No to proposition 55 (hps)

General Discussion
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It’s been almost 2 months since the Mercy nerf, and the fact that she’s currently in a bad state is becoming widely accepted. I think it’s reasonable to assume that at some point in the future she’ll get a buff.

One buff that I see suggested quite often is to increase her healing to 55 hps. The reasoning goes like this: She used to be considered OP back when her healing was 60 hps; She’s considered UP now that her healing is 50 hps; 55 is a number between 50 and 60.

I think that making this change would be a mistake. Most of the changes to Mercy over the past year have been entirely reactive. Pick rates goes up, she gets a nerf (or the opposite in this case). It’s been very long since her kit was approached from the point of view principles of design rather than balance, and it shows. She’s drifted from her intended role into something rather different. The 55 hps change would be just another link in this chain of changes.

The fact of the matter is that Mercy wasn’t nerfed because she healed too much. She was nerfed because she was picked too much. We know this for several reasons. For one, the devs considered her to be balanced numerous times when she had the same amount of healing (the last of which was in May). The only thing that changed from May to July was her pick rate. She was considered underpowered when she had the same healing pre-rework (her healing averages back then were very similar to what they were post rework).

Another reason that we know this is that Moira currently heals just as much on average as Mercy did prior to the nerf and no one ever suggests nerfing Moira’s heals. (To forestall any objection here: yes, Mercy is more consistent than Moira. But Moira has higher burst and aoe. Mercy is better for long fights, Moira for short fights. Mercy is better for spread out teams, Moira for bunched up teams. Mercy works better with dps, Moira with tanks, etc. They both have advantages and disadvantages, but the fact stands that healing totals can’t be what caused the Mercy nerf).

The main effect of the healing nerf is that Mercy currently struggles to fill the main healer role, and is relegated more to an off healer role. This is a problem. According to the devs, Mercy is meant to be the go to character for healing throughput, and that her main attribute is meant to be high healing throughput. She’s designed to be a main healer and has currently drifted out of that spot. This shouldn’t be surprising - she’s had 50 hps before and struggled to be a main healer.

If Mercy is to work as intended, she needs to be a main healer. In order to be a main healer, she needs a certain amount of healing. We know that 60 hps works, and we know that 50 hps doesn’t. Does 55 hps work? No one knows. Blizzard doesn’t, they’ve clearly struggled with evaluating Mercy and predicting where changes will lead. None of the people suggesting this change know either. It’s compromise for the sake of compromise, without any real reason to believe that it will work. It’s just more drift without forethought.

What happens if 55 is underpowered? Do they change it to 57? 58? And if it’s overpowered, does it go to 52? It might take quite a long time to get it right.

Nerfing Mercy’s healing was always a mistake. They carelessly messed with the heart of the character in a desperate ploy to get her pick rates down, and the effects were far from what they foresaw (or what they claimed they foresaw). It was too risky a move.

The healing should have stayed, and should return to 60 where we know it works. The other healers received significant buffs, but even if those would not have been enough there were other ways to change Mercy. Changing her healing is simply too volatile a way to balance her. It’s unpredictable, and it causes huge swings.

Keeping it at 60 hps opens the door for some interesting balance changes to the character. There’s no question that elements of Mercy’s current kit have proven to be controversial and difficult to balance properly. Res and Valkyrie are the main culprits here. There are so many interesting things that could be done with these that would affect both her balance and her gameplay and would address some community concerns. I think there’s a large community that would be happy with such changes.

One simple example is removing chain healing beams in Valkyrie in exchange for a somewhat stronger main beam. This would have the effect of being both a healing nerf, and a way of making Valkyrie feel more impactful and engaging.

If 55 hps is currently the best idea that Blizzard has then I suggest they just leave her as she is for the time being. They should take time, think her through from first principles, and come back to her when they have a better idea. This election cycle, vote NO on proposition 55.

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It would however, be a temporary solution until something more drastic is done.
Not that blizz do temporary solutions.

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I’m scared of temporary solutions. They have a way of solidifying into established fact. I’d much rather they come up with a good solution that requires careful thought than another reactive half baked solution. If it takes them time to do it right, that’s fine by me.

Bad Mercy is an incentive for creative thinking. Mediocre Mercy is an incentive for laziness and time wasting.

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Blizzard have specifically said that mercy is intended to be the hero that has the most healing output overall. Currently that is moira then mercy with ana not far behind mercy. The buff to hps is only logical unless you are calling for a moira nerf instead.

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Tangential, but apparently Cali prop 55 is healthcare related lol.

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I am indeed calling for a hps buff - a buff to 60 hps. My claim is that her previous healing was not actually a problem, that balancing should have been done to other parts of her kit, and that 55 hps only sweeps her current problems under the rug.

If they don’t know how to incorporate 60 hps into her current kit, I’d like them to take the time until they do.

Also, just to make it clear - I am not, never have, and never will advocate for a Moira nerf. I’m pointing out that if you follow Blizzard’s logic (which I think was wrong) then they would have nerfed Moira. The point is to show that they were making problematic claims.

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This would make Valkyrie even weaker. What if the chain beams stay but they heal less than the main beam?

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Personally, I like the no chain heals and 90 hps version of Valkyrie. I think it would feel quite good to use, while also being a bit of a healing nerf and keeping Mercy in her single target healing role. But my opinion here is just that - an opinion. There are a lot of places to go with this sort of thing, and lots of good suggestions. I just wish that Blizzard would try one of them.

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That’s 10hps more than Moira. It would be even worse then now.

I’m suggesting something like 75-100hps for the main beam and 30-50hps for the chain beams.

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That sounds like a lot of fun, but I’m trying to be as conservative as possible. The last thing I want is for Mercy to be considered a must pick again. My main concern is giving the necessary power back to her main kit. It would be great to do so while making the rest of her kit more engaging. For me 90 hps Valkyrie does that, but I can understand why it might not for others.

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Healing isn’t the only possible nerf for Valkyrie, you could lower its duration or increase its ultimate charge requirement.

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I’d be sad to see an increase to its ultimate charge. It’s already a slow charging ultimate. A duration decrease though would be welcome if it came with a bit more impact.

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In unorganized play you’re lucky if you get 2 or 3 people with a beam at any given time. I would rather have say a 100 HP/S on a single target as opposed to beams that split off, but never connect.

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I’ve managed to heal most of the team in Valkyrie even in unorganized games.

Besides, why would we want to promote bad play?

It’s not a slow charging ultimate, but yes, a duration decrease is more preferable.

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Because Mercy is supposed to be most effective in unorganized play play in lower skill brackets as I hear people tell me every two seconds.

You don’t play Mercy that much with all due respect.

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This discussion has morphed a bit into a chain beams discussion. Can I ask - what are your opinions about the 55 hps question?

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I play a lot of arcade, which is the pinnacle of unorganized. If I can heal most of the team there, it shouldn’t be that hard.

So, if you get a team that actually tries, Mercy is actually a worse choice. How is that good?

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Personally, I think we should try that. Otherwise, we get stuck at 50hps for a long time.

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Arcade shouldn’t be used as a way to gauge hero balance, evident by the inclusion of modes which do not represent how the majority of people play.

I was making a mockery of people that say this, but regardless Valkyrie’s healing beams are pretty much a suicidal if your team plays around them. You group up making you more susceptible to team wipe combos, the difference between Valk and Transcendence which is in a similar position is that 50 HP/S won’t outheal a rocket barrage.

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I disagree on this point. It’s better for Mercy to be in a bad state than in a mediocre state. A bad state encourages the devs to try and fix her. A mediocre state encourage them to give up. I think they shouldn’t be making changes just for the sake of changing. They should be making them out of careful thought.

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