I've gamed quite a bit and have an interest in game theory/design and such.

And invariably the playerbase loves to hate on the idea of nerfs. But... I actually think THAT is ridiculous.

Games like Overwatch and Magic: the Gathering have a long history of "nerfing" things or, in the case of MTG, straight banning things from being used competitively. They're wonderful games that are much better for the balancing act they try to achieve. Players like powerful things (I get that)... but when the designers are pushing for powerful things that the players might like... well, mistakes are going to be made.

When I hear someone complain about suggestions to "nerf" and insult anyone that might do so... all i hear is "it hurts my brain to think about how we might make things even better than they currently are so I'm just going to call people * if they suggest on possible improvements.

In the game of Magic: the Gathering, which I think this game actually compares to quite well, one of the biggest dangers has always been mana-producers that let players "cheat" on casting their spells early. Cards like Black Lotus and Sol Ring are some of the most broken and degenerate cards ever made in the game - and they were also huge mistakes. Mabui is like a Sol Ring in MTG.

Now, this game has another mechanic that is supposed to stop players from doing things too powerful, too fast - and that's battlefield cooldowns. Yet, 1010's Mystery is a 60-costed Mystery that has no battlefield cooldown.

Of course, there's also the auto-barriers in the game that are simply way too powerful an effect to get "for free."

My point is that there are a lot of things wrong with the 1010-Mei team from a game design perspective and to simply dismiss all of that for no legitimate reason than "people are babies" is... well, it's kinda ridiculous.

Now, there's another MAJOR problem with the team though... and this is probably the biggest reason to consider nerfing it in some fashion: overuse.

There are a zillion sweet ninjas in this game and people want to feel like they're all capable of doing good things and possibly something you could build a team around. If any team becomes too dominant in the average player's meta then it makes the game kinda... boring.

In Overwatch, there have been metas where too many characters were "must-picks" and it felt like most all games played out very similarly. That's a problem! Whether the game is even balanced or not... it's a problem! A big one.

In MTG, there have been formats that were so dominated by single deck archetypes that it massively drove players away from attending tournaments. No one wants to play Caw Blade mirror matches all day long, ya know?

Ignoring how good the team even is... the average player's gaming experience is very arguably too filled with these Mei-1010 teams. As such, it's most definitely NOT ridiculous to suggest the game might be better and healthier if it were changed in a way to discourage more diversity in the game.

"I was 92k BP with this team," you say?

Well... that's kind of the thing. The average gamer still doesn't have that kind of time invested and they're often battling other people that are just "making due" with the ninjas they have and building with whatever while they dream of pulling some specific ninja out of whatever treasure.

The average players aren't using Sailor Sakura, Minatos, Roshis, and playing with cool outfits on their main.

Honestly, the very best strategies me*most nothing to the vast majority of gamers!!!

And Mei-1010 is absurdly overused (AND POWERFUL) insofar as the games that the majority of gamers are playing against each other.

Even if we really do agree that the team is easy to beat and no one should care... it still wouldn't change the fact that these teams make up FAR too much of the meta at these levels where most gamers are playing this game, in my opinion.

Also, I think MTG is a MUCH better comparison to this game insofar as how the game works. They're VERY similar. This game has chakra and MTG has mana. Both limit the amount of mana/chakra you should have based on rules for turn structure. You pick a team in this game and you build a deck with MTG. I could go on-and-on... but mechanically-speaking it's basically nothing like Overwatch while unbelievably similar to MTG.

I fully understand that the game ignores THE VAST MAJORITY of the playerbase to focus on the very small percentage at the top.

But... it seems unreasonable to dismiss the majority of the player base's concerns with the simple notion that the game doesn't care about them...

Also, if my argument is that it's not healthy for the majority of players and you're suggesting that it's not even worth using for "the people that matter" then "the people that matter" wouldn't be negatively effected by any nerfs while the majority of gamers could still be positively effected. That just sounds like upside, doesn't it? I mean... do we really care so little about the insignificant "99%" that it's not even worth suggesting trying to make their lives better (especially if, as you say, it wouldn't negatively harm the "important people" at the top)?

Do you really think that so many people are complaining about this team because it's beating them in Arena and nowhere else?

I'm sorry, mate, but it kinda sounds like YOU don't understand...

For lesser-established servers and players, the team is everywhere and beating them everywhere.

This is not "just an arena" problem for them.

And insofar as "stats" are concerned: I'm a bit dyslexic and may just be missing them... but I REALLY don't see any stats you think I should have responded to. What exact stats did you reply to me with? If you're just talking about the one pic you posted of you beating a team then I didn't "ignore" those "stats" - I replied by telling you that your example simply doesn't apply to the average gamer issuing these complaints.

Look, you seem to want to insist that the game shouldn't cater at all to people that aren't at the top. I fundamentally and wholeheartedly disagree with that sentiment.

At the very least, there are a ton of people playing this game that hate this team. That alone should at least merit SOME consideration and all these gamers shouldn't be completely dismissed with the notion that they just need to "git gud" or whatever.