I’ll try to get right to the point with no filler text.
You left the Mercy we have now on the PTR for months before putting it through. I see no reason NOT to “test” older patched Heroes for months on end.
Please consider reverting the changes you made to these heroes on the PTR so we can test them further.
Ana and Mercy keep being brought up everywhere. It’s obvious the player’s don’t like the position these heroes are in and we want something to change still.
Ana and Mercy (plus Moira to a point) are the main healers in the game that have gotten nerfed to the floor, we can’t have them get ruined anymore. They don’t need anymore nerfs. We need to balance these 2 out and waiting 2 years before something happens is not acceptable. Almost all of the healers have been power creeped and we need to restore or change their kit back to a healthy state.
As much as the community doesn’t like the OWL, reverting these heroes would bring more “hype” and “intensive” moments. Imagine wiping the team with a nano boost. The other team resurrecting and getting wiped again? 2 powerful plays that could go either way just happened.
Ana
LIST OF ANA’S OLDER PATCH NOTES:
JANUARY 24TH, 2017
Hero Balance Update
Biotic Grenade
Effect duration has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds
Healing boost on allies has been decreased by 50%
Developer Comments
The healing boost from Ana’s Biotic Grenade was providing too much healing, especially when used on targets with large health pools.
NOVEMBER 30TH, 2016
Bug Fixes
Arcade
Fixed a bug that prevented Ana from being selected in 1v1 matches
NOVEMBER 15TH, 2016
Hero Balance Change;
General
Dealing damage to things other than players (like Torbjörn's turret or Symmetra's teleporter) no longer charges ultimate abilities
Ultimate costs have been increased by 25% for all heroes
Developer Comment
Game-changing ultimate abilities were coming up a bit too frequently. This change helps keep them in check while still allowing them to be powerful.
Nano Boost
No longer increases move speed
Developer Comment
The increased speed from Ana’s Nano Boost made the ability feel unstoppable and forced Ana players to select targets that could really take advantage of the speed boost. Removing the speed boost means that Ana has a reason to apply Nano Boost to a larger variety of heroes, and enemies can fend off the attack more easily.
Bug Fixes
Heroes
Fixed a bug that prevented Ana’s healing stats from showing up in the Career Profile page
Fixed a bug that prevented Ana’s custom crosshairs from displaying while zoomed
OCTOBER 19TH, 2016
Bug Fixes
Heroes
Fixed an issue preventing Ana’s Nano Boost callouts from being heard by the enemy team
OCTOBER 11TH, 2016
General Update
General
Heroes hit by Ana's Nano Boost have a new voice line that informs other players
Hero Balance Updates
Nano Boost
Ultimate cost has been increased by 20%
Biotic Grenade
Radius has been increased from 3 to 4 meters
Developer Comments
So far, we haven't seen any indication that Ana is too strong overall, but her ultimate charges a little too fast, especially considering the impact it can have on a match. Also, her Biotic Grenades are getting a small boost to help her hit multiple targets.
SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2016
Bug Fixes
Maps
Fixed a bug that allowed the payload to heal players, even when they were negatively affected by Ana’s Biotic Grenade
Fixed a bug preventing the health bars on the Practice Range bots from displaying the effects of Ana’s Biotic Grenade
Heroes
Smoothed the animation during Ana’s zoom-release transition
SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2016
General Updates
General
When activating the "Needs healing" communication while targeting a teammate, Ana, Lúcio, Mercy, and Zenyatta will now tell allies to group up to receive healing. A marker will also appear above the player's head, allowing teammates to locate the healer more quickly
Bug Fixes;
General
Fixed a bug in the Custom Game settings preventing the Ability Cooldown modifier from affecting Ana
Heroes
Appropriate sound effects now play when Ana shoots barriers, shields, and armor
Ana’s scope now correctly displays all custom reticle options
Ana’s attacks and abilities now activate the controller’s rumble function
AUGUST 2, 2016
Bug Fixes
Heroes
Fixed a bug that was affecting the majority of Ana’s “Most in Game” career statistics
Fixed a bug that caused Ana’s Biotic Grenade to miss an allied Reaper while in Wraith Form
A.I.
Fixed an issue hindering Ana from restoring allies to full health
JULY 26, 2016
Hero Balance Updates
Biotic Rifle
Rate of fire increased by 20%
Magazine size increased from 8 to 10
Developer Comments
While Ana has been very well received, she was showing to be a little bit weaker overall. In addition to helping her feel better to play, these changes should also increase her healing and damage output.
Bug Fixes;
Heroes
Targets of Ana’s Sleep Dart will no longer instantly recover when damaged (recovery time is now 0.5 seconds)
JULY 21, 2016
Bug Fixes
Heroes
The correct hit pip sound will now play whenever one of Ana’s darts impact with a barrier
All of Ana’s in-game sounds now have proper occlusion
Ana has had a bad time after Season 3.
You:
- removed her speed boost from Nano
- removed her fast reload speed
- killed her damage (Slowly returning)
- killed her Bio Grenade
- Removed the ability to pre-heal (Like what?!?)
Revert her back to:
(Values are in the old patch notes)
- Faster Reload Speed and reduce the ammo reserve back to 10.
- Give back the speed boost when someone is Nano Boosted.
- Decrease the time it takes to obtain her ultimate (Or don’t change it )
- Revert back her original bonus healing from Bio Grenade
- Revert back her damage
- Keep damage reduction capped at 50%
- Remove the ability to shoot through fully healed allies.
These original abilities of this hero made her a healer worth picking and kept Mercy’s Resurrection pretty much on the same playing field. She’s strong in this state and still relies on a second healer to keep her sustained.
Ana needs to be reverted so she actually has a slight edge or equal edge over Mercy. After all you have to aim with her and Mercy you don’t, you need to feel rewarded for hitting shots, she needs to be seen as a threat instead of an easy kill. She also needs to be slightly better or offer something slightly more powerful than her counterpart.
Ana before the nerfs was keeping Mercy in check when she had Mass Resurrection.
Nano Blade, Nano Reinhardt, and Reaper were a strong combo and only required 1-2 ultimates to win team fights, these combos are still strong but have lessened in consistency after the nerfs. Ana’s ultimate was fairly fast to generate as well and her bio grenade increased healing a fair bit.
By reverting this hero it just indirectly boosts the effectiveness of Reaper, who is still having a hard time even with his buffs.
The Devs wants us to be able to get “creative” with our team comps, and having all healers viable is one step in that direction.
In the heat of the moment you can flub shots and lose the game. With Mercy you have some mobility and guaranteed heals in chaotic fights. There has been no reason to pick Ana over Mercy for the past 5 seasons due to Mercy’s consistency. Ana’s power from her kit (not healing) has been removed. She is now a bad heal bot with a terrible ultimate.
Mercy
LIST OF OLD MERCY PATCH NOTES:
DECEMBER 13TH, 2016
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that prevented Mercy from using Resurrect in rare situations on King’s Row
NOVEMBER 30TH, 2016
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that allowed Mercy to receive Ultimate charge when using her Cadueus Staff to increase teammates’ damage when they’re not damaging enemies
NOVEMBER 15TH, 2016
Hero Balance Change
Ultimate costs have been increased by 25% for all heroes
Developer Comment
Game-changing ultimate abilities were coming up a bit too frequently. This change helps keep them in check while still allowing them to be powerful.
Passive health regeneration now activates when Mercy avoids taking damage for 1 second (formerly 3 seconds)
Developer Comment
This change allows Mercy to survive more easily by evading enemy fire.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug preventing Mercy’s staff from showing up in the “Guardian Angel” highlight intro with her Cobalt skin equipped
SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2016
General Update
General
Players should now see fewer Plays of the Game featuring Mercy’s Resurrection ability
SEPTEMBER 1, 2016
General Updates
General
When activating the "Needs healing" communication while targeting a teammate, Ana, Lúcio, Mercy, and Zenyatta will now tell allies to group up to receive healing. A marker will also appear above the player's head, allowing teammates to locate the healer more quickly
Hero Balance Update
Ultimates that consume the ultimate meter when activated will now drain the meter more quickly (.25 second instead of 1 second)
Reverted a recent change that reduced the size of heroes' projectiles
Most hero abilities will no longer interrupt quick melee attacks
Ultimate abilities will now interrupt quick melee attacks
Developer Comments
Altering the size of projectiles in flight had too many unintended side effects to keep in the game, at least in its current form. We will continue watching this and make additional changes if necessary. We’re also making quick melee more consistent when interacting with enemy abilities.
Caduceus Staff
Healing Beam
Healing-per-second has been increased by 20%
Resurrect
Resurrected allies will be able to maneuver after 2.25 seconds (reduced from 3 seconds)
Developer Comments
Resurrection now allows teammates to jump back into the fight more quickly, which should help Mercy survive after activating her ultimate. Mercy's healing is also getting a boost to solidify her role as a strong, single-target healer.
JULY 19, 2016
General
Self-healing abilities now charge ultimate abilities. As a result, some heroes’ ultimate costs have been adjusted (see below).
Hero Balance Change
Caduceus Staff
Damage Boost
Effect will no longer stacks with bonus damage provided by another Mercy
Resurrect
Ultimate charge cost increased by 30%
Movement is no longer prevented during activation
Guardian Angel instantly resets upon use
Developer Notes
Mercy's ultimate is one of the most powerful abilities in the game; however, players would often fly into the fray and die while using it. With this update, Resurrect will now take a bit longer to charge, but Mercy will be a lot safer when activating the ability in the middle of combat.
Bug Fixes
[PC Only] Fixed a bug that caused Mercy’s Caduceus Staff beam to disconnect from its target if the player a) quickly switched between healing and damage beams by holding down both mouse buttons and/or b) was facing away from the target at the time of the switch
JUNE 21, 2016
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause projectiles to hit Reinhardt instead of his Barrier Field in "High Bandwidth" Custom Games
JUNE 14, 2016
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that allowed Mercy to gain Ultimate charge whenever damage boosting an ally who was attacking a barrier or Ice Wall
Mercy has completely changed. Her pick rate was never this high when she had Resurrection as an ultimate, this is all due to her being a consistent heal bot in today’s game with better survival. No other healer can match her.
I see no reason as to why you wouldn’t put put Mercy 1.0 on the PTR.
- She loses the Bunny hop ability.
- She has to wait 1.5 seconds to begin healing herself
- She loses mass healing from her ultimate (No more Valk)
- She gains Resurrect that has the potential to be wasted
- Resurrect is off from “E” and no longer is a 30 second CD, Resurrect needs to be earned by healing not a cooldown.
- Decrease the time it takes to obtain her ultimate, or keep it the same.
- You are not invincible when using Resurrect
- Player’s need to wait 3 seconds before moving from Resurrect.
- Guardian Angel is reset upon using Resurrect.
- IF NEEDED, add a cast time to resurrect at the cost of her whole ultimate charge.
- Do NOT keep ultimate charge gain from damage boosting damage into enemy shields.
Putting Mercy 1.0 on the PTR to test is a way to “nerf” her. If it’s too much you can hopefully use Valkyrie as a buff (Ability not ultimate) later in the future. These changes affect her healing, mobility and self-sustain with Resurrection. By doing this we’re making her close to Ana’s survivable state but at the same time keeping her powerful.
The real reason players still don’t like her is because she’s too consistent at healing and the others are not. While this won’t ever go away nerfing her even more won’t solve anything. If you continue to nerf her she will be a dumpster tier hero.
Most of this backlash would have been avoided if you just buffed Ana in the first place rather than rework Mercy.
Please remember this is an OPINION! I am also not someone speaking on behalf of everyone. No hate.
The Megathread has been forgotten and this is not okay.
If you don’t agree that’s okay it’s a touchy subject, please post what changes should be done to both Heroes.
Getting real sick and tired of seeing people in game and outside of the game complain about healers in general. I played since the open beta and I play this game purely for the support category and seeing it being gutted left and right is getting annoying now, supports should be strong in a different way. Yes this includes Symmetra but that’s a whole other issue.
TL;DR: Put Ana 1.0 and Mercy 1.0 on the PTR. It does not mean they will get pushed through.
