Why Does Ana Exist? (Ana-Main Rant)

General Discussion
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Alright, so I have to come and say this.

Ana.

She’s the quote on quote, “the most difficult healer in the game”.

But let’s be honest with ourselves…how much of her is actual difficulty vs. things that she and only she has to deal with as a Support?

  1. Teammates can screw up her healing by eating up shots meant for low-health teammates. (As of the most recent PTR Patch on May 3rd, 2018 this will soon be a non-issue.)
  2. Teammates can screw up Sleep Dart by coughing in the general direction of the slept target (D.Va) or by shooting the target but stupidly not aiming for a one-hit kill (everyone else).
  3. Ana has to literally sacrifice her only form of self-sustain (Biotic Grenade) in order to either A) heal her teammates or B) deny healing from the enemy team. If she wants to heal herself & her teammates, she’ll have to sacrifice her positioning to do so.
  4. Nano Boost is 100% dependant on the person who’s been boosted with no benefits to Ana or her entire team whatsoever (By this, I mean that it’s single target and Ana does NOT gain any regen, buffs or self-sustain when it’s casted). If someone is using Tactical Visor or Dragonblade, those two ultimates are what actually makes the game-changing plays, Nano Boost just makes it easier for them to do what they already accomplish in the first place.
  5. She’s the only Support that has no way of circumventing barriers blocking her healing as she doesn’t have a lingering effect on her healing when out of LoS (Brigitte, Lucio, Mercy & Zenyatta), mobility to move around the barrier (Lucio, Mercy & Moira) or healing that goes through barriers (Moira, though that may or may not change in the future).
  6. She’s the only Support who has to work outside of her initial design/distance in order to be consistent with her healing.

…but she’s got long-distance healing and awesome utility!

…Except they’re both on long cooldowns and are completely tied to her own self-sustain, not to mention that her kit is not tailored for long distances considering that both Sleep Dart & Biotic Grenade are slow-moving projectiles.

So tell me…why is Ana’s difficulty tied so much to her teammates not screwing up her kit?

What does she bring to a team that can’t be done with a health pack?

Why is she so difficult with absolutely no rewards whatsoever?

Why create a hero to be difficult but make them extremely niche and then have them be mediocre in their own niche?

Why even have her in the game if she can’t perform the basic requirements of a healer at a satisfactory level?

Why is she even a sniper when she can’t even perform the basic functions of a sniper?

Why is she even a healer when she can’t even perform the basic functions of a healer?

Why even have her in lore if her only purpose within the plot is to be a martyr and Pharah’s mother?

You know what Ana’s role in the Support category is? Benchwarmer.

Ana is like Thanos Pre-Infinity War, she sits down in her chair and waits until the perfect time for when she can showcase her strength…

…Except for that time never comes!

She was freaking Hawkeye-levels of strength back in Season 3! (Before you guys start flaming me, I play her on Console.)

Console players told everyone that if Ana was nerfed on Console, she was literally going to have a heart attack on the spot and DIE…but of course, we got the nerfs anyway, because REASONS!

Boy that 2.02% Pick-Rate & that 43.58% Win-Rate sure does look GREAT right now!

…but hey, at least it’s not a 38.66% Win-Rate like how it was beforehand am I right!!!

*sigh *

Look, I love Ana.

…she was the hero who I bought my first golden gun for and the first hero that I put 150% of my effort into trying (and failing) to master.

I think I speak for a lot of Ana-Mains when I say that it’s absolutely demoralizing to struggle so hard on Ana only to switch to Mercy & Moira and have everything become such a breeze.

There’s no worse feeling in the world knowing that you spent so much time and effort into something just to find out that all of that time spent was meaningless and that the outcome of your dedication was more or less irrelevant.

Maybe I’m just bad and I’m better off playing another hero, which in that case, it might be wise.

…but its tiring.

It’s almost as if playing Ana is symbolic in which someone realizes the futility in trying to repair a collapsing bridge without dying, only to succumb to their fate.

With every Meteor Strike crushing her bones…

…Biotic Orbs killing her through the war of attrition…

…Giant gorillas electrocuting her with a weapon clearly not allowed by the laws of the Geneva Convention…

…Korean teenagers that laugh at how helpless Ana is as she gets run over by a 2,000 lb mech…

…I can’t help but wonder if our favorite elderly sniper would have been better off staying retired and never getting back into the field.

TLDR: I’m fed up of Ana’s mediocrity and felt the need to vent on the forums because I have no life.

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It’s really sad what’s happened to her and Blizz doesn’t seem to care. Nowadays you shouldn’t pick Ana for healing. You pick her for the utility. Her sleep dart and biotic grenade are her only saving grace. They will wreck an enemy team if you’re on point with them.

Though I will always applaud Blizz for at least coming up with one support that takes all skills and not just awareness and positioning. (Moira & Mercy). Dive dying out will help her big time and I think that day is soon coming.

The only real buff I think she needs is a 4 second cooldown reduction on both her abilities and she needs health regen like everyone else.

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hugs Epsilon

:heart:️

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I don’t want to immediately jump to conclusions and say that Blizzard doesn’t care about her, but it’s really sucking out here on these one-eyed streets

With that in mind, with how long of a cooldown Ana’s utility is on, not to mention how hit or miss they are, it’s not really worth the risk trying to rely on Ana’s utility.

Something needs to be done, but I just felt like I needed to get these feelings off my chest due to how frustrated I’ve felt about her as of late.

Thank you for the hugs, they are appreciated.

I just came off of a particularly bad game on a not so great night.

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She has lots of problems but the biggest is still probably dive comps. Tracer and Genji aren’t her problems, it’s D.Va and Winston.

If we see a Brigitte triple tank/support meta I think Ana will be an excellent counter with her anti-heal.

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How would you feel about buffing her where she gets a headshot on her teammate it’s does double the healing

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How about we add in the fact that playing her means playing as hero that fires at two different rates, so you either have to hitscan or use projectiles. I honestly find it infuriating that somehow this sniper rifle fires more slowly from the hip. What, does she flip a switch and set the rifle to slow mode or something? It makes life hell when both your abilities to protect yourself are slow moving as well as your hip firing, meaning almost any DPS up in your face will easily kill you.

I suggested a while back that if a teammate walks in front of you with full health, that the shot should travel through to the next target instead, whether it be another teammate or an enemy on the other side. I’d also like it if I could toggle a far throw, meaning that when I launch my grenade far, it won’t be impeded by a stupid teammate who walked in front of me right at that moment.

Speaking of impeding teammates, how about when you’re about to nano boost someone, and another teammate blunders into the path? I’d love it if I could press Q, tap on the hero I want to boost, and if the right person is toggled, press Q again to activate.

Personally, I’d love it if they removed all aspects of projectile fire from her kit, but they’ll never do that. But good lord, give her some mobility. Give her some change to escape, and some chance to get up high where she can be a more effective sniper.

I mean, how embarrassing is it that her introduction video has her sitting on top of the Anubis Temple, when in game she can never get up there?

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Blizzard thought Ana was too powerful because she could 1v1 other people and sustain pretty well. Well now, Moira can sustain better than she ever could and 1v1 very well.

This is not a jab at Moira by the way. It’s just that Ana is so far behind other healers at this point.

I don’t know what Blizz is thinking leaving her and Rein behind. Afraid of a tank meta? What tank meta? It’s been dive even after Reaper, Doomfist, Junkrat, and Mei buffs. And Moira can heal tanks better than she can. Brigitte can 1v1 better than she can. It honestly infuriates me how much they don’t give a crap about her. And I’m losing interest in the game because of it on my main.

Edit: Anyways, you hit the nail on the head. It just sucks. Why does she exist given the options.

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I’m bookmarking this for the reason that you explained everything wrong with her very very well. Probably the best I’ve seen and if I could like twice, I would. I can only hope Blizzard reads this and acts onto this.

Let’s also hope this thread doesn’t get buried.

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Woof. Long post. I play Ana a ridiculous amount… Prolly enough to be called a main. So I can understand a lot of your points. However, a few I do take problem with.

In particular, I think 3 isn’t really on the nose. A good grenade toss is used to do both, rather than one only unless you’re really trying to deny some healing or your team badly needs it.

  1. Nanoboost does depend a lot on the person whos boosted, but not 100%. Part of that is timing and what you want out of it. Do you want a stronger DPS ult? Then its great for improving them. Do you want to help someone build ult faster? Then its also great for that.

  2. She can work in both ranges honestly, but the further you are the better you need to be to land her abilities. The bigger problem is mostly shes a sniper with zero way to get to her ideal range. Don’t forget, you can zoom in to make her normal shots be hitscan.

As for performing basically as a sniper or healer? She can do both quite well. While its frustraiting to need to go around your teammates, she can work just fine with practice.

ALso, in regards to tanks and DFs running her… Learn to land your sleep dart reliably. They’re big targets that are fairly easy to hit.

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cuz nano blade is the true love.

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I completely agree with all of your points. I am sad because recently there are so much Ana posts and no official answers.
I love that hero but really there is no reason to play her right now…

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When I switched from Ana to Moira as my support flex hero, the difference was day and night. I had games where I did 20k+ healing, while with Ana it would be a really good game if I broke the 10k barrier.

I don’t mind the aim requirements, I can actually aim since I main Widow. The problem is, there isn’t much reward over no aim healing spray. Ana does 90 HPS without nade, and Moira does 80 HPS without orb. For a measly sacrifice of 10 HPS, I get group healing over single target, at a much higher consistency. You won’t even get 90 HPS most of the time any way unless you are shooting a Rein standing still for you.

Survivability also is a huge factor. For once, flankers are actually AFRAID of me. You won’t be bothered much by Genji unless he sees the perfect opportunity once in a blue moon. And if it doesn’t look alright? Fade away and you’re out. It’s even on a 6 second CD. Fade on cooldown? Actually fighting sustains your health while damaging, until you get it back.

It is literally HALF of the cooldown of sleep dart, Ana’s skillshot that she has to absolutely land if she wishes to live. And any one of your brainless chimps of teammates can just erase that effort. I had a Pharah shoot a raging Winston so he can continue to pummel me around like a tennis ball. I had a D.Va sneeze at a blading Genji so he can continue to slice my throat. I slept a Tracer that was harrassing our Zen. Zen actually looked in relief at the sleeping body of Tracer for a second, then shot her in the body with a left click. All of this didn’t exist with Moira since I can just whoosh out of trouble and don’t have a care in the world.

It isn’t about aim at this point, I said that earlier. I would dare say that even an Ana with an aimbot hack is still a worse pick than Mercy or Moira, and it’s all simply because playing Ana is like trying to win a car race with a unicycle with how her kit is right now.

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Play another healer. Noone’s forced you to play her. She’s there just like Sym/Torb, a bad pick. If you can sleep dart a dragonblading Genji like Ryu, good; but isn’t it easier to just discord and transcendence when he goes for it? Ana is still a good healer for tank heavy comps with Rein and Zarya, but you can self-sustain way more effectively with Moira; so why not? And in the end, not every hero should be viable, that’s how things work. And I’m glad she doesn’t have that crazy healing she had before; because you don’t even need skill to land unscopped shots on big tanks.

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Blizzard thinks cyclical balance = balance

Ana used to be very, very good. She had her “turn”, so to speak. Now she gets to be very, very bad for a turn.

Eventually, she will be raised out of the dumpster. It won’t be any time soon though, because Brigette is getting released into competitive and Ana won’t be allowed to outshine her.

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Being a McCree main, Ana was the perfect support for me as my aim could carry over in every aspect of her kit outside of biotic nade. The state she’s in now, I just can’t justify to my team picking her over any of the other supports I can fill/flex with. It sucks to see a character fall so far simply because Blizzard are borderline incompetent as developers…

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ana right now is between a rock and a hard place.

Rock being the fact that she’s either good at healing tanks or not good at all.

Hard place being the fact that mercy can do everything she can, but better.

So it’ll take a change to mercy for her to come back. Because blizzard won’t buff her to become a tank healer, EVER AGAIN.

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The one thing I do not like about Moira’s design is she gets so much value and sustain with such significantly less effort compare to Ana, like if we get another tank heavy meta Moira will definitely be the main healer for them and not Ana

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I agree with pretty much a lot of thing that you say. But I don’t agree on the nanoboost point. The nanoboost is Fine, it’s not 100% dependent on your teammates. As ribbon already said it very well, the nanoboost efficiency finds its value on the timing. If you nanoboost a complete noob soldier, but who has his ult, and if you anticipate the moment when he’ll activate his ult, even him will make a difference in the outcome of the game. But you don’t play overwatch to stay in low ranks with noob soldiers do you?

No, I think that ONE thing can completely solve ana’s problem. You know the ability of hanzo to go on wall + the new double jump skill they added recently? this is what ana needs. With this No more positioning problem, no, actually, all her problems would be solved.

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“We don’t want to bring back a tank meta, which is why we’re scared of buffing Ana.” Paraphrasing that
Then at the same time, Blizzard is allowing Moira to heal quad tank. Not saying Moira needs a nerf, Blizzard just needs a better excuse.

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