I disagree with a portion of the community on Ana balance discussion, and due to part of this community being blind… it is killing her role & what she is.
Full Message
You guys on this forums are not being careful, and recommending suggestions that hurt Ana. You are blind sighted and even though your suggestions mean to help her, they only kill her. 1st it was tank meta / nanoboost meta with this blind community leading to illogical rant threads complaining NOT EVEN ADDRESSING THE ISSUES, getting nerfs like her utility / damage cause people don’t understand counter-play to her. Now its this community trying to conform Ana to a dulled down healer category with less skill involved. Now its about stupid self heal buffs, mobility options, give her utility cool-down buffs. Easy options cause another healer has it is not the way to approach Ana.
You guys are missing the point, and killing Ana for it. It is your fault for ruining Ana with her damage, and it will be your fault yet again if she becomes a dulled down healer role.
Ana’s problem is her sustain that makes it difficult for her to do her job with utility / healing yes, but not in the way you think. Ana’s strong suit is her range and her sniper alongside utility. This is what your ignoring. You recommend suggestions that will dull her down into a healer role like Mercy, but Ana is not that role and your forgetting this. You need not a disengage, not heavy mobility, not self heals, but ways to improve on her distanced playstyle to get rid of Ana being forced into playing like a heal dispenser 2 feet from her tanks. Her range and solo distanced sniper playstyle is her strength. Alongside communication & proper team coordination to avoid enemy shields this is the best balanced Ana gameplay she could get.
You need to consider that Ana is a playstyle of a hybrid sniper w/ utility & no mobility. If you care about Ana and balance for her. You will do your best to preserve the variety of this high-skill ceiling sniper support. Part of your suggestions aim to kill Ana in these areas about her that give her variety when it comes to her as a healer or as a sniper w/ no mobility / no self-regen. Other issues can be solved with some basic communication / team-play to avoid enemy shields. This will give Ana the best balance she deserves without ruining her role as a hybrid sniper w/ no mobility. Remaining true to her as a sniper and as a healer.
Address Ana --- [FEEDBACK] ^ My discussion on my buff ideas, her current state, and list of fixes / QOL changes for her. I talk about it more here.
Honestly I despise Ana players nowadays, they seem to just blame everything until Ana becomes the BEST healer in the game, like first they wanted buffs, then they blamed Mercy, then they blamed Moira, then they blamed Mercy again, then they blamed Ana being weak and wanted buffs, in which they got with the healing through allies, but then they went after Mercy again and actually got her nerfed, and now they want even more buffs after Ana just also got a buff. Literately won’t stop asking for buffs till she’s the best support in the game, something no other support players ask for.
And I say this as a Lucio main, you know the ACTUAL worst support in the game, unlike what Ana mains say.
Theres a split portion of the community that understands Ana’s role / balance, and ones that do not where they generalize her into the support category leading to balance discussion that leads away from her role / problems.
Hey I’m still pissed about the first fire rate and clip size buff, which I said would make her OP (which it did), would require a nerf to her heals/damage per dart (which it did), and completely ruin her identity as a sniper (which it did).
Instead she became this pseudo-skill based spam shot healer that fueled an entire Meta. Yet every time I mention this I get hated on by the other Ana players. I think a lot of people would be shocked to see how well balanced a near launch Ana would be in the game today. But no, people want more ammo and faster shots. In a sniper character. FML.
Can people at least agree that nade should also go through full health allies?
Snipers arent automatic assault rifles and the idea of how they work in-game / in real life have similar aspects. It is understandable she is a healer, but at the same time people miss the whole point of her damage being weak against armor & 70 dmg being countered too easy.
A sniper works at a distance at small windows of opportunities, but what do you see balance about? high mobility & self heals. So dumb.
Also, I mention this on my other buff / balance thread. Click it and go to QOL changes, its listed there.
I just want a ‘’ help me ‘’ voice command . Also i agree with op that most buff idea could change her playstyle. Even the buff she is getting now wil result in less skill needed for ana players (keeping that genji 100% hp before using blade could be hard). Then again it might give some strategic decission making for her ult. I have not played her on ptr yet so i cant tell for sure.
How bout don’t, because Ana doesn’t need low cool-downs for her utility. She is not that role.
Her design is high cool-down but strong utility, with no mobility, and strengths through her rifle / utility / range. If you work to fix other issues in her kit that are actual problems right now like her damage, then you would have the sustain you need to hold high ground distances in 1v1 scenarios like Tracer or Doomfist.
If it is furthermore an issue, then work on a very limited mobility concept that does not take away from that idea of a sniper w/ lack of mobility.
Utility? Yeah bionade was kinda busted with all the utility it brought. Damage? I don’t recall a single person asking for a damage nerf. We knew 3x tank was being caused by the insane heals Ana pumped into tanks; everyone agreed the damage nerf was awful.
Also what about Zenyatta? He’s a high-skill ceiling healer with a lot of range and no mobility, yet he has shields anyways. Why shouldn’t Ana?
I think Ana either needs more damage and less healing to become a true off-support OR she needs to be dumbed down with buffs that make her heals comparable to the main healers (Moira/Mercy)
She got both a nerf to her rifle damage to 60, and even her nade damage was lowered as well.
This was due to the idea of people wanting healer to be easy to kill. So I have seen some stupid comments like “shes a healer not a dps”… It probably wasnt from Ana players, but that issue I remmember being complained about.
Not addressing issues how Hog can use Ana’s nade in triple tank, but getting uncalled for nerfs like damage.
Now she has 70 dmg, but it is still easily countered, and armor packs make her damage useless. So it hurts sustain any time she has that 1v1 scenario making her waste too much time in a 1v1 or dying not able to heal the team.
Yeah it was stupid rants man. They just didnt like high pickrate, and had a lack of consideration for understanding counter-play and many disadvantages around Ana’s rifle damage made 80 dmg fair. Even for Tracer.
Now they got Brigitte to complain about LMAO
I had 50+ hours on Tracer when Ana had 80 dmg and she didnt bother me… but I also played Ana, and understood counter-play / weaknesses about Ana.
I even heard arguments on top of that nade damage nerf / 60 dmg nerf wanting her to be nerfed more. It was so stupid. People dont get Ana at all and are to blame.
Bio damage nerf was reverted, and I know she got a 60 damage nerf. I’m saying that it took only a few weeks for everyone to realize “holy crap this rifle can’t kill anything.” I’m not even calling out just Hog since every tank had insane burst heals!
Still don’t see why her having some shields for HP would be a bad idea. It doesn’t dumb her down; it just makes it so that I don’t have to waste an ability, take forever to grab a healthpack, or get a second healer to actually survive.
NO MAN, people still wanted even more nerfs after those. I remmember well as I was on the old forums talking STILL ASKING for 80 dmg back as I am today.
I am telling you a portion of this community is clueless about Ana, and have no respect for her role.
Personally, I don’t want her to have shield health because I’m waiting for them to actually make Sombra worth while. I don’t enjoy having health deleted by emp as Zen, and I don’t think I’d enjoy it as Ana.
So for me, it’s not that it’s bad, I just don’t enjoy that particular interaction.
Yeah, exactly man. Thats a worry I have as well about Sombra / shields. I also think it doesn’t fit well with Ana’s design.
The whole idea about Ana is risk / reward. She just needs some damage fixes IMO, a trade off if needed for that damage, but really not too much. Shes not as bad as people say.
. Also i agree with op that most buff idea could change her playstyle. Even the buff she is getting now wil result in less skill needed for ana players (keeping that genji 100% hp before using blade could be hard). Then again it might give some strategic decission making for her ult. I have not played her on ptr yet so i cant tell for sure.