As time has gone on, I've come to hate Mercy more and more

I just said both Genji and Mercy have big fanbases so they’re hard to give honest criticism to without the fanboys/girls/thems getting all up in arms

Perfect description of Mercy.

She’s like playing a strategy game and managing a squad. You need some heals? Here ya go. You need a damage boost? Enjoy. Getting dove? Just let me use GA to zip up into outer space while still being able to lock onto teammates.

Trash hero that doesn’t belong in a competitive video game.

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Which is great and unique.

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I wouldn’t say she’s unique. It’s not really a game of strategy when 9 times out of 10 your best bet is to pocket the carry DPS and just damage boost + rez them until the round is over.

She used to have more strategic depth, but people didn’t like it.

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I made this during the height of “moth meta” when there were still a ton of Mercy players, probably far more than now. In it I criticized how Mercy’s rework had made her too good at too many things. As can be seen the post is not only up but also got quite a few likes, strange from a mob that apparently has skin more fragile than a butterfly wing.

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#2 most picked support from Plat to GM and a ~51% winrate across all those ranks, which is higher than Ana, who is the #1 (but also has a higher pickrate.)

exactly, criticizing a hero is fine, but saying the players are bad/trash is against the ToS. we both made posts criticizing the hero, not the players, so we didnt get it taken down

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Sorry to burst your bubble but Mercy and Ana have always been the top pick supports on ladder, and they always will be.

GM used to be the one place where support pickrates were actually based on meta but OW2 rank inflation has made GM a much larger rank with a lot more casual players in it, and now GM is also under the Ana-Mercy pickrate 24/7 bubble. The inflation is one reason one of the Devs made a tweet talking about how they are considering adding a new rank above GM.

Moira used to be one of the top3 supports always under GM but now it’s Kiriko. You might be able to notice a trend from who is always top3 picked supports in most ranks. It’s the same reason Zen/Lucio/Brig are never that highly picked in most ranks despite them having been some of the most consistently meta heroes in the game throughout OW’s lifespan.

Because they’ve never received meaningful nerfs to the overpowered parts of their kits.

Because

She’s the only support counter to anti.

It’s 1.5% of the playerbase.

I think mercy is amazing for the game. Just the current way her kit is configured is problematic imo. A Rez mechanic in Overwatch is far too impactful to ever feel balanced as an ability. Thus it should be an ultimate. 100% uptime on characters usually leads to balance issues too imo which is really why dmg boost is problematic because it’s always there. There should be some downtime to her healing/dmg boost just like there is with every other support. The main part of her kit that takes a lot of skill is her GA mechanics and they should weigh in heavily on that as THE core part of her kit.

Even absent an enemy ana, kiriko is still very good.

Nah it’s because they both heal a lot, are consistent picks who are flexible in lots of uncoordinated comps, pair well together, are are relatively easy to get good value out of for most ranks. Hence why Moira is usually the third most picked supp under Masters despite being one of the most consistently bottom tier picks meta-wise lol. Or, was, now it’s Kiri.

Because, like Mercy and Ana, she heals a lot (with not much aim required), and she’s survivable without requiring much peel.

The Devs have literally come out and said that GM got much larger because of the new rank system. The Devs literally have said they are considering making a new rank above GM.

Go look at the top500 leaderboard for Support right now. It’s all Ana, Bap, Kiri, Lucio, Brig, Ana, Bap, Kiri, Lucio. Mercy is hardly on it. Just like she’s hardly picked in OWL last season. Because, like I said, she’s not a great support for highly skilled and coordinated players right now.

But because GM is such a wide rank now compared to in OW1, and a much more casual rank now overall (I would know, I’ve been GM for the last 6 years), it’s experiencing the Ana-Mercy-Kiri pickrate effect like the other ranks have the past few years.

There’s a reason the Devs said they are nerfing Discord this upcoming patch and didn’t mention Ana or Mercy, lol. Because just because heroes are strong or picked a lot doesn’t mean they are overpowered or need nerfs.

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As long as she remains single task support, no.

Mercy is basically required to produce just with healing or just with boost amount of impact, that other supports produce by combining 2-3 abilities at once, due to her inability to make such combo. And since those abilities aren’t even that impressive number wise, consistency is her only chance to keep up.

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Maybe for dmg boost at least? Zero cooldown utility is pretty good.

Especially not for damage boost, as it’s her primary source of value. And it’s not even that good, as 30% extra damage of teammate < one extra gun firing at enemies.

If blizzard came to you and said they will put it on a resource or cooldown, what compensation buffs would you give to make it balanced in your opinion?

The issue with Pharmercy is that it is so synergistic. 1 + 1 = 3.
Mercy levels up Pharah’s power and keeps her up permanently, if Pharah is good at using cover. Chip damage does not cut it, you need 1-2 shot heroes to take them out.

But what people often fail to realize is that Pharah levels up Mercy just as much. Pharah gives Mercy permanent uptime in the sky, giving her complete map awareness, free flight between teammates back to Pharah if need be. This is why Mercy mains love it, it adds so much more dimension to Mercy’s kit. If the Mercy is good at shotcalling, or at least pinging out of position enemies that she can see, that’s even more powerful.

IMO all they need to do is add a DVA Matrix type of resource to Mercy’s damage beam (and Zen discord). And Zen’s discord should instead of increasing damage done to enemy, should decrease damage the enemy does. This way Tanks can have a fun time, and Zen discord can somewhat counter Pharah’s amped damage.

Mercy isn’t played in those ranks because people in those ranks want to win. And the way to win more games is to play heroes that you yourself can carry on and have a large impact with.

Mercy puts all of that responsibility on other teammates, as good as a Mercy player can be she cannot carry a game like any other support hero can. If you want to climb and carry, you have to rely on yourself more and your teammates less. That is the antithesis of Mercy’s kit. LifeWeaver has the same problem.

This doesn’t mean Mercy isn’t strong or sometimes annoying to play against though. She’s only annoying to play against imo is when there is a Pharah. The synergy between them (1 + 1 = 3) is too strong imo. I would like to see DMG boost beam and Discord both get a DVA Matrix/Moira type resource.

Zen is my favorite comparison. Discord is superior to Damage Boost, and as an added bonus, Zen can have Discord out + harmony out + be shooting people, while Mercy has to pick between one of those three options.

In terms of raw output, his is SO much higher.

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Yes thank you!

Someone gets it as an Ana/Lucio main who needs to play so much harder to even compete with the value of a lower ranked Mercy.

Mercy is honestly the sole reason I believe that dps like hitscan continue to keep their one/two tap TTKs. Because Mercy exists and she’ll always have Rez in her kit.

Which begs the need for quicker TTK to be in the game to counteract all of that healing and sudden player increase when they just got picked off.

In the meantime supports are overtuned just to compete with Mercy’s easy ability to dictate a fight of who lives and who dies.

Yet we keep tiptoeing around the issue that once Mercy gets properly nerfed to where her skill expression becomes akin to the rest of the roster, then we can properlu tone down the one shots and hitscans that make such wide TTK gaps in the game.