You’re tired of hearing it over the comms — someone on your team has a problem with the way you’re playing and wants to blame you for another defeat this season. They’re saying the exact same drivel you always hear and you’ve learned to usually brush it aside, but sometimes it really gets to you.
There’s no denying that our teammates can often throw unwanted tidbits of “advice” our way when they simply don’t understand our own unique style of playing a hero. But you’re at your sixth loss today: maybe it’s time to start listening to the things your teammates are tired of telling you! For instance…
If You Can’t Use Their Ult, Switch
You love the way Tracer handles: you love feeling like you’re Neo out here dodging bullets left and right and defying the laws of physics. Your K/D is pretty decent and you’d like to think you’re on the objective when it matters. There’s just one small thing: you’ve never landed a single Pulse Bomb. You’re not sure why the closest you’ve come to landing one on the enemy team is a good three Reinhardt’s away from the target you were aiming for, but you’re certain that your passable skills with Tracer otherwise more than make up for your inability to use her ult successfully.
Your teammates are begging you to take a chance: try maining a different hero. Put down your pride and pick up a different DPS to work on, because after all your hours poured into the one you thought was “the one,” you’re not making any improvements and you know it. You could possibly salvage your working relationship with your favorite hero by looking up pro-player guides on proper ult use, or changing your sensitivity to match what the consensus of players for that hero feel is the best to maximize their skill and accuracy, but if you’ve already tried both community-based suggestions, find someone new. Move on.
You Can’t Play Torbjorn on Every Map
Maybe you’re not as bad as that one person who locks in Torb no matter the situation, no matter Attack or Defense, Lijang or Hanamura. You consider yourself above that pitiful behavior, aware of how the game works. A real, bonafide Overwatch player who cares about their teammates. That’s why you only lock either Hanzo or Mei on every map, of course. See, it’s totally different because, uh… well… Sorry to tell you this, but if your team is telling you that you’re not being flexible enough, they could be right.
Not all maps are made equal, and the hero you first found glory with early on may not always carry you to victory on every road traveled. You might be locking in Symmetra once again on Volskaya, not because you’re stubborn or don’t know how to play the game, but because you haven’t put in that extra length of consideration on how the hero synergizes with the rest of the team on that map. No matter how badly you want to show off your skills with a certain hero, make sure to use your surroundings to your advantage. Symmetra will find purchase on greener pastures like Anubis or Dorado where choke points and winding roads benefit her toolkit. And maybe you’ll find greener pastures if you just decide to look up what map your hero plays best and worst on. Ask players you admire, join forums, and check out how the pros in OWL are handling your chosen main.
The Meta You Learned in Bronze Doesn’t Apply
You’ve been playing Soldier since day one and your stats are right there to support you — the games you’ve won, the aim accuracy you’ve achieved, the kill streaks you’ve scored all back up your confidence when you tell the team you’re an ace 76. But you find people still yelling and complaining even when you’re not missing shots. So what gives? This worked when you were in bronze and it’s carried you all the way here! It can’t be wrong!
Except it totally can. The game changes at different skill points, and while you may have been able to play Soldier without caring about the enemy Pharah in Bronze, the higher up the food chain you go, the more the roles your Hero is meant to fulfill. If there was a Mercy main who somehow made it to Platinum with a strict Battle Mercy mindset and rarely healing a single soul, what’s the first thing her teammates will tell her? Start healing! When we extrapolate that attitude to more nuanced behaviors — when the McCree should dead-eye, who needs to be on the lookout for a Pharah, who the Lucio should be speeding back to the point when re-spawning — we realize that heroes come with their own personal chores that they have to take care of in the span of competitive play. When someone tells you it’s a certain heroes “job” to take care of a certain objective, and you reason that you’ve always got along just fine not doing that job, you’re using your bronze mindset, not your diamond mindset.
Communicate with your team, ask for help from other players, and participate in a learning, growing community that will do more for your SR than simple practice will ever achieve. Because in the end, the one thing your team is tired of telling you is that they want to help you succeed.
