At first, I was rooting for a rework but since Blizzard has denied the possibility of the best-suggested rework idea being implemented into the game, I feel as though a revert would be the best option left.
đThese videos may persuade you to accept the possibility of a rework.đ
![:open_book:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/open_book.png?v=5" ":open_book:")
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ THE ENTIRETY OF THE THREAD AND ALL THE REPLIES IN THE THREAD BEFORE REPLYING TO ANYTHING.
![:face_vomiting:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/face_vomiting.png?v=5" ":face_vomiting:")
Why are the reasons behind her rework so bad?
Quoting this from Titanium as the points he made were fantastic.
Titanium's Post
When Mercyâs rework was introduced to the PTR, a Developer Update was released with it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDlCqJ1tD3M&t=2sBetween 0:39 and 2:12 in that video, we are given two reasons for the rework which come down to âhide and rezâ and âit wasnât fun to play againstâ. Letâs start with the âhide and rezâ assertion.
There are two ways to interpret what Jeff Kaplan said in that video regarding âhide and rezâ. One way is that he is suggesting that Mercy players were routinely hiding as soon as they had their ultimate fully charged, which he disliked. The other interpretation is that Jeff didnât want a main healer to âstop healing for some period of timeâ. Both interpretations are poorly thought out, and that lack of thoroughness has led to both concepts reappearing through the successive patches to Mercy following the rework.
Addressing the first one⌠Partially because I am feeling a little bit lazy at this time, partially because I stated it beautifully back on August 12th, 2017, I am going to quote myself from the old forums when I discussed âhide and rezâ:
âItâs just hide and rez.â
This quote illustrates that the person saying it has no idea what they are talking about. No, itâs not an oversimplification, itâs just plain wrong.âHide and rezâ is a great strategy⌠assuming your goal is to get wiped after the resurrection. Hiding turns the fight into a 5v6 with a main healer down. Any competent team would be able to walk through your team without expending ultimates, except to counter any ultimates expended by your team. The enemy team already has the positioning advantage and the first shot after the resurrection. âHide and rezâ would also give them the advantage of more ultimate abilities. Doing so sets your team up for failure.
A good Mercy sustains her team until they can no longer be sustained, or until she can no longer do so safely. By doing this, she allows the team to bait more ultimates before dying, giving your team the ultimate ability advantage after the resurrection.
A team playing against a hiding Mercy would have a significantly easier time dealing with the opposing team, as Mercy is putting her own team at a disadvantage. It wouldnât even come down to being aware enough to consciously notice the 5v6 (although most players should be able to recognize a 5v6 when they see one), but a matter of knowing how much force the team needs to apply to overcome a given resistance; if the enemy is crumbling, donât expend limited resources to push a structure that will fall on its own.
Because the opposing team is already at a numbers disadvantage in the initial fight, pushing into them without using any ultimates, except to counter ultimates expended by the enemy, will be sufficient for eliminating the opposition. This further leads to more loaded ultimates, as killing 4-5 enemies in a 2-2-2 composition is roughly equivalent to 1500 charge in HP. That is also excluding additional charge gained through allied healing and allied damage through enemy healing. Combine this with the absence of a need to expend ultimates, and the team with the hiding Mercy is revived looking down the barrel of an incredibly large gun, has no time to draw their own, and is in a poor position to capitalize on it even if they did have the time to draw their own.
As a result, hiding prematurely was detrimental to the teamâs chances of winning the fight in the long term, even if it was riskier in the short term. It was a misuse of an ultimate.
To add some perspective to this, using âhide and rezâ as a reason to remove Resurrect as an ultimate is about the same as using the fact that some Pharah players Barrage themselves on occasion as a reason to remove Rocket Barrage.
By this interpretation of Jeff Kaplanâs words, Blizzardâs intent was to prevent Mercy from leaving the fight, keeping her engaged. Rather than giving more reason to stay in the fight through modifications to Resurrect as an ultimate and the introduction of a decent E ability, the balance team decided to remove Resurrect as an ultimate entirely, and here we are.
Did someone say Valkyrie?
If the intention was to keep Mercy in the fight, why was her ultimate, which punished hiding prematurely and rewarded active play, replaced with an ultimate that rewards staying as far from the battle as possible?
According to this interpretation of Jeffâs words, the developersâ statement is, âWe didnât like how some Mercy players would leave the fight before using their ultimateâŚâ. This statement is then finished by the patch history with, ââŚso we replaced the previous ultimate with one that is best utilized by leaving the fightâ.
Letâs examine the second interpretation.
âWe think itâs wrong to tell a main-healing character to go off and hide somewhere and stop healing for some period of time.â
1:32 - 1:42 of that same developer update.
The bold section is the one I am focusing on. Letâs pretend that the first interpretation is incorrect, and assume that Jeff Kaplan doesnât want a hero to stop doing their main job for any period of time. In this case, the assertion may have some merit to it, as there was often a 3-5 second break in healing before Resurrections. This happened for two reasons, both of which came down to practicality:
60 health/second will not save the team from the incoming enemy ultimates.
Mercyâs healing/amplification beams are obvious and will lead the enemy straight towards her.
The would often result in the Mercy player staying further back or taking cover, possibly substituting healing/amplifying with whatever damage they could deal with their pistol. She would then use Resurrect and finish off or severely weaken a target they shot at before the Resurrection. In these scenarios, there is a short duration in which not doing Mercyâs primary job was the best way to use her.Thatâs how it looks in a vacuum.
Look beyond just Mercy, and most heroes often perform very similar maneuvers to reach the same goal. Some examples of this are Rocket Barrage and Death Blossom, in which the player stops shooting at the enemy (their primary job) to reposition, obscure their position, and gain the advantage of surprise when they use their ultimate. This then begs the question: Why werenât these ultimates changed for the same reason Mercyâs was changed?
The stupidity doesnât stop there. We once again have a statement that identifies a perceived problem and proceeds to contradict itself through the actions of the developers:
Developers: âWe didnât like how Mercy would stop healing for a short duration before using ResurrectâŚâ
Patch notes: ââŚso we removed Mercyâs ability to heal for an additional 1.75 seconds leading up to Resurrectâs activation.â
If the developers wanted Mercy players to heal more leading up to a Resurrection, why did they make it physically impossible for her to do so?
One interpretation of this argument brings us an assertion built on the ineffective use of an ultimate as a reason to change the ability; an assertion that appears to have been said once and then disregarded with the following patches. The other interpretation yields an assertion that is a double-standard that has also been disregarded in the following patches.
Letâs look at the second provided reason for the rework.
ââŚitâs pretty disheartening to have Mercy just erase that moment with a full-team rez.âYeah, I get that it can be disheartening to have a near team wipe negated, but do you know what else sucks? Getting wiped.
Thatâs how PvP games work; if one side is feeling pretty good, chances are that the other side is feeling pretty bad. Removing any one ability because âit was disheartening to play againstâ is as illogical as removing any or every ability because âit was disheartening to play againstâ.
If it is not a legitimate balance concern, meaning it is not oppressively powerful (which Mercy and Resurrect were not), then how it feels to play against is irrelevant, as that is treading into territory that is clearly a double standard.
How do you react when your team gets wiped by a Dragonblade? Earthshatter? Tactical Visor? Death Blossom? Rocket Barrage? Rip-Tire? Self-Destruct? Graviton Surge?
Do you squeal with joy? Do you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Do you attain a sense of accomplishment?
No. For all of these scenarios, you likely feel disappointed, or possibly even angry at yourself or your team for how the fight went. The same emotions are felt by the attacking team when support ultimates are used to negate these same plays; Resurrect was no exception to this pool of ultimates, nor was it exceptionally potent in arising these emotions.
If it is fine for Resurrect to be removed as an ultimate because of this reason, what reason is there to rationalize the existence of any other impactful ultimate? Those are also disheartening to play against.
Want to know all the changes Mercy has received since her rework?
1) Pistol damage increase in Valkyrie removed.
2) Pistol fire rate increase whilst in Valkyrie removed.
3) Flight speed in Valkyrie decreased from 11 meters/second to 9 meters/second.
4) Resurrect's cooldown decrease from Valkyrie removed.
5) Guardian Angel's cooldown no longer resets upon using Resurrect.
6) Resurrect now has a 1.5 second cast time in which players cannot use abilities or attacks, and their movement speed is reduced to 25% of it's normal speed. Valkyrie removes this penalty.
7) Valkyrie no longer removes the penalty previously stated.
8) Valkyrie no longer grants an extra charge of Resurrect upon activation.
9) Valkyrie's Guardian Angel flight speed bonus reduced by 50%.
10) Valkyrie's duration reduced to 15 seconds.
11) Mercyâs healing output reduced from 60 HP to 50 HP.
đMy favourite quote from Jeffđ
âRest assured, if things are playing out well on the PTR or if things happen to go live and theyâre not playing out perfectly or to the communityâs liking we will go back and keep looking at these thingsâ![:roll_eyes:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/roll_eyes.png?v=5" ":roll_eyes:")
âHide n Resâ since thatâs what people always complain about.
Why it was a thing and why it won't be a huge issue now.
âHide n Resâ existed because of a broken SR system that incentivised hiding over staying with your team. To elaborate, youâd get more SR depending on the amount of resses you get. This encouraged hiding as you are, logically, more likely to get more resses by hiding and waiting for your team to die. This won't be a huge issue now however as performance-based sr has been removed for diamond and above; where hiding Mercyâs was mostly a problem. Any sane/good Mercy player knows that staying with your team and tempo rezzing was strategically better.Easy fix to Hide n Res (if it still is a problem)
As we all know, if mass ress were to return weâd have a Mercy with no e ability. This is a good way to fix the Hide n Res issue. For a new e ability, why don't we give her a mini, 4 (or 5) second Valkyrie that lets her fly (beam doesn't extend and height is limited). Now, Mercyâs will be actively healing her team whilst also being in LoS with her enemies which then gives room for more counterplay against Resurrect and no hiding Mercyâs!![:disappointed:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/disappointed.png?v=5" ":disappointed:")
Why current Mercy is bad.
Once again, Titanium saves the day! What he says in his âWhy I despise Mercyâ thread basically sums up why Mercy is bad and therefore, Iâll be linking it for all those who are wondering why Mercy right now is bad.
Titaniumâs post explaining why current Mercy is bad.
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/why-i-despise-mercys-current-state/40966
Mercy Mega Poll
A user by the name of, MagyTheMage made a awesone poll to consolidate Mercy feedback. Hereâs the links:
Poll
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKQHaHhrh7WtEWKm5EQgk8hUu-QEbEhH8iaBPiYhyZd270jw/viewformAnswers
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKQHaHhrh7WtEWKm5EQgk8hUu-QEbEhH8iaBPiYhyZd270jw/viewanalyticsDispelling a Myth - Mercy 1.0
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/dispelling-a-myth-mercy-1-0/176446THE INCONSISTENCY IN HANDLING MERCY: HER DAMAGE BUFF âBUG FIXâ
A user by the name of, Brawl made a post that highlights the inconsistency in Mercyâs most recent nerf. Iâll be linking it here as the points he made were pretty good:
Link
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/the-inconsistency-in-handling-mercy-her-damage-buff-bug-fix/177476Blizzard wonât remove ResurrectâŚ
Link
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/to-those-suggesting-to-remove-resurrect-from-the-game/179205