Balance should be about creating variety.

[TheDarkness.6947]

Seems to me that a key factor impacting build diversity is that there is a huge amount of predictability in the matches. For example (speaking of regular season only, here):

 

• There are only 7 maps.  They have been around forever and are known inside and out by veteran players
• The game mode is always conquest/king of the hill
• The secondary objectives on each map are always the same.  Some of them can be impactful on the game outcome, others not so much
• You can always see the opposing team’s comp before the match and can switch characters to adjust
• The number of players per team is always 5
• There are no random mechanics in play (e.g. like fractal instabilities)
• There are no random or rotating NPCs (unless you count player controlled bots lol).  The maps that have NPCs always have the same ones, in the same places, at the same time stamps, and with the same objective and outcome

 

I think shaking these things up would introduce more build variety.  Of course it would require a lot more developer investment than tweaking skill coefficients.

Edited April 30, 2022 by TheDarkness.6947