I know when I picked up Ana because I wanted to be a Zen/Ana player, and I’d be asked to switch.
“Go Moira, or go Mercy, useless Ana switch” no matter how much I heal, my tanks always wanted Moira/Mercy.
I remember watching steamers complaint and be toxic to their Ana, because she wasn’t Mercy
And literally 1 buff later there are threads popping up on how OP Ana is.
Lucio, can save entire team, Zen can save entire team, Mercy can chain heal and Rez, Brig can AoE heal and give armor, Moira can heal and damage at the same time.
Ana can save the life of 1 (one) tank and people cry about how OP she’s become.
Same reason Blizzard has been so careful with Sombra being meta.
The ability to shut something down for an extended period of time is just naturally really strong in a game like this. With Sombra, it’s abilities, with Ana, it’s healing.
Plenty of people complained about bio-nade before, but then Blizzard nerfed… her damage for some reason. Now that Ana’s got some damage back, plus a few extra buffs, plus the meta can work around her, the nade is back to being the complaint that was never actually addressed.
Maybe because they want to win? Don’t get me wrong , Ana is a great hero and really well-designed one but since year of Mercy meta and Ana being Throw pick - people aren’t really good at her. Maybe they forgot how to play her/with her/against her?
Like - Ana is really good at GM and Masters for a reason , but below Masters - people aren’t really skillful and since Ana requires a lot of skill ,it’s hard to play with her as teammates don’t pay much attention to the healers being flanked etc.
Plus, I think the recent changes put Ana and Lucio in a really good state , as if the devs wanted to force the meta.
As someone else said on the forums - the entire Support roaster is powercreeped and needs to be put in place so all healers can be equally balanced.
If you’re not a pro Ana, they don’t want you. But if you do even remotely well then that means Ana is op.
No, they first nerfed grenade in a few ways. Duration, range, heal buff percentage. Then they kicked her while she was down with a bs nerf that wasn’t deserved at all.
It’s not like the nade or hack have no counterplay. They are one of the best CCs and can be countered by shielding. Genji can deflect, dva can eat, zarya can wipe with bubble. Tough to counter hack, but can be done with a quick reaction.
This is more counterplay than many of the other CCs in this game currently
I think it’s because most people who try to play Ana are bad at Ana. Her being suddenly meta doesn’t make people who never played her good at her. There’s a noticeable drop in consistent healing if your Ana isn’t making most of her shots.
It’s not exclusive to Ana only. Meta heroes are always hated. Take for example Hanzo a hero that was trash tier for 2 years. As soon he became meta you started to see the anti Hanzo topics.
I think that the problem is that biotic grenade-- the original problem-- was never solved with Ana’s nerfs before. She was smashed outside of that ability-- and now that she’s back, it’s back to being an issue.
EVERYONE wanted the ability nerfed but it was barely touched in comparison to the rest of her kit. They nerfed her damage and other things instead.
The only Mercy-related thread I’ve seen to Ana was titled:
‘So it’s okay for Ana to be meta but not Mercy?’
I don’t agree with that sentiment-- it’s the only negative one I’ve seen in relation to Mercy. Most Mercy profiles seem happy that Ana is getting her claim to fame.
People never like anything meta because it means whatever strengths the character has that is making them powerful is something they get exposed to. Since there are so few supports their pick-rates automatically get exacerbated, more clearly pushing one ahead of the other.
Ana has a fun kit that, when played right, can completely shut down members of the other team. Of course people are going to cry about this.