OW Writers, please consider this Gency lore feedback

Story Discussion
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I’m well aware that there’s going to be some hateful people on here whom just tell me to get over it. So, I want to preface this by saying of course this topic doesn’t completely ruin my day or affect me because they’re fictional characters but at the same time since I’ve played this game since the very beginning and spent copious amounts of money on this game and love it very much, I feel like I should at least be able to voice my opinion in a polite way. I’m not a hateful or toxic person by any means.

So here’s my problem… Is it possible that the writing team could possibly stop trying to not only erase the closeness of Genji and Mercy but also completely destroy their bond and characters? I do not care what the team wants to push as canon.

But, what I do care about is that ever since the beginning there has been so many established connections and bonds between Genji and Mercy that could have led anyone with a brain to think they were interested in one another. Not only that but you could tell that they were close. Then for some reason you guys completely removed every single voice line from the game between them and now they don’t even have a shred of a voice line between them that has any meaning to their connection.

They have one voice line in a mission that does sound like they are just playful bickering but why go so hard to make them say they stopped writing to one another? Why go so hard with trying to push another person for her to be bonded with and completely remove the other person she was bonded with just the appease the louder crowd?

I can promise you that that crowd is not bigger and that they are only louder and more toxic. Gency or as some call it Genji x Mercy has not only been a fan favorite since the beginning but they have also been solidified since the beginning and to see you guys absolutely taking that away for a different picture is kind of lame.

I know that connections change and people can drift apart, and if you had made it make way more sense I would have accepted it. But, you completely had to change their characters and their relationship to even push this other forced narrative. As it wasn’t there since the beginning this completely looks like a retcon and I can’t possibly see how any person would be happy with having sloppy seconds.

Not only is Pharmercy a very distasteful relationship because she was a young child when Angela met her, but she’s also the young daughter of her old co-worker. They also never had any connection since the beginning and really still have no deep intertwined history like Gency. Regardless, it’s your choice and of course I will always support and love this game and absolutely appreciate all of you.

But, I ask that you at least make your lore cohesive and make sense and not just absolutely destroy everything that made the lore amazing in the beginning. It’s not fair to the people who have been long-time fans of your game and the millions of people who absolutely love Gency aka Genji x Mercy. I personally love lore in video games so I would appreciate if you actually stuck to it and didn’t get people invested in something only to rip it from beneath them. If you could please reestablish not only Genji’s and Mercy’s bond, but their evident interest in each other and stop changing things just because there are more toxic louder people in the back, that would really mean a lot. Don’t destroy what Michael Chu built from the ground floor.

Thank you for reading. :heart:

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In the past we have had some rather strange retcons, such as declaring that D.Va was not a StarCraft pro-player, or the change of McCree’s name (for me the community wikia is wrong to define as canon a time gap in which he he called himself “McCree”, blizzard has now imposed a real retcon). But the Gency? I absolutely agree to there’s no reasons to delete it when it was already consolidated in various parts of the lore, such as the vocal lines on Valentine’s Day in Hanamura o Storm Rising voicelines:

Genji & Mercy in Hanamura during St. Valentines in OW1
  • Mercy : I got you some chocolates, Genji. Swiss, they’re the best!
  • Genji: Thank you, Angela. Perhaps you could share them with me?
  • Genji: Angela, I have some chocolates for you. …Not Swiss.
  • Mercy: sigh I suppose it will have to do. Thank you, Genji.
Genji & Mercy OW1 voicelines
  • Genji: This reminds me of our time on base in Switzerland.
  • Mercy: You were the only one who stayed up so late. I enjoyed our conversations.
Storm Rising Quotes
  • Genji: I’ll be watching your back, Angela… Not that you really need me.
  • Mercy: I always feel safer knowing you’re there, Genji.
  • Genji: Thanks for helping me out earlier, Angela.
  • Mercy: I do seem to be making a habit of saving you. It’s a good thing I like you. Buy me dinner when this is over.
  • Genji: It would be my pleasure.
  • Tracer: You and Dr. Ziegler are getting on well aren’t you?
  • Genji: She is the only one who’s awake late at night on base.
  • Tracer: Oh? Is that all?
  • Genji: And I am the only one who can drink her coffee.

They were very sweet, and did not just reveal a doctor-patient relationship but something a little more emotional. for this reason the community has always found beautiful the narrative that affection could have arisen between the two of them in a much more canonical way than other heroes. With OW2 they say their relationships were a little more particular, but I really wish it wasn’t a retcon that erases what was perceived by the community as a possible relationship. Maybe something complicated due to the fall of Overwatch, but not a total denial at least.

I very much disagree with how you are posing this “defect” of Phamercy: 5 years of difference does not make a relationship amoral, much less the daughter of a work colleague who is MUCH older than Mercy. Don’t get me wrong: in my opinion it’s nice that an LGBT theme is created, but I see the relationship between Pharah and Mercy more similar to that between sisters. Mercy was however an orphan who was entrusted to the members of Overwatch, and she may have seen Ana as a “step-mother” and Pharah as a younger sister, while on the contrary, Pharah could have seen something more than a sister. The friendzone narrative is always seen as a negative thing, but in my opinion in this case it should be seen as a sort of “step-sisterzone”: Pharah still admires Mercy, accepts her possible relationship with Genji and remains an excellent co-worker in the air, even if she tacitly has feelings for her.

For me, Phamercy shouldn’t be there simply because Mercy was already involved in a possible relational narrative in ow1 with genji, in the small clues. The possibility of canonizing it by belittling what was built with genji as “a relationship between patient and doctor” for me is just a way of greatly flattening human feelings and this makes them complicated. And yes, even the struggles of why Genji and Mercy are still not a couple after the fall of Overwatch is an interesting narrative of the fandom ship. Do we really need to remember that the web is that place that fantasizes about the canonization of a love relationship between Elsa and Anna in Frozen even though they are sisters? :grimacing:

So there can’t be any LGBT canonizations on the roster? No, no one says that. :face_with_diagonal_mouth: but that it is done without interrupting the narratives that were already being built previously in the already difficult lore of ow. And I dare say that actually a mc-hanzo made more sense to chase the flow of lgbt+ fandom. the reason why in my opinion they didn’t do it with them was simply to avoid making Cassidy once again the target of controversy over narrative choices after changing his name for reasons completely external to the lore. this ir really sad for him.

For Pharah I sincerely wish a beautiful future narrative that makes her love life more complex while still maintaining a sisterly relationship with Mercy (whose relationship with Genji will be equally complicated in defining itself) :handshake:. what I think is important is not to diminish everything in pursuit of fandom, in my opinion THIS is the criticism that should be made of the possible canonization of Phamercy, not the difference age of 5 years. :grimacing:

Then we can also open up the possible narrative that Mercy is bisexual, but in my opinion it would make her relationship with both Genji and Pharah more ambiguous. . :man_shrugging: And do you also hear the echoes of the Mercy mains screaming “are you implying that our waifu is sentimentally manipulative? :rage:”? :sweat_smile: I think that’s an even more dangerous area to deal with than just the disappointment of choosing Genji or Pharah.

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The new Pharah-Mercy (PhaMercy) relationship is the same as that of Naruto-Hinata (NaruHina), the community shipped them so hard that there was no other choice but to accept this ship.

Especially since by pleasing its community it can possibly have a financial advantage, a happy person is more likely to buy a skin without thinking, and it allows inclusiveness to be achieved at a lower cost and more subtly, because the previous introductions of inclusiveness was crude, not to say particularly vulgar.

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This isn’t much of a feedback.

You made up some stuff: Like saiyng their interactions were deleted, when all the characters interactions were made new for OW2.

Insulted people that don’t share the same point of view.

And affirmed, the Pharmercy fans are toxic.

I can see the writers reading this, going “ok”, then moving on to whatever they were doing.

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Then it is not made up, just needed more context. The implication here obviously being that many if not all characters by now have replacement voice lines - Except Genji and Mercy.

Where?

So someone takes time and effort to write feedback for something they care about and you come in to say “lol the feedback is so bad that the devs are probably gonna ignore it :^)”
How is that not toxic and unhelpful behavior?

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All characters got new voice interactions, and they are not 1:1 between the same heroes. Mercy and Genji are not exceptional in that regard.
It’s not a lack of context from the OP. It’s a point that has been brought up again and again and it’s not true.
There was entire dating sim featuring these 2 heroes, and while they weren’t the couple of the event (by design of these types of games), they give enough ship content to fuel fans. But still people act as if the writers have given them nothing.

There are multiple passages where OP wrote that the writers are just trying to appease a “louder crowd”, and this crowd is toxic. Say that Pharmercy is distasteful, when there is nothing intrinsically wrong with it. That the writers are also destroying the lore that was previously built, and forcing a narrative.

Taking time and effort doesn’t entitle someone praise. Because everything takes time, and effort is hard to measure.

I’m not obliged to be helpful. This isn’t a helping forum, it’s a discussion forum, and I just stated an opinion. Not even in a toxic manner, I just made observations.

It wasn’t much of a feedback because, well, it wasn’t. OP didn’t point out the problems, what could be improved on, and how. They wrote that GenjixMercy is good, that the writers aren’t doing good because they are not giving them more, and having Mercy and Pharah having a relationship is appeasing to a bad crowd. And if there isn’t more Gency, writers are destroying the lore that was built before.

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Yes, but where are the Genji/Mercy ones? It is perfectly fine to criticize the lack of interactions between two of the arguably closest characters in the playable roster.
Loverwatch was cute and even featured a few Gency references, but it’s a minigame you can’t even play anymore, while everyone is forced to endure the 16th new Pharmercy interaction you hear every match they appear together.

Accusing the writers of playing favourites is not an insult. They explained exactly why they find the ship distasteful, whether you agree or not, that is still not an insult. Claiming writers are destroying lore is also not an insult.

It’s not about praise, it’s about basic respect. You’re only proving the person right in their assessment that Pharmercy fans are toxic when your first response is to dismiss everything they wrote in a condescending manner.

I don’t mean literally helpful, I meant helpful in the context of creating meaningful discourse.

It is perfectly fine feedback, OP pointed out elements they really enjoyed from OW1 and shared their concern about its absence in OW2. They ask for more clarification to make the lore more coherent, as it does not make a lot of sense to them currently. It is a bit hyperbolic, but abandoning plot threads that had a lot of meaning to someone, with little explanation, would “destroy the lore” for someone yes.

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Pharah and Mercy have the same amount of interaction they had in OW1, and most of the Genji and Mercy interactions were event ones in OW1. So the dating sim ones follow the same trend.
If you follow and like the lore you can see that they are developing multiple stories and relationships simultaneously.

It’s clearly an insult when you see it’s correlated to the idea they are destroying the lore, or part of it, by appeasing to the “toxic crowd”. And using terms like “anyone with half a brain” could see the ship potential, as if the writers lack understanding. Stating that they are destroying the lore to lore writers is affirming that they are bad at what they do.

None of the reasons OP presented why it’s distasteful are valid. Meeting when they were young or having a parent that is a coworker has no effect on their current interactions. They could’ve simply said that they personally didn’t like it. Instead OP uses the same points that many homophobic people make, the only part that is missing is that they didn’t pair it up with “how Blizzard use lgbt+ characters to hide scandals”. But they made sure label the lesbian ship fans (that are mostly also lgbt+) as the toxic one, as it’s usual to scapegoat in fandoms.
The entire post is written in what seems to be a very dissimulated manner, at the same time it uses heart emojis and claims not to be toxic, they argument by putting others down and claims to know what is better/true.

And I wasn’t disrespectful. I criticized their feedback. You came to their defense, labeled me as toxic, that I lack respect and condescending. When I made no assessment towards you and been civil this entire time. Makes me wonder if you are you OP’s alt.

There is a discussion happening. Isn’t it what we’ve been having the last few post? (about the voice lines and the nature of Pharah and Mercy’s relationship). And I can discuss about the post itself in the forum, there are no rules against that. If you find the feedback satisfactory, then that’s a good opinion as any. I just think the OP didn’t accomplished what they set up to do. What was supposed to be a feedback came out more like a rant.

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There is indeed some harsh language here and there, but nothing that directly insults anyone, that’s all stuff you’re inferring. Toxic pharmercy fans exists along with non-toxic ones, generalizing is bad I agree, but it’s hardly surprising OP feels that way when you see how many behave on social media.

You don’t get to decide what people find distasteful. I don’t personally find it so, maybe a little weird at best, but I can understand why others would, Mercy was Ana’s friend and colleague long before Pharah was an acquaintance, making their dynamic a bit skewed, but it is long ago, so it probably doesn’t matter that much.

You didn’t just criticize the feedback, in fact, you called it “not much of a feedback”, followed by claiming OP made up stuff, insulted people, harped on them for calling a subset of fans toxic and then said you could imagine the writers would just dismiss the post entirely and move on with their day. The first and last comment was entirely unneeded and you could’ve made your points perfectly fine without them.
We are like 10 active people in this subsection of the forums, I’m not here to impress anyone, if I was OP I would’ve just responded from the original account.

Please explain what “I can see the writers reading this, going “ok”, then moving on to whatever they were doing.” added to the discussion, cause I don’t see it. To me, it just looks like you wanted to communicate to OP that their feedback was of so little value, that it deserves to go ignored entirely.

At minimum OP succeeded in conveying their concern for the disappearance of something they found endearing, it’s a shame you’re reducing it all to a rant, because I think many people share their anxieties.

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technically all the ow1 files are present, but only the one in Gibraltar is activated. for obvious reasons of non-represented archives event, those of Storm Rising are not audible in game. And Valentine’s Day… unfortunately I confirm that they could not be activated in game in Hanamura despite the event.

Here… that’s not exactly accurate. In OW2 there was no introduction of a Genji / Mercy bond, contrary to the phamercy references that were fomented more than before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI0pdtq251k

In this video, even if I don’t like the tones used on phamercy at all, it is right about the unreasonable absence of a bond between Mercy and Genji in the ow2 Codex, instead citing a mutual Mercy / Pharah in their diary entries. Even the part about belittling the letters written to Angela in Reflection with that dialogue on the subway makes no sense.

In the video I find the criticism of the addition of voicelines to the gameplay of Phamercy to be senseless, although it has always been a consolidated in-game technique. But throughout the first part of the video we can hardly tell gamers “you imagined the Gency” with the same method with which Michael Chu denied that D.Va was implied as a pro-player of StarCraft (with also a professional page of that game by Blizzard)

I want to say that in any case this silence at the Gency (especially in the codex) is a bit suspicious :thinking:. do they want to create a love triangle? do they want to create a relationship where Mercy ultimately chooses Genji leaving Pharah to accept a “sisterly” feeling? do they actually want to cancel the Gency? I don’t know, but it’s quite obvious that “a phamercy intention” (romantic or family) was inserted into the game starting from ow2, greatly cutting the one dedicated to Genji. this is where the community objectively suspects a retcon with a silenced cut to what happenend in reflections comic.

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Oh is their Gibraltar interaction actually in Overwatch 2? I’ve heard rumors that someone had heard it, but I wasn’t sure if it was true, it’s pretty big if that’s the case.

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So you admit that there are insults. Just because you think they are indirect doesn’t change that.

What I’ve seen mostly is people attacking the writers, making posts and using “evidence” to create a narrative of them being bad people for not appeasing to gency. For example, look at the comments of the video Mefionir posted. The same homophobic “argument” of “or Mercy is with Genji or she is a groomer”, and a lot of people making bad faith arguments about the writers abilities and interactions with fans.

I’m not dictating what is distasteful. OP’s points doesn’t justify why something is distasteful, they are just making up a reason they dislike something. Disliking something is different of saying it’s distasteful. There is an obvious distinction. If anyone is dictating something it’s OP.

There are points that characterize a feedback, like giving new information or instructions, “feeding back” to the discussion, and they didn’t give that. I’ve already answered this and the other points in previous posts, you are going on circles.

Not impress, but we are all here for the same reasons. We want to be heard by others and possibly by the devs (since they said that they read the forums). There’s no hiding that.

I explained before, but again, they just expressed that they are displeased and that they want things to change, because the “alternative” is inherent bad. The writers can’t work with that to make a better text. It’s like the thowsands of negative steam reviews that OW got. If other people share their anxieties then they should make better arguments and not regurgitate what has already been said over and over without adding something of their own.

I looked up and haven’t found posts or videos about OW1 files still on OW2. I don’t see why they would force the players to download those if they aren’t in use. Unless you had OW1 installed and then the update to 2 left some files.

OW2 is the continuation of OW1 story, they are developing Pharah’s character and her relationship to others. I doesn’t make sense for them to develop Genji and Mercy’s relationship again when that was done previously. And the OW2 evens takes place a while after 1.

Like I’ve said before, and it’s the same for this video. The devs made the valentine event, which is basically an entire new game for free, and fans act as if it was nothing. They gave the definition of what a fanservice is and people act as it meaningless, because Mercy now is also close to Pharah (Cass, LW and Bap).

The reason Mercy doesn’t mention her relationship with Genjis is because of when the codex takes place. Genji has concerns about his master and is they are both going to be important in the next story mission that we’ve already seen teasers of. Mercy is working on the omnic device. She mentions Pharah because it is to show the continuation of Pharah’s part. Pharah’s character, that people don’t follow and just complain about, is showing her development: from a person that was distant of her colleagues to someone is leaning to be more open but is still afraid of getting hurt.

The interaction about the letters it’s clearly them being playful. It’s just the fans want melodramatic love confessions, but this isn’t the kind of game for that, and not in character for either.

The Dva retcon is not what people remember it was. Blizzard made her a profile in starcraft and made her a pro-gamer in OW’s lore. So obviously people thought she was a pro starcraft player. Then the writer said fans misinterpreted him, saying that she was a pro on another game, maybe a possible futuristic version of starcraft more suited for what she does. But later he apologized and admitted the retcon.

This what I don’t get (acctually, I know but I don’t want to get you guys more upset that you already seem to be). People act as if Genji is entitled to Mercy exclusive attention in lore. I’m more of the opinion that the more characters interact with different heroes, more changes we get to learn about them, the better for the overall story.

This has nothing to do with retcons, It’s people struggling to accept that the story is developing, and Genji and Mercy isn’t the main focused relationship. At least for now.

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They are incredibly tame insults for a very specific group of people I suppose, if the worst OP did is imply anyone that doesn’t see Genji and Mercy’s shared an interest in each other doesn’t have a brain, then I honestly don’t see the issue, because they made that painfully clear in OW1.

I’ve definitely seen people take their frustrations with the writing team way too far and I agree that it’s problematic, but lets not pretend that insulting writers and telling lies about them is a new thing only one side engages in. Pharmercy fans has and to this very day still spreads verifiably false rumors about Michael Chu.

distasteful - causing dislike or aversion; disagreeable or unpleasant.
Just because you don’t find the reasons OP gave grounds for distaste, doesn’t mean no one else does. This is certainly not the first time I’ve heard these very same points, almost like there’s a pattern and several people has independently finds these things distasteful.

And I extrapolated several points that qualifies perfectly fine as feedback according to your requirements. You ignored that part of my post entirely, so here it is again:

And I can be heard perfectly fine whether or not I’m on OPs account, I don’t need an alt account for that.

I still think you’re grossly reducing and undermining OPs points here, but even if what you said was true, it still qualifies as feedback. Feedback can be something as simple as “I don’t like X”. They might not know or have good reasons as to why they don’t like X, but if enough people leave feedback that X is bad, the writers might be able to use that information to improve their product. Your comment was rude because OP didn’t even just write a blanket low effort statement, they clearly spent time writing feedback they hope the writers will listen to, but then you come in and dismiss the entire thing because you personally disagree. Let the writers decide for themselves what they should or shouldn’t listen to.

But yea, I don’t know what to tell you. You seem to have just made up your mind that there is absolutely zero validity to anything OP has said, so there’s not really any point in continuing I guess.

Mercy can have interactions with different characters AND Genji at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive. Mercy had plenty of interactions with people that weren’t Genji in OW1, the only difference now is that she has none with Genji in OW2. That is what people has a problem with. It only adds salt in the wound that the rival ship that previously had little to no implications in the canon, are suddenly getting content every single update.

People aren’t struggling to accept anything, they see what is happening and is expressing their feelings about it. Genji and Mercy’s relationship has never been the “main focus”, it was always just a sub-plot that was enjoyed by people on the side.

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the reason is more banal than you think: they are files “ready for eventualities”, just like the countless recordings on the Shield generator also on the heroes who arrived after the famous Symmetra rework. Or more specifically, in the Archives there are all the game files of the voice characters involved with the code name of the events. for example there are all the voicelines of Moira from retribution, or Reinhardt from uprising. The audio databases of each hero are a direct legacy of the ow1 era, with the exception of those created specifically for PVE, such as Reyes without the voice filter, or the retribution pilot. The same also applies to older versions of OWL skins that have changed their team colors, they are also in game in your database game. It’s nothing strange actually. :slightly_smiling_face:

Sorry if I seem a little insistent on the precision of the details, but:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160616064705/https://overwatch.blizzplanet.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-2015-overwatch-whats-next-panel-transcript/5

[BlizzCon 2015 Overwatch What’s Next Panel]
Arnold Tsang, Concept Artist - She is a Pro Gamer, she’s a multiple time world champion of StarCraft. All kinda different games. Everything she plays is basically–
Jeff Kaplan, Game Director – StarCraft VI.

It was obviously way back in 2015, and between then and the release there could have been countless changes. you can also see here the enormous spam that there has been around D.Va and StarCraft (even if in Italian, it is clear which sources it collects) https://theomnicreporter.altervista.org/videogiochi-dva/2/ . To then finally have the famous 2018 anniversary skin with the “Mecha Guardian V” theme, the Busan map and a significant expansion of D.Va’s lore more than she ever had before. And with them also the rectification of Michael Chu. I’m sorry to say it but… sometimes they just need to admit that they’ve changed their mind rather than telling gamers “you gamers imagined it”, that’s what I mean :face_with_diagonal_mouth:.

Now, returning to this discussion… here we don’t know if a Phamercy is taking place, we don’t know if a relationship between Genji and Mercy is actually being cancelled, and we don’t know it above all because of a lore that doesn’t want to move forward with the pve. But I still believe that we shouldn’t feel like the ones who misunderstood that Mercy was very close to Genji in OW1 and magically becomes extremely closer to Pharah (day one hero of 2016 like her) starting from OW2 withour any kind of story like Stone by Stone which brought SYmmetra and Zenyatta closer, for example. I think this is what we are trying to highlight in this topic. I deliberately used the example of D.VA for details that the developers have changed over the years without simply saying “it was 2015 we still didn’t have a clear idea of how to proceed for her in that era”… but which in my opinion cannot and it must not happen again by assuming that it was the gamers who did not remember well what was said or not at the time of the initial presentation of the first information.

On the" toxicity of the topic": other than the vaguely passive aggressive attitude of the OP about Phamercy fandom (even though I found his note on the ages of the characters more inappropriate as justification), it seems to me that it doesn’t lead to any further conversation with bjørk in the “who was offensive, who chose the wrong words, what is your fandom”: I think we can continue the conversation without degenerating into the usual quoting-spam that ends up being personal, right? :face_with_diagonal_mouth: so, if you want to know:

we agree here. Mercy had however met Genji during Zero hour, and seeing Pharah again could still have some notes of sisterhood, not necessarily of ship - retconning ship.

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They are passive aggressive the entire text. The juxtaposition between polite terms followed by a command or an exasperated expression, gives the text a condescending tone. It’s the way that it’s written.

The hate isn’t even comparable. It has been a constant. Last week there was a reddit tread about the next hero, and one of writers confirming the character use by they/them pronouns. Fans were complaining in the comments about pharmercy and being homophobic about it when the topic wasn’t even about those characters. The overwatch memes reddit is full of homophobic stuff about pharmercy hidden behind the coward “it’s just a meme bro”. Youtube, tumblr and tiktok have been the same.
The worse I’ve seen directed towards the ex-writer was that Genji was his self-insert character, and that was years ago. While people are claiming that the current writer is like a lesbian fetishizer, which in my opinion is way more severe accusation.

The dictionary definition is a base of understanding. But it’s meaning in a text is not given in a vacuum.
You see a pattern because it’s what fandoms always do with popular lgbt+ couples and ships. They try to twist those parings as something a person should reprimanded for liking, making it almost immoral. Before the popular term was “problematic”, but it became so overused that now people use euphemisms. The use of distaste is just that.

Except they didn’t wrote that you are described. OP’s points where:
The writers are erasing gency (not true, all characters had their old voice interactions removed and there was the Loverwatch event);
The writers are destroying their bond and the lore (it’s still there);
Pushing for pharmercy (Mercy’s character can and should develop bonds with other characters and so should Genji’s);
That they don’t accept pharmercy because they claim it’s “distasteful” and that their “crowd” is essentially toxic (the same arguments could be made about gency);
Ask the writers to make the lore cohesive (it is, unless all OP does is listen to gency interactions).

Saying something is bad is not very informative. If enough people say something is bad doesn’t mean they have to change it. Because those people could be have a bias that shows that they aren’t thinking what is beneficial to the “product”. Writing isn’t as simple as a math equation, that you put the same set of data and get an expected result. it’s not as easy like those youtubers that review movies, anime and cartoons say, with the benefit of hindsight, no director pressure or deadlines.

But even you agreed that they made generalizations, that’s what a blanket statement is a generalization.

I’ve read the post and wrote and answer, so you can’t say I completely dismissed it. And because of what I posted this topic even got more attention.

Like I said in my previous answer, I just pointed out my opinion and made an hypothetical response a writer could have for the post. Also, I have no power to decide for the writers because I’m not them (!), so I don’t know why it makes you so upset.

I’m pretty sure she has special voice lines, for damage boosting him, healing, when he ults or reviving. The problem is now that Genji has to share, with the character that matches Mercy the most. So it’s threatening when fans have to face that fact, that Pharah and Mercy are designed for each other, and the writing is acknowledging that.

You mentioned before about what is the best for the product. Do you want to know what is the best in a very objective way? Give Gency fans the saccharine content the like, and Pharmercy the yearning and humor they enjoy. So play both games but never compromise. Both sides get to enjoy themselves.

Oh, so they are like placeholders.

Thanks I didn’t have that info. I started getting into the game during the beta (2016), so my info was from a topic later that time.

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Not gonna respond to everything, as neither of us are willing to give ground.

Because even people not interested in shipping has begun to notice how insanely weird it is that Genji and Mercy gets so little content in OW2 compared to Pharah and Mercy. That’s why whenever the topic of lore comes up, someone tends to bring their frustrations with the way this part of the story is developing along with it. This doesn’t excuse homophobia of course, but from what I saw in that thread, the homophobic comments were all heavily downvoted. Unless by homophobia you mean “people complaining about Pharmercy”, because that isn’t homophobia.

No, the problem is that Genji and Mercy has no spawn-room interactions over a year after release while at the same time, Pharah and Mercy still gets new ones. This is what worries fans. Genji “shared” perfectly fine in OW1, where Mercy had plenty of interactions with other heroes, including Pharah.

Pharah doesn’t “match Mercy the most”, she just barely functions without her. She used to be unique in that she could fly indefinitely which has good synergy with Mercy, but Echo can do that now too. Pharah and Mercy are not “designed for each other” any more than Echo and Mercy are. Why doesn’t the lore reflect that as well?

I wish they gave content to both sides, I’d be more than happy if that was the case, but they’ve barely given Genji and Mercy anything to work with in OW2. On the surface, it even looks like they’re trying to distance them from each other and that could still be what they’re doing if they never expand on the reason Genji stopped their letter correspondence.

17

I still stand by what I said :slight_smile: and I’m glad they’re fixing their well established relationship and building on it more as of late! :heart:

The new comic was great! More love for them like that please. :heart::heart::heart: