My problems with Ana

[willtron]

And it's a bad design if you'r entire team has to play around a single character because it isn't just a LOS issue with her

Or you're just picking the wrong character for the situation/composition/map.

[Jessicka]

That's the healing nobody cares about. The healing after a fight when you could just run to a health pack. The bit that fluffs out your stats

The only healing that really matters is when you desperately need it in a team fight. If you can't hit your team mates when there isn't even any pressure, then god help the team mates expecting heals under pressure.
You either practise to get better at hitting moving targets of simply change to an easier healer. Expecting people to stand still isn't the answer.

Let me put it like this instead.
If Winston never missed Genji, which isn't hard, Genji would be dead in around 3s
If Genji could headshot Winston with every single shuriken that he threw, even without the bubble thrown into the mix or Winston's partial armour, he'd be dead in around 4s....

That's a bad outlook.

If it's a problem, you're basically too far away. In these cases if you're close, it's what your grenade is for, and it's a lot easier to hit with your rifle because close big, far away small.

[Deleted]

Want to win easy with ana? Get a group of 3 and play dva ana mercy. The carry potential when being coordinated is insane.

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I felt the same of the OP. I didn't enjoy Ana a lot, all my team was asking for healing while far away from me, or while running from one position to another with heros like tracer T_T

Maybe Im just not good aiming shots, but it is not easy to keep to group in my view

Your group has to support you as ana in terms of positioning, but most people seem to be entirely shit at positioning in general, and they play their heroes wrong.

For example flanking torbjorns is always hillarious.

[Tiderion]

Making major changes to a character because of anecdotal experiences in Quick Play is not how you balance a game. Ana has absolutely incredible utility. She does trade raw healing numbers and mobility for some of the most ridiculous skills in the game, like being able to neutralize virtually (literally?) any ultimate in the game with a sleep dart. "It's HIGH NO.... zzzZZZZzzzz" "It's HAMMER TI....zzzZZzzzZZ" etc. Not to mention when used appropriately, her Ultimate Booster is one of the most incredibly effective ways to push/defend. She does take cooperation, but boosting her in just about any way to compensate for bad experiences on teams that aren't cooperating is a really, REALLY bad idea. She already has pretty damn good damage output, and her healing is nothing to shirk at either. I can't think of any moderate-major change (like the ones that you're suggesting) that wouldn't drop her firmly in the "OP" category.

[barrsftw]

And it's a bad design if you'r entire team has to play around a single character because it isn't just a LOS issue with her

Blizzard and a lot of other people disagree. The game is a team game. This isn't COD where you chase any enemy you see. Your team won't be LOSing if they're playing the objective.

[Dug]

That's the healing nobody cares about. The healing after a fight when you could just run to a health pack. The bit that fluffs out your stats

The only healing that really matters is when you desperately need it in a team fight. If you can't hit your team mates when there isn't even any pressure, then god help the team mates expecting heals under pressure.
You either practise to get better at hitting moving targets of simply change to an easier healer. Expecting people to stand still isn't the answer.

Of course healing during a fight is the real healing that matters but healing after skirmishes or fights is not "fluff" for stats. If you're not at full ult charge then you would want to heal allies to build it up. As a tank or DPS if there's no enemies around and my healer is around I purposely avoid heal packs to help my supports with their ultimate abilities.

[Deleted]

That's the healing nobody cares about. The healing after a fight when you could just run to a health pack. The bit that fluffs out your stats

The only healing that really matters is when you desperately need it in a team fight. If you can't hit your team mates when there isn't even any pressure, then god help the team mates expecting heals under pressure.
You either practise to get better at hitting moving targets of simply change to an easier healer. Expecting people to stand still isn't the answer.

Good players still position themselves around their healer just for protection though.

So no matter how shit your healing is, if you team doesn't protect you, they are equally as shit.

[Zelendria]

Of course healing during a fight is the real healing that matters but healing after skirmishes or fights is not "fluff" for stats. If you're not at full ult charge then you would want to heal allies to build it up. As a tank or DPS if there's no enemies around and my healer is around I purposely avoid heal packs to help my supports with their ultimate abilities.

Building your ulti isn't really what I'm on about. Nor is the player complaining.
I don't take health packs when the healer needs their ult, but if the healer can't heal when everybody is actually relying on them to do so, then what's the point of being there. They might as well pick something else.

Good players still position themselves around their healer just for protection though.

So no matter how shit your healing is, if you team doesn't protect you, they are equally as shit.

True but again it's not really got anything to do with what I was replying to which is someone complaining they can't hit their own players under no pressure.

[Deleted]

Ana can't solo heal a team on her own, and most on the time if you pick her in quickplay no one else will pick a support, making your job harder. Her E makes healing on tank really strong, and it is a possibile counter to Zarya ult, but again Zenyatta is more suited for this role. I think that her real strenght is the sleeping dart, but first of all I find it hard to throw and then you need your whole team not to attack the CC'ed target, thing, that is impossible in a Quick play enviroment

[Jessicka]

Making major changes to a character because of anecdotal experiences in Quick Play is not how you balance a game. Ana has absolutely incredible utility. She does trade raw healing numbers and mobility for some of the most ridiculous skills in the game, like being able to neutralize virtually (literally?) any ultimate in the game with a sleep dart. "It's HIGH NO.... zzzZZZZzzzz" "It's HAMMER TI....zzzZZzzzZZ" etc. Not to mention when used appropriately, her Ultimate Booster is one of the most incredibly effective ways to push/defend. She does take cooperation, but boosting her in just about any way to compensate for bad experiences on teams that aren't cooperating is a really, REALLY bad idea. She already has pretty damn good damage output, and her healing is nothing to shirk at either. I can't think of any moderate-major change (like the ones that you're suggesting) that wouldn't drop her firmly in the "OP" category.

Sleep seems really sketchy, if your target is taking damage it just won't have any effect. In many (most?) cases it's just better to kill the player, or failing that, just run for cover than try to line up the shot, as you'd need ridiculous twitch in most cases unless they just popped it right in front of you - which no one does because the objective is usually to have some element of surprise with it. You can save so much better and much more reliably with D.Va's Matrix or Reinhardt's shield (or a WM headshot ). For me, I just think it's overrated for that purpose; but that's advertising for you, it's in her trailer. It is however fantastic at stopping a flanker killing you in their tracks; but you shouldn't really be playing her in a position to get flanked.

She's too much of a mixed bag when your team is a mixed bag of specialists already. I really want to like her, and I do enjoy playing her and all; but. There are too many buts for me to consider her for Comp.

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Ana can't solo heal a team on her own, and most on the time if you pick her in quickplay no one else will pick a support, making your job harder. Her E makes healing on tank really strong, and it is a possibile counter to Zarya ult, but again Zenyatta is more suited for this role. I think that her real strenght is the sleeping dart, but first of all I find it hard to throw and then you need your whole team not to attack the CC'ed target, thing, that is impossible in a Quick play enviroment

She can, I have a few times. It's much easier on Defence though when your team are sticking together to Defend - but that's also true with anyone else. On Attack though, it can be hard to keep up and not fall victim to flankers. You really have to give up on any ideas of playing offensively though.

[Deleted]

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You can if your team have a clue about what they are doing and which healer they have with them, In most of my game people tend to flank from different places and end up dying away from me. In this situation I feel like that if I'd have picked Lucio I could have helped them more

[Jessicka]

You can if your team have a clue about what they are doing and which healer they have with them, In most of my game people tend to flank from different places and end up dying away from me. In this situation I feel like that if I'd have picked Lucio I could have helped them more

Lucio still needs LOS. And they're the same people I wouldn't chase down with Mercy.

[Endus]

Ana can't solo heal a team on her own

Mercy heals at 50hps, while her beam's up. Nobody disputes that Mercy can solo heal a team, right?

Ana can shoot 1 round per second, each round heals for 75 hp. That's 65hps; 50% more healing than Mercy can dish out. And Mercy doesn't have Biotic Grenade, which is an instant 100hp in the AoE, and doubled healing for all hit. She's also able to deliver that healing to anyone in LoS, not just those at close range.

If you're not able to solo heal with Ana, you're either not hitting your allies (and should improve your aim), or your positioning is poor (and you should fix that). She's able to dish out plenty of healing, more single-target healing than any other healer. Even if you factor in her reload speed, she's still coming out ahead of Mercy.

Mercy doesn't take aim, so her heals are more consistent, and easier to deliver, and because of this it's easier to have situational awareness while playing Mercy, because you lock your heals on and then keep your eyes open, because the healing just "happens" until you need to switch targets. Ana takes more to play well, but has a higher potential rate of healing, if you can deliver it.

I've said it elsewhere, too; she's not a sniper. She CAN snipe, but that's just one tool. Sitting behind the tank and bodyshotting him as your team pushes forward is perfectly reasonable too, and you can do a lot to shut down attacks on the advance with Sleep Dart and your grenade (which has both offensive AND defensive value, in that case).

Ana's not a healer who can't keep up. Players just aren't good enough to capitalize on her completely. That's a player skill issue, not a hero strength issue.

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Ana seems totally, utterly, completely useless in quick play because people think she's a healer and then they don't pick another one and your team is screwed. To me, the only reason to play her would be if it turns out that's she's very good in competitive play when you work together with others, so you need to practice with her in QP.

If you're complaining because you can't heal your team because you don't have LoS, it's because you are out of position and unable to perform your role. Not because of your team.

If anything, I've been way MORE capable of topping up roamers as Ana, because if they can get me LoS, they can get heals. I've got way better LoS than Lucio (who as noted still needs LoS; it's not just a radius), and don't have to run over to you like Mercy, and will top you up faster than Zenyatta (which may not be necessary; his orb's decent enough if you can wait a couple seconds to hit full).

[Flurryfang]

I think she is alright as she is atm. Her healing is alright since it has high range with her gun and her E is a massive healing tool in the game. Her sleep dart is also very powerfull, so her utility kit is really good. Also, her ult is proberly one of the best ults in the game and buffing her will just make that ult even stronger.

Right now, she could use some mobility, sure, but everything else is already very good. You have to limit her on some fronts if you want her healing to be buffed in anyway.

[Jessicka]

Mercy heals at 50hps, while her beam's up. Nobody disputes that Mercy can solo heal a team, right?

Ana can shoot 1 round per second, each round heals for 75 hp. That's 65hps; 50% more healing than Mercy can dish out. And Mercy doesn't have Biotic Grenade, which is an instant 100hp in the AoE, and doubled healing for all hit. She's also able to deliver that healing to anyone in LoS, not just those at close range.

If you're not able to solo heal with Ana, you're either not hitting your allies (and should improve your aim), or your positioning is poor (and you should fix that). She's able to dish out plenty of healing, more single-target healing than any other healer. Even if you factor in her reload speed, she's still coming out ahead of Mercy.

Mercy doesn't take aim, so her heals are more consistent, and easier to deliver, and because of this it's easier to have situational awareness while playing Mercy, because you lock your heals on and then keep your eyes open, because the healing just "happens" until you need to switch targets. Ana takes more to play well, but has a higher potential rate of healing, if you can deliver it.

I've said it elsewhere, too; she's not a sniper. She CAN snipe, but that's just one tool. Sitting behind the tank and bodyshotting him as your team pushes forward is perfectly reasonable too, and you can do a lot to shut down attacks on the advance with Sleep Dart and your grenade (which has both offensive AND defensive value, in that case).

Ana's not a healer who can't keep up. Players just aren't good enough to capitalize on her completely. That's a player skill issue, not a hero strength issue.

If you're complaining because you can't heal your team because you don't have LoS, it's because you are out of position and unable to perform your role. Not because of your team.

If anything, I've been way MORE capable of topping up roamers as Ana, because if they can get me LoS, they can get heals. I've got way better LoS than Lucio (who as noted still needs LoS; it's not just a radius), and don't have to run over to you like Mercy, and will top you up faster than Zenyatta (which may not be necessary; his orb's decent enough if you can wait a couple seconds to hit full).

Misses aside, a shit load of Ana's heals are also over-healing. The inconsistency due to reloading, people (both friends and foe) getting in the way; and the fact you're aiming at people who are trying to avoid incoming fire anyway all just stack up to make those theoretical numbers not even close to approachable even by the very best players.

This is why Blizz are looking to buff her in the next patch. The change to Sleep in particular might make it a little more useful, because in practical terms of 4 hours playing; I've been able to use it only as an escape, even then, exceptionally rarely - mostly because I try to avoid being in a position to need it for that.

[Endus]

Misses aside, a shit load of Ana's heals are also over-healing.

This is relevant, why? Every second you're beaming at someone who doesn't need healing, as Mercy, you're overhealing, too. The big difference is that Ana can shoot an enemy instead while nobody's taking damage, and without having to swap weapons like Mercy.

I'm not saying she's BETTER than Mercy; Mercy has advantages, too. I'm just disputing this idea that Ana can't solo heal.

Particularly not since my above post was made prior to the patch today, which buffed Ana; a 20% increased fire rate means 20% more HPS, when it's needed. Nobody's arguing that Ana's the best support in all circumstances and blows everyone else away. I'm just taking issue with your unsubstantiated claim that she can't handle the role by herself. She can dish out a TON of healing.

[Jessicka]

This is relevant, why? Every second you're beaming at someone who doesn't need healing, as Mercy, you're overhealing, too. The big difference is that Ana can shoot an enemy instead while nobody's taking damage, and without having to swap weapons like Mercy.

I'm not saying she's BETTER than Mercy; Mercy has advantages, too. I'm just disputing this idea that Ana can't solo heal.

Particularly not since my above post was made prior to the patch today, which buffed Ana; a 20% increased fire rate means 20% more HPS, when it's needed. Nobody's arguing that Ana's the best support in all circumstances and blows everyone else away. I'm just taking issue with your unsubstantiated claim that she can't handle the role by herself. She can dish out a TON of healing.

No, when you're not healing with Mercy, you're buffing their throughput. On the likes of 76, Pharah, Junk, Bastion, Zarya, Reinhardt, that's more than Ana or Mercy herself will put out.

You also mentioned consistency, thats massively important when a player can die inside a reload time.

I'm also not saying she can't solo heal, I've said the exact opposite on these boards. She just has a much harder time of it, because of that inconsistency which isn't good for the other 5 in the group. I'm also honestly not sure that's even what players want from her, I've seen so few actually take that on.

[Eapoe]

I'll start off saying, I love this hero. Ana is great and a fun hero. That being said, her skill cap is amazingly high to be able to land shots while paying attention to where your team and the enemy team is at, at all times. I am not comfortable enough solo healing most maps with her, but in certain payloads, I will do it there and usually do really well with her (even though my team complains I'm not on Mercy 1/2 the time). I've also been in some KotH maps where other have solo healed with her and come out with roughly 15k healing after 4 rounds, which is impressive when I've seen healers do much less over 5 rounds.
A lot of her play though, comes from your team. From what I've noticed, she benefits most as a solo healer when you have a team that doesn't venture off from the tank, that aren't 3+ dps going all over the place jumping like wild maniacs. Don't misunderstand, jumping like a maniac saves your ass a lot in a firefight, but a semi close group that stays open is much easier to handle than say, a Mercy with the ability to fast shift someone ducking in and out of cover to top them off and then get back to safety with another shift, or flying all over the map. Some team comps play better with her, and people should learn those before they choose what healer to be, on any map.
As far as buffing her sleep dart, not sure what they could do to help. In an uncoordinated game it is often next to useless and never used, as the person you sleep will just get random fire and run off or kill a team member or 2 if they are good. With a coordinated group, it's very effective and amazing for getting a tank down or a healer and running over the team still awake while a valuable teammate watches in horror. I've also been able to use it to stop many Ults from happening. The main issue is on the uncoordinated side of things. MAYBE reduce the CD on it, or give it a wider hit range or even a spray effect like Roadhog's shotgun and only effect the first person hit as a missed shot is just a waste and 1 shot to hit someone on a long CD makes it seem like it's not even worth remembering about to a lot of people.

[Bapestar]

I have had one game with a good Ana. Shes probably more useful in competitive play.

[Zelendria]

In pro games at the minute it's pretty much Lucio/Zen on both teams every match. Sometimes Zen is swapped out for Mercy, but of all the ones I've watched Ana hasn't been picked once.
So she has issues at the top end, and also lower down when you get the levels where people can't reliably hit their target as well.

Maybe in time she might get picked, but right now she's not doing very well. Blizz are already tweaking her which is pretty fast.