Should the Next Support be a "pure support"?

They could use something from that old thread.

Personally I’d like one that did something like

Instantly cleanses all CC and makes target immune to CC for 1.5 seconds. If the target uses any ability, does any damage, or is healed the effect immediately ends.

It would have to have a fairly substantial cooldown to not completely invalidate the CC heroes.

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That’s fair, I don’t want to shut down cc heroes entirely any more than I want to be shut down by them in the first place.

So you’re saying the game needs another sidekick type?

I like it, but how would we convince players that they want to play that Hero?

What kind of support would you be interested in playing? I see no reason not to expand the discussion to other design types that players are interested in.

Thanks for linking a topic full of ideas :slight_smile:

I don’t trust cleanse tho.

Technically, what im saying is that there’s a good amount of supports that appeal across roles, so i think there ought to be topics about what support mains would like to see in a future hero designed 100% for support mains.

If i actually tried playing a “pure support” like Mercy, i would crash and burn.

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Yeah, teleportation to allies regardless of where they are like Muriel from Paragon (rip). Echo could fill that role nicely since she’s a carbon copy of her.

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Me either, especially since I main one. I modified that cleanse idea from a skill in an MMO I played.

I think it could work here as long as it broke the second the player tried to do anything but move to safety, and had a long CD.

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I enjoy all of them, except Mercy and Ana really. I didnt take to Bap at first, but I quite like him now. I’d like to see a damage mitigation Support as we have now 3 or 4 ‘Main’ Supports.

Main - Ana, Bap, Moira, Mercy.
Off - Lucio, Zen, Brig

Something where the Hero functions in a reverse Zarya, as a Tank/Support Hybrid, with minimal damage, but mitigation like a damage decreasing bubble/aura, that leads to healing output.

Problem is, without 2-2-2 I dont think we can get more unique design’s without breaking the game further.

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Not true, it just means that the next supports should enable dps instead of tanks.

That sounds really cool, all about timing.

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No, supports should never be just pure supports because then people run into the problem mercy mains are facing rn, their hero is not fun.

I had an idea of a sort of reverse-armor mechanic that I imagined for a new kind of tank, but it could work for a support as well I suppose. Basically you would apply a debuff to an enemy that would temporarily reduce the damage of their attacks, making the end result be similar to as if everyone the enemy attacked was wearing armor. (Although it would probably be a flat percentage reduction rather than taking off a few damage points, because otherwise it wouldn’t affect all attacks equally).

I really do want to look more into new forms of damage mitigation, i’m just not sure how best to implement them and which classes to give them to.

We can agree to disagree on this.

When tanks ARE able to do meaningful damage, we are at the point where Support stacking + highest health + Ults which are controlling (Shatter/Grav) lead to a meta like this.

Supports will enable those who have the most health.

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I got all into a ‘void’ hero. My Tank/Support hybrid that absorbed the damage, and based on that could infuse their allies with health.

They essentially body blocked damage, had short range, and an intercept like ability so they could ‘dash’ to their allies, closer to a Genji dash, than a Mercy GA.

EDIT: The aura they had would slow enemies, as a counter to Lucio Speed, and the damage mitigation would also be in an aura…but it quickly went off the rails. :smiley:

I never really settled on a weapon though. :smile:

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The devs could use what they’ve learned balancing Mercy, and player feedback, to make a really fun new support. If not one like Mercy, what kind of support would you want instead?

I wonder how that would effect GOATS? They’d never take it off the Zarya.

Doesn’t Mercy not work at all in GOATS though? Besides, a new support could counter GOATS instead of enabling it since supports are so strong and have so much impact over the meta. Whatever, i guess thats not what this topic is about, but I don’t think more supports = more 3-3.

Blackbeard for hero 32.

I can guarantee they will never add a pure support ala Mercy because not only would they be just as boring, it would never get the playerbase that Mercy has. Mercy used to be the only main healer period so she was used and people loved her and have stuck to her, but releasing another hero like that would end in utter failure.

So, I can guarantee it will not happen, every support they end up adding will have some way to do damage and defend themselves.

Im kinda working under the assumption that Mercy players especially would love a new support that doesn’t shoot. If thats not what players want, then i hope this topic uncovers what they really want for new supports. What wouldn’t be boring for you?

My idea was basically:

  1. A low-damage aoe pulse that knocked people away in all directions (trying to make space without being a Rein/Orisa clone)

  2. The anti-armor “weapon sabotage” that would make it safer for squishies to operate without necessarily having to stack burst healers

  3. A smaller version of Sym’s old photon barrier. Like frisbee sized. After the first two abilities I realized my tank concept was pretty great for close range, but kinda useless against snipers. So I figured I’d give him a small flying shield that could be aimed at a sniper so that they’d either have to break it, wait for it to despawn, or move to another position. Not as strong as a proper anchor tank’s barrier, but able to buy enough time for their teammates to get to safer ground.

The main problem I ran into is the inconsistent ability to body-block, and the fact that nobody likes CC.

Your anti-Lucio idea sounds really fun, but it might suffer from some of the same problems as my idea, namely that no one is going to want to be on the receiving end of it :stuck_out_tongue:

The idea was mostly to create more variety in the tank line-up, while also making dps more viable, ultimately providing more alternatives to GOATS without actually enforcing the 2-2-2.

As for keeping it on zarya… I hadn’t worked out cooldowns and numbers yet, but I don’t honestly think it would keep a good zarya down too much. Low charge zarya would be like Winston’s tickle gun, but a full charge damage-suppressed zarya might be equivalent to a 75% charged normal zarya: still scary, just not quite as scary as before.

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a support that can boost the ultimate charge, that can provide teammates with debuff removal, a support that needs aim to heal. A support that can contribute to a teamfight with dmg input, not just supportive abilities. Every other support can secure a kill outside of their ult and therefor contribute to the primary objective of this game. Mercy is a very passive hero in an active game, no wonder people are bored of her.

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Mercy is fun as hell, you have to be really bad at movement if you or anyone else thinks she’s boring.

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I personally despise the idea of more pacifist-esque supports.
Should they ever be meta, then you can sure as hell count me out as a support player. Mercy sure did when she was meta.
I didn’t buy a fps to be running away from everyone, and not actually get to shoot back. Healers that exclusively focus on healing definitely have a place in MMORPG’s, but i just don’t think they fit in an action shooter like Overwatch too well.

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I feel like a “pure Support” would be someone who doesn’t attack at all, because they exchange damage for incredibly high healing output.


Cheers,
~ PyroPanda