So, I’ve been a support and tank player since the games inception. However, out of those support heroes, I’ve really only enjoyed ana, lucio, and zen. It’s not necessarily because they are mechanically harder either, but because I feel way more impactful on those heroes. I don’t think aim is necessary to make a character skillful, just look at lucio wallriding, winston dives and ultimate juggling, good dva matrix use, etc. However, mercy does not fit in with these mechanics at present. When mercy was the sole pick for a few months, I became very frustrated with having to constantly play her.
For the first time, many mercy mains seem to agree with me. She’s not fun or impactful to play. Her old ultimate, while frustrating, did feel more impactful and fun to pull off, which fit her character and “vibe” more. While I personally don’t want that playstyle back, I think the feel I’m getting is that mercy players want that “feel” of pulling off a huge sway in the battle that fits her kit and character back.
So, what kind of change could do this? The worst offenders seems to be her ultimate, which is 12 seconds of flying out of reach holding left mouse button at the moment, and her rez, which locks mercy in place for what feels like an eternity. Here are some ideas for changing these abilities and some others.
Perhaps something like zileans ult in league where you apply an ability to one or a few heroes that revives them if they die within a certain time
What about some kind of cc cleanse
What if both of these or something else were added to valkyrie?
What if flying was removed from valkyrie altogether or limited in some way, making mercy use the buffed gaurdian angel and glide instead (which would be way more fun imo, but a nerf on its own)
What if mercy’s rez took longer but she could move around in a certain radius and continue healing or shooting
What if you could cancel the rez early and the target comes back with less health
And my most random but interesting idea I think, what if gaurdian angel was a resource instead of a cooldown, giving mercy players way more control over it and fitting in easily since its such a short cooldown anyway.
These ideas are all off the cuff, but in my opinion are examples of more active, impactful feeling play that feels more engaging for both mercy and the opponent. In any case, I hope mercy is eventually changed to a hero I can feel good about adding to my rotation. Let me know what you guys think would make her more fun to play as/against
