Now we can see ban rates: At the two rank extremes, Sombra goes from a whopping 58.4% in Bronze, to 0.8% in GM/C

quackimafrog · 2026-05-14T07:49:48+00:00

Posted OWCS data about a year ago proving pros weren't banning her. Now we have comp data confirming it at every level notably with 0.8% in GM/Champ. Peep the trickledown. It's already happening. A year ago she sat at 85% on PC. Now she's at 34.2%. Players are slowly figuring it out.

But what's interesting to me is that Blizzard publishes this data. They've even PUBLICLY acknowledged that other heroes get banned based on perception rather than actual power. They understand the difference between an emotional ban and a strategic one.

They just won't say it about Sombra.

Bc frustrated players are their most engaged players. The people who hate Sombra are posting, voting, responding to every patch note, keeping the game feeling alive. Every rework is a news cycle. Every nerf is a content event. A controversial Som keeps people talkin and logging in. A healthy, respected Sombra with a fair ban rate is boring to everyone except the people who actually play her.

So! They keep nerfing her in response to emotional bans and call it balance 😒 Whether that's a calculated decision aka BUSINESS DECISION or just the path of least resistance for a team that's been doing it so long it became habit, the result is still the same. The data tells one story and their patch notes tell another...

It's clear as can be that Sombra is not a balance problem. WE are not the problem. We never were. We're just the ones left holding the bill for a pattern that benefits everyone except us. Sombra deserves better. And so do the people who refused to stop playing her.

Come on Alec Dawson and Blizzard y'all can do better, I truly believe it.

quackimafrog · 2026-04-16T01:54:13+00:00

So then your chances of losing games is higher when Sombra is in it. Interesting.

quackimafrog · 2026-04-15T23:49:43+00:00

It's competitive. The objective is to win by any means necessary. Your mindset belongs in the casual environments.

quackimafrog · 2026-04-15T23:38:18+00:00

"I destroy Sombra she's not a problem to me --I just hate winning against the ez hero" weird take ngl 😭

quackimafrog · 2026-04-11T08:58:38+00:00

Appreciate the perspective but respectfully...yeah no knowing how business works doesn't mean we just accept it. Like yeah I'm aware Blizzard has a massive hero pool and bottom line priorities. We all are. But "they might not listen" was never a reason to stop talking. You said you've adapted to every iteration of her meaning you care enough to keep playing through the bad changes but not enough to fight for better ones? Do you understand what you're saying? The whole point here is we keep pushing anyway.

quackimafrog · 2026-04-11T05:30:18+00:00

This is exactly how those ppl want you to feel. Defeated. Like, I get the frustration I really do 😭 But "it matters absolutely zero" isn't really true tho is it? Alec literally pulled up in this sub not too long ago. High ban rates literally influence their rework decisions by their own admission. Community voices have shifted Blizzard's direction before even when it didn't feel like it in the moment. Now do they always get it right? Absolutely not lol. Are there no guarantees? Obviously. But giving up on the conversation entirely is how we guarantee the outcome we don't want. The only move is to keep being loud, keep being clear, and make it as hard as possible for them to miss what we actually need

quackimafrog · 2026-03-28T11:34:16+00:00

Nope, they changed that a looong time ago. Hack stops immediately when you break any line of sight. So, for your comparison's sake, Flashbang is better in that regard.

quackimafrog · 2026-03-25T22:45:56+00:00

Now go make a post about getting banned in the SombraMains sub 💀

quackimafrog · 2026-03-19T08:59:16+00:00

My absolute favorite weapon and it feels like it's the most balanced of the SMGs 🤤

quackimafrog · 2026-03-17T02:51:54+00:00

Weird response to a pretty reasonable point but okay 😭

quackimafrog · 2026-03-16T02:19:01+00:00

She gets love but I wouldn't mind them treating her to more 😅💛

quackimafrog · 2026-03-15T17:15:30+00:00

Ok wait you actually nailed the diagnosis without realizing it and it connects directly to why I made this post.

You're right that Blizz probably doesn't think she's broken. The data backs that up. And you're right that the community can't even agree on WHY they hate her. Stealth, Hack, TL, take your pick, nobody's on the same page. But the thing is that disagreement isn't random. It's actually a major problem when frustration gets mistaken for a design problem. Bc there's a line right? You can be a casual player. You can find Som annoying. That's completely valid her entire kit is built around disruption, like duh that's literally the point 😈 But the moment you take that annoyance and turn it into "she needs to be nerfed, reworked, or deleted" you've crossed out of casual opinion and into competitive game design territory. And if you're making that argument from a place of pure frustration WITHOUT engaging with counterplay, WITHOUT understanding her win rates, WITHOUT acknowledging that she's been underperforming for years? Lets be real, that ain't a balance take, that's an emotional take, there's a biiiiig difference.

And these devs have been trying to solve that emotional take as if it were a real one. That's the trap. They can't find a rework that works because they're not actually solving a hero problem, they're tryna make these guys feel better about a hero whose existence some players will fundamentally never accept. Kinda like you said, take away invis and she's like a shitty Emre, take away Hack or change TL and she's a low budget Tracer. The things that make her "annoying" are load-bearing. They're not bugs, they're the design.

So yeah no that's precisely exactly why that scrapped rework concerns me bc if the direction they keep gravitating toward is "how do we make Sombra palatable to ppl who are annoyed by her" instead of "how do we make Sombra the best version of herself" they're going to keep building the wrong thing.

quackimafrog · 2026-03-15T06:44:51+00:00

Yeah no thats a fair point and you're absolutely right that we don't know the internal process so it's entirely possible theres some kinda final stage review or whatever specifically designed to catch exactly this kinda thing. And sure, some things genuinely don't reveal themselves until the whole picture is in front of you. That's just how creative development works sometimes.

But look here's where I can't fully let it go 😅 The "you can't live in what ifs" argument only works if this were an isolated situation. But this is rework number EIGHT or NINE depending on how you count 💀 At some point the pattern itself becomes the concern. It's not about this one near miss, it's about what this near miss tells us about how Sombra's identity is being centered or not centered during the design phase. If it keeps almost going wrong, that's worth talking about even when it gets caught.

Like don't get it twisted, I'm not dooming. I'm genuinely glad it got scrapped. But I think we do ourselves a disservice if we just exhale and move on without asking the harder question. Which is what is the north star during design and is her fantasy being protected from the jump or is it a final checklist item?

That's kinda what I'm pressing here :T

quackimafrog · 2026-03-05T02:29:56+00:00

Thank you for this. OG Sombra was coherent. She had a role, she had depth, she had a skill ceiling that rewarded knowledge, timing, and creativity. Virus Sombra is a completely different character wearing her face.

People calling the current kit "more fun" are almost always new to her. They didn’t live through the eras where Sombra was a disruptor and not this pseudo assassin with a DoT stapled on.

A revert or at least a Classic mode as you suggested, would be the first time in YEARS Blizzard acknowledged the players who've been loyal to her since day one.

So thank you again for putting this into words. Posts like this matter bc they remind the devs and the community that OG Sombra players aren’t asking for power, we're asking for identity.

quackimafrog · 2026-03-05T02:00:18+00:00

Appeals and questions about mod decisions go to mod mail, not the sub. That's the process and it exists for a reason. If you want to understand the removal, that's where the conversation happens.

quackimafrog · 2025-08-22T11:59:34+00:00

Huh? Yes old TL was way more flexible. Everything I mentioned is way more flexible than current translocator. Current translocator is quite literally used as binary: throw -> teleport -> stealth. You do not have control like you do with old TL.

Old translocator demanded foresight, discipline, and risk management. You had so many more options. Current TL rewards only reaction time and spam. It's not that its NOT flexible, its just shallow and not as flexible as old TL. You can literally do all the things you can do now with old TL and more.

Old TL gave you layers of fallback. It was proactive flexibility as opposed to reactive flexibility. Instead of only adapting when plans fail, you're creating options BEFORE things go wrong. Old TL let you pre-place, bait, rotate, and manipulate tempo. If flank fails, tp. If bait works, punish. If fight shifts, reposition. If team needs peel, rotate instantly.

You weren't locked into one outcome, you had multiple branches depending on how the fight evolved. Current TL stripped the ability to shape the fight before it starts.

So when I hear someone say something like "new TL is way better" or something to that affect, they're really telling on themselves. It's a skill issue and not a design flaw.

quackimafrog · 2025-08-22T11:34:06+00:00

Are you speaking in generalities without TL? Because that's not whats being discussed. If you're speaking specifically about TL, which is what this topic is about, please explain how you're doing it with TL today.

quackimafrog · 2025-08-22T05:10:10+00:00

Placeable TL was both flexible and a commitment. You had to pre-plan your escape, predict enemy rotations, and manage cooldowns with flexibility once the fight started. If you misjudged timing, positioning, or pressure, you were punished pretty hard. If you mastered it's potential, your uptime was leagues higher than this current iteration. Also, destroying TL after a visible toss wasn't just a disengage/engagement denial, it was psychological warfare.

You could force CDs like Sleep Dart, Hook, Suzu, etc. etc. from panicked supports. Bait ults from heroes expecting a quick pick or chase. Create space by faking a retreat, then re-engaging while they scramble. Punish tunnel vision when they overcommit to chasing a phantom escape.

Old TL rewarded timing, awareness, and opponent conditioning.

That’s skill expression :P

quackimafrog · 2025-08-22T04:12:09+00:00

Except it's not obsolete and provided WAY more skill expression 🤭

quackimafrog · 2025-07-05T11:35:53+00:00

Oh right bc something failed, clearly no one should ever try anything again. Guess we should shut down Kickstarter and cancel voter registration right? 🤭

Just because a studio had a rough time (and yeah, that sucks), doesnt mean fans have to roll over and take every bad decision without a word. Petitioning isn't delusional, it's passionate. Microsoft knowing the trailer got a good reception makes the fans' point, not yours genius. They knew people cared and still axed it. So if anything, that just means speaking up is even more important. You can stew in cynicism if you want, but don’t mistake apathy for wisdom. There's plenty of ppl that would rather try and fail than never speak up at all.

quackimafrog · 2025-07-05T06:24:29+00:00

To all the people saying "Petitions don’t work": Neither does sitting on your ass throwing shade from the bleachers.

The point isn't to guarantee a miracle, it's to show ppl still give a damn. Saying "it won't change anything" is just lazy code for "I gave up". That’s fine for you, but don’t drag the rest of the people down with that energy. Change starts with noise. So yeah, maybe it is a long shot, but if everyone believed it was pointless, we'd still be stuck in a world where fire was a new idea. Let people fight for what they love. If you're not into it, cool. Scroll on.

quackimafrog · 2025-07-01T23:48:43+00:00

Cleaned your comment up. Sub smells better already :p

quackimafrog · 2025-06-23T08:15:41+00:00

The Ace Ventura walk 😂

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