Mercy is the Support's safety net

General Discussion
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In my opinion, Mercy should not be nerfed or buffed, she is in an ideal position as a safety net for support players. Over the years, the idea of what it means to be a, ‘Main Support’, has shifted and changed, but Mercy failed to adapt with these changes. Some may still argue that she held onto her title, whilst others may argue that she shifted into an, ‘Off Support’.

Realistically, she is a hybrid of both, having consistent healing and utility. She’s not quite a MS as she doesn’t have enough team sustain, often having to prioritise targets and risk others dying due to your choice. However, she’s neither quite an OS, as others in the category have a more consistent utility, eg. Speed and Discord - Mercy on the other hand, has to hope that whoever she is DBing, will hit their shots to give her utility value.

How is Mercy a safety net?

She is comfortable, reliable and accessible. This doesn’t mean that she is braindead, easy, low skill and etc.

Her entry levels are the most player-friendly out of the support roster and they are mostly straight forward. This means that whilst someone is still learning the game, trying to understand it’s mechanics, the maps, they can provide value due to the consistency of Mercy’s kit.

Her kit is mostly forgiving, and the biggest way that one can mess up is accidentally diving in, or resurrecting at a very bad time. This doesn’t mean that Mercy can be mastered just by playing her once, this means that she is comfortable for users to use whilst they learn about the game. She is a stable in the support roster, with many users that main her, used to main her or will resort to playing her when something doesn’t feel right because of how reliable she can be.

There are depths to her kit and hero, that will set aside new-comers to seasoned players, some of the most obvious being things like her superjump.

My point is, whilst the community may look down on Mercy, she’s is very fundamental to the roster, and allows players to ease into the game, later having the choice to move to other Supports or to stick with her. Messing with Mercy, means that you mess with the flow of Supports - you make them less accessible in a time where a majority of the roster can feel quite unplayable. As much as people like to swear on their entire heritage, that Brig and Moira are braindead and easy - they’re not accessible, they’re not player-friendly. We only think this way, because we know how they work, we have most of the information and knowledge to play them, but they’re far from the image the forum portrays them. Bap and Ana are too confusing when just starting out unless you look into them, but even then, their positioning is very important to them, whereas Mercy is quite forgiving in this way as she has a lot of freedom in her positioning. Lucio and Zen provide more utility than healing, and I’d argue are not the best as starter heroes either.

Mercy is very important to the roster, and messing with her numbers can be very detrimental to her state and the state of the roster.

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Yes! I learned a lot from playing mercy, about the map and what to watch out for.

Yes. You have to be careful about flinging yourself back and forth between your team.

I really think Mercy is at a good point.

I was legit called a “carried egirl” the other day. Because I have the most hours on Mercy for comp.
But where did they carry me?
All the way down to bronze?
I don’t think that’s how carrying is supposed to work.

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For me, she is playable in every situation. Maybe am wrong, but this is my exporience.

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To amend this, as long as you are not bad with her, she can be used in nearly any game to an extent. I tend to roll certain healers on certain maps or for attack vs defense, though lately I have been simply rolling Mercy to see how she fairs, and with the current meta of off-tank, she is a bit more useful to be honest. Her mobility is key and as long as everyone is within a fair distance it works.

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It was the way that I learned the game too. It had been a few years since I played any online shooter when I started Overwatch - and it was on a platform that I hadn’t played in what felt like forever. I wasn’t comfortable with my aim, and the game felt very overwhelming in the beginning.

Right now? I can confidently play all of the supports, and probably 80% of the DPS roster. I have 10+ hours on nearly every hero lol.

Every hero has a thing to look out for, Mercy’s is probably the most obvious to learn and to avoid. But yeah, I believe that Mercy is in a healthy state.

Ignore them. I don’t know if you’re a female or Male, but people always look down on Mercy players because of how common they are. They fail to realise why she is so common or why so many players will have a load of hours on her.

If it gets to a point that becomes uncomfortable, limit your profile to friends/groups.

I had to do it myself as I don’t really enjoy Mercy all that much anymore and I don’t want people seeing my hours on her, and thinking they’re gonna have a Mercy pocket lol.

She is playable - but not optimal, that’s the biggest thing about her. I think there should be a hero in all the rosters that is playable in most cases though, as much like Mercy, it allows players to ease into the roles much more easily.

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So, none of what you wrote is wrong.

However Mercy does in fact need changes. The amount of agency she gives players is laughably low. She honestly has too much safety and mobility and to make room for that in her power budget, her raw output has gotten nerfed repeatedly to the point where it simply isn’t enough. To make enough of an impact as Mercy it feels like you have to use your mobility to bait your enemies into trying and failing to kill you.

Because of that, she is not in a healthy state and hasn’t been for a very very long time.

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I agree with most of the post, but this here is just a case of the average player not understanding what the terms main & flex support actually mean and how they originated. Healing numbers mean nothing here really, it all comes down to their utility, mechanical requirements, Meta game/team comp & who needs to shotcall.

I wish people wouldn’t get so worked up about having a “main healer” or “flex support” on their team. Healing output shouldn’t matter, the synergy between the two supports (and the rest of the team) is what matters most.

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Overwatch was my first.

Holy kau, that’s a lot of hours!

Honestly, I was just confused.

Thank you for the advice, tho!

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I was Moira main and as much as I loved to play her, I hated her on payload maps. She was best for me to play on control and 2cp maps (not so much open space). I had this problem with Mercy too - I didn´t like her on control map, cause she needs space and flightpoints and control maps make people to brawl on one pile. But as soon as I learned to play her on this maps, I feel, like I can take her with any comp to any map and be succesfull. Just healing along Zen is pain.

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She doesn’t. If what I said isn’t wrong, then it’s the exact opposite of what she needs. She has consistency in her kit whilst also having quite a large number in terms of healing - same with her utility. You give her anymore and she will become a must-pick and be the next on the conveyer belt of gutting.

And that’s exactly why she is accessible for new players - which is just as equally important, and the whole point of the OP in the first place. She doesn’t need to be riskier, she performs well. She can be punished and she can go unpunished, it’s all about learning her and what to do in what situation.

She has been a sustained pick in most ELOs for months now. Her numbers haven’t hit the likes of Bap or Zen for a very long time. So i don’t understand what is unhealthy about her.

As I’ve said, the meaning of it has changed to be more modernised. It doesn’t matter what the origins are when most people don’t use the original meaning.

I have had a history of playing shooters, essentially grew up on them, but none like OW tbh. I imagine this being your first probably was even scarier?

That’s what happens when you get bored easily and constantly need to be freshened up lol…

It be like that, i hope your experience improves though

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Alright… you asked. I’ve written multiple fairly beefy topics on this subject… so… here you go.

Now there’s some overlap in those topics… but… yeah. There are a lot of reasons why Mercy’s current state is not healthy. There’s a reason why the most upvoted post of all time on this forum is ALSO a post about how Mercy is a mess and needs a rework.

Now… does Mercy need to stay fairly forgiving and approachable? Yes… but at the moment she is too forgiving and too approachable and the Devs have absolutely killed her play making potential to make room for the level of impossible to counter that she is.

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Except everything that you say can be contradicted by stats.

Mercy has been a top pick alongside Ana in all ranks this month. The last three and six months, she’s easily in the top three across most ranks - aside from GM occasionally. She also consistently has one of the highest numbers of healing in most ranks.

Mercy doesn’t need any changes, she is fine. I don’t really agree with you. Sorry

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Here’s the thing…

A core tenant of game design is that the players will generally play the the game in the most efficient way to win the game. It is up to the game designer to build the game in such a way as to have the most fun way to play the game also be the most efficient way to play the game.

If they haven’t managed to do that… they have failed. That’s the case with Mercy. With Mercy, arguably the most effective way to play her is to pocket a really good Ashe. Is that fun? Nope. The game designers have failed Mercy and her player base.

No amount of stats or viability or anything else will change that. Mercy needs a rework and has needed one for an insanely long time.