Why I Have Yet to Not Despise Mercy's Current State

BadWidowEU-2419 · August 16, 2018, 9:52pm

Ok, now I’m worried…

AG3-11710 · August 17, 2018, 1:05am

I meant a little lower (not enough context). An ability can be strong but not overpowered. I thought Mercy needed the nerf because her healing was strong, even though I thought that it wasn’t overpowered.
The ability would require minor tweaks for it being more “suitable” for all characters.

Inky-11160 · August 17, 2018, 1:11am

Unfortunately, echo chambers always come with exclusivity. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you do if it doesn’t match up with their mentality you’re isolated.
I encourage you to look past the people who only see one perspective though, the more voices we have the more we can refine the suggestions.

AG3-11710 · August 17, 2018, 1:20am

Rez is fine in that the cool down restarts if you succeed in killing Mercy or stunning her. There are times when an ally becomes “unrezzable” where it is too dangerous to rez an ally, most of the time because of the enemy team being able to kill you.

I want an explanation of how it actively discourages team fights (rez now).

Ana has no mobility, much less a 2-second cool down ability. She doesn’t have a passive ability that heals herself. She has damage boost (basically) as an ultimate but stronger. (Im just saying Ana has drawbacks, and Mercy does too but the drawbacks differ)
You can have allies that wake up the enemy but not killing them because it happens quite frequently.

Can you explain to me why Mercy deserves this ability? I myself don’t understand and to me it just doesn’t fit with the rest of her kit.

Have a good day. I’ll browse other threads.

Titanium-1686 · August 17, 2018, 1:34am

It’s stated many times in the OP.

Titanium:

Resurrect currently has a 5 meter radius, a 1.75 second cast time, and a 75% movement speed reduction, narrowing the parameters in which it can be safely used. It is less flexible due to safety concerns.

Resurrect used to have a 15 meter radius, no cast time, and post-rez invulnerability, allowing it to be used in a variety of situations. It was very flexible.

Resurrect currently is not an ultimate ability. It is on a 30 second cooldown, making its availability predictable and reliable. On top of this, its limited power range does not allow it to contest other ultimates.

Resurrect used to be an ultimate ability. It had no guarantee as to when it would be available again, making it more difficult to gauge when it could next be used. It was not only an ultimate, but a support ultimate, rendering it a scarce resource. It was capable of matching the power of other ultimates, and its expense counted as an ultimate expense.

As a result of lower numerical complexity, usage inflexibility, downtime predictability, and a basic-ability status, E-Resurrect also has a consistent optimal use scenario. That optimal time of use is always to reverse the first pick prior to a teamfight. This is the case for several reasons…

First, there is safety. With Resurrect’s incapacitation upon cast, it is clear that Mercy could use all the help and protection she can get while casting; she already has the biggest target in the game on her head. The more living allies nearby to protect the Mercy in the first place, the more likely it is that using Resurrect will result in a successful Resurrection and a living Mercy. Using the ability when there are only two allies to protect the Mercy is typically suicide.

Second, the realistic impact of Resurrect is greater the earlier it is used. Its numerical value remains the same (one person), but that numerical value means much more when used earlier in the fight rather than later. This is because of how teamfights typically snowball.

Both teams start out facing each other at a dividing point in the map. Six players on each side. One team gets a pick (or a first kill that grants an advantage and a prompt to engage), and then pushes into the opposing team. The team of five players is at a one-man disadvantage, a weakness their enemies capitalize on with their engagement. The team of five loses another player, dropping them down to four. Then they lose another. Somewhere in there, they may have gotten a kill, bringing to fight to a 3v5, but it doesn’t matter. The team that got the first pick has too much momentum and too great of a numbers advantage for the losing team to fight back with any success. The team of now three players crumbles, and the last three living players are killed off.

What point in that fight would be the best time to use Resurrect?

Using Resurrect when it’s a 3v5 or worse would probably mean not being able to get Resurrect off in the first place… but let’s cast that aside (no pun intended) and say that the player somehow manages it anyway. Okay, great! You got that ally back, and chances are that another ally is in critical condition from the damage they sustained over the past 1.75 seconds of you not healing them. That is, assuming they didn’t just die in that time.

But you know what? Let’s ignore that second flaw too. Let’s suppose that miraculously, Mercy pulled off the Resurrection and every other ally that was still alive was left unscathed during that 1.75 second cast time… It’s still a 4v5. Mercy’s team is still at a huge disadvantage.

Okay, let’s try using Resurrect earlier… How about on the first pick?

When trying to revive that first dead ally, four other teammates are there to cover for the Mercy; she has a good chance of getting Resurrect off, so that’s a good start.

What about Mercy’s other allies? Well, the enemy doesn’t have much momentum yet and there are four allies to spread damage among rather than only two, greatly reducing the chance of more allied deaths or even the chance of them dropping to critical condition. Both flaws presented in the late-fight Resurrection are heavily mitigated when using the ability earlier.

Not only that, but a successful Resurrection means the fight is back to a 6v6; the enemy no longer has the numbers advantage, and has likely backed off because of that. Teams typically want to engage with an advantage.

Comparing drawbacks of two heroes is one thing. Comparing the drawbacks of two abilities is another thing entirely. The two comparisons are not relevant to each other. Using weakness X on hero Y as a reason why ability A on hero B should do C, can be easily countered by weakness D on hero A.

You either compare the abilities, or you compare the heroes. Comparing an ability to a hero’s weakness is meaningless.

No ally in their right might would be shooting at a slept target without a plan to kill said target.

Although there are a lot of people that are never in their right minds, so…

Mercy players have requested an E ability for a long time (a REAL E ability, not an ultimate on a cooldown). This meets that requirement.
It deals no damage and reduces an enemy’s damage output, fitting her pacifist theme in lore.
It allows new players, who aren’t good at aiming, to start off with a hero that isn’t aim-dependent while also giving them something that allows them to practice aiming skills. It keeps Mercy as a hero with a low skill floor, but allows for the player to grow more and improve mechanically by getting used to hitscan attacks.
It unlocks playmaking potential for Mercy outside of her ultimate, something that Mercy’s 1.x versions lacked.

AG3-11710 · August 17, 2018, 1:45am

Huh. Interesting thoughts on pacify.
On to rez…
Well the rez is only used on one ally, as opposed to multiple at once, which discourages a team fight a lot more, even if it requires ult charge.
That’s my view.

Titanium-1686 · August 17, 2018, 1:55am

If there is more than one player down, chances are that a battle is already being fought. Not engaging at that point isn’t really an option; the teams are already engaged.

Of course, the proposed Resurrect could still be used to solo-rez an ally, but it isn’t available nearly as often. The fastest a player could charge Resurrect via healing is 31 seconds, and the player obviously isn’t going to be constantly healing for that period of time in application.

AG3-11710 · August 17, 2018, 1:57am

Well, a good Mercy can still get it fairly fast, right?

Titanium-1686 · August 17, 2018, 1:59am

Correct, just like any other hero.

According to the averages at the time (if we ignore usage delay), Transcendence and Nano-Boost charged faster than Resurrect back during Mercy’s 1.x versions. Tactical Visor, Rocket Barrage, and Dragonblade also charged faster on average.

AG3-11710 · August 17, 2018, 2:01am

And old rez had the power to negate all of those ultimates, as if those ults were useless.

Titanium-1686 · August 17, 2018, 2:02am

The same could be said about Transcendence.

On top of that, a single one of those ultimates could also be used to negate a Resurrection.

AG3-11710 · August 17, 2018, 2:07am

Trance does not counter things such as Deadeye, or even Widow and Hanzo headshots.

Inky-11160 · August 17, 2018, 2:09am

But it still counters more than any other defensive ult. Trans is way more powerful.

Titanium-1686 · August 17, 2018, 2:11am

Resurrect is even easier to counter with Deadeye than Transcendence is. With Resurrect, the lock on starts before players are even able to move, making them easy kills for the McCree as soon as they become vulnerable; they have no time to move behind cover/barriers. With Transcendence, the team can still find cover or utilize barriers.

Transcendence maintains momentum. Resurrect loses that momentum and leaves a team vulnerable post-Resurrection.

AG3-11710 · August 17, 2018, 2:13am

Trance most of the time keeps people alive.
Rez brings people back to life.

Titanium-1686 · August 17, 2018, 2:18am

The result is the same, save for the loss of momentum and additional vulnerabilities with Resurrect.

AG3-11710 · August 17, 2018, 2:24am

Rez brings momentum to the team that gets rezzed.

Titanium-1686 · August 17, 2018, 2:40am

Resurrect allows the team to start gaining momentum again, starting from zero. The enemy team still has the momentum, as they are still in formation.

Transcendence never loses that momentum.

AG3-11710 · August 17, 2018, 2:42am

But if you are at a man disadvantage and use Trance, it basically is a waste because you end up dying along with your team.

Inky-11160 · August 17, 2018, 2:44am

Assuming that trans achieves nothing and your team can’t apply any pressure when high burst damage is the only thing that can kill them. Trans allows your team to start applying pressure where initially they were on the backfoot, rez equalises.