Why are the game devs oblivious to the fact mercy is a required hero

[arandomuser]

I've had several games today where we needed a mercy and we had not one but 2 mercy mains, both were not on mercy and we proceeded to lose, clearly they were trolling by not playing their best hero but of course thats not troling by blizzards definition, but the b igger question is why has it been for almost, 4 months n ow? that if you have no mercy and enemy team has one your going to lose 90% of matches, are they oblivious to this?

[ThePsyentist]

Giving a character resurrect was a mistake, if they remove it it looks bad but it inherently unbalances a team without it.

[Jester Joe]

Giving a character resurrect was a mistake, if they remove it it looks bad but it inherently unbalances a team without it.

Mercy wasn't a "Must have" until they decided to repeatedly keep buffing her.

It has nothing to do with the character having a resurrect, and everything to do with trying to fix what wasn't broken.

And I'm talking as far back as to Mercy's original ult, where she wasn't immune to damage after using, and she had to stay still I'm pretty sure too, and couldn't use it on the move.

[NecroVane]

They're still in denial over the fact that the game needs a role/character queue system, and needs to balance teams around having viable team comps instead of throwing 6 randoms together and expecting them to form a viable team on the fly with characters they don't use; And you're surprised that they are oblivious to the fact that mercy is the only real "main healer" in the game and thus is required in almost every match and team comp?

Mercy is the only healer that has a pure healing toolkit, and has the highest sustained HPS of any of the healers; She's basically the only main healer in a game filled with hybrids, and as a result is always going to be either garbage if she's undertuned, or absolutely essential if she's balanced or slightly too powerful. They need to redesign her to be more in line with the other supports, IE a healer/dps hybrid.

To use a wow reference, overwatch right now is basically vanilla WOW, where there is one viable main healer(priest, maybe druid) and a bunch of useful and situationally viable as a main healer side healers(everyone else), but when grouping for a random group it just throws you with 5 random people of random classes with no respect for healer/tank/dps and expects the warrior in your group with no tanking experience or gear to just throw on a shield and go tank, and the enhancement shaman to do the same for healing, leaving you with a group of people playing roles they aren't comfortable in and having to rely on a non-viable main healer, resulting in failure, rage and toxicity as your group never had a chance to begin with.

[Eapoe]

Mercy wasn't a "Must have" until they decided to repeatedly keep buffing her.

It has nothing to do with the character having a resurrect, and everything to do with trying to fix what wasn't broken.

And I'm talking as far back as to Mercy's original ult, where she wasn't immune to damage after using, and she had to stay still I'm pretty sure too, and couldn't use it on the move.

To be fair, they weren't going for a buff. They were trying to change the hide and Rez aspect of her, and in doing so felt they needed to compensqte a bit to have people keep picking her while focusing on her Rez capability.
Then they nerfed it because it was to strong.
Originally it was just that she wasn't immune. So she'd fly in, Rez everyone, usually did while her team was invulnerable, and come back after respawning. Then they wanted to give her some sustainability with giving her the immunity, but it left the gameplay the same and kept all 6 of the team in the fight. Then she got changed to the above.

[Sparklelord]

I've had several games today where we needed a mercy and we had not one but 2 mercy mains, both were not on mercy and we proceeded to lose, clearly they were trolling by not playing their best hero but of course thats not troling by blizzards definition, but the b igger question is why has it been for almost, 4 months n ow? that if you have no mercy and enemy team has one your going to lose 90% of matches, are they oblivious to this?

I'm more irritated by the fact that you think people can only have one hero they're good at. Just because they play most their games as Mercy doesn't mean they necessarily want to play Mercy. I don't see you rushing out to play Mercy if she's so valuable that you feel not having one is the reason you lost "several" games. Maybe it's time for you to suck it up, realize it's a team game and strap on your Mercy wings and get at it. Otherwise stop crying about other people not wanting to play Mercy when you clearly don't want to either.

On your main topic though, she def feels pretty required and can be a huge game changer. She's always going to be a good pick cause of raw healing output and rezzing and the fact that it's easier to tunnel heals into one person. Honestly the rez is really just too big of a potential game changer to pass up. Problem is they can't really just remove her rez because it's central to her development/lore/playstyle. They've committed so hard to her having a rez that if they removed it too many people would be upset.

[Taalyn]

I've had several games today where we needed a mercy and we had not one but 2 mercy mains, both were not on mercy and we proceeded to lose, clearly they were trolling by not playing their best hero but of course thats not troling by blizzards definition, but the b igger question is why has it been for almost, 4 months n ow? that if you have no mercy and enemy team has one your going to lose 90% of matches, are they oblivious to this?

And you didn't swap to Mercy because...?

[Lucetia]

Mercy wasn't a "Must have" until they decided to repeatedly keep buffing her.

It has nothing to do with the character having a resurrect, and everything to do with trying to fix what wasn't broken.

And I'm talking as far back as to Mercy's original ult, where she wasn't immune to damage after using, and she had to stay still I'm pretty sure too, and couldn't use it on the move.

Mercy's Ult was always hit once and it's used. They then buffed it so she didn't die every time she used it. Her ult had to be changed. Mercy was nothing but hide-and-go-ult. It essentially nullified several minutes of the game since it basically would reset back to previous ult a lot of the times. The ult was really disappointing. There's no reason for you to get a 2-5 player kill for it all to be undone in a second. If that was the case we'd have instant respawns on death.

I've had several games today where we needed a mercy and we had not one but 2 mercy mains, both were not on mercy and we proceeded to lose, clearly they were trolling by not playing their best hero but of course thats not troling by blizzards definition, but the b igger question is why has it been for almost, 4 months n ow? that if you have no mercy and enemy team has one your going to lose 90% of matches, are they oblivious to this?

As I tell everyone in my games. If you want a healer or specific healer there is nothing stopping you from switching to that hero. By some people's definition you'd be trolling since you knew what the team wanted but refused to swap.

Secondly, just because someone has a lot of hours on someone doesn't mean it's their "main". It means they played them a lot at some point in time for one reason or another. You don't always need to pick the hero you have the most hours with. People hate other people when they do that and consider them "one tricks"

[DeadmanWalking]

Mercy's Ult was always hit once and it's used. They then buffed it so she didn't die every time she used it. Her ult had to be changed. Mercy was nothing but hide-and-go-ult. It essentially nullified several minutes of the game since it basically would reset back to previous ult a lot of the times. The ult was really disappointing. There's no reason for you to get a 2-5 player kill for it all to be undone in a second. If that was the case we'd have instant respawns on death.



As I tell everyone in my games. If you want a healer or specific healer there is nothing stopping you from switching to that hero. By some people's definition you'd be trolling since you knew what the team wanted but refused to swap.

Secondly, just because someone has a lot of hours on someone doesn't mean it's their "main". It means they played them a lot at some point in time for one reason or another. You don't always need to pick the hero you have the most hours with. People hate other people when they do that and consider them "one tricks"

It is only a one trick if they spend hours on a character you don't want, if it is a character you do want then suddenly it is the greatest thing in the world. You know, because people are hypocrites.

[Lucetia]

It is only a one trick if they spend hours on a character you don't want, if it is a character you do want then suddenly it is the greatest thing in the world. You know, because people are hypocrites.

Yeah, gotta love how people's logic sometimes.

"You have 90% of your hours on Mercy? Great!"
"You have 90% of your hours on Torb / Symm? Stop one tricking dude and play something viable"

Definition of viable: One of 8 meta heroes (Not sure how many are in the meta, but you get the point)

[Deleted]

Yeah, gotta love how people's logic sometimes.

"You have 90% of your hours on Mercy? Great!"
"You have 90% of your hours on Torb / Symm? Stop one tricking dude and play something viable"

Definition of viable: One of 8 meta heroes (Not sure how many are in the meta, but you get the point)

I still think it's unbelieveable that with such a small roster there's only a handful of characters that are considered meta. This is one of the issues i have with slow rollouts of heroes

[HumbleDuck]

I've had several games today where we needed a mercy and we had not one but 2 mercy mains, both were not on mercy and we proceeded to lose, clearly they were trolling by not playing their best hero but of course thats not troling by blizzards definition, but the b igger question is why has it been for almost, 4 months n ow? that if you have no mercy and enemy team has one your going to lose 90% of matches, are they oblivious to this?

Actually the real big question is, why didn't you pick mercy ...

[Lucetia]

I still think it's unbelieveable that with such a small roster there's only a handful of characters that are considered meta. This is one of the issues i have with slow rollouts of heroes

I think part of the problem is people refuse to play with what they know and that's the original. It's like I hear Sombra, Doomfist, Moira, etc most people (in games I've played mind you) moan and complain when they see one of those on their team. Like with any hero's I've seen good and bad out of each.

The other problem is that some of the "meta" type heroes are usually only countered by other heroes out of the original roster so then they become somewhat meta'ish. Like Pharah, I don't think there's any post-launch heroes that can effectively handle her. Maybe Ana's sleep dart (but that isn't much), Osira maybe? but Osira is better spent on other enemies / barrier's, Sombra a little bit, but again better spent elsewhere. Moira is about the only one I've seen be able to handle her much and that's because I like lobbing orbs at her and watch her die in air along with the ridiculous range on her drain.

[Jester Joe]

Mercy's Ult was always hit once and it's used. They then buffed it so she didn't die every time she used it. Her ult had to be changed. Mercy was nothing but hide-and-go-ult. It essentially nullified several minutes of the game since it basically would reset back to previous ult a lot of the times. The ult was really disappointing. There's no reason for you to get a 2-5 player kill for it all to be undone in a second. If that was the case we'd have instant respawns on death.

No, originally she had to stay still.

July 19, 2016
General
Self-healing abilities now charge ultimate abilities. As a result, some heroes’ ultimate costs have been adjusted (see below).
Hero Balance Change
Caduceus Staff
Damage Boost
Effect will no longer stacks with bonus damage provided by another Mercy
Resurrect
Ultimate charge cost increased by 30%
Movement is no longer prevented during activation
Guardian Angel instantly resets upon use
Developer Notes
Mercy's ultimate is one of the most powerful abilities in the game; however, players would often fly into the fray and die while using it. With this update, Resurrect will now take a bit longer to charge, but Mercy will be a lot safer when activating the ability in the middle of combat.

https://overwatch.gamepedia.com/Mercy#July_19.2C_2016

They kept buffing her repeatedly is the issue, like I said.

And yet again, I find this whole "But it undoes kills!" argument silly, because whenever it comes to any other hero, it's fine that something can counter another thing.

Oh, Pharah is using rocket barrage? Quickly, Defense Matrix, Mei Wall, kill her!

Same for Soldier. Fact is, we had ONE healer ult was was reactive, rather than preventive. And people seemed to miss that "hey, maybe since they have a Mercy, we shouldn't blow all of our ults to kill them. Maybe we should save Deadeye or Graviton Surge for it". No one wanted to counter it, and just settled for calling it uncounterable. And what happened? They made Mercy absolutely ridiculously OP.

[Lucetia]

They kept buffing her repeatedly is the issue, like I said.

Constantly buffing her isn't the issue. Her old ult needed to go no matter what and make it an individual use is way better than using it as an ult.

And yet again, I find this whole "But it undoes kills!" argument silly, because whenever it comes to any other hero, it's fine that something can counter another thing.

Oh, Pharah is using rocket barrage? Quickly, Defense Matrix, Mei Wall, kill her!

Same for Soldier. Fact is, we had ONE healer ult was was reactive, rather than preventive. And people seemed to miss that "hey, maybe since they have a Mercy, we shouldn't blow all of our ults to kill them. Maybe we should save Deadeye or Graviton Surge for it". No one wanted to counter it, and just settled for calling it uncounterable. And what happened? They made Mercy absolutely ridiculously OP.

There is a massive difference between all the ults you mentioned and Mercy's.

The ult's you mentioned either killed players or got prevented. It was one or the other, no gray area. You either got 0-5 people kills. If you ulted and killed 5 people, Mercy's reversed it with ult and your ult basically got 0 people and you were out an ult charge all because Mercy was alive.

Mercy's ult literally undone people's ults. She would intentionally hide instead of healing or boosting their teammates. Once someone popped an ult she flew out and hit Q and was done. Her ult charged ridiculously fast even after increasing it so it was up every ult push basically. The game basically because "Don't use your ult's until you find the hiding Mercy."

With the other ults it required your team to work together to prevent the ults from being hit at you and even then they had to be in range. Mercy was literally "Go die everyone and I'll res you". Playing Mercy wasn't fun at that time, but necessary because of her res in comp's. If you are playing hero you ideally want to be out in the field working with the team in some capacity. Mercy was just literally hide and go ult. If you had ult as Mercy you were putting your team at risk by not hiding and holding your ult for as long as you could with as many deaths as possible.

[Jester Joe]

Constantly buffing her isn't the issue. Her old ult needed to go no matter what and make it an individual use is way better than using it as an ult.

Except Mercy was NEVER a "Must have" at the start. Lucio was. Ana was. Mercy came in after several buffs and nerfs to Ana. And even then, she still wasn't a must have until they decided "DPS people don't like their kills being countered, let's revamp her".

It WAS constantly buffing her. I'm not quite sure how it can be taken any other way. If her original incantation of her ult was in game, she wouldn't be a "must have".

There is a massive difference between all the ults you mentioned and Mercy's.

The ult's you mentioned either killed players or got prevented. It was one or the other, no gray area. You either got 0-5 people kills. If you ulted and killed 5 people, Mercy's reversed it with ult and your ult basically got 0 people and you were out an ult charge all because Mercy was alive.

And...so is that Mercy now. And you have 5 other people on your team to now kill the team again.

Mercy's ult literally undone people's ults. She would intentionally hide instead of healing or boosting their teammates. Once someone popped an ult she flew out and hit Q and was done. Her ult charged ridiculously fast even after increasing it so it was up every ult push basically. The game basically because "Don't use your ult's until you find the hiding Mercy."

Or, "Use your ult, kill a few, wait for the Mercy to hop in, and ult them again". I don't see why it's acceptable to counter other players ults with the press of a single button, but you can counter Mercy's old ult by just having patience.

With the other ults it required your team to work together to prevent the ults from being hit at you and even then they had to be in range. Mercy was literally "Go die everyone and I'll res you". Playing Mercy wasn't fun at that time, but necessary because of her res in comp's. If you are playing hero you ideally want to be out in the field working with the team in some capacity. Mercy was just literally hide and go ult. If you had ult as Mercy you were putting your team at risk by not hiding and holding your ult for as long as you could with as many deaths as possible.

There is nothing "Working together" about putting a Mei wall up in front of an ult. Honestly, I can't think of a single ult counter that needs more than one person, unless you're trying to hide from a D.Va explosion with Zen's ult/Mei's ice block.

I played Mercy just fine up to Diamond when her ult was still revive. Sure, not Grandmaster or anything, but still a reasonable ranking, and never once did I feel the need to hide repeatedly. Sure, there's a few times like if you know Zarya has graviton surge, but if the Zarya ulted without catching the Mercy, that is THEIR fault. Or if they blow all their ults knowing the Mercy has her ult, yet again, that's their fault.

And if you're poking people repeatedly allowing the Mercy to get her ult, yet again, that's your team's fault. That's like being mad that Roadhog keeps getting his ult because you're not finishing him off and just letting him heal back up repeatedly.

[arandomuser]

And you didn't swap to Mercy because...?

we had 2 healers, going a 3rd support made no sense, when we had 2 supports, 2 supports should be viable, but in this case it wasnt because neither of them wer mercy, the enemy mercy had valk every fight and two resses is near impossible to beat im- i just think you should be able to win without her, yeah im upset they didnt pick mercy, but they should be able to pick other heroes without 1 hero basically being required to win, i specifically said that in my post

[Speaknoevil]

Mercy needs all of her abilities deleted and redone.

Primary Fire: Hold to heal (make it much harder to aim the beam)
Secondary Fire: Hitscan pistol with same rate of fire she has presently (smaller clip)
Shift: Take flight for 2.5 seconds and reducing damage taken 25%, 5s CD
Ability 1: Reduce damage taken by target by 50% for 5s and heal them for 50% of max HP over 5s, 30s CD
Ability 2: Stun target for 2.5s making them immune to damage and healing, hitscan ability, 15s CD
Ultimate: Stuff staff into ground, yell "you shall not die" and create a defensive dome of light where everyone is healed for X amount over 10s and takes reduced damage, enemies are pushed from the barrier and cannot enter.
Passive: Mercy's current passive is fine.

[DeadmanWalking]

I still think it's unbelieveable that with such a small roster there's only a handful of characters that are considered meta. This is one of the issues i have with slow rollouts of heroes

I would rather there be a slow roll out with very few changes than lots of roll outs with constant reworks, nerfs and buffs like in HotS. I mean how many times do they have to rework sylvanus?

[Deleted]

I would rather there be a slow roll out with very few changes than lots of roll outs with constant reworks, nerfs and buffs like in HotS. I mean how many times do they have to rework sylvanus?

But still, we're stuck with shit tier heroes like Mei who's borderline useless as she is atm.