I can’t help but feel Mercy was designed as a healbot made for people who are new to FPS games and still want to have an impact while learning the basics of the game. I think it’s almost impossible to do bad with Mercy, for multiple reasons:
Mercy barely requires any aim at all.
This is quite obvious, the only part of her kit that really requires aim is her pistol, and you will generally only use it in rare occasions, like when you are singled off from your team for example, which rarely happens because of her insane mobility
Mercy doesn’t require a lot of positioning.
Her shift ability that is on a very low cooldown allows her to reposition incredibly fast. What really matters is the positioning of your teammates.
Mercy doesn’t require a lot of teamwork/callouts/coordination.
Before Guardian Angel (GA), the optimal way to use Mass Rez was to hide while your team was being killed off, and pop out at the right time to revive your entire team at full HP this doesn’t really require a lot of coordination with the team, because your team would already be dead when using it. The other way one could use Mass Rez wzs for tempo rezzing, but this was only really viable under time restraints. GA arguably has so little impact that it is barely worth calling out when you would use it, this is also because your team can’t really play around it easily. The best thing they can do while GA is active is push and use the minor extra healing or damage GA provides to their advantage to tank incoming fire.
This extremely low skill floor makes me think that she was designed to be the easiest hero in the game from the very beginning she was conceptualized. I honestly believe she was created to pick up as your first hero, after which players are expected to pick up more complex heroes.
And that’s the problem. Mercy can’t be reworked or balanced well without losing her gameplay that made Mercy mains pick her up in the first place. People complain her ult isn’t fun, but they seem to forget that her ult was only fun to the Mercy themselves. It was unfun to play with (your entire team had to die before the Mercy could use Mass Rez optimally) and it was unfun to play against, because her ultimate had the ability to completely negate a team wipe. The only way i see to make Mercy more fun is by increasing her skill ceiling, which the mercy mains probably won’t be happy with either, because let’s be honest here. If Mercy mains would be naturally good at the game, they wouldn’t be playing Mercy in the first place.
And for those that say Mercy is too weak, i’m sorry, but Mercy has had her time in the spotlight for way too long already, being forced by your team to play mercy when you are a support was really unpleasant for most. And on top of that, she is absolutely still viable. Yes her winrate tanked since her healing nerf but she is definitely still a strong pick and will be just that for the forseeable future thanks to her extremely consistent healing capabilities.
TL;DR
Mercy was designed to be easy and introduce people to the game, and mass rez was unfun except for the Mercy player herself. The only way to make Mercy more fun (in my opinion) is by increasing her skill ceiling, which the majority of Mercy mains won’t enjoy, because they started playing her because she’s easy in the first place. Mercy is also still a viable pick, she has the stats to show for it.
I’d argue a Mercy carry comes from using callouts but thats my biased opinion (and experience playing her in lower games, carried a bronze game by doing shotcalling as her lmao, tho tbf i think any shotcalling in bronze carries)
I agree she’s intended to be a beginner entry hero, but a healbot? Nah. Good Mercys do damage boost very often.
She’s a rezbot if anything.
I do agree Mass Rez is an unfun idea, and I’d honestly be sad if it returned. I kinda enjoy Valkyrie a lot more now that I’ve had a year to adjust to it.
Uhhh… .overall I agree with your statement, tho I will argue shes a rezbot, not a healbot xD
Obviously she is picked in high rank matches for her rez ability. And i do agree she has a pretty high skill ceiling, as all heroes in this game, thanks to the game knowledge required for knowing when to damage boost and when to heal. It’s kind of comparable to Lúcio speed boost versus healing aura, although it’s less obvious when to use what in Mercy’s case. In lúcio there’s a certain “science” to it because it affects your entire team at once (if you’re grouped up) while mercy has to think about what hero she is boosting, who they’re shooting etc.
That’s true, its why Mercy pocket is a thing to begin with, she has the utility to make burst damage heroes do even more burst.
Mercy is def here for people new to FPS games, who comes from MOBA/RPG/Etc and want to try overwatch, her kit supports it.
Personally this was my first FPS game and when I started playing her I felt the rush the mentioned, that I had impact despite not being good at FPS games.
She does her purpose, she does it well. She has a pleasing design and an easy-to-pick up kit.
…unless you’re a dps onetrick and don’t usually play support (speaking from experience xD my dps friend wanted to main her when pink mercy came out and it went horrible)
considering you have to be rather close to the ally you are healing I find that hard to believe
also you have to dodge bullets, because when enemy even sees you, they swith their target to you I mean honestly one time I saw Junkrat solo ulting me, second it was Pharah…
Subjective, I’ve spoken to many DPS mains that enjoyed mass rez, and many other mains who want it back.
I’m hoping this is a troll, because there is so much generalization here, it’s hilarious. There have been many ideas to raise her skill ceiling, and many people asking for a rework that would do so. Also, many Mercy mains play other heroes, they don’t just play her due to “her being easy”, they play her because they like her character or enjoy(ed) her kit. Most I’ve spoken to only play her now for GA, due to it being fun to use, as well as super jump which is mechanically challenging.
Zen has been top tier for many, many seasons and Ana already had her time before Moth meta. Mercy only had moth meta and was underpowered before her rework.
You should probably stop generalising so much, it’s extremely disrespectful and ignorant.
You could argue that every hero has to dodge incoming fire though. I think Mercy players might feel an emphasis on this because they simply have to hold M1 so they have more time to concentrate on movement, predicting what your enemies will do etc.
sad thing is, and i say this as a mercy player, she doesnt have to dodge bullets.
she has such a consistent and good self heal thats her passive thats triggered by just going behind cover, that she really doesn’t need to dodge bullets. Just go behind a wall a few seconds or fly somewhere else.
Just because a hero is easy to pick up, doesn’t mean they can’t have engaging nuances to learn as the player progresses. There’s examples of this already in the game, Reinhardt for instance.
I do think that the average forum Mercy poster blows the skill and fun behind mass rez a little out of proportion. Sure, you used game sense, positioning, predictions etc etc, but really it was about 10% of the total time spent playing Mercy. The rest was being a healbot/boostbot.
I don’t know why they act like they hate being a healbot. It’s what her job is. It’s the reason you’re supposed to play her in the first place. She’s the Medic from TF2, people, except she can fly and has a Kritzkrieg-lite on demand. If that isn’t good enough, I certainly didn’t get the memo.
I remember getting a 5 man last second in comp (didn’t have ult yet when the first few people died, so I was expecting to die , somehow didn’t prob bc it was in gold lmao)
I got a card, got it voted 12. I had potg. Match was a win…
This is the only moment of mass rez I remember clearly, and I suspect others have the same feeling.
They got a really good mass team rez off and now they defend the ability bc the rush and appreciation just feels so good.
but thats my biased opinion (and experience playing her in lower games, carried a bronze game by doing shotcalling as her lmao, tho tbf i think any shotcalling in bronze carries)