The Dodo Mercy Rework v1

General Discussion
1

link to newer v2 rework thread: The Dodo Compromise Mercy Rework v2

This is a suggestion that I believe will keep Mercy players who are already happy with her current state happy, while appeasing or possibly even pleasing some (but not all) of those who are unhappy with her current state. I am not pushing for this change, as I like Mercy as she is now, but I wouldnt be opposed to it

Blizzard/Devs: I take no credit for this suggestion and you are free to use it in part or full if you wish without any fear of claims from me for credit or compensation of any sort. I fully release you here and now from any such liability whatsoever

If you are a Mercy player who is unhappy with Mercy for one or more of the following reasons, you may find some value in this proposal

In no particular order of importance:

  1. I would prefer that rez be removed from Mercy altogether
  2. I dont like my movement being slowed when using Mercy’s cooldown ability
  3. I dont find Valkyrie to be engaging enough, it is spectator mode for me
  4. I want Mercy to have some form of burst healing
  5. I want Mercy to be able to heal someone at a much higher rate (higher than the current 60) when in Valkyrie mode

The changes I am suggesting below would require animation changes and ergo would be a rework rather than a simple buff/nerf. Though both changes could be released separately, I personally think it would be best if they are packaged together in a single rework

Any aspect of Mercy not mentioned/addressed below remains as it is, unchanged

Change 1: #BigMainLittleChains

This change provides some relief to those players who identify with complaints 3, 4, and/or 5 above

I cover this a bit more extensively in a thread of its own (linked at the end of this post), and there is some good commentary there as well

Essentially, in Valkyrie mode only, the main beam from the staff heals (or damage boost) at a greater rate, while the chains heal (or damage boost) at a lower rate

I suggest healing be 80main/40chain, while damage boost be 35main/25chain, but these numbers can be changed as Blizzard deems fit until acceptably balanced, as long as the main beam remains significantly stronger than the chains

This will encourage the Mercy player to prioritize the target of the main beam to whoever the player feels is in the greatest need of it - this also relates to the “beam juggling” skill that many Mercy mains speak of, a skill that doesnt come into play nearly as much when every teammate in the vicinity is getting the identical treatment via the current version of Valkyrie

Change 2: Invigorate

This change provides some relief to those players who identify with complaints 1, 2, and/or 4 above

Essentially, the resurrect cooldown ability is renamed to Invigorate (or it could be Revitalize, or Revive, or some other name that would represent the ability well); and the renamed ability can be used on a LIVING target -OR- a DEAD target (soul marker?), at the choice of the given Mercy player. If used on a dead target, it would work exactly as rez does now. If used on a living target, it would a) not cause a reduction in the players movement speed, and b) would cause a short lived healing “explosion” (strongest effect on the targeted individual, lesser effects the further away one is from the targeted individual), with a strength best determined by the devs, though I’d suggest around 200-300 on the target, ie roughly the same number of HPs restored by a rez on a DPS character. Strength of this effect can be adjusted for balance in many ways (radius, duration, max effect, etc) until a satifactory balance is achieved

Those who want rez removed entirely might say that this doesnt remove rez, which is true. That said, with this change, a player that feels this way can get value out of the cooldown ability without ever using rez - effectively removing it from their game without removing it from everyone’s game

Other QOL changes

I’d like to see targeting for GA to be a bit more forgiving, so one can get to that widow teammate on a high ledge who just wont come to the edge so Mercy can GA to her

I’d like to see the existing beam if any remain attached when Mercy starts Valkyrie

I openly acknowledge that doesnt provide much (if any) relief for the many players whose main (or only) concern is getting mass rez back.

I also openly acknowledge that doesnt provide much (if any) relief for the many players whose main (or only) concern is having a ultimate that offsets/negates an enemy ultimate

All comments/criticism/input is welcomed

EDIT 1: Is this a buff or a nerf? I see this set of changes as being a buff in some ways and a nerf in others. If one does the math on healing 80main/40 chains and assuming 5 teammates, the total potential healing is lesser than 60/60, yet generally not all teammates are being hit equally as hard, and as such I think the real healing will generally be higher, especially with proper juggling of beams. The options with Invigorate make the cooldown slot quite a bit more versatile, but I dont think healing is greater than rez. YMMV. I can say I dont intend this set of changes to be a buff or a nerf overall; and if it is felt that it is, the numbers for each change can certainly be raised or lowered until it is neither

the old thread discussing #BigMainLittleChains:

36 Likes
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They can start with just fixing her bugs - I’m damn tired of the faulty targeting behind walls and sometimes flying forward instead upwards to my target.

Not holding my breath for these fixes though.

15 Likes
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It took almost 2 years for them to even fix Mei’s cyrofreeze bug when she can cleanse herself.

And they still havent fixed Syms tp bug.

So…yeah.

2 Likes
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Bugfixes are generally good regardless of how a given character is defined

5

One of the better Mercy rework posts I’ve seen.

I agree with this one, but I also don’t really mind it still being in the game.

I actually have no issue with this. I would like less slowdown, but I think it works as-is. If 1. goes through though then this wouldn’t matter.

I don’t agree with this, but it is necessarily subjective and opinion based. I will agree that you can spend a decent amount of time spectating though.

I’ve been on the fence with this one for awhile. If they were to add burst healing I would want it added to her Valkyrie for sure.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Lower how long it lasts and make it heal more for sure.

The only thing I would add to the QoL section would be to let us have two separate keybinds for Guardian Angel. Make it so we can bind a “prefers beam target” one and a “does not prefer beam target” one.

Make it so you can put both on one key if you want one key for both versions i.e. you prioritize beam target when you don’t have anyone else to look at.

I would prefer having two separate keys for two separate Guardian Angels though.

Of all Mercy changes this one is on the top of my list honestly.

Nice post in general, Megadodo, this is what I’ve come to expect though :wink:

3 Likes
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I think a burst heal is a flat buff to her. And it’s not really one I agree with in design. But I understand the process and logic behind the suggestion in the context of the post. I just personally believe mercy s Design doesn’t suit it
:woman_shrugging:t5:

1 Like
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thanks N7

just to be clear - the burst is an option that requires giving up a rez to use - its not in addition to rez, its a (optional) replacement for a given use of rez

I will add that I see rez in a sense as a huge burst heal - you were at 0 HP, now you’re at full. Oh, and you’re now alive, as well, as a bonus :slight_smile: So to me, it is just giving the Mercy player the option of a somewhat weaker area burst of healing instead of a more powerful single target “burst” that includes coming back to life

I see it necessarily being much weaker since the speed reduction that a LOT of anti-Mercys harp on as a big problem with this cooldown ability needed (I felt) to be gone to satisfy that issue for that segment of the unhappy group

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I get that. I have just never been one for Mercy to have a burst heal. A buff to her in terms of abilities I’m should be restricted to personal qol abilities to keep her in line with her consistent nature. Self shield, fortify, mini speed boost for only her…

I don’t agree with others that she needs a burst heal nor do I find it very fair. :tipping_hand_woman:t5:‍♀️

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N7: I slightly edited my response to you, please checkit over again

I dont think she needs burst either

…but…

given that she sorta kinda does have one already - albeit “usable only on dead person” - I didnt feel providing the option to use on a living target for weaker results would be much of a buff if a buff at all

2 Likes
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This is better than her current state, IMO, but I still am not entirely happy with it.

For Valkyrie, I’d really rather just have a single chain that heals for ~120 HPS (which is less than Moira’s 140 HPS). The problem is that 50 or even 80 HPS is less than what other main supports can do with just their standard healing, and even when distributed across a team, it’s going to have very little value against burst damage or enemy ultimates. 120 HPS single target helps inoculate valuable players against said burst damage or ultimates. Damage boost can probably be somewhere around 35%–not as high as Nano or Supercharger for obvious reasons. It would provide a much more definitive impact to Valkyrie.

For Invigorate, I think a better system would be to replace the current “one and done” system with a charge-based system akin to Tracer. You get two charges. You can either consume one charge to burst heal a target for some value (I’m not strongly opinionated, but in the ballpark of 75-100 HP, or perhaps a percentage-based value), or both charges on a dead ally to Resurrect them. Each charge takes 15 seconds to recharge, meaning a Resurrect still takes 30 seconds on cooldown, but the burst heal is more frequently available.

These changes would make it such that I don’t mind having Mercy on my team. Currently, and even with the changes you propose, I’d rather have an Ana or a Moira on my team more often than not.

2 Likes
11

I feel these are really good and well thought out suggestions. Really good post!

2 Likes
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For Option 2, I am having difficulty visualizing how that ability will play out if used on a live teammate. Is it something similar to Brig’s overheal? Help me out if I’m completely off the mark.

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Get rid of the beam length extension, it just means she can hide behind a house on the other side of the map.

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I’d agree with those changes if they remove the slowdown and counter it with maybe, 1.5x (45 secs) cooldown time for invigorate.

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Much appreciated

…but…

why are you addressing the 5 “ways one might be unhappy with Mercy that are addressed by the dodo rework” rather than the changes themselves?

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Overall I actually really like these changes.

I do have a question about Invigorate though. When used on a living target, would it still have its current cast time?

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Understood - I was going more for making folks “less unhappy” than “happy” if that makes sense, so I see this as at least a partial success with you, which is especially good since you and I tend to not see eye to eye on most things

Higher numbers would indeed be more impactful, but a very large but understated part of what is intended here is that players that already like/enjoy how Mercy works now (and this of course includes me) shouldnt see a lot of difference in how they play her now after the change. With this in mind, the chains had to stay, and the chains still had to provide consequential healing. I considered going as far as 90/30 as the extreme, but pulled it back to 80/40 for this proposal. For me, the success of this change would largely (but not solely) hinge on the same folks who like her as she is still liking her after the change

I get that, but…for Moira, she isnt usually hitting multiple targets simultaneously with the yellow spray, and it runs out, and for Ana, she’s only hitting one target at a time and even that is questionable because its much more likely that one misses with that healing than with the beam (main or chain) from Mercy’s staff.

I get that, but the 80 will help delay death more than 60 will, and in that extra second or two of time, the beleaguered teammate has a bit more time self heal, get to a healing pack, behind a shield, or into cover…or even kill the enemy that is beleaguering him

I dont see Valkyrie’s healing as defending (or even intending to defend) against enemy attack ultimates - even the 120 you suggest wouldnt save a teammate from DVa bomb, RipTire and the like. It is more about sustaining, and it is intended in this set of changes that it remain that way - again, a lot of us like a longer sustaining ultimate

Does this mean you are ok with the 35main/25 chain change?

If more frequently available, it’d have to imo be weaker by far, and the weaker this power is set, the less reason one has to give up the 50HPs/s one is already getting without using a cooldown ability.

As such, I believe it’d be better to get a “bigger bang” less frequently, tho YMMV.

I see Mercy as better in some scenarios (sniper-heavy teams, vertical teams, high mobility teams, vertical maps, etc) even without any changes, and certainly better than Ana specifically if the player playing support has poor aim. Mind you, I do like both of these two other characters, but I think Mercy has some applications they cant fill as well.

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Much appreciated…

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I didn’t realize how long the post was when I was replying and I actually didn’t have much to add on the changes themselves

BigMainLittleChains is an interesting idea, for sure, but I didn’t really have anything to add. I would like to test it out though

Invigorate is also interesting. I actually haven’t seen any suggestions like this. I think it’s a cool idea, but, again, I don’t have much to add. I would want to play-test it.
I would rather, of course, remove resurrection entirely.

I did have something to add to your QoL changes, though, so that’s why I “targeted” that in my post.

So, in short, I didn’t see the need to address them because I didn’t have much to add other than “I’d like to test this”

1 Like
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i agree

that looks promising

that’s not bad but i’m not crazy about it… i like it because it’s flexible and gives her burst healing and i don’t like it because the people you wanna burst heal are sometimes flankers and you usually don’t have LoS on them
I have a little idea of my own
what if her E ability was
“Life well”:
“sleep an enemy hero for 3 secs, restore them to full health and give them immunity while they are sleeping, heal every friendly hero for the amount of health that was restored to that enemy hero, after the 3 secs that enemy can choose to wake up and lose immunity or stay asleep if they choose to stay asleep for every extra second that they are sleeping they heal all of their teammates for 20 hp/sec up to 5 extra secs”