So one of the biggest problems I’ve seen around here with recent Mercy complaints is the inconsistency in complaining about her number of nerfs. It’s 10 one day, then after adding 1 to the total it’s somehow 13, then recently I saw someone claim it’s now gone up to 15 for no apparent reason. So I decided to clear everything up and get us all on the same page.
A few things to remember:
- I am not counting PTR changes, only the ones that made it to live. The simple reason being that it’s called the PTR for a reason, Blizzard is allowed to test and adjust as they see fit.
- Bug fixes do not count* as nerfs. I’m really tired of this misconception for the game in general. If something is bugged, it’s not supposed to be working that way in the first place. Making the game work as intended is not the same as nerfing a hero with the intent of bringing their power down. (*There is one possible exception, which I get to at the bottom)
- For obvious reasons, I’m only starting after the September 19th, 2017 patch.
October 17th, 2017
- Guardian Angel
– Players can now glide past a targeted ally using the jump key
– 1) Cooldown no longer resets when Resurrect is activated - Valkyrie
– 2) No longer resets or reduces Resurrection’s cooldown
– Now gives players a bonus resurrection charge
I just want to point out that Valk got the compensation buff here as well. It’s almost as if they were worried about Mercy from the beginning.
November 16th, 2017
- Caduceus Staff
– Increased visual readability of Mercy’s healing and damage boosting beams - Resurrect
– 3) Cast time increased from 0 seconds to 1.75 seconds
– 3) Mercy’s movement speed is now reduced by 75% while casting
– 3) Can now be interrupted when Mercy is knocked back, stunned, or hacked - Valkyrie
– While active, Resurrect no longer has a cast time
– While active, casting Resurrect does not reduce Mercy’s movement speed
I marked 3 bullets down under the same number. Why? Because it’s all the exact same change: adding a cast time to Res, with each point just describing how the new cast time works.
Those 3 bullets, plus Valk’s extra 2, could have accomplished the exact same with a simple
- Resurrect now has an interruptable 1.75 second cast time which slows Mercy by 75%. (This does not apply during Valkyrie, however)
3 details about 1 change =/= 3 changes
January 30th, 2018
- Valkyrie
– 4) No longer makes Resurrect instant
– 5) No longer grants a bonus Resurrect charge
– 6) The speed bonus Guardian Angel receives when activating Valkyrie has been decreased by 50%
– 7. Duration reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds
This one is pretty self explanatory. No overlap, no compensations, no room for debate. Every single bullet changed Valk in a unique way. I will say, though, that one of these nerfs was simply taking away a comp. buff that they put in before, so take that as you will.
August 9th, 2018
- Caduceus Staff
– 8) Healing beam reduced from 60 healing per second to 50 healing per second
And there you have it. Mercy has had 8 negative, unique changes across 4 patches since the initial rework went live.
That said, if you really want to, I’d be willing to also include the recent bug fix of Mercy not being able to boost certain, unintended ults. This would bring our total up to 24!
(Just kidding. Of course it’s 9, still less than what I’ve ever seen a Mercy advocate say in the recent months).
Granted, after all this, I still expect people to try to argue the number, so please, let me know why other bugs should be included, or why the one cast time change should be counted 3 times instead of once, or why a specific PTR change that never made it to live should count. I’m honestly curious about how the number ended up getting so inflated as time went on, especially in the past month.
