You don’t have to switch though, the combo only forces people to play differently, adjust their target priority and cadence etc, like any other viable synergy in the game. If a team can’t do this they’re bad and deserve to lose, casual or not.
My idea is to make her flight more similar to Echo, not that they are copies of each other.
My only concern is that she could turn into a flying Junkrat by boosting in and blasting you but I think that could be fixed with number changes. I don’t think I would compare my idea to Sombra who makes it so you aren’t allowed to play the game when shes good.
Echo is an assassin, she benefits from the burst in flight and flight control, while pharah can have more air time, her movement is much more predictable.
There’s a reason why I said it, because what you’re suggesting is exactly this
As oppose to now, where she has a much more predictable flight than echo.
Pharah herself doesn’t need that much change, mercy is more of an issue in that synergy, for the casual player.
I see no reason why Pharah can’t become more divey and assassin like.
Pharah’s only CC is her boop. She does not prevent you from playing the game with mobility changes. She prevents players currently from playing that aren’t hitscan though currently. She could be made to be more versible and better while also giving players more counterplay.
What exactly would you change Mercy that would not ruin a synergy, not change all of Mercy’s other interactions with other heroes, and make Pharah less of a hand counter to none hitscans, and also not completely destroy how to play her ?
I do, we have echo. I see no reason why mercy shouldn’t be changed in a way where she doesn’t break every single dps she synergizes with. It’s pretty obvious what the issue is.
Pharah with inflight control would be a menace, was the point of that. They gave her an ability to control her descent better and it was too powerful so they removed it. Just the descent, now imagine if she had full control, ooooh boy.
This is exactly what you are suggesting for pharah, bit hypocritical, no?
Phrahmercy has a weakness that can be exploited, it’s not a pharah problem.
Try attacking (upwards)
and then praise the sun!Appraisals 9999
:Close
:Good
:Poor
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…shrugs…if people don’t want to learn a basic counter to such an impactful (but easily counterable) hero then that’s on them really… 
…can’t aim well…playing an FPS…hmmmm…? 
i watched the svb podcast recently and someone came up with the idea of her dmg boost being fuel based and being charged up by healing a solid solution…
but tbh non ult based dmg boost is bad design because it enforces the idea of pocketing. which i dont think any mercy player enjoys.
in most instances you get more value sitting afk holding blue beam on a sojourn then you would using her cool mobility to try and dodge attacks to heal the team. (in high elo atleast)
Then lose. Simple solution.
This would either be a 3rd complete kit change (and honestly her mobility is kinda a mini rework and also has a similar idea of giving more control over her mobility) to Mercy or completely cripple her. Pharah has never been updated and has hardly been touched. Pharah will never have any versatility to be meta if she remains how she is and how she plays. She is out dated. If they do it correctly, Pharah could be a contender against hitscans which makes the meta more versatile. Keeping her skill ceiling low will prevent her from being able to make more impactful and interesting plays rather than being a more niche hero that is good at said niches and there are some good Pharahs. At the end of the day why does Pharah NEED a Mercy in most play ? Mercy takes away risk for Pharah, so why not make it so Pharah can take more risky plays but have a higher reward ? Give her cool downs bursts instead of perma flight but make them good. Damage can be adjust, cool downs can be adjusted, even her hp can be adjusted etc. Give her more to actually do and more often.
Problems with Pharah that make the hero out dated and encourages hard counters which is why she feels bad:
If you wanna play Sym, Pharah just doesnt care
If you wanna play Widow Pharah cant do much (unless you really force it and like why would you if you can play a hero thats easier to deal with widow ?)
Obviously there is different nuances and I won’t pretend this is as straight forwards as that. Feeling forced to swap rather feeling because of a big disadvantage a character vs yours is bad for the game.
That is good, don’t be casual in a game where the fun depends on your dedication and win rate.
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Not necessarily. A little knowledge and it’s easily counterable. Personally I’m not the best hitscan player out there. I aggressively target the other healer (not mercy) to the point of solo ulting them on repeat if needed. Keeping that healer dead forces mercy off of Pharah to keep the tank and other DPS alive. That gives your team an easy kill on the Pharah. You have to have aim to burn down Pharmercy. You don’t have to aim to kill pharmercy if you use a little strategy.
That’s the great thing about OW. It’s not really a FPS. It’s a strategy game with some FPS mechanics. Nearly everything is counterable without incredible aim if you have the right plan.
because she isn’t
ashe is a badly designed hero, echo is a badly designed hero, sojourn is a badly designed hero, pharah is a badly designed hero…
not mercy’s fault the devs fail to consider her with every dlc addition since launch
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What is wrong with “anti-casual”? A competitive game should be competitive, no?
Yet its the sole interactions between Mercy and DPS that will keep her in her state. You can’t buff her without her becoming insanely oppressive and you can’t nerf her without making her completely useless. Unless you want her to stay in the state, its better Mercy get completely reworked.
Only reason pharah was never changed IS mercy. More so, mercy does need changes and they will probably happen, why should she remain low skill ceiling as well as high skill floor hero?
It doesn’t matter how many times she was changed before, she’s an issue that keeps holding down dps to be any stronger or independent, because she as a pocket makes them unbearable to play against.
Again, it’s not a pharah issue, therefore pharah doesn’t need changes, if anything would get buffed AFTER mercy gets reworked.
“My hero has been changed three times and your hasn’t” is not a reason to change a hero, neither is “hero is too strong for casuals”.
There’s other heroes that require the same respect when they’re in play, against which you can’t do anything unless you swap. For casuals.
Finally, I do play into hitscan as pharah, because through practice I learned how to fight them as pharah.
or maybe rework/nerf the heroes that mercy pre-dates that make her busted?
let’s not use the “thing is bad, make everything else around it bad to avoid making it not bad” balance concept
the main issue is mercy, she needs to be reworked. pharah is a terrible character, but along comes mercy and a good pharah can now instantly dominate an entire team.
mercy herself is just anti fun, she is the only hero in the game who is completely reliant on one or more of her teammates being good.
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Blizzard will always nerf symptoms and never causes.
That’s literally what you’re doing LOL. Mercy is the common denominator. Mercy + Ashe, Mercy + Pharah, Mercy + Sojourn, etc. Stop trying to nerf every DPS character because Mercy is just straight up a poorly designed hero.
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