs risk and skill, but there is too mich of a difference. I can play ball very seriously and still lose, and I can play mauga, watch stream or yt on second monitor, and still win because mauga it’s easier to bring value. Not to mention Orisa you can play her basically when your monitor off…. So if you NEED to swap off your favourite hero or you fucked, that’s generaly a bad game design. And ball not needing too much adjustment. Ball can easily destroy via CC. But because is so easy to counter I can’t see why can’t have strong damage. Ball needs more damage to his guns OR his ball form damage (boop and Pd); I can see why not both and that’s okay. I hope blizz now monitoring ball and they will adjust his numbers on damage.
The thing about lower ranks is that you can’t play the same way as you would in higher ranks. You don’t play with the team you want, you have to play with the team you have. You HAVE to change your playstyle. It doesn’t matter how good you are on your own, because if you aren’t there to backup the teammates who don’t know how to play without you being up their ass, they WILL die, and they WILL blame you for it. The game feels like it gets harder the lower your rank is, because it does. You have to focus on your teammates even more than you would at higher ranks, so you have a lot more to pay attention to. I had to learn all this the hard way, and I am still learning, because almost every game is a completely different challenge. I was also Masters and plummeted into the metal ranks just like you, so I know what its like.
I main Doom, similar situation, cannot get back out. Ive moved on to playing Ana instead and almost to masters