I currently read in a thread that people were told to adapt after reworks of their hero. And they usually did. But unlike the Roadhog or D.VA reworks the Mercy community failed to do so. And I want to point out why that is the case.
No one likes the hero they have come to love changed. Mercy players were furious about it but after new Mercy was implemented they became less vocal. Because the new Mercy was pretty impacful and had a lot going for her. Let’s put the balance part aside for now. We all now how that went.
So the horrendously overpowered Mercy needed tweaking and it was clear what the cause of this was. Resurrection is just too good of an ability. So Blizzard decided to nerf it. And this is where the trouble began.
It is not the fact that they nerfed it but how they did it. They implemented a non-fun mechanic to it.
Unlike many people have stated fun is not entirely subjective. There are objective things that are fun and Blizz usually does a neat job of polishing them. Fun parts in Overwatch are winning over an enemy by outskilling them (headshot, deflecting an ult, booping someone off the map) or outstrategizing them (Ult combos, baiting, turrets and traps).
There may be people here that enjoy dying to an enemy but I bet they are very rare. Why? Losing against someone doesn’t feel great. Getting benched and unable to do anything while others get to play feels like a punishment. Quite similar to this feels standing still for 2 seconds hoping you don’t die. Even worse when you actually die. The current resurrection has an objectively unfun mechanic. Even worse is the fact that someone else made the mistake that created the situation.
So it feels like you get punished for someone else. It was a bad move on Blizzards part and I am still baffled they did it.
This was of course not that much of a problem as Mercy at that point still had the fast res in Valkyrie. But it just went worse from there and the frustration on the constant nerfs is fueled by the bad feeling playing Mercy induces.
Mercy does not need a revert but Blizzard needs to get rid of the Resurrection cast time and find something different to balance it.
tl; dr: Mercy’s res has an unfun mechanic that needs to go. Reasons are in cursive above.
But this was the problem. Fast rezzing someone when you can fly around faster than mostly everyone, and have your regen on is not the easiest thing to counter. While I don’t like cast time, I don’t exactly agree with this.
it went wrong on feb 2017 when they introduced invulnerability during rez, this created max rez with little counter play, they then attempted to ‘fix’ it with the glorious rework. rez was fine like it was at launch, good rez usage was getting 2/3 rez and swing momentum back to your side not hiding and getting 5 man and dying, they should just left as it was and added an E ability to her kit instead.
I’m sympathize with Mercy players, and i too agree the rework was a failure.
But being as far as agreeing the Hog rework was sucessful and we “adapted” is too much for me. We just stop complaining because far less people care about Roadhog than Mercy.
No need to agree. But there are possibilities to make rezzing more dependent on the Mercy players skill than expecting them to have future sight. Here is an idea that i had:
Charge-up Resurrection: Rez needs to be channeled for 2 seconds before it can be released. When pressing “E” Mercy starts the channeling and it can be released anytime but will only take effect when it was channeled at least 2 seconds. Mercy can hold the charge for 5 seconds overall. If there is no target in range or it is released before the 2 seconds are done the rez will fail and go on a cooldown. Mercy can not use any abilities while channeling and can not fly but retains full walking speed (and ability to crouch). She also glows to alert the enemies and her own team that she will res.
This would leave Mercy in full control over the res and while it might be somewhat harder to counter it takes her out of the fight longer too. It could be further tweaked but should still be able to allow counterplay.
While I believe the old Mercy could have been changed to be fair and balanced I too believe this to be the case for the rework.
I don’t think I said that. Hog is in quite a bad spot right now (I was a bit shocked when I saw his winrates). But he still has the satisfying mechanic to pull someone in and put a load in his face (I speak of bullets, just making sure).
I’d like to hear your poinion on that it would be offtopic.
I’m sorry for Roadhog. I feel bad for any F-tier heroes atm. I wish we got more balance updates every 2 weeks just how riot does their balancing. We need a larger pool of heroes not 1 every 4 months that will help with balancing and diversifying pickrates.
Currently Mercy just feels wrong. Her playstyle changed pre-rework from being very team oriented, with the use of Resurrect keeping the momentum of the fight going and how she had her weaknesses visible and easy to counter. To Valkyrie where it promotes being selfish, using your ultimate to escape/battle off flankers, using your whole kit to pocket and benefit 1 person. Becoming a niche pocket pick and not a main healer.