Hey Jeff, the Overwatch team, the Overwatch community, and all that might be reading.
I would like to start this forum post with a few disclaimers and early points I feel that people should firstly know:
- I’m not the most dedicated Overwatch player out there; I’ve played a fair bit but I don’t have absolutely thousands of hours ingame.
- I’ve not played in competitive mode, I’m also not a pro player and I’ve predominantly played quickplay.
- Yes, Mercy is my main, proud to say it.
I might even be biased too! - Even with all the above points, I’ve still had an amazing time playing this game and I’d like to point out that I normally hate almost every FPS game out there but with Overwatch, the characters, visuals, theme, specific roles and ultimates of all the different heroes really come together to make a unique and great action packed game; Where two matches are never the same and the replay value is awesome.
- This post is going to be insanely long. I’d appreciate if any replies to the thread would please take the time to read the entire post and to try see things from this perspective I put across.
What’s the point of this post?
The reason I’m making this forum post is (to me) plain and simple. The complete overhaul and revamp of Mercy. Some of you might be asking “Why now?” and I agree, it has been awhile since the changes to Mercy; Part of that is me not being the most dedicated and full time player of Overwatch out there (I have played Mercy pre and post changes, to get that out of the way). The main factor that inspired me to put this forum post out there is the new Mercy skin and all its awesomeness. Throughout my time enjoying and playing Overwatch, there have been many patches, tweaks and changes to the game mechanics themselves and the heroes.
I’ve not played since launch, I haven’t been around for every season and I’ve not read every single patchnote that has updated the game. Still, in my opinion, and I’d daresay the majority of player’s opinions; No hero has changed more significantly than Mercy.
Mercy has been the postergirl for Overwatch when it comes to medical expertise, being a doctor and of course, being an angel (or witch 
). From the very start she has had this identity and been the support class for Overwatch (which I get is probably the main reason why changes have happened).
Ressurect in Overwatch
As I said before, Overwatch really stood out from your average first person shooter for me; Even though I’m one of the players that hugely appreciates the effort and personalisation of each individual hero (voice lines, emotes, backgrounds, general look and feel, but also the interaction one hero has with another), I still can’t deny that the ultimate abilities really were the cherry on top. The defining factor of a hero’s perhaps situational, but most powerful and game changing potential when used at the right opportunity.
Just as information to new players who might not know, Mercy’s Ressurect ability used to be her ultimate ability. Ressurect had a really good range, it was cast near-instantly (it was not instant, although the window to kill or stun Mercy before Ressurect was small) and Ressurect could, provided your team died relatively close to each other, revive 5 people at the same time.
Valkyrie did not exist, there were no charges to Ressurect and it had to be built up just like any other ultimate. Mercy still had her staff with healing or damage amplifying effects, her sidearm, regeneration and Guardian Angel (the jump, along with Angelic Descent, the fall slower toggle).
Mercy’s Ressurect pre-change, as I’m sure almost every single person reading this thread would agree with, was without a doubt one of these amazing, unique and undeniably character-defining ultimate abilties. Mercy didn’t just Ressurect; She was defined and personalised by Ressurect. Ressurect for me, further added to the way I identified with Mercy and just completely fell in love with the character; Taking that away from Mercy really does just feel like ripping the heart and soul of her away.
With my usual breaks here and there from Overwatch, I looked back into the community feedback at the time and similar feedback some people give even to this day too; I wanted to get both sides of the changes and see non-Mercy main responses to these drastic changes.
There was an often brought up impression that Mercy was a one trick pony, with much disdain for a playstyle of “hiding” to then re-appear for the big 5 man Ressurect. There was other positive feedback to her changes that these would make other support characters much more viable and competitive to Mercy.
In the following paragraphs, I will put my (heavily biased Mercy main 
) personal take on the changes but also offer some feedback and try to empathise with the previously mentioned feedback of other players. The point of this post isn’t to say “I’m right, you’re wrong” or to make a demand to the developers. Instead I want to put across why in my view and maybe many player’s views, these changes were the wrong way to go with Mercy.
I’m gonna get all Lucio in here and break it down (kill me). The point about Mercy ‘hiding’ to then get the big Ressurect is something I often saw complained about pre-change (and celebrated about after the changes). Everytime I saw this feedback pop up, it seemed really one-sided; Most people spoke as if it was a completely flawless, 100% success chance move. Mercy has always been rightfully squishy and vulnerable. Even pre-change, Ressurect was not instant cast (I agree the time to kill Mercy before it went off was very short).
With certain ultimate abilities, you get a much better result when you aren’t in the middle of the teamfight when you activate your ultimate. Some examples of ultimates that prefer a flank or unexpected moment when you use your ultimate ability are:
- Soldier 76’s Tactical Visor
- Junkrat’s Rip-Tire
- McCree’s Deadeye
You don’t really see people complaining about people that ‘hide’ to use these ultimates; It’s common sense and good play. Part of the skillcap around ultimates isn’t to immediately or predictably use them as soon as you have them. It’s to use your ultimate when you think it’s a critical moment in the game that will give your team the edge. Ressurect worked exactly the same way.
“Ressurect was too strong.”. Was it really too strong though? Sure, a well-timed Ressurect could see a solo Mercy bring back her team to a full 6 people, near immediately ready to fight. The exact same way that a well-timed or positioned D.Va ultimate can completely wipe and annihilate the entire enemy team, or a 6 kill Deadeye. Maybe a full team Reinhardt stun gets your team or your enemy’s team obliterated.
This was the love and joy of any ultimate in the game in my opinion. Some slightly more than others, but whenever an ultimate was pulled off at the right place or time in the match, it had the potential to turn a loss into a win and make an amazing comeback. That’s why they’re ultimate abilities. They’re supposed to be powerful, perhaps situational, but otherwise hero-defining moves that definitely should make you feel like a badass when you pull them off at the best moment and get a huge play.
Remember - Players or teams that were relying on being Ressurected and coming back into the fight to win, or be effective is not a good mentality to have or to be dependant on Mercy’s Ressurect. It was undeniably a huge benefit to be Ressurected, but if you needed it to really have an impact on the game, I would encourage players to try become more independant and flexible ^^ Especially as it meant that the enemy team was killing you (or your team) first.
A common tactic in higher Overwatch play was to “bait” the Mercy into using her Ressurect and have a powerful counter-ultimate (normally an AoE ult that can hit the Mercy’s entire team, or majority of) so you could easily re-kill Ressurected heroes.
Pre-change Ressurect, contrary to popular belief, was not a simple ‘wait for team to die, press Ressurect’ execution. Any proper Mercy (not necessarily Mercy main) will tell you that. There were many times where you would have your Ressurect ready without the rest, or any, of the team dead.
Maybe your team is ahead in the game, so you decide to Ressurect that one DPS who pushed too far and died, only to instantly regret your choice as your team is out-positoned or an enemy ultimate decimates your push (or hold) on the objective and you now have no Ressurect. Maybe the enemy team is doing an amazing job of pressuring you/killing you, so you have to Ressurect just 1 or 2 of your team or else you’ll die and Ressurect nobody. Ressurect didn’t differ from any other ultimate in that it could be (mistakenly or not) used in a sub-optimal way.
Maybe I’m not your average player, but to me, there was no other ultimate in the game outside of Mercy’s Ressurect that had such an adrenaline pumping moment when you had it ready. Asking yourself “Do I ress, do I ress?” over and over again as your team is in the fight. Walking the dangerous line between safe Ressurect of some of the team or greed to try and Ressurect even more people. Sometimes dying before you can Ressurect at all from being greedy 
The fact that newer players to Overwatch will never get to experience that, or that I will never get to experience those moments again really is disheartening. I’m not sure if I’m grateful that I do have those memories and moments, or if that makes it sting even more that they’re in the past now.
Mercy and other supports
Now I’ll go onto this part of the topic regarding Mercy’s overhaul. IMO, I think this played more of a factor for Mercy’s complete revamp as opposed to Ressurect itself.
“Over-represented” - I’ll say it right away, I hate this term. The Overwatch meta is constantly evolving and adapting as it should do. It keeps the game fresh and gives players a chance to try out other heroes, or even try out their favorite heroes in different ways.
I feel like over-represented is often thrown around without much consideration or understanding. What is “over-represented”? When does a hero become “over-represented”? One of the biggest (again, IMO) misunderstandings with Mercy is that people often had this thinking process of “My team must have a Mercy player on our side to win.”
I couldn’t disagree more. Yes, Mercy was undeniably a strong support; She brought (and still brings) the best single-target healing in the game, with an indefinite ability to continue healing that single-target as long as both (or one) aren’t killed and she stays within a relatively short range.
I honestly feel like Mercy was wrongly singled-out because of this “over-representation” to be massively rehauled and have her original identity within Overwatch ruined. People that were negative to supports who didn’t pick Mercy wasn’t any fault of Mercy players themselves, (unless of course they did it when not playing support) it should’ve been those people that were forced to change their attitudes or this misinformed opinion that Mercy was a must-pick instead of changing Mercy herself.
It honestly feels to me like Mercy was an easy scapegoat as she was in the center of the game; She was the most prominent support, she recieved the most complaints when players had negative feedback for supports. Most players in favour of the changes seemed to cry out for Mercy nerfs rather than adapt their own playstyle to better deal with Mercy themselves.
If there was a problem with the viability of other supports - As many players make out that there was, I feel like the developers really should have looked at why other supports were not as often picked as Mercy. Ressurect was of course very strong, but so were well-timed Zenyatta or Lucio ultimates. The point of this post isn’t a rant and I hope it doesn’t come across that way, but to me, singling out Mercy because other support heroes might not have been picked as much really seems like a quick fix to an underlying problem.
I feel that Mercy may have been the more common pick, because of all the healers she (to me) seemed the least situational. She was easy to pick up right from the start of Overwatch, and simple to use and heal effectively. I don’t feel like this made the other supports unviable, it just meant Mercy was more often picked and seen in Overwatch. I also don’t feel like this was justification to immensely change and demolish the original identity she had, and role she played. She’s the support version of Soldier 76 imo - A good all round support that fits well into the majority of situations, but might not excel in certain scenarios.
She had her flaws, mostly the same flaws she still has now. She was unable to heal someone if she wasn’t physically nearby (ignore Valkyrie for now please, making this point pre-Valkyrie ^^).
- She has no AoE/multi-target healing, meaning that a team that easily damages multiple opponents will really give Mercy a hard time, and if they put out enough damage, force the Mercy into having to let some of her team die to prioritise healing others whereas a Lucio would outperform Mercy’s healing in this situation.
- She has by far, the lowest damage potential and offensive capabilty of any support ingame, having zero special abilities that can be used offensively for her own benefit. She has no passive benefits when dealing damage to enemies.
- Mercy can’t amplify damage or deal her own as she heals others. She must do one or the other.
- If Mercy makes a bad jump to an ally (or dead ally’s spirit), it’s typically a one-way trip to dying.
- Ressurect, although having the potential to be extremely powerful when pulled off right, was a reactive ultimate. Other support characters can immediately pull off their ultimates and get the benefit. Mercy had to wait for teammates to die before her Ressurect would be worthwhile; Which was devasting to the Mercy team if she was killed early, or first.
- Ressurect of course, brought people back from death when done right. Zenyatta’s and Lucio’s ultimates prevented heroes from death when done right.
Again I’m not a competitive player, but even in quickplays, it was extremely noticable when you’re playing Mercy which enemies properly pressure and counter you, and which don’t. There wasn’t really a specific hero that did this either (some do have an easier time though); If a DPS was good enough with their character or played in a precise style that specifically pressured you - The support character, they could really make your attempts to heal and Ressurect your team a nightmare.
Mercy was definitely not unstoppable, and it wasn’t impossible to single her out to put pressure on her. Even if she was well protected and difficult to kill because of teamwork, that doesn’t mean your efforts (as long as you aren’t reckless and throwing yourself into 4-5 people solo) won’t strain a Mercy player and make their job a lot more difficult.
Also remember that because your individual efforts against a team playing well don’t always work out, it isn’t really a good basis to make your arguement against a specific hero, one part of that good teamwork, the target of your frustration
If the moment a Mercy is even slightly exposing herself to heal the team, she’s under a lot of pressure and damage from your team, she will have to quickly (and I mean quickly) adapt and possibly cancel the heal altogether to take cover and react.
I get that all of the points I just mentioned of pressuring and focusing a support apply to every support in the game; I just feel the need to put it specifically to Mercy in this post, because she was the support that was, imo, unfairly singled out and changed on such a drastic, unprecedented level.
If you’re not putting pressure on a healer/support role in any pvp game, from Overwatch, to Mobas, or MMORPGs, don’t be shocked that the support is ‘free casting’ or easily sustaining their team and nullifying damage your team does.
Why now? Conclusion
Yep, my response to these Mercy changes is reeeeally late. Literally months have passed and it seems these changes are permanent. Normally, I wouldn’t bother; But I’ve played a bit of the new Mercy. She’s a completely different experience. She’s lacks the defining adrenaline pumping Ressurect moments. The amazing tension when some of your team is dead, you’re getting attacked, and you’re not sure if to try survive just a little longer for a better ress and risk it. She’s no longer the character I knew and loved, even if I’ll never fully give up on her.
I’m not making this forum post as a rant, which I really hope it doesn’t come across to the developers, the playerbase, or even just random nonplayers reading this post that way. Instead, I’m putting my adoration for the real, orginal Mercy to be Ressurected back into the game. 
With the new support characters that bring their own traits and drawbacks into the game, being strong in specific areas and weaker in others as every Overwatch hero should be, we orginal Mercy’s have never had a better time to argue our case and dedicate ourselves to bringing Mercy back as there are even more options for support players to choose from.
Seeing the new Mercy skin was an inspiration, it gave me a new perspective that instead of us Mercy lovers just giving in and going with these changes because it’s the past, that instead we should look to the future. That Mercy still recieves love and updates from the developers, and that we should show them our support for our favorite support and restoring her.
Mercy wasn’t immediately changed. There was a massive timeframe when the developers were on our side, where Ressurect was a heart of the game, and made some of the undeniably best moments in Overwatch.
Just because other players feel your hero is over-represented, that they believe the character you know and love should be entirely changed to something you barely remember, so long ago now. Does that justify such a huge overhaul of what you enjoyed? The game and hero you comitted your hours and time into? Even for those of you who weren’t Mercy mains, but agree with me that the original pre-change Mercy was the rightful one you knew and loved, do you see this as being right and fair?
For those of you that won’t agree, I respect your view. But before you go away from this thread, I’d just like to offer you one final thought; Imagine your favorite hero, the one you know and love and have the best time playing, the one you’ve put most hours into, who you relate with most.
Now picture them being in the position our Mercy was unfairly put into, with people wrongly calling you out, falsely believing that your hero had to be picked on your side for your team to come out on top. Imagine that your hero was so utterly changed like an Overwatch hero has never been changed before.
The ultimate ability you cherished and had no better time ingame than when you pulled it off so well, was now something you didn’t recognise; They might’ve offered you something different, but ultimately it was just healing (your usual thing that you do) from range, and being able to fly like another hero not your own already can. Now imagine that no new players to Overwatch will ever share your experiences, will never know the feeling you had when you performed at your hero’s best, and did your ultimate so well.
Now whenever a person who played and knew that pre-changed hero left, another memory and experience of those times left Overwatch.
I think all of that is worth fighting for; Is worth bringing back the memories to people that used to experience, play, and love the original Mercy of the game.
More importantly, I think it’s worth reminding the people who might’ve forgot, or took for granted those times and what amazing moments they had back then.
But most important of all; I think it’s undeniably worth it, to offer the new players in Overwatch the chance to experience all these amazing Mercy moments we had with the proper, true Ressurect. Not to tell them about our experiences, but to let them live out their own.
I write this plea because I’m a believer that “Heroes never die”. Thank you.