Tassadar's top tier status is unquestioned, but as Medivh and Zarya begin to flood the HGC Involvement rates some are turning to shields in general as the problem.
As I write this, Tassadar and Zarya are far and above the most banned Heroes during the HGC. In the last 7 days taking all regions into account, Tassadar has been banned a whopping 54 times, with Zarya taking the 2nd most banned spot with 31:
Traditionally, we are used to strong assassin heroes like Zeratul or Illidan gracing our most banned lists. These heroes are playmakers and scale with player skill-- it's only natural pro players would be interested in denying their opponents these type of heroes.
But that just isn't the case this meta. The most powerful thing you can currently do in Heroes of the Storm is place a shield on an ally. In world of Varian stuns and Sulfuras Smash, people take damage very quickly and pre-shielding is the name of the game. This coupled with the instant cast negation of heroes like Medivh and Zarya makes it very difficult to kill enemy heroes and creates a meta built around protecting allies from death.
Or as the captain of Team Dignitas, James "Bakery" Baker puts it, slowing the game down in a negative way:
As it turns out, Bakery isn't the only pro player that has problems with Tassadar and the shield game he promotes. Tricked eSports AlexTheProG, and Tempo Storm's Psalm and Cattlepillar don't hesitate to spread the "please nerf Tassadar" gospel.
On the topic of Tassadar, Splendour from Team Misfits puts things in simple terms. He is, of course, referring to Tassadar's quest talents that improve his Oracle ability and the all powerful Twilight Archon talent at level 20:
Srey of Superstars seems to still be in disbelief. How could an already top-tier hero somehow get stronger from a re-work? Gazlowe called, he wants a refund on his re-work.
What do you think?
Personally, none of the heroes that the pro community bans are ever a problem in my Hero League games, but that's always the paradox when it comes to game balance. Casual-competitive and Pro-League are two very different games that are affected by balance changes differently. If the majority of Heroes players don't mind lots of shields and are more concerned with facing three stealth heroes in quick match, how should Blizzard even address this growing concern?
It may be worth mentioning that Lucio is bringing more shields into the Nexus and his Sound Barrier Heroic is essentially a super-charged Storm Shield with a large radius. Will the most competitive meta shift again or will the speed and shields Lucio brings just make Varian even more of a top-tier pick?
Keeping in mind how amusingly incorrect nearly everyone was when assessing Tassadar's strength after his re-work, I suggest waiting until Lucio actually hits the live version of the game before you make your tier lists.
Or else you might end with your foot in your mouth like this Redditor:
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