I think Baptiste is in a strong position to step into that role if Mercy were to not have E Rez anymore. Immortality field achieves the same effect as E rez (saving someone from otherwise certain death), but with:
Less risk to the user (the lamp is a separate health pool)
More uptime (the lamp protects for a much longer duration and has a shorter cooldown)
Better range (it can save multiple teammates and can be thrown across the map)
And it also protects Baptiste himself. The pros are all about “minimum risk for maximum reward”, so I’m very interested to see how they will use him - and how that will affect Mercy’s viability - once they figure him out.
Mercy has never had any viability in OWL outside of Pharmercy besides the brief moments when her rezes were instant. Mass Rez mercy or current Mercy is all about Pharmercy. Nobody runs her for the rez.
Mercy in OWL was always picked to pocket Pharah/Widowmaker, not to rez anyone. She is one of two heroes, that have damage buffs as their base kit(another is Zenyatta).
It is very possible that it would happen, actually. In fact, I literally ASKED Geoff Goodman if they would consider buffing her healing to 55 HPS or giving her a heal boost ability on her reload key and he said:
Sounds much more likely to happen than a 60 HPS revert considering the leader of Hero balance said so.
…What:? This is so untrue it’s not even funny, lol…
Mercy was heavily picked in the Stage 4 of OWL season 1, when she had NO instant rezzes at all (in and out of valk was single cast time rez). She was the most picked support actually, because her damage boost and rez were so strong in the double sniper meta of Stage 4, and she was also used to solo heal quite a bit actually. Pharah wasn’t picked hardly AT ALL during that entire stage, yet Mercy had like a 98% pickrate. With slow rez.
She is also currently used a ton in OWL with slow rez, not just with Pharmercy (she has a higher pickrate than Ana in this stage of OWL).
Do research before making false claims.
Do you even understand how the pro meta works, and how Mercy fits into it? Because it seems like you really don’t.
E rez was the driving force behind Mercy’s must pick status in the sniper meta of stage 4, where she was picked to damage boost and rez snipers and anyone who died to them.
Seriously, do research before making incorrect statements please.
At this point I hope they never change her because the people in this thread are really getting on my nerves with the entitled and arrogant attitudes as if they “deserve” something. The Mercy community isn’t special, we don’t “deserve” anything. Yet so many Mercy mains on these forums have an air of entitlement and a “holier than thou” attitude, it makes me embarrassed to be a Mercy main, myself.
They sound like the Genji mains who make threads saying “Genji deserves a buff because he has had so many counters added to the game!” or “Genji needs his ult buffed because I’m bad with it even though the entire community hates it!”. It’s the same as “Mercy deserves a buff because she’s had so many nerfs!” “Mercy deserves an entire rework because I miss Mass rez even though the rest of the community hated it!” . It’s extra ironic because these Mercy players are the same ones who condemn Genji/Tracer mains for being “entitled” yet act the same way. The only thing Mercy Deserves is to be balanced and relatively fun just like other heroes, which she is right now.
I’m also very tired of getting hounded by multiple Mercy players who all spout logically and emotionally flawed arguments as well as incorrect information such as the two above who just claimed Mercy has only every been viable in OWL with Pharah, or those who claim Mercy can’t main heal a 2-2-2 comp, etc. Or those who act like my opinion is invalid because of my high rank or because I simply prefer Valk to Mass Rez. Newslfash, I have almost 800 hours on Mercy and have mained her since launch, I played her quite extensively with Mass Rez, I get to say I think it was horribly unfun and unbalanced and that I’m glad it’s gone, that doesn’t make me an “anti Mercy hater”. Yet I can literally feel the resentment pouring off people as they all try to convince me that I’m wrong and just don’t know what I’m talking about.
It’s no wonder the Devs don’t take any of them or their feedback seriously. It’s all just so…mindbogglingly flawed and blatantly incorrect. But above all, it’s just so condescending. I understand exactly how the Devs feel and if I were them I wouldn’t wanna change Mercy or listen to this feedback either, based on how the Mercy community acts.
FYI, this isn’t directed at you at all Silawatsi, you’ve always been extremely respectful to me and others, this is just how everyone else in this thread has made me feel the past few weeks (Scratch that- the past year) and I’m so tired of it.
I am looking forward to 2-2-2 though, and the potential damage boost buffs Geoff mentioned.
Yes I’m so excited for the potential Damage Boost buffs Geoff mentioned. I really hope it’s something like “Mercy and her teammate both gain 20% movement speed bonus while damage boosting them”. That’d be amazing. I will be able to enable my team so much more.
Damage buffs will absolutely change something. A buff to one of the strongest parts of her kit will absolutely have a positive effect on her viability. To say otherwise is ludicrous.
Also,
The same could be said for any support ability.
“If teammates miss their shots, discord orb doesn’t do anything”
“If teammates miss their shots, sleeping the enemy doesn’t do anything.”
“If teammates miss their shots, anti healing the enemy doesn’t do anything”
“If teammates miss their shots, speed boosting them doesn’t do anything”
Good thing they don’t balance OW around horrible players or low ranks They balance around how the game is supposed to be played at a decent level of skill and understanding, and rightfully so.
Balancing around bad teammates is a horrible ideology. “Yeah people keep missing Zen’s discord orb target so we are gonna give it 50% movement slow and 50% damage increase so that bad teammates can use it better”. Lol no.
Then all their changes don’t worth a dime for me. And speed boosting/anti-healing/sleeping actually DO things, as you can benefit from them yourself. Same with discord. But, you can’t heal or damage boost yourself.
That’s why I enjoy her old ult and don’t enjoy new one. Bringing teammates back certainly enabled them a lot more, than meager 60 hps or damage boost ever could.
No surprises anymore: healing, that won’t save anyone at this point, or one teammate, who immediately gets wiped again, before making even few steps from place of previous death. That’s what Valkyrie is for me.
Since I leave having to fight myself as last resort action, I hate playing them. And since I will be hunted anyway, may as well pick support with flying.
Enjoyed old Torbjorn and Symmetra for same reason: no action for me. Both also provided team support.
Yet I enjoy mobility, but mainly to avoid action: explosions, bullets and screams around me? Time to get out of this place. Action looks best from safe distance.
And best form of action isn’t manifested in high damage, but in it’s opposite, like shield generator, for example. It’s always great to set up the stage for other team to fail, without even being seen. Like Symmetra says, order overcomes chaos.
Do you even understand how the pro meta works, and how Mercy fits into it? Because it seems like you really don’t.
The only thing Mercy Deserves is to be balanced and relatively fun just like other heroes, which she is right now.
They balance around how the game is supposed to be played at a decent level of skill and understanding, and rightfully so.