Mercy’s identity is that she is a pacifist.
The most supportive hero in the game.
Most of her damage output during a match is not her own.
Guardian Angel → blue beam lets her buff whoever should be dealing the most damage at any given time, or whoever needs the most ult charge.
Mercy needs her whole team more than anyone. She wants everyone to stay alive. Not just because they’re the ones dishing out big damage, but also because they’re helping her stay evasive by being Guardian Angel targets.
Guardian Angel → yellow beam lets her keep everyone at max health swiftly.
You don’t want anyone to fall under 50% as Mercy. Someone under 50% is likely going to be retreating, meaning they won’t be dealing damage for you. So you do everything in your power to prevent teammates from having to retreat.
Mercy’s life is the most valuable, because she’s the only hero who can undo a death.
Guardian Angel → Resurrect lets her keep a fallen ally into the fight.
If she dies, no one can revive her. She is always going to have a target on her forehead and on her back, even more so than Zenyatta.
You may be noticing a pattern here.
The reason the nerf to GA was so noticeable is because it’s how she gets around.
Now she can only do something every 2.5 seconds, like it’s a turn-based game.
It’s also very unintuitive to be discouraged from healing someone back to full as the most pacifist hero in the entire roster.
But what if her identity is to be a pocket?
Then she needs way more changes.
Remove the low % heal buff entirely. Instead, the longer the beam is attached to the same person, the stronger the heals and damage boost. For example:
Yellow beam: 35 HPS minimum → 70 HPS maximum after 6 seconds.
Blue beam: 15% DB minimum → 30% DB maximum after 6 seconds.
If you let go of the beam at any point, the “pocket bonus” resets.
However, the pocket bonus stays if you only swap beam types without letting go.
Make her ult a single-target ultimate. Mercy can still fly. During the ult:
Yellow beam: max HPS increases to 100 and also applies to Mercy.
Blue beam: max DB increases to 50% for the target.
Gut Guardian Angel entirely, but revert the 20% backwards SJ nerf.
Guardian Angel: 6 sec cooldown. She will only use it for emergencies, to get back to her pocket faster, or to reach an aerial teammate.
Commit to one identity, and you’ll have a fun hero.
If your hero’s identity makes no sense, go back to the drawing board.
You know she has a gun right? she aint no pacifist.
Also your proposed healing change of healing ramping up means mercy will literally never save a critical teammate ever. Thats an awful suggestion.
Stabilizing a critically wounded teammate is very important. Thats why her recent healing change is amazing. I’m not sure why so many mercy’s are complaining about an awesome healing buff.
There is no discouragement to healing them full, you should always heal them full. stop not healing them. Just cus you heal quicker when they’re low doesnt mean to stop healing them. This is the craziest argument ive seen from the mercy community, it makes no sense.
GA was the only nerf, and you dont need to GA constantly…you really dont.
Having a gun for self-defense means you’re not a pacifist now?
If her identity is that of a pocket healer, then her pocket will rarely fall below 50% with this change as she would already be healing them for 70 HPS. It’s a 2.5 HPS buff to her current 67.5 HPS, so yes she would be able to save them. It’s a full-on identity change that further encourages pocketing, which is what the last patch seems to be going for.
Her identity is not a pocket tho? they made the healing change literally to make her a great triage healer, to bring critically wounded teammates up real quick.
The healing change absolutely encourages mercy to stop pocketing and switch healing targets to stabilize the team quickly. Its a great change.
GA is still probably one of the best movement abilities in the game. She just has a tiny bit of downtime now.
She doesnt need to zip around the team like a fighter jet, you dont need to hit GA on cooldown.
Is a 50% health ally really “stabilized” when most attacks in the game deal 120 damage or more? From my experience, if someone’s not almost at full health, they’re probably dying out there.
You seem to think mercy should stop healing cus she stops getting the critical health healing bonus. That is false. You should keep healing, why would you stop healing?
Which is it? If I keep healing the same target from 30% all the way to 100%, it’s going to take longer than before. Meaning it’s a nerf if you play like this.
Because you don’t understand math, I’m sorry to say.
You heal, you heal up the critical person and you keep healing the other hurt people? its really not a hard concept.
The critical health healing buff was to make it so mercy could target switch and save someone under fire/at critical health. it slows down when they’re over half health to balance it out. Its an overall buff, by alot. It’s super clutch.
Also the same exact reason they nerfed brigs armor pack heal over time, but gave it a burst heal at initial impact. to help save team mates.
Mind you, this encourages switching to the most critical team mate to maximize healing output, also remember you have two supports. So this mercy is the least pockety mercy…
I’m starting to see why mercy mains are so disliked…complaining about a buff…insane…
And I’m starting to see why Mercy mains have not only uninstalled the game, but left the forums, as trying to explain math to people like you is futile.
It’s not “clutch” to heal someone faster during a tiny fraction of their effective health.
It’s not a “buff” to heal people slower during a large fraction of their effective health.
It’s only a buff if you think having to wait for allies to go critical before you heal them is good healer gameplay.
It’s only a buff if you ignore the fact that people are highly susceptible to being sniped or exploded if they aren’t near max health.
Why would you wait to heal them? Why would you stop healing them just cus they’re above 50%? if they’re over 50% they’re not critical. but you can still heal them right? your healing doesnt stop…why would you stop?
The buff however completely enables mercy to dive in and save a 20hp hero and boost them up to a health so they wont die from tiny chip dmg. and then you can heal them up to full when they’re out of the critical range.
I dont know why you dont understand that concept.
YOu have not told me why on earth you would STOP healing someone just cus they’re above 50%. Are you just trying to pad your healing numbers or something? you sound like a nightmare to play with. Doy ou tell people to go get healthpacks if they’re over 50%?!
It IS CLUTCH to save them when they’re super low however, because they’re at the highest danger of dying to a random bullet. Do you really not get that concept?
I don’t believe Mercy’s identity is a pacifist or a pocket.
Her identity is battlefield angel. She keeps watch over the battlefield and has a knack for swooping in at just the right time to make a difference.
The core of her gameplay philosophy is in being pushed and pulled around the battlefield depending on where she can survive and be useful. Whereas other heroes will fight to maintain their position and advance by overpowering their enemies and only retreat if they don’t like their odds, Mercy’s entire gameplay focus is going with the flow.
Which is why it was frustrating to see the devs throwing around the word “commitment” with regards to her mobility. Other heroes have the power to make a commitment and fight their way through it, Mercy’s identity is that she can’t and she won’t get herself stuck in a situation that she can’t get out of.
Having rez as an exception to that was fine (I guess) because it happened rarely and came with a really juicy incentive to take the risk. But nothing else in Mercy’s kit is really worth “committing” for. So by simply upping the risk factor without upping the payoff, they’re really just encouraging Mercy to turtle more. Which she can do, because again, there’s nothing in her kit that justifies her playing more aggressively.
That’s why most of the good Mercy players who have adapted to these changes are saying that their death numbers really haven’t changed since the nerf–they’re just playing more passive and having less fun.
Not really…? She’s the only hero who’s primary fire, secondary fire, E ability, and Shift ability can only interact/effect with allies. None of those abilities can even physically interact with enemies. One part of her kit can (her pistol) and it’s something you have to actively spend time swapping to.
Apologies in advance, this is my own failure to comprehend your post. Are you agreeing or disagreeing that Mercy is the most supportive hero in the game?
If they never go critical, thats a good thing. Stop worrying about your scoreboard healing number so much, and actually focus on keeping people alive.
If they go critical, mercy is now able to prevent them from being chipped to death. People call out “_____ one” all the time, meaning someones super close to death and can easily be taken out.
Mercy can now mitigate that extremely well. It’s a huge buff in keeping people alive. Maybe your healing score might go down and that effects your ego, but frankly no one cares about that.
