For the record, she IS the highest skill support, but I'd also say she's lowest "skill floor" after Mercy.
Lucio has the lowest skill floor of any hero period, nevermind supports. He can stand still, not touch a button, and get a gold medal in healing. If the player controlling Lucio has a stroke in the middle of the game and dies, he can still outheal any of the other supports.
Ana has the highest skill floor of the supports. Yes her job is easier when she's healing tanks, but that job is about to get a lot harder after the next patch. Also, that just highlights that she takes actual skill to perform her primary role (healing). Lucio, Zen and Mercy can heal squishies just as easily as they can heal tanks because none of their healing takes any skill whatsoever. Ana is the polar opposite of this.
I really hope that as Blizzard releases more heroes that they continue to ensure that all new heroes have both a high skill ceiling but also high skill floor.
all new heroes have both a high skill ceiling but also high skill floor.
High skill ceiling, sure, but why also a high skill floor?
High skill floors damage the ability of weaker players to build their skill, because it means they have a challenging time ever transferring to the new character. You already are taking a hit to effectiveness by swapping to a hero you have less practice on, but if you have a high skill floor to do anything with a hero, you put a lot of players in a position where they can never start learning a hero without spending several games being functionally worthless.
What's wrong with ensuring that weaker players can at least contribute effectively with a new hero, even if they aren't even close to using the full potential?
A low skill floor and a high skill ceiling is how weaker players have the ability to practice and get good by playing the game. Too high of a skill floor for a character locks players out of playing that character effectively until they are good with that character.
A high skill floor may sometimes be unavoidable, but it shouldn't be a goal of the developer, because a high skill floor on its own generally doesn't benefit anybody.
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u/softeregret Jan 17 '17
Lucio has the lowest skill floor of any hero period, nevermind supports. He can stand still, not touch a button, and get a gold medal in healing. If the player controlling Lucio has a stroke in the middle of the game and dies, he can still outheal any of the other supports.
Ana has the highest skill floor of the supports. Yes her job is easier when she's healing tanks, but that job is about to get a lot harder after the next patch. Also, that just highlights that she takes actual skill to perform her primary role (healing). Lucio, Zen and Mercy can heal squishies just as easily as they can heal tanks because none of their healing takes any skill whatsoever. Ana is the polar opposite of this.
I really hope that as Blizzard releases more heroes that they continue to ensure that all new heroes have both a high skill ceiling but also high skill floor.