This is a rant. He’s always have been the most annoying hero to me.
I know there are lot of hate for heroes like Hanzo, Ball, Sombra, etc. But nothing tires me most than seeing a Soldier and there are A LOT. When they’re pocketed by Mercy I even question myself if I still want to continue playing this game.
He’s a bland hero that’s never stop shooting at stuff, launch a rocket with big splash damage when his sloppy aim can’t finish the target, he can run so he can flee and heal himself to recover after a bad positioning, unpunished. A no-skill ultimate that can easily be combined with other abilities (mercy’s boost. kiriko’s ult, nano, etc) and become ridiculously strong. These days I keep seeing Soldier with 40+ kills/15k dmg, just with this numbers you can tell how much fun was the game, even if we won.
I don’t think any hero should be that versatile in a game like OW. Every other heroes are balanced between firepower, mobility and survivability. So why 76 is the only one that have all three?
That’s it, I never liked 76, and I can’t help looking down on those who plays him, because I feel like they’re like “Oh so you’re trying to have fun with your silly heroes, I’ll play this generic shooting guy and keep shooting at you while you do your silly things.”
Skill issue, I know. I’ll now embrace the downvotes.
hate against our hot gay daddy won’t be tolerated! jk I disagree with your take mostly because he is perfect for the newer players because not everyone can start with Hanzo/Widow and just get picks or dive like Sombra/Tracer/Genji, you just point shoot, stay near your tank/healers and learn the basics of the game. A character like him has to exist in a game where most other heores have some crazy unique stuff
Soldier is a jack of trades, but the other side of that is a Master of none.
His strength is that he lacks the definitive weaknesses of other hitscans like Ashe, Cassidy, or Widowmaker- but his weakness is that he has a much less defined strength than them (well, than Ashe and Widow. RIP Cowboy). Widow and Soujourn outranges, Ashe has better burst damage and a better ultimate, and even support hitscans like Bap or Illari are more consistent for damage. Soldier’s biggest benefit is not being a sitting duck that Ashe or Widow are sometimes reduced to thanks to sprint and heal.
What you described is the whole point. Soldier’s kit is meant to be the most akin to a Call of Duty game; that way, players who come here from other FPSes can ease themselves into OW with a character that plays in a way they’re familiar with.