Hi Jeff, hey Overwatch Team. Xavvy here.
Regarding this statement made two months ago…
We have no plans to revert Mercy. We also feel like she’s not in a horrible place or unplayable.
It’s still to be determined if she is exactly where she should be because it has been too soon and the dust needs to settle. Her playtime in QP and Comp is still incredibly high. Her winrate is still above 50% but more in line with what we’d expect.
But I’d like to put the notion that Mercy is going to be reverted to rest.
Also, we don’t agree with the statement that all supports are weak. Support heroes are extremely powerful and impactful in OW.
If you would allow, I would please like to take the time to address the elephant in the room.
During this dev update in august, the notion was that this new Ultimate was to make her quote “feel a lot more engaging to play than standing around the corner, hiding, waiting for that moment to press the Ultimate.” Marked here:
Well, fast forward 5 months later…
Where the nerfs were first being introduced to “tone down her resurrect and make her more manageable in her Valkyrie state.”
Since then, we’ve observed 7 additional nerfs in this effort to make her more manageable, but yet in pro play, she is still continuing to climb in pick rates, and (dare I say once again) surpassing Zen to be once again, the most popular healer in the OWL.
Do you think we will experience even more nerfs for the hero to lower these pick rates? Or do you think that we should consider other alternatives to make her engaging, yet not the must-pick hero across high levels of play?
After the previous nerfs have done very little to hinder her climbing slowly back into must-pick territory (at least in the OWL) . I can’t speak for all Mercy mains of course, but I do think that it’s becoming a bit of a concern with it most likely stemming from having her Ultimate as an E-move.
That being said, and TL;DR, with her pick-rates climbing once again despite all the nerfing, what are the odds of taking a different angle? Incorporating some elements of her when she didn’t have such high pickrates, and balancing that version of her to fit in with her current patch? Would you now consider a Revert? Or will we continue to see her climb back up to must-pick status?
~Sincerely Yours xoxo,
a Lover of True, Fair, and Fun Balance.
xavvypls 