Oh ok, I think I see what you’re saying now. I also think its a little nitpicky and doesn’t take away from the main point of OP’s post, but whatever. We can move past this now.
I mean, he still feels slightly too “gunnish” for my taste personally, but like I said before, he’s definitely a step in the right direction.
Moira and Brig literally need to do damage to get their most consistent healing up, whereas Bap is a step back towards the Ana direction of having good dps AND good healing, while not having the latter intrinsically linked to the former. (He’s got a strong gun, but his healing is in no way dependent on attacking)
The next step would (arguably) be to trade in a big primary weapon for a weaker weapon and a greater focus on a support-oriented utility of some sort.
Before Bap it seemed like we were going in a dangerous hybrid-direction, but Bap is a good change of pace and if they continue in this new direction then everything should be fine.
So in the spirit of the post, I’ve made the junker healer.
Tell me what you think. It is a more pure MMO style healer, resource juggling, target being important, good at saving people, pretty bad at attack. No long cooldown abilities.
Very light touch on the CC, (an area restricting one, but, no stun, or silence, so it doesn’t stop you playing your hero)
Sorry, i have night classes (let out early today) so i had to skip out for a while.
I’m not trying to say that the new supports were specifically tailored to draw in players from other roles. I think i remember Jeff actually saying that Brig was in fact meant to, among a host of other things, appeal to support AND tank players but i’d rather not try to dig up two year old interviews about Ana. My point was more that between Ana and Baptiste’s guns, Moira’s damage requirement, and Brigitte’s shield; it seems like all the new supports drift away from the idea of a “pure support” so i wanted to explore whether the support main community wants more pure supports like Mercy or more combat or hybrid supports, as well as what support mains want in a new healer in general. Do you have any insights on such quandaries?
People simply don’t mean Moira when they say pure support because she NEEDS to do damage. They mean Mercy and theoretical supports like her. If the term doesn’t make sense to you, thats ok, a lot of gamer lingo doesn’t make sense. Are you a support main and what kind of support would you like to see next?
No. They need to release a real DPS hybrid like Zen or Lucio… But hitscan. It basically should have been Baptiste but they fell into the same pitfalls they did with Ana. It is not going to appeal to us unless we can shoot and heal at the same time. What is so hard to understand about that. Paladins gets it.
Thats a good point, we have yet to see a fully automatic main healer. I do like how Baptiste does it though, but i can understand wanting the ultimate tofurkey main support as someone who is repelled by pure supports as well.
I would love a “pacifist” off healer, a multitasker of utility and a bit of healing.
I want a hero that is ALL micromanaging. Micromanaging to the point where the hero is very obviously 3 star, without relying on mechanics. That is my dream hero, ever since my second season into the game.
Juggling multiple types of single-target utility with a bit of healing, and multiple layers of resource and cooldown management. I need it.
I want a hero whose main job is to support the team; damage is only ever an afterthought. These are what I would call “pure supports”. Supports that only do damage when there’s no healing to be done.
Just like Ana. And Bap. And Moira however, I’d rather not have a beam.
I don’t agree that supports are being made to appeal to dps players. Nothing appealing about Moira or Brig to a DPS. I can perhaps see a point there for Bap, considering his damage is so reliable and regular, but not for the other additions.
To heal, you need to do damage as either of them. Moira even has the dps Moira playstyle. I’m not saying that them, or Ana or Baptiste, were made solely to attract dps (or tank) players, just that its been since launch since we got a support that doesn’t either need to harm to heal or heals with a gun.
I guess i used language like “apeal to” because thats been my experience as someone who is basically allergic to Mercy, its like every new support helps ease players like myself into the role.
Someone replied earlier that the new supports are cool, but feel like they are at least partially mimicing other roles.
That being said, if we actually got a Mercy style pure support, i probably would be just as terrible with them as with Mercy.
So you really like shoot to heal supports? Got a weapon for healing and hurting you want to see in game? I already got my healing grenades, so I’m good.
What I need in a support is mobility, mobility, mobility. I have played a ton of Lucio and enjoy his playstyle the most. Baptiste, Zen and Ana are all great but they have no mobility and unless you are really mechanically skilled or helped by teammates, get ruthlessly farmed by flankers. I’m playing a lot of Baptiste at the moment and his rocket boots badly need a buff as they feel clunky and are a poor escape tool. DPS simply bait out your invincibility field wait 10 seconds than attack you from behind and with their superior movement/weapons, he doesn’t stand a chance.
Yes, please, do that, introduce a pure support, that’s what I’ve been saying ever since the Mercy nerfs started. If you want an effective support that people enjoy and can rely on and if you don’t want Mercy or some other must-pick hero of the month be on literally every team then please, give us a playable, likable, pure support hero that the team can feel confident when I pick.
Who would play that hero?
Well, support mains like me. The people who like healing and helping their teammates. I don’t want a healer flavored DPS next, I want a true primary support.
Maybe because Mercy is only pure support, and other are just DPS/Support hydrids
I would like a pure support, but Blizzard seems to hate “heal bots” and love these hydrids who likes just supporting team, without firing at enemy, right ?
Mercy is pretty good right now, and i don’t think all the nerfs she has received to get to this point were at all unfair.
I also don’t think it automatically means the next pure support would receive lots of nerfs just because Mercy did, thats like saying Rein is buggy, so Winston also automatically has bugs.
I just don’t think Mercy’s balance history would reflect much on a new pure support if one was added. If anything, the dev team should at least be better at balancing that archetype than they were before.
IF the dev team could balance a new pure support, would you want one, or would you want a different kind of healer?