yep if Mercy would had a healing blaster, I doubt she would have been nerfed so much as she was
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Honestly when it comes to Ana’s pickrate, there’s a lot of people, especially in lower ranks, who pick her becuase she’s good, even if they aren’t.
They just hear “Oh, Ana doesn’t suck anymore, I’mma play Ana” even if all they end up doing is feeding.
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There was some ideas to remove damage from that grenade actually. Only thing she was too squishy before GOATS.
But if we get forced 222… who knows?
BEcause she has a sniper rifle, gives her a free pass.
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The problem is she is the best healer now by far, but sniping isn’t for everyones playstyle (heck it shouldn’t even be a primary requirement for healing - or at least their should be alternatives). But she is also shoved onto players you tube channels constantantly plugging her like cheap infomercials.
People need to stop thinking of pickrate as the universal basis of how good a hero is. They refer to player perception, not how good the hero actually is. This should be more of a known fact by now.
People will bandwagon on what heroes to use. Factors are if they’re used in OWL, if an OW youtuber calls them overpowered for clickbait, or (surprise) if other people pick that hero too. It’s a self-amplifying cycle.
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If you have a better term to describe somebody who’s had nearly (if not over) double the pickrate of the next highest hero in their category at anything past Gold for about half a year, we’re all ears.
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Nah, it’s not even the sniping part. Like, sure, that’s part of it, but people somehow think “Pick Ana=Win” without considering any of the actual gamesense that also goes into playing her.
Had one game where someone was just getting dove and killed over and over and over again as Ana, so I asked them if they could swap to something a little more survivable. Multiple times. And of course they didn’t. We lost because, ya know, our main healer was spending more time in spawn than healing, and we can only peel so much.
It’s just… people need to recognize when people actually suck. Though I suppose that’s a community issue and not an Ana one.
Best.
That would just mean she’s the best healer.
Best =/= Must pick
She’s still not getting picked all the time, and she’s still losing games where she’s only on one side.
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She’s not really a must pick, but probably saying she’s being picked more than she should be could be fair.
Last I checked she became most picked Support in Silver and most picked overall in Gold, with a less than ideal but certainly not abysmal winrate until Diamond/Masters and only underhealing Mercy by 200 at GM. Unless there have been pretty big shifts there’s still some concerns to be had. (I’d check but it’s past midnight and I should already be sleeping)
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Why are low tiers putting so much stock in Ana? Is aim/inconsistency that low of a factor, is her reward potential that much higher than her competitors, is she being seen as a fast track to tier up? Is it all low tiers mirroring OWL/high tiers?
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Why is Ana’s healing so close to Mercy’s at GM when any boosted healing caused by nade is not recorded? Did Mercy get overnerfed, not to the point of dumpstering her but possibly to the point that in a neutral meta she’d possibly be underpicked? Is it all preference? Did Ana’s buffs add up and finally get noticed once Mercy wasn’t so overwhelming?
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While Ana should probably have pretty high reward potential, maybe even the highest of the Support category, is too much of that value consistently achievable by otherwise underperforming players? Are people capable enough to limp their way to success as Ana despite having chosen poorly?
The answer? She might not be OP/overpicked our data just could be skewed and painting an unflattering portrait of Ana’s current state and [percieved] power level. Is the data we have concerning? Imo yes, it shows a concerning trend that needs further investigation that requires data none of us (I think) have. I’m not even sure the devs have that level of data.
Will we ever see a truly balanced support meta? lol no. Balancing is not Blizz’s strong suit, the past three years should be enough to tell you that.
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highest single target hp/s main heal (only 10 behind moira’s aoe one)
hybrid support who can kill msot enemies in 3 shots.
the bionade that is 3 things in one: aoe heal, healing received buff, and heal block. (and heal blocking is extremely powerful)
sleep dart…cause why not?
and the strongest heal nuke in the game ontop of a dmg steroid that combos with literally anyone. (but plz dont use it on a mei who has low ammo…)
if i had to say “why its allowed” i’d assume “aim req” (which is a joke as its got a pretty big error correction <_<)
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lol. No character is “OP” in this game. 
Blizzard has a counter to EVERY character in this game. Literally. i see NO character in this game that has become “OP”.
There are many great guides online to counter them. 
Please no. After Ana got super nerfed when she came into the game, Mercy got needlessly sledge hammered as well because she was the only viable main healer once Ana got gutted.
They do not need to repeat the same mistakes again.
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Tired of getting naded every damn game. That ability is as strong as an ultimate and it’s aoe. Gut her so that never happens again :).
Ana is honestly terrible.
Sees her beeing called ‘‘op’’ & ‘‘must pick’’ on this thread… Has to be troll right?
In what world you think shes those? Cause shes absolutely not.
Theres a reason why this game is balanced around top 1% cause otherwise if it could be balanced around plebs like you & us, it could be so much worse to play.
Ps. No. She doesnt. She belongs one of the most balanced heroes just like almost every other hero atm. You people need to get smarter than this.
Well you’ll just have to ask the developers. They like doing random things sometimes, and they don’t always quite make sense… at first.
Like part of me thinks they really only nerfed Mercy’s healing because they wanted people to play Baptiste. 60HPS on a projectile is way worse than constant 60HPS.
Ana is fun to play, she has a lot of agency in deciding team fights and can make several plays on her own (nade a bunch on the enemy team, sleep an ult, burst heal a tank back to full hp, nano a teammate for a critical heal or damage).
Added to this is the fact that many of the other main healers are looked down upon. If you have to fill, is it fun to fill as a healer everyone say is low skill? That people mock you for playing? You can see it both in game and here on the forums. Ana mains, regardless of if they are good or bad, are generally treated with more respect.
And thus now that Ana is actually viable people who don’t normally main her prefers to play her.
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Here’s the difference
When Mercy was overpowered; she was overpowered from Quick Play to OWL. There wasn’t a moment or strat that didn’t require Mercy. If you didn’t run Mercy, and the enemy team did, you had an almost 0% chance of winning.
Currently you can win games playing into Ana without your own. Goats and Quad DPS are proof of this.
There has been and always will be ONE main support who overshadows the others because that is the nature of the beast. If Moira is 0.1% better than the other main healers, she’ll suddenly jump up. That’s all it is.
Heck we’ve even seen that exact same thing happen! After they nerfed Mercy’s res to slowdown but before her 60 to 50 nerf, there was a period of time where MOIRA was the most picked support in the game.
Also; Her Anti-nade is fine where it is. It has remained unchanged since Feb. of 2017. 2 full years, with one of those years with Ana as one of the worst heroes in the game.
Ana’s in a great spot. She’s strong, but not impossible to beat.
You don’t need an Ana to win.
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Double that pickrate actually.
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I guess Reinhardt, Moira, Mercy, and Roadhog are all overpowered then.
They all have 5% or higher too, with Rein being double the next highest Tank.
Even Ana isn’t 2x higher than the next support under her
