It’s funny … and sad to think that this right here convinced me of picking up Mercy and sticking to her through so many competitive seasons. You might laugh but - really - I am not lying when I say that my teammates calling me an angel (they actually did, really. Those were the days!) in one of my first competitive games because I managed to keep them all alive made me want to keep playing Mercy, go back to her time and time again - especially when I was unsure what to pick or how to best help out my team. I remember that game specifially clearly as it was yesterday because it was by far one of the most beautiful moments I had in Overwatch. And I have to thank this hero - Mercy - for that.
That’s exactly why I am still around even on these new forums, why I am fighting for this fictional character I grew more and more attached to, why I am getting very emotional in my posts whenever a certain developer decides it is better to ignore, pretend and lie some more … You know, I just want that feeling back! I want my angel back, my companion, my friend.
Did I mention that I can get very emotional when talking about Mercy?
Yeah.
Either way, moving on. I just wanted to share my thoughts - and to thank you for that post, Angela37.
Same feeling here. I still can remember my first potg with Mercy (I saved it with my mobile phone indeed). It was only a 2 man rez (Rein and Bastion), but I managed to keep them alive while they turned what was a certain lose into a team kill. I only couldn’t save Roadhog, who sacrified himself against the enemy Rein for saving me. It felt glorious, and people congratulated me for my defense. That was the game when I decided to really main Mercy. Before that, I was only playing her because she was easy, but that play made me discover how fun, unique and engaging she could be.
After that, I had other good plays and I had almost no bad experiences with her. Nobody complained about my ult being op, I could ignore those who told me how to use it easily, and people defended me when toxicity started. I could even learn a bit of Battle Mercy and had a magical game where I won a 1 vs 3 (Soldier, Junkrat and Hanzo) elimination.
I miss all those feelings in this current version. It’s not the same. I felt really insulted when she was reworked by the reasons that were made because I never did any of those. That’s why I’m so passionated sometimes too. For me this rework has been unfair, I don’t care if she is “balanced” or not. She is not the same. She was my friendly character. After the rework, it was painful seeing her so distorted.
I could have been happy if they only gave her an E ability and tweak the rest of her kit, more or less like Symmetra’s rework, that was a great rework, even if it didn’t make her really better in the end (that’s why it seems they are going to rework her again, hope they won’t mess her this time). She kept her identity, and she kept being the same indian woman able to create things like turrets and teleports from the nothing. Sadly, Mercy’s rework hasn’t been the same respectful with her identity. That’s why I’m going to keep fighting. She needs to be Mercy again. I need to see a design which I can call Mercy.
Exactly. It is the most fun part about her. Every other ability is just… Well, you do not have to think about it at all.
The Mercy now is solely about mastering different versions of hops and slingshots.
You are even able to launch yourself straight up if done correctly (without target above you).
Mastering this one single ability means you have to learn be almost on-frame perfect to get the required “version” in the right time. All with your GA Points (aka teammates) constantly changing positions.
I do not argue about rest of the Mercy having really low skill requirements but this one ability takes hell of a practice and patience to get right.
What if Valkyrie was kept but it granted up to 5 resurrect charges. That way the hide and seek part of Mercy 1.0 is lost but Mercy can still res a whole team. This way the ult can still be countered without feeling entirely useless.
The normal res ability can be nerfed or completely changed.
Here’s some suggestions I’ve had from the old forums. Since this kit assumes that Mercy has two Ultimate that she can switch between, I believe it would be a nice addition to this particular thread as well.
Taking into account how it would feel playing with her and against her, and also taking into account the rewarding or “fun” factor of her kit. Some of these ideas are taken from threads I’ve seen come and gone in the past, and to put them back into the forefront, I hope that one day some of these ideas get noticed and potentially considered in her next update…
Mercy 3.0 - Iteration 1 Mass Resurrection or Valkyrie (Press Q to toggle - Mouse Btn/Keybind to activate):
Mass Resurrect (Chosen from Q to toggle) - Resurrect up to 5 heroes to bring them back in the fight.
Note: Duration (slow) to perform the res is calculated based on the number of heroes you resurrect. Mercy is vulnerable during this period and can be interrupted with stun or similar ailments - earning the attacker a shutdown. Mass Resurrect is only activated through Line of Sight.
Slow mechanic on Mass Resurrect:
Res 1 hero: 0.5 second delay before the res.
Res 2 heroes: 1 second delay before the res.
Res 3 heroes: 2 second delay before the res.
Res 4 heroes: 2.5 second delay before the res.
Res 5 heroes: 3 second delay before the res.
Valkyrie (Chosen from Q to toggle) - unleashes the full power of Mercy’s Valkyrie Suit, enhancing her weapons and abilities for 12 seconds
Note: Original Valkyrie is 20 seconds. This version has a shorter cooldown time than the original, maintains the slight damage buffs to her blaster, has no speed increase when in GA, and a flight gauge that depletes or grows in relation to the height at which she flies. With 20m in the air being the capping point before she falls back down (5m lower than Pharah’s Jump jets). On foot she receives a slight increase in her movement speed. She has 100 “fuel” points that both recharge on foot and boost her walking speed by 5%. Her healing is also affected by her flight, and depletes with the height of her ascension.
Flight mechanic on Valkyrie:
On foot: Fuel recharges by 20 points per second. 5% increase in her walking speed.
5m: 5 fuel points lost per second out of 100 (she can maintain this height for the duration of the Ultimate on one charge)
10m: 10 fuel points lost per second out of 100 (she can maintain this height for 10 seconds on one charge)
15m: 15 fuel points lost per second out of 100 (she can maintain this height for 7 seconds on one charge)
20m: 20 fuel points lost per second out of 100 (she can maintain this height for 5 seconds on one charge)
Mechanic on Valkyrie’s Healing:
She can heal up to 150hp per second for up to 5 heroes on foot. This is half the value of zenyatta’s Transcendence, to compensate for the flight and damage boosting added in. The higher she flies, the weaker her healing stream. Her damage boost stays at a 30% like her default kit.
On foot: 150hp per second and coverage up to 5 heroes.
5m: 130hp per second and coverage up to 4 heroes.
10m: 110hp per second and coverage up to 3 heroes.
15m: 90hp per second and coverage up to 2 heroes.
20m: 70hp per second and coverage of just 1 hero.
E Move Ability: Halo - Mercy places a biotic halo over a single target for 3 seconds which prevents the hero from taking fatal damage (keeping them alive with 1 hp) and converts half of the damage taken into health. This ability has a 20 second cool-down. The move has a 1.5 second delay before activating, so the target must be alive for the 1.5 duration before receiving the health from their halo. Heroes with halos do NOT receive healing or damage boosting from any support when Halo is in effect. Halo is only activated through Line of Sight.
Note: (I.e. A hero with 200 health that receives a halo before taking 200 damage, and stays alive with 1hp for the 1.5 duration, receives 100hp back as health). Heroes that have Halos cannot be healed or damage boosted, and only one Halo may be used at any time.
~Sincerely Yours xoxo,
a Lover of True, Fair, and Fun Balance. #RevertMercy
Having an activation time and such short uptime means this ability will not be used at all. Either you need to make it instant (So Mercy can use it as a reaction to something happening, like Zarya’s bubble), or makes it last longer (and that is absurdly OP, because its basically invincibility time).
Actually, yeah, this is basically a buffed up zarya bubble, because its not breakable.
Unless it would not require line of sight, then this would encourage the “hide and rez” playstyle. Jumping below Anubis B bridge, or inside Gibraltar ship.
Not really. That assumes that your team does absolutely nothing and just gets completely steamrolled leaving you all alone. Such a mechanic would punish Mercy players who overextend to try and get “as many resses as possible” while not making sure they either A) are safe or B) have some form of protection.
The problem people had before with her in 1.0 was the ability for her to hide, wait for her team to die, and fly in to res an entire team (though it was actually rare that it happened). In this kit, the rules favor strategy, awareness, and timing more than just simple timing.
Can you dive into 5 souls and potentially get yourself killed in the process? Yes. Because that is a high reward associated with it (you are bringing back 5 people). Can you instead try to res a few less people with the guarantee that you’ll bring someone back? Yes, which may be key in tight-spaces where stalling is preferred over spamming resses.
And the greatest part in my opinion about this - is that this opens the doors in allowing her resses to be tweaked with much more detail. Is a 5 man ress too difficult for most players to pull off? “No problem, a simple reduction in duration time and she’s fixed.” While still maintaining the risk/reward system to prevent “cheap tactics.” Let’s not forget that that even Mercy 1.0’s most common resses was 2 (MAYBE 3) people. 4-5 man resses were extremely rare, and for good reason.
This new kit would simply expand on that, giving people better rewards for more strategic play. Another thought I have while we’re at it is that the user is suddenly given a short few seconds of invincibility afterwards or maybe even some sort of brief overheal to the entire team (I’m talking like a VERY weak version of Lucio’s sound barrier - Like maybe 250 more health for 3 seconds - half of Lucio’s), if they successfully pull off a 4 or 5 man res. Giving even more incentive to reward players who were able to successfully survive such a huge risk.
Well, It depends on what would be considered “too fast” or “too short” in my opinion. My intention for Halo is not to be used as a shield, but as a stall/counter. I can see it being useful if you are attempting to regroup with your team, and you need to maintain the front lines (something mercy is currently not designed for, so yay! She finally has something to help the front lines!) but the tank or support is being focused on, you can buy them a little extra time by giving them a temporary halo. Though similar to how zarya bubbles, it differs in that the user will still take damage during Halo’s duration instead of blocking it, with the only difference being that the damage they are taken is converted to health afterwards, and that they cannot be killed during it’s effect (will lock at 1hp before giving the user health - assuming that they aren’t killed off in 1.5 seconds before the health is given). Uses for this can be for flankers who need to objectively take out a specific target (turret, bastion, etc.) or tanks performing a dive who need some way to effectively return, or supports who are being focused on and need to escape safely to cover.
I do see what you mean though regarding cooldown time. Maybe 20 seconds is a bit harsh and can be reduced somewhat. My only fear with that would be the potential to spam the ability. But maybe I’m overthinking it!
~Sincerely Yours xoxo,
a Lover of True, Fair, and Fun Balance. #RevertMercy
Individual ress are way harder to counter, extremely strong and feel way more frustrating to play against. If you give her 5 of that she will be a must pick again, even without res as E. The reason why she was a MP befor would be back, she would have to much (even more with that) utility again.
The reason Mercy was a Must Pick was due to her rework in Valkyrie and that she was given “invincibility” during her Mass res. Mercy 1.0 when she was not invincible would have been perfectly balanced, since during that time she was still a D-tier hero (hardly a must pick) with her kit being outshined by basically any other hero otherwise in terms of damage potential (let’s not forget that Mercy was and still is one of the weakest heroes on a 1v1). All they needed to do was give her Line of Sight to prevent “hide and res”.
Resurrection itself is not hard to play against. It requires that the enemy team know not to blow their Ults all at once, and punished them when they did. Any 2 ultimates timed properly (as in people actually waiting for mercy to ult before ulting - like they should have) can completely destroy a resurrect without much effort. Not to mention that a 5 man res was both extremely rare and extremely risky to even pull off in the first place.
~Sincerely Yours xoxo,
a Lover of True, Fair, and Fun Balance. #RevertMercy
Oh, im not saying Mercy 1.x was a MP. It was a Mass Res which needs way better timing and coordination to use successfully and impactful. Individual ress (since the rework) are way stronger than the Mass Res because you can use them whenever you want. If you use Mass Res, it’s gone.
Val (2.0-2.1) had 3-4 Individual ress which wasa very OP as everyone knows. Giving her 5 of that is just too much.
Invincibility didn’t made her a MP as well. That buff was not needed, sure, but not to strong as well.
I agree, very true. Also the ressurect on a fixed timer is one of the most annoyingly unrewarding thing’s I think they’ve done to her so far. It’s like a huge “Hey we’re feeling sorry for you for enduring playing such a hugely nerfed hero - have a res on us! You’re actually crazy enough to play her for more than 30 seconds!” message. I literally call them “pity resses” because of how undeserved they feel.
~Sincerely Yours xoxo,
a Lover of True, Fair, and Fun Balance. #RevertMercy
I was thinking about Valkyrie and how it could be more rewarding. Before, at the very beginning of the rework, you were rewarded for staying alive and in the fight by being able to rez a total maximum of 3 teammates - it spiced up the ult and gave you a reason to really want to stay alive. When I die now during Valk I mostly just say “meh” and don’t really think about it more than any other time I die. Would it be possible to reward her for staying alive through granting her more healing instead of rezzes? For example, what if for each second you are in Valk your healing on the main beam increased? If it increased by 5 every second it would, at maximum power and with the current duration, reach up to 135 hp/s for the main beam. You are then rewarded for staying alive by having a stronger main beam. If it’s too strong you can either lower the extra hp/second, make it so it only increases ever other second, make her beam range shorter so she’s easier to hit, or shorten the duration of the ult with a few seconds.
It won’t solve the “all I’m doing is holding the beam” issue, but at least it makes it more rewarding to stay alive and gives you a reason to actually feel upset that someone took you out.
I never thought of an increasing beam. A sort of gradual overheal if you will, i suppose.
I think it would bring a uniqueness to her kit. I personally think that would be quite nice in a Valkyrie-only Mercy kit.
The only thing that may be in question is that It also would incentivize people to kill Mercy ASAP as soon as she pops off her Ult. Since she’s probably a huge glowing target during that time, I suppose that’s how she is essentially balanced. Definitely not a big issue since Mercy players like me are used to being the high-value target most of the time anyway.
Now that I think of it, that move will indirectly be some form of crowd control as well - since you’re essentially making yourself more and more of a problem as time progresses during your ult which could be great for control maps. I will certainly have huge amounts of fun whizzing around through my team if a gradual overheal was a thing and scattering the enemy team or leading them off the point to try and take me out lol.
~Sincerely Yours xoxo,
a Lover of True, Fair, and Fun Balance. #RevertMercy
Even when she became invincible during rez, she was still at best a C-tier hero in the pro-scene. In normal gameplay, she was, and still is, the most picked hero by far because if no one know how to play a healer, she is the easiest one to pick and be baseline effective.
Mercy only became a MP with Valkyrie. The issue before the rework was people exploiting PBSR and farming rezzes instead of helping their teams. And that could had been handled in a different way than “lets rebuild her, we have the technology”.
Maybe I’m weird, but I would actually like the thrill of knowing that people feel at bit rushed to kill me… it would remind me a bit of how she was pre-rework. And I really feel, with an ult this long and currently very “flat”, that there needs so be something that up the stakes a bit.
Oh you’re not weird at all, I feel the same way! It feels nice that you’re seen as such a huge threat that you make the enemy do a complete 180 in their previous plans just because you’re on the field. It’s a feeling of being extremely valuable to your team and the enemy that makes it worth playing her - atleast in my opinion.
As a side note, the great thing I loved about Mercy in 1.0 was that she was generally seen as this super frail little healer that seemed so innocent and harmless, until she sneaks by and completely destroys the enemy with a team resurrect. Anything that brews that “late-game” fear into the enemy team is a great feeling for me, because they can’t just “Call of duty” it up and guarantee themselves a win. They actually have to work for it! XD
~Sincerely Yours xoxo,
a Lover of True, Fair, and Fun Balance. #RevertMercy
I can’t believe that this thread is already at 2000 and still the devs didn’t even reply once. I appreciate that they are trying to fix other heroes like Sombra, etc but they can’t forget the mess they made with Mercy. They are leaving an unfinished work yet to be solved.
