@ckgz800873 Hit the nail on the head, especially on two points;
The game slowly becomes less about the competition and objective and more a mini-game of “try not to get dived,killed and taunted”
This is exacerbated in the new Character Select. Games against competitive teams usually end here. Before the match starts.
With their predisposition for CC synergy, and their last second picks (after you’ve picked) for hard counters/focus picks you’re screwed from the off-set.
This is too true. Another (inherent) problem with the new charcter selection screen is the concept of stealth picks, i.e waiting to pick a character 'til the very last second to make sure you don’t get counter picked. This behaviour just beats down the purpose of the ability to see your opponents, rendering the change useless.
I will mention an example of a relatively recent match about the CC synergy from a competitive team. We played Overgrowth and ended up against some of the most competitive players I know, at which point I more or less gave up straight away when I saw them in matchmaking because of their competitive/hardcore nature. And indeed what followed was a slaughter simply because of extensive CC chaining with burst DPS. Kelvin dives for a stun, Rath knocks up, Alani bubbles, Orendi throws down a pillar and ISIC continuously shooting the same target which then followed by a taunt. If they got that first stun on you, you were dead with no hope whatsoever.
That also feeds in to their ego which may not be justified in some sense. Because while they may very well be skillful players (which I know they are), in that particular example they didn’t show much individual skill so much as communicative skills. Sublimate, Catacalyctic Smash and Shadowfire Pillar don’t need much aiming, nor does Alani’s bubble nor ISIC if the target’s still for a long period of time. Because of this realtively false sense of ego (or false evaluation of the skills of others because they’re not competitive, in pre-mades or other), this brings the 2nd problem up which Solo also touched upon; the elitist attitude.
The top-tier players have already determined who’s who, and formulated invite only clubs. If you’re not a part of that group, tough-■■■■, get stomped.
From my observations they have determined who is good who is bad and who is good but bad (they hate them on a personal level or how they play) and they stay within those brackets, without bothering to update it for new/returning players. It’s cemented.
This shuts down any help people may get from the better players of the specific characters or the games in general and creates a large gap between the most skilled players and the rest. At this point, most are unhappy because A) the majority of players are not a part of that group and B) the most skilled players wants challenges which they can’t find most of the time.
Personally I’ve never been a competitive player nor do I ever intend to be one due to their nature to my experience. Elitist (in various degrees), judgemental of others (more so than most players to my experience), an inability to be chilled and understand that players makes mistakes. One of the biggest compliments I’ve had (or valued the most at least) was when FlamesForAll claimed that I was good enough to be a part of the “elite” in Battleborn, but instead was chilled and played with anyone who was willing to to have a good time and mess around.
Another reason is that I don’t specialise in characters like many others. I certainly do better with certain characters than others, but I do play all of them regardless. I was playing with a few of the most competitive players that I know a few days ago and played with a few players that I had never played with before. I wasn’t on mic and we went into Captain’s draft, at which point the captain, who didn’t know me, got uncertain as to what he’d reserve for me. He asked blainebrossart1 who replied that I was a “jack of all trades” deal, someone who could play most roles fairly decently. And while it was arguably said to provide the captain with information, I took it as a compliment and was happy that I wasn’t assigned a character. I’m not “that one guy who plays Miko” for instance.
Granted, I’ve been somewhat guilty of the 2nd thing I mentioned as I’ve played a lot more regularly with FlamesForAll, HandsomeCam, AncientBelgareth, Codarik, viraforti and a handful of others that I don’t know the forum names for. However we do so because we like each other rather than to find a team which can repeatedly stomp others. And I’m quite hapy as wel about it as it’s a lot more chilled, fun and enjoyable while we also stand a chance in more competitive teams.
I will say, however, that as much as there are problems with “the elite” portion, it’s a very small portion of the PS4 community at least. I think the main reason why players (like me) gets upset about this portion of the playerbase is simply because of how hard/in what manners you get beaten. You’re typically not going to remember the 8 stomps you had that session, but rather those where you get stomped hard by being targeted by at least 3 players every time you die.
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