Mercy "Middle-Ground" By ZodiHD

“Mercy Middle-ground”
By ZodiHD, assistant coach of the Junkertown Jewels, Hog Main and OW player.

So how this thread will work is like patch notes, I will go through each and every change I’d make to mercy and explain why, I’m trying to both bring counter-ability to mass res and also not revert mercy, this is a thread as a talking point for changes, I will try to keep her as balanced as possible while still letting other healers do a better job.

Mercy:

Resurrect “e”
Removed off of E

The reason for this, is that Res on E brought a stress on Mercy players to use it wisely and effectively. This stress will now be gone and no-longer will a mercy have to stand there and dangerously Res allies. This E was also the most powerful ability in the game, something this powerful should never be on an “E” ability.

New Ability: Amplify (E)
Amplify now modifies the capacity of mercy’s staff, ̶D̶a̶m̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶g̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶1̶.̶3̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶1̶.̶3̶5̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ healing goes from 50-80 for the next 3 seconds, cool down 12 seconds.
The effect for this ability will dissipate slowly down to its original standards at a rate of exponential decay for the next 1.5 seconds, once it is at normal the ability will go on cool down.

Mercy’s E is gone and something needs to replace it, Mercy player have been complaining for a lack of ability to heal tanks effectively. While the new Mercy beam rate does feel much better for all players except mercy, we decided to keep it but add a new way to quickly heal tanks, similar to an Ana nade.
Edit: Cross off for the damage buff, deemed unneeded.

New Ultimate: Not gone yet (Q)

Mercy now has mass res back, ish. New res has a radius equal to that of the old one, but now has a cast time equal to half that of Current E res, the animation would be the fluid one from Beta OW and if pulled off correctly causes mercy to shout “HEROES NEVER DIE”
All resurrected targets spawn at ⅗ HP and have no abilities on cool down
Mercy now enters a 5 second Valkyrie stage (after successful res) where she holds the power to fight back with damage boost or save her team through the impending fight

  1. Mercy can use amplify during this time
  2. Res can be blocked with LOS or stunned out of (LOS includes enemy shields)
  3. During new Valkyrie, Mercy’s healing passive is constant, but if hacked is nullified to not heal
  4. After 1 second, Resurrected players can ult (to avoid res-insta trans)

I’ve felt not only do these changes include something for everyone, but the value of this ult depends on teamwork, it requires your team to hold back the enemy for you to raise “the cavalry” and fight back in a new way.
This new ult also has great value for everyone from a 1 man res to a 5 man res. Mass res no-longer can be activated through walls, so no random Res from a 3rd story window, this, the new shield blocking and cast time provide ample time for counter play during a fight.
Also these changes should make Res a before the fight ult, to prevent one. But having a 3 man res doesn’t make a fight unwinnable as 1 second ult null allows for some of the more valuable ults to be prevented during that period.

So that’s it, Mercy middle ground, if you made it to the end, thank you for taking your time and give your opinions on it, mass res will never truly come back. So I decided to find a loophole that satisfies both the players on either side and complies with Blizzards statements. Please let polite discussion begin below and get the @devs to take a look.
This is from someone who has taken a look at the Revert “cult” and has been on the opposite side. Most importantly this is from a Hog main who is tired of all the mercy threads. I wrote this up out of a love for this game and hating to see a community tear it apart, so let’s take down the wall.


Edit: I feel stupid, I joined Aria rose’s discord to try and spread the message and unite everyone under an agreeable voice and I was blocked from her twitter and Banned from her discord, not a nice thing to do.
Edit 2: it was a misunderstanding, all good.

8 Likes

the devs might not be able to give Mercy anything that buffs her damage boost, it’s ult combo potential is pretty strong.

That’s why its lasts 3 seconds, the exponential fall off is where I was unsure of though.

I don’t think that addresses the issue, most teamwipe ultimates are short.

Nano lasts about 8 seconds, this is a 3 second nano, I’m also considering making it 15 seconds, again the balance is tricky.

Nano and Supercharger are ultimates.

3 Likes

This isn’t the middle ground for me.

1 Like

15 second cool down, sorry I wasn’t clear.

The fact that it’s a cooldown skill at all is an issue. You can use it to engage, then 15 seconds later coordinate with an ultimate or two, then 15 seconds later have it for tank shredding or something else.

That’s not even mentioning the potential to make the next grav-dragons.

3 Likes

for a coach you seem to have forgotten what a buff to dmg boost did to Mercy back in the day… I honestly don’t care about the rest of the suggestion but that specific part is just bonkers, even if gated by cooldown, 1.5 will make Widow’s body shots particularly stronger

Add a Zen’s discord and oh boy…

Yea, Good point, maybe like a 1.4 or a 1.35, Just I felt like it should be strong not overtly so, I’ll change it.

Honestly? dmg boost is tuned to the maximum value it can have for how reliably she can apply it, if you were to remove the second beam and link dmg boost to this skill only it would be able to have a higher value

Hell if you remove dmg boost as secondary and make it so that using the skill turns healing beam into both dmg and healing beam it would be more than fine

Maybe a 80 hp/sec and a 1.25 damage modifier?

Why do all Mercy mains want some kind of new “E” ability to compensate for having Rez off E? She doesn’t need one if Mass Rez is back on her ult with 60 HPS back. We’d be right back where we started with another overtuned support phase.

Also:

That’s a 0.75 cast time. That’s nothing.

No. This is no middle ground. This is Mercywatch all over again. This is yet another iteration of Mercy that would be too good to not pick over any other support.

No thanks.

I mean sure but isn’t that just unnoticeable then?

and I get it, you’d be trying to find the sweet spot between useful and broken but I believe the number is already where it should be ._. I’m no developer though this is just my opinion

1 Like

Again that’s why I made a thread, so it open to interpretation.

Cause I’m bringing a heavily counter-able mass res back without the 60hp/sec. also I’m not a mercy main.

Redacted. 20 Characters.

This isn’t the middle ground. What Mercy mains want is there main to be fun and impactful. What the other side wants is for mass Rez not to be in that game.

1 Like

Thank you, I felt leaving it counter able but still useful long with a strong healing ability would greatly help both her in a balance spot, but also in the fun category.

…This isn’t middle ground, this is the high ground (it’s over anakin) for mercy mains. They want mass rez back with a cast time, which is still garbo. The ability to ressurect people mid fight is OP, it is an OP ability, and if it were an ult it would be an OP ult. The issue with mercy is that she has this OP ability and it’s tacked on to a extremely UP character. This makes her balanced but extremely bland to play. That’s just my opinion, I didn’t play her much before or after her rework.