Give Your Mercy Thoughts and Ideas

General Discussion
1

With the new patch clear on the way, it has become quite obvious the justifiable disgruntled criticism of the Mercy community on her current state of play. Originally the change of GA left the entire Overwatch community bewildered and confused; mostly in negative questioning and others surprised it was actually done. Either way, it seems a majority of the Mercy community still wants her to be adjusted in a positive way the fanbase will enjoy. (Mostly in how she is played, and also considering in how she is fought against.

It also seems pretty apparent, however, troll posts and negativity is not going to open communication in working with the developers and these last patch notes have been a big indicator that they are looking for more feedback rather than negativity. Ideas they needs before they consider reverts.

So… That’s what this thread is about. This isn’t for “Mercy is fine the way she currently is”. This is for people currently unhappy with the changes to say aloud their own ideas on tweaking her in a better spot than she currently is EVEN if the ideas are just bringing her back to her state of Season 1. Any ideas, small changes, big changes, reworks, whatever gets posts out there for someone to read and take a look at when going to the drawing board and thinking of ways to adjust her now and for the future.

Some personal thoughts:
Lifeleech has been implemented and it seems pro-play likes the concept. I don’t think they plan on easily removing it. Yet, Lifeleech is also gatekeeping GA on the current cooldown limitations and will also effect the rest of her kit to be tweaked. Whatever changes have to considered, her survivability needs to be kept in mind if you were to want GA to be reverted entirely to what it used to be or adjusted for ease of use.

  • Simple Fix, Possibly -25hp Reduction:

(Please read this post for criticism on why it is not a good idea: [X] )

Mercy’s biggest weaknesses are burst damage and hitscan. Even with her consistent mobility and tech with GA, hitscan is not nearly as effected by her mobility as other heroes. Changes to hitscan effectiveness such as the lasts buffs to Mcree and Soldier 76 directly effect the life of a Mercy in a match. As well, rapid-fire hitscan also struggle more at getting eliminations on Mercy compared to a well placed Mcree Ult, Widow/Soujorn shot. Having Mercy’s max health reduced gives burst damage more ability to wipe her out in a match while she still remains benefiting from in-combat healing of lifeleech.

  • Complicated Fix, Remove Damage Boost with a Rework

( (X) a post on why this is tricky to do.)

Damage Boost was most noted on the first Mercy changes before and after they took place. It has been noted as one of the reason’s Soujorn was decimating higher ranks and also noted for the several reasons burst dps like Pharah, Ashe, and many others can’t be adjusted well enough without considering their interaction with Damage Boost. A simple fix that was recommended a few times was capping the max potential damage damage boost can raise so burst DPS can no longer greatly benefit from it compared to other DPS.
Problem?
Damage Boost is still the number 1 reasoning to Mercy being a pocketing champion if you cut out the issue of the viability that is her ult: Valkyrie. Yet her ult ALSO can be hardly tweaked because of Damage Boost as well. Damage Boost is still, however, her main way to build Ult charge while enabling hiding behind corners and pocketing the best player on your team.
So, solution?
Replace Damage Boost with a defensive-oriented ability that builds ult charge.
Whether it is an entirely new mechanic or a small-sized, deployable and immobile low-HP shield, replacing it with some sort of defensive ability is important. An offensive ability defeats the purpose of Mercy being a Pacifist of a character. Even her pistol balance is mostly built as a self-defense option. Her kit is focused on the idea of being the “Pure Support Healer” type and being able to keep your team alive easier is a good purpose and synergizes with her kit pretty nicely without requiring the use of CC such as committing to risky rez positions or healing effectiveness on the ground.

Also, eliminates generally just the issue of making one character’s DPS better, stops Mercy combos with burst damage heroes people don’t like, AND incentivizes her being more active in the LoS of the enemy while doing more than just healing.

Is this a perfect fix? I wouldn’t say entirely, but it is a suggestion and maybe the community feels it is really good. Maybe not. Either way, please share your ideas and suggestions below. It could be the start to traction of the devs listening to community feedback about Mercy in a new direction.
I also suggest others who enjoy heroes that seem like they are in rough spots such as Roadhogs and Sombra mains to do the same.

3 Likes
2

Lemme read through this a bit.

2 Likes
3

I hope the Mercy Main Community, those knowledgeable in the situation, or just anyone in general can submit their own feedback and ideas.
Especially since they can probably do a better job at making or criticizing ideas than I can.

4

Caduceus staff:

Beam healing reduced to 47.5. Healing on critical allies increased by 40%.
Damage boost reduced to 20%

Resurrect:

Res now instantly respawns your teammate back in spawn. No longer has cast time and resets GA. Res cooldown increased by 5 seconds.

Guardian Angel:

GA cooldown changed to 1.85 seconds with 1 second CANCELABLE tech duration.

Valkyrie

Valk increases damage boost by 15%. Using Valk properly resets the cooldown of GA. Beam no longer breaks during animation. Revived allies during valk respawn where their soul was. Valk cost increased by 6%

1 Like
5

Yeah see, the problem with removing damage boost is that then Mercy would be a throw pick regardless of what ability they provide her with. Mercy as a character does no damage, so without damage boost, she’s kinda useless. I saw another post that pointed out that, compared to the damage output of other supports, damage boost doesnt even meet those numbers. Damage boost is basically discord orb but with the roles reversed, except think about the damage that zen puts out compared to mercy.

Outside of her ult, damage boost can only be applied to one person. She can either heal or damage boost. Her healing is low compared to other supports. Like stated, she has no way to heal herself so reducing HP doesn’t make much sense either.

If people are going to complain about GA for a hero that depends completely on their mobility, then that just means they hate the character. Mercy is not the problem, but people act like she is every season because they have no respect for the people who play her. And to me, that’s sounds like a personal problem.

She was fine in S1 and 2, and I would have even been okay with a GA nerf of 2 seconds flat even if you decide to superjump or slingshot. Imo nothing else needed to be changed. No one asked for lifeleech or the 50% healing buff, especially if we knew they were just going to remove it and nerf other abilities into the ground this season. And not having health regen in valk is pretty stupid as well.

7 Likes
6

Bro wants his post counts up so bad he posted to let people know he’s “reading the post” :skull: :skull: :clown_face: :clown_face:

2 Likes
7

I did quote him for the post in all fairness and normally he does for these threads in like a 24 hour span of time.

8

after 6 years
simple might not be as simple as you may think

9

Simple as compared to the proposed rework, it’s said around here that kind of nerf/buff universally functions when wanting to buff or nerf someone, even temporarily, is to adjust their HP and this has been done serviceably for years.

Either way, it only takes one good change to lead to a path of “Better” and rather just get the majority of the community on the page of “Yeah, we’re getting somewhere.”

10

Ok this is a wild one but i want to try

There is no beam absorbing or deflecting in this game.

So.meecy right click can auto lock on any nearby beam in 10 mtt radius and enter a beam cancel state like this.
Imagine volse as zarya and harry as mercy.

When the beam struggle is broken mercy gets deploy a bubble over her allies with health equivalent to 25% of the dmg absorbed.

So against projectiles and hitscans she can tap it and it will destroy one bullet per tap but tap and recovery will be 1.25 sec.

So it may be useful against tap fire heroes but not sprayers.

1 Like
11

I am aware of this, Damage Boost’s numbers are actually much lower compared to others. However, also keep in mind that she is essentially just making someone else deal more damage.
Meaning:

  1. It only takes one person to hit rather than two.
  2. A higher, singular attack is more likely to get an elimination than two people firing at a target and more often.

Mercy’s beam wasn’t about overall damage, Mercy’s beam was to make sure who she is Damage Boosting either gets an elimination OR lays enough oppressive fire power to get someone to back off.

Global damage is meaningful, but not the sole factor and there are many ways to achieve meaningful DPS numbers like hero up-time. The longer you live, the more likely you are to deal damage. That’s Mercy’s shtick.

12

Help me understand this part, pls.

I find finishing targets with 1 hit left with a mercy pocket more difficult to clutch than before because of the crit boost.

It gets frustrating on a pharmacy.

Yes please. Should have been this way since ult rework day 1.

13

This sounds interesting but really strong since that could easily obsolete beam heroes lololololol.

Gave me an idea in my head to put a bubble shield on her right-click that she builds with healing and can right-click to give a single target a bubble/shielding regardless if she built her “Shield Meter” full or not. (Like overhealth but maybe increased the hitbox and depletes over time as a semi-drawback?) It’s not as strong as “Overhealth”, it occasional singular use, and incentives more healing while getting ult charge from the shield being hit. Kinda like the exact opposite way Soujorn works. It could even be a shielding that “Must be destroyed” before damaging health and give burst DPS a harder time. or just a certain level of overshield. (That could cancel out ults, though so might need to go to the drawing board for this one a little…)

1 Like
14

I always found that instead of dmg boost, it should be a small burst healing boost with either a cooldown or with charges. Similiar to how monk works in wow. Obviously with changed healing stats to keep it balanced. But that is just me.

1 Like
15

I like this idea, but one major plus to Mercy is her ability to build ult charge without having to take any potential building away from her other healer. (Since she doesn’t really deal her own damage and other supports also build ult charge by both means of healing and damage.) It would be nice to substitute her Damage Boost with an ability that keeps that in mind.

People want Mercy to have versatility that also isn’t just healing.

16

Delete Life Leach

Replace it with an “amp up” heal, kind of like Lucio’s. It will increase her healing for a few seconds and then go on cooldown. It will also give Mercy a self-heal. It could be tied to the “reload” button, since Mercy doesn’t use it with the staff.

17

Ya but a resource meter like dva Matrix should solve the problem i really like the idea of mercy blue beam zapping bullets rockets and blocking beams.

Would look so cool.

Like a pharah flies above your soldier you can heal him or delete a rocket.

Then bubbling them once she builds charge like soj but slower would make her so much fun.

I know the Devs will never do this but it’s fun dreaming.

1 Like
18

“Let’s replace the only offensive ability with a defensive ability and make mercy even MORE reliant on her team!!!”
Supports carry through healing, but they carry even more through damage and utility. It is why supports like Moira fall off after masters.

This is not even necessary don’t pretend. Y’all need to look at a character power chart for mercy so that you realize her survivability is strong in exchange for other parts being weaker.

19

I keep seeing people suggest this and they don’t realize that this would literally gut the hero lol like dead in the water even if GA returned to 1.5 seconds

The Devs have said multiple times that HP changes are the most radical changes to hero’s viability and have extreme effect on their winrates and pickrates

Zen went from bad to OP in the OW2 Beta by getting more HP. Sym went from useless to good after she got 25 HP as she is a melee hero. Cassidy became way dominant with 25 HP.

Mercy has good movement sure but it is required because she has to be within 15m of an ally to beam them and she ALSO has no offensive power to force enemies off her nor is her self heal that good.

The only two heroes with less than 200 HP are Tracer and Widow. Tracer has 3 charges of a movement skill that makes her UNTARGETABLE and a Rewind button. Widow plays the game 300m away from the fight, not 15 like Mercy.

Mercy simply would not work with 175 HP unless they giga buffed GA speeds/CD or buffed her beam range

4 Likes
20

I feel like this with a GA revert would be really nice. It doesn’t hurt Mercy’s feel at all while narrowing her margin for error on her plays.

There are many situations where even a bad Mercy escapes with 50+ HP. All this does is narrow that margin a bit.

This one is also a no-brainer. The thing is, it gets value in two ways: amping an ally (and their ult economy) without stealing from the other support, and allowing single targets to overpower heals more reliably.

I can’t really help the second, but a light ult charge boost (20%?) could do the former nicely, with Mercy getting the boost amount as ult charge herself. The reduced value is justified by the longer enemy lifespan and thus easier farming of charge, and would be subject to further tweaking. But I feel that this could actually mitigate a whole lot of issues with blue beam without really axing the weight it has otherwise.

1 Like