Should Ash Keep Her Dash?

I think that this community is asking devs to solve "mission impossible":

- by now there are 27 legends = it is like juggling with 27 balls at the same time, not sure anyone can do that in the world
- community of mainly casuals are always asking for more content skins, guns, maps AND legends

Basically asking devs to "balance / buff" existing legends while coming up with new ones. Not sure if that is possible.

Also based on e.g. Valorant experience I would lean towards "superhero" mode where if not abilities then ultimate abilities are so strong for every legend that only coordinated retreat or counter ultimate is the way to avoid giving enemy team a guaranteed kill. Because asking to align 27 legends (each with passive + ability + ultimate) it is just too crazy of a task, add to that input differences, level differences etc... crazy equation to be solved.

Another extreme is the fact that players ask for diversity at the same time being lazy and maining X legend since season 0...go figure :D

From this perspective I also like the approach of Respawn where they constantly mess up legends, guns, mechanics, recoils etc. to force people to adjust. This community is just too lazy and imo this might be the only way to motivate people to switch from Wraith after having 100000 kills on her or whatever.

As for to top level Preds/Masters I was actually meaning to say ALGS pros / competitive players - my point was that other comps are present and successfully compete against meta = proving it is possible.

Also sorry but I still put Preds and most Masters into 90+% hacker category as I struggle to see legit players on that level. It is always something that they are exploiting and I don't believe that someone is THAT good that he/she can outshoot aimbot or outsmart wallhack on regular basis aka if 60 player lobby contains a squad that can do 15+ KP on top level and clearly are hacking I will not believe that some legit "Pred/Master" can battle vs such force without hacks, especially if there are like 750 Preds and somehow people think that 50%+ are hacking but other 50% = 300+ people are unique talents... too many talents, gifted players. If it would be like 10 out of 750 I might buy it, but 300 out of 750... too good to be true. Which leads to previous conclusion = Ash is so good mostly because of combination with AA/aimbot.

As for environmental changes = we need to keep in mind that majority of the player base is controller player, more so majority of those are on consoles (at least it was the case before). Which means: probably playing on TV and speakers (not using audio to its best capabilities, lower fps, huge field of view), limited ability to look around, change directions fast, limited number of binds (whatever number of buttons vs 100+ keys on keyboard alone). So from business perspective Respawn can't just create legends that are not suited / heavily favor MNK, which in turn leads to the same patterns of "close the distance, run and gun".
If we look at the legend list:

Bloodhound – legend for those who have 0 game awareness.

Gibraltar – close range tank -> controller focused.

Lifeline - need to play close to teammates, pick them up -> somewhat controller focused.

Pathfinder – highly mobile -> MNK focused (4-5th place pickrate)

Wraith – push into your face and run away -> controller focused

Bangalore – smoke fights, killing enemies going out of smoke -> somewhat controller focused

Caustic – close range controller -> controller focused

Mirage – close range bamboozle -> controller focused

Octane - running, closing distance to bring fights to close range -> controller focused

Wattson - close range controller -> controller focused

Crypto – in and out of drone scanner -> MNK focused (16-20th place pickrate)

Revenant - running, closing distance to bring fights to close range -> controller focused

Loba – fun one for loot goblins

Rampart - close range controller -> controller focused

Horizon – pusher using verticality and mobility -> MNK focused (9-15th place pickrate)

Fuse – viable more on mid/long range imo -> somewhat MNK focused (14-18th place pickrate)

Valkyrie - pusher using verticality and mobility -> MNK focused (20-22th place pickrate)

Seer - legend for those who have 0 game awareness.

Ash - running, closing distance to bring fights to close range -> controller focused

Mad Maggie – tailored to close range shotgun fights -> totally controller focused

Newcastle - need to play close to teammates, pick them up -> somewhat controller focused

Vantage – mobile, effective on long range -> MNK focused (22-24th place pickrate)

Catalyst - close range controller -> controller focused

Ballistic – can be played either way

Conduit - close range controller -> controller focused

Alter – close range bamboozle via portals -> controller focused

Sparrow – mobile scanner, utilizing verticality -> MNK focused (new legend in top 5 but in comparison not like other new legends who went top 1 for at least 1st split)

As you see there are like 7 out of 27 legends that are suitable more for MNK vs controller -> now we look at pick rates for those and they are with exception of Pathfinder not even in top 10. Clear indication that:
a) game is tailored towards controller players / close range fights
b) people are not able to play legends that require certain mechanical skills, game awareness, lining up long range shots

And it is not so much legend or strategy problem, especially below Master’s level. It is people problem – they are too lazy, not competitive, unwilling to challenge themselves, have sub par progress while acquiring new skill = most aim to get X rank no matter how, even via boosts and hacks.

While e.g. myself I just decided to main Crypto one season!!! Because a) I have not seen many good ones around b) I was eager to learn how to help team while not making them fight every fight 2v3.

Later I was and still am saying that I have not seen one good Wattson player in sub Masters level -> so I decided to play Wattson just to see how well I can play her. It was hard, painful yet I still managed to reach at least D4 with them + had really a lot of fun eventually playing legends people are not expecting and have usually 0 idea on how to counter = had joy outsmarting people even though I still got outgunned most of the time.

If you are smart enough and fast enough you can at least prevent or slow down Ash/Ballistic push via e.g. Wattson fences, in many cases even stun them in their way via trapping. Yet most don’t do that, haven’t see it once, because it requires game awareness, communication and really fast movement placing fences + brain regarding where to position and put them. = too hard -> skip.

Finally regarding hacking and smurfing – these two diseases also skew our ability to tell how good / bad legends actually are. Typical example – aimbot + skynade = 100 damage = instant advantage. At that point factor of what legend you play is so secondary as now team on defense has to waste 6? second to use battery or fight you 100 vs 200 health. HUGE disadvantage which you should be able to convert 9 out of 10 times, with hacks 10 out of 10.

Same goes with just pure softbot / aimbot = you just crack 2+ people while taking little to no damage yourself e.g. 3030+skullpiercer headshots = again defensive team has 300+! Less health => conversion is 10 out of 10.

Wallhack – easy to isolate, coordinate push into 1 vs multiple scenario, easy first knock, rollover 9 out of 10 times at least.

And all of this can be done on ANY legend, but as described above even easier with mobile legends that can close the distance. I would assume most hackers would still play Octane but it would be too sus/obvious in combination of 10+ KP games. Ash, Ballistic, Alter gives them “stealth argument” in a way that “hey I get so many kills because I play meta”…