How was Mercy 1.0 more engaging and fun?

General Discussion
86

Because the old Mercy took a lot of thought and was thrilling, and new Mercy feels so boring. She just does.

For instance, before Mercy had valk part of the game when you played her was paying attention to the tempo of the team fight and finding ways to stay alive and heal as much of your team as possible, and when things got hairy you’d have to be sneaky or fast to get out of dodge in the hopes that you could come in and use res when the opportunity arose. These are things you’re doing, active things, active choices that make you think and give your brain excitement. Also, people were super on the hunt for you creating an extra level of challenge the higher ranked you got - the better you were the more likely a Tracer was gunning for you and only you. It was THRILLING.

Now when I play Mercy the most I have to pay attention to when it comes to the tempo of the fight is just whether or not Valk might be useful right now, which it’s like… IDK, is a lot of my team hurt? Sure, it’s useful. Am I going to die right now? Sure, it’s useful. These aren’t very engaging questions to be asked, it’s not challenging, it doesn’t really push me as a player. Yes, I am getting to put input into the game, but the general scope of it is just so much smaller now.

Now that you can heal even less than before you’ll be simply healing the majority of the game, you’re doing the same thing all game, and your ult will be used to push your team somewhere, and that’s it. It’s about as engaging as mayonnaise to me.

2 Likes
87

This always makes me laugh, because they sure as shingles didn’t want any changes to mass resurrect before the rework hit.

88

I’m only going to answer regarding Mercy’s ultimate as that’s where I think she’s lost the most fun, where Mass Res was swapped for Valkyrie.

It felt great to use both when tempo rez’ing to keep the fight going and even better when you managed to pull off those big rez’s.

It was earned and gave you a payoff for surviving the scrum and healing your heart out.

It was rewarding as you knew if you got it right it would have a big impact on the game.

It was terrifying as you knew if you died or mistimed it your team could loose a critical fight.

It was risky to pull off if the other team was paying attention to you meaning you had to play hard not to die. It was fun playing tag with flankers.

Using it properly took game sense and the ability to read the flow of the fight and know when and when not to use it. A single rez could change the course of a fight as much as a mass rez if you knew a player was good and would make the most of it.

It made you pay close attention to Ult Economy, your teams and the enemies, as your ult was valuable as using it at the wrong time could easily waste it or kill your team again.

Pulling off a big mass rez was impactful and didn’t rely on others making plays which was refreshing for a healer in an FPS/Moba.

The imagery and sound of mass rez was beautiful and everyone new what it meant when “Heroes Never Die!” when it rang out over the battlefield. It was the sound of hope for your team.

For me Valkyrie offers none of these things and actively reduces the amount of fun you can have playing Mercy by limiting your options and simplifying her play style.

89

Would anybody want a counterable ultimate? No. Was it necessary? Yes.

90

There’s a difference between silence and “git gud”. Drastic measures (i.e. the rework) are a consequence of not relenting on small, necessary things.

91

She isn’t. People are just upset they can’t undo 4 ultimate abilities with their ultimate.

She’s actually far more fun to play now than she was before. Her movement is a lot better.
People are just still salty about not having Mass Resurrection is all.

It wasn’t always hiding and, in fact, hiding wasn’t a great strategy most of the time.
However, she’s still more engaging now than she was before.
Unless, of course, you just want Mass Resurrection back.
(it’s not coming back)

92

I think a lot of people equate impact to fun.

Lots of impact = lots of fun. Old Mercy used to have huge impact because she was able to completely flip fights, therefor resulting in fun for the player.

93

Lmfao who would even say “git gud” wtf. Now the rework was justified because Mercy players were rude now. Like what?? The way I see it. As a Mercy that played in GM level with Mass Resurrect. Players weren’t toxic. They weren’t rude or disrespectful. Usually, they praised Mercy for saving the team fight. Until it became some sort of a stigma that all Mercy players arose from the depths of the underworld and that we play to ruin the games and lives of other players when we use this character.

94

You obviously didn’t frequent the forums in the spring and summer of 2017.

95

I mean. We can say that about literally every other hero main. What is happening to us now? “Git gud” “Play a different hero.” It’s not a 1 way street buddy.

96

I hide and rez waaaaay more now than I ever did during 1.0. Plus it’s laggy and awful to use to boot.

3 Likes
97

If you use 4 ultimates in one team fight, your team is going to get creamed next fight. Mass res or not.

Have you played Mercy recently? (I’d check, but you have your profile set to private. WHOOPSIES!)
What about her is more engaging? It can’t be her healing, 'cause that’s the one thing Bliz reverted (‘cause you know, IT NEEDED BUFFED). Her GA is the same as always. Her Res is extremely slow, ruining any momentum you had before. Her Valk is discount Trans/Super Charger, but you can fly and piss off those pesky DPS always goin’ for you.

By the looks of it, especially compared to other healers such as Lucio, Moira, and Ana, she isn’t THAT engaging to play. ESPECIALLY since the other healers seem to be more fun AND impactful. (ie More healing, more useful abilities, more damage, more protection etc etc)

2 Likes
98

It’s not even a discount Trans. You are basically a flying healing Amp’d Lucio.

3 Likes
99

“play a different hero” is a valid thing to say. And that is a 1-way street because you can’t choose who your opponents play.

100

I’d say Lucio STILL does more healing. I know I have been doing so since his buff.

101

This is probably the worst argument I’ve ever been a part of. Using a “Git gud” argument to justify an entire rework? Let me remind you of the three things that were promised in the developer update, 1. A mid-fight potential (Which Mercy doesn’t have anymore) 2. An engaging hero (Being a flying healing amp’d Lucio/thrift store Supercharger is not engaging) 3. A fun hero (Clearly doesn’t take Sherlock to figure this one out). Well, I have more important things to do than argue about something that’s not worth my time.

1 Like
102

Justification? I’m not trying to justify anything. I’m giving you a history lesson.

The cause of the rework is that Mercy players wanted more tools in her kit, people playing against Mercy hated rez and wanted it gone, and Mercy players reacted to this sentiment with vitriolic hostility for months until it boiled over to the point that Blizzard felt they had to do something drastic.

People say nonsense like “all it needed was a LOS check”. If you said that in June of last year, you’d easily get a few dozen downvotes at least.

103

What if there isn’t a next fight? What if that’s the last fight to win the game?
Exactly.

Yes I have. I have most hours on Mercy every competitive season since season 1. I have over 500 hours on her on several accounts so please don’t even try this.

Guardian Angel.
Have you played Mercy recently?

Nope, you have not played her recently. That, or you are under-utilizing Guardian Angel.
Guardian angel is actually different than it was in seasons 1-3. You are able to cancel it easier for more distance now. This simple change has pretty big implications when you’re trying to evade enemies. I’d recommend doing some reading on Guardian Angel.
It’s the most fun part of her kit and it’s been buffed since her season 1 counterpart.

Really? Getting a dead ally back from death ruins any momentum?
If you literally mean momentum as in Mercy’s movement then, yeah, of course it slows you down. It was too good when she could just resurrect immediately.

Framing her ultimate in this way isn’t really fair or reasonable or even true.
I can say the same sentence, more or less, but have a positive spin to it.

“Her Valk is a combination of Trans/Super Charger, and you can fly and kill key DPS that are going after you”

Not only that, it’s not trans or super charger. To make the comparison is spurious.
Trans makes Zenyatta invincible and unable to do anything but heal
Super Charger is a device placed on the ground to give damage boost to nearby allies.

Neither of these are Valkyrie.

So, do you concede that Mercy isn’t less engaging than she was before and that’s why you’re talking about other healers?

This topic is not about other healers. It’s about Mercy 1.0 vs current Mercy.

104

Mercy 2.0 is less engaging than Mercy 1.0 for the simple reason of Valkyrie takes away her engagement and impact. Mass Rez allowed for Mercy to be more strategic when it came to do I keep the fight going or do I use it to score the point (if we have enough time for it then just run back). Valkyrie just makes her way to easy to play and is an ult that isn’t worth using 99% of the time.

1 Like
105

Never presume you won the fight. Always keep you ult economy stable in case they end up coming back with a vengeance in Overtime.

I wouldn’t know. Again, private profile. Sorry, but I ain’t trusting a word you say.

GA, the same ability she’s had since her first iterations and only added a bug that still somehow doesn’t cut the “engagement” argument. That and superjump which is difficult to use and pretty niche.

Hey, we both agree. GA is the most fun part of her kit! Yeah! That’s not good.

Literall momentum. GA momentum. Plus if your teammate is in the fight, it’s not guaranteed they’ll even survive long enough to do anything.

You can get more healing out of Lucio every 12 seconds (and save your ult), leaving Damage boost the better of the two, which is not good for a MAIN HEALER.

So it’s a worse trans since Mercy CAN be shot out of the sky?

And you have to look at the mechanics, mate, not the literal thing doing the ability. 'Cause if that’s the case, Blizz can come out with a black, muscular Tracer clone and claim they’re different because they have different models.

Why choose Mercy over these much STRONGER abilities?

What? No. You’re completely missing my point. The current Mercy provides nothing more than what the other healers can. At least 1.0 was enjoyable, this is hard to find pleasure in when everything, yes, EVERYTHING is lackluster.

Then lemme say this, 1.0 was more well received (but equally as BAD) than current Mercy ever was and ever will be UNLESS another rework is done.