Is this new? Because i swear extra beam always used to ignore enemy barriers.
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I guess it’s more fun calling it a buff than admitting they made a mistake. Honestly, what logical sense would it make for the main beam to ignore barriers but not the split ones? And if so, when was this ever stated?
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I had just assumed this was a bug. Weird that it didn’t always function that way.
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It used to until not too long ago, so I’m chalking it up to bug fix. But either way, whether it was intended or not this is a change I can get behind since Mercy has always been the healer that can heal through barriers.
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(Hint - it did but later it got bugged in a patch, they just don’t want to admit it. A friend found a vid that showed that at least during the first Valk ptr she definitely healed through shields).
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I’m surprised they didn’t call this a bugfix honestly
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Well, I feel less crazy now. So thanks lol.
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I can swear to god I never felt that little beams didn’t penetrate barriers.
For me it’s a bug fix
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Yeah, nah, I wouldn’t call this a buff, it’s a bug fix lets be real.
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They’re using it as click bait by calling it a buff when it’s clearly a bug fix. The devs will do anything to please the majority (mercy haters), and shush those who are the minority (mercy players or supporters).
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Visually it kind of doesn’t make sense, because it looks like a a bunch of regular Mercy beams. In a technical sense, the secondary “beams” are graphics for a radial AOE effect, and all of the similar effects in Overwatch are blocked by barriers.
So now it’s being changed to function the way the visuals make it look like it should work, instead of how it technically should have worked as an AOE ability.
It ends up seeming like a bug fix, but they originally might have intended for it to work the way it did before, not realizing that players wouldn’t expect that behavior after seeing the animations.
I honestly thought that the chain beams went through shield barriers at some point in the past. Either way though, this is realistically a minor so called buff, though I prefer to refer to it more as a bug fix. When the double shield barrier meta eventually goes away then this so called buff will be pretty much meaningless. Mercy still needs more help.
The only reason they called this a buff, not a bug fix, is to try and make it sound better.
Just one issue - a friend found an old video that showed it used to heal through shields with all beams so… 
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I’m pretty sure I never had an issue before recent patches where Valk didn’t heal through barriers, apparently this is a recent thing and to be honest, I never noticed it not healing through barriers.
unless of course a teammate wanders out of the 10m radius of the main beam which lets be real they ALWAYS seem to do
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