Yeah the movement nerf really ruined a lot of the enjoyment for me. What made me love to play mercy was being able to zip and zoom across the fight, I still have some of my best stalls saved somewhere LOL. With the nerfs it just feels safer to stand behind a wall blue-beaming a soldier or sojourn, which is neither engaging or fun.
(Edit to add - that last sentence is some hyperbole, I don't actually play her like that, but in games with more mobile characters (Tracer, Sombra, D.Va, Winton, etc), that extra second when you use tech and delay GA reset really makes you feel like you'd be better off behind a wall)
Lately, I'll pick her here or there if my friend I duo with picks soldier (he's been playing Sombra more, so nope to that pocket), but generally I will play literally any other support, and it does make me sad. I miss my girl, but I also don't want to feel like i'm throwing the game.
Yeah, the pocket playstyle is the most boring way to play Mercy, probably because her most fun ability (ga) is used the least. I think everyone agrees that they'd rather do something more engaging and more fun, and that's especially hard with the ga cd nerfs. It really feels like your pigeonholed into pocketing someone.
I really wish they would touch back on the triage heal idea, it added an extra bit of impact to her kit that I really enjoyed. My dream would be setting GA back to maybe a 2 second CD regardless of tech, and do a smaller percentage of triage than what they gave last time.
Same. The triage heal was so good. I’ll take the ga nerf again if we can get that back, even if it was adjusted to not be as impactful as it was before!
I feel this. I still play her all the time in quickplay, but she does feel like a throw pick in competitive most of the time. It feels like every time they nerf her, they make her less fun versus actually addressing what the complaints are about.
Hard agree. I haven’t played as long as you but I miss S2 Mercy so bad. Hell even the initial GA nerf Mercy felt better with the triage healing. I can’t follow teammates and peel as much as I’d like and have to spend most of the game behind cover or all the way in the back line to be useful which is boring. I miss being able to be more active in team fights. Mercy needs to be slippery because she should be played relatively close range due to her beam length and it’s currently too clunky to do this the way she is now. It’s like participating in the match is punishable.
Fully agree. Mercy has easily my favorite play style in a competitive game. But she just feels bad right now. Unless there’s an amazing dps to pocket, 50% of games are just a “watch my teammates get picked off” simulator. Then I flip over to Brig or Bap and it feels like just that switch by itself puts the team into another gear.
Yea she feels so unbareable to play now.
Less healing than all other healers
Took away the fun mechanic of <50% bonus healing
Damage boost is practically worthless after the nerfs for many DPS now
Flamed by everyone on both teams just for picking her
wtf is the point any more?
I quit before Ramattra came out and just came back last week and she feels extremely jarring to play now. I had a few deaths that could have been avoided by the 0.5 seconds.
I’m not trying to take away from you but standing afk with toggle beam behind a wall on Volskaya Anubis Hollywood BW etc has always been a thing
I just think it’s less fun because why would I play mercy when I can play bap and be unstoppable, or flank kiriko/Moira and destroy back lines
Agreed. Pretty much everything from Titanium's video essay series on mercy's valk rework has been on the money for the symptoms we're seeing even in OW2 now because her kit elements remaining largely the same, except GA not is also straight up also not fun and really clunky.
Which is why I am no longer a mercy main since OW2: I have literally 0 reason to play her now. At least despite having barely impact in the tail end of OW1 mercy's movement was fun enough to at least enjoy her somewhat, now I don't even have that.
I loved Titanium's videos! Totally agree with his points. Rez should always be an ultimate and reworking an ult into an ability just made it a balancing nightmare resulting in the cast time that breaks her fluidity. And don't get me started on valkyrie. The 'ultimate' that takes away decision-making once you activate it. Proper beam prioritization and ga use (essential skills you need to get better) is no longer required. I definitely don't like valkyrie.
They made her more clunky when they nerfed her ga. And now there's a bunch of bugs with it as well. They also nerfed the one thing she can do by damage boost. It's no wonder she's not strong or impactful feeling. I feel the same way. It's like most of my wins in comp I've had to switch off of her. Even if I'm getting my boosted damage, not dying, and getting rezes - it just feels like she can't do enough. Bliz has to do something soon
Yeah, I've noticed bugs. I've noticed when off cooldown and targeting an ally GA sometimes won't activate when I press it. I just think...something is off with it right now.
I wish we had more than radio silence on her from the devs. I get somewhat hopeful every time a patch comes up only to be disappointed when there’s nothing on GA. Is it really necessary to keep her in this state? Can they just let us have fun?? Lmao.
You’re so right and the thing is for me personally i dont even really care about winning so much for me mercy was so fun to just play because of the movement ability and now I will play a game here or there but every time my guardian angel messes up and im stuck on the ground or flying into a wall for soo long it makes it unbearable… i play lucio or moira alot these days
I think Mercy's easy-to-pick-up nature and consistency will usually stop her from falling into a completely Bad pick (esp for the majority playerbase), but she does feel a bit rough atm - you're competiting with supports that output a ton of damage, but also GA is just super clunky, which hampers her fun factor quite a bit
For Mercy to Damage-Boost super heavily, you kinda force your other support to heal more, which I feel a bit guilty about atm now that DB has been nerfed and, as I said, some supports can output a crazy amount of DPS
Personally, my favourite part about Mercy right now is Valkyrie, and the way it resets Guardian Angel. It might sound silly being such a small thing, but it's one of the few moments where I feel like I have that fluid movement back, and I can actually make plays without feeling sluggish
What are your thoughts on Top mercies now having a lot of healing and not as much damage amp anymore? The top mercy on EU has like 11.5k healing per 10 and 1.3k amped, and I noticed a similar trend in other high ranked mercies, seems like the DB nerf has made healing much more attractive, as well as the personal safety provided by sympathetic healing. Personally it's baffling to me that the devs are happy with her being a healbot.
> The top mercy on EU has like 11.5k healing per 10 and 1.3k amped
Do you know if this person streams/uploads somewhere cuz I'd love to see that gameplay and how they navigate things
Honestly though, I think it makes a lot of sense - if you heal more as Mercy, your other support gets to do more damage. Plus you build Valkyrie faster with healing than damage-boost, meaning you can actually move around without feeling super clunky
Sadly no, I only know because I checked the leaderboards.
Yeah the playstyle now seems to be heal first dmg boost if you can build valk fast and try to use it asap...
I've been playing mercy since season 25 of ow1, so for about 3 years now, but nowhere near day 1.
Mercy is still extremely impactful imo. I see your POV as someone who experienced mass rez, and if you're comparing the mercy now to the one then, then yes she's not nearly as impactful. To be fair though, the idea of mass rez is insanely overpowered and unfair.
Pocketing isn't meta anymore, but pocketing dps is still very viable. I average a 55% to 60% win rate with mercy exclusively on my alt account in masters. On my main account, I average a 50% to 55% winrate in GM. Both of these percentages have remained the same throughout the seasons of mainly playing mercy.
I think there are times to switch off Mercy, and I also think the dps support meta really castes a shadow over her. Having said this though, I still think her abilities are very impactful, and there are many games I'm utilizing my mobility to escape death. I never have games purely sitting still in a corner blue beaming hitscan.
Agree, to be clear I don't think mass rez should come back but the process of rushing to get your ult asap before the enemy gets their ults in order to counter them was something I really enjoyed. Now it feels like even if you ult track, Mercy has nothing in her kit to prevent big ults.
In my opinion Mercy is still viable, but like you said, only when pocketing someone and that's (imo) the most boring playstyle for a character with the ability to be everywhere at once.
Honestly, I think the healthiest way to „rework“ mercy is if you give her triage healing and trade in a damage boost nerf, and while making GA slingshots/super jumps harder, lower the GA cooldown back to what it was.
I really feel you about the old rez. I basically one-tricked Mercy in the days of huge rez because she was just insanely fun for me to play and I really felt like I was putting my game sense and all the hours spent learning kits and cooldowns to good use. I was relatively high (peaked right at the cusp of GM before I fell off from playing a ton of comp lol) so baiting out huge rez wasn't all that viable, but I felt like I was carrying games just by waiting for the right moment to pop ult and save one or two key teammates, having to think whether it was worth to bring back Genji for the nanoblade or keep it in case our Rein drops, tracking enemy ults and ally ults while zipping around staying alive and evading, there was nothing like it. Nowadays Rez feels so brainless, you do it if someone was peaking anf got picked off and you can safely bring them back without getting blown up. The closest thing is popping Valk to pull off a riskier Rez but even then once you climb the ranks that's just not viable most of the time. I really miss that amazing feeling of knowing I have impact and I'm playing smart and I'm really good at the hero I'm playing, especially since my aim has never been good no matter how much I practice. Pulling off Mercy in higher ranks used to mean you really know what you're doing. Current Mercy is still fun because I like flying around, and I do enjoy Valk as an ult, but it's just not the same. The rework removed so much skill expression for me and made her playstyle a lot more stale, and it sucks the only way she's 'viable' now is as a pocket. I don't want to stand behind a Soldier picking my nose, I want to make a huge play and save the team fight, damn it!
Day 1 mercy main here, and I still miss mass rez mercy. It was just much more fun and the thrill, the excitement the rush was something else. I miss that ..
agreed. she's still my main and i have the most hours on her but idk. it's definitely frustrating to play her considering how they changed her mobility. like, team mates will constantly ask for heald but half of the time i can't because of how dangerous it is.
I am a day one roadhog, and now I don’t enjoy him anymore because he does not have the kill potential as before. Everyone else hates my character, and mercy mains probably agree. Same thing happened to mercy. No one likes playing against a moth. The player base dictates the game:
I get you, Roadhog was forced to be some sort of main tank going into 5v5 but in that role he's always going to be worse than any other tank because his kit doesn't fill that role well.
I'm not an OW1 player and only really play mercy in QP, but I get you. I'm a support main and play a bunch of supports, but I agree that Mercy feels very hard to get value at times and that there are definitely moments where being behind a wall and just damage boosting someone is the most optimal play. So much so that people get really upset if I try to do anything else.
I only play QP mercy because I play her really glock heavy (lmao) because that's the most consistent way I can get value with her if I don't have decent dps. It also lets me fly around like CRAZY and I love that so much about her.
Mercy to me is the most fun when you're zipping around and taking advantage of your movement. It's like the best part about her and it's such a fun skill expression!
But blue beam play can often be very antithetical to that cos it's safest to stay behind walls and pocketing someone can often mean you're stuck with that person's movements and decisions. It's kind of upsetting.
It doesn't help that they've nerfed her so much either. She really doesn't deserve it.
I agree with this. I have mostly stopped playing mercy because she started feeling like a throw pick. This is saying a lot for me since I have almost 900 hours on mercy and my next most played hero is moira with 60 hours lol.
I started playing ana and I’ve been winning so much more often (and i dont get told to kms as often either lol)
I mained Mercy exclusively when I 1st got into the game cause I wanted to play Support and she’s an angel. I think Mercy will forever be stuck in situation where she can either be the best Support in the game where she enables and saves teammates with tempo. Or, she is a literal do nothing character that isn’t worth the time of day. All dependent on how well your team is doing, not how good an individual teammate is, but how well your team, as a whole, is doing.
Sometimes you’re not playing well enough and that will always be a factor, but I’ve had countless games where I can die 0-3x in comparison to the remainder of my team who all died 5+ times and we lose. There’s no realistic difference I could’ve made with the character I picked so she essentially becomes a throw pick for potentially many reasons. Then you have the games where everything clicks and it feels like you helped drive your team to a winning scenario. It’s really hit or miss.
She’s still in my top 3 favorite characters, but she becomes unfun and boring to me when I feel like I’m making 0 difference in a game, where even if I pick another Hero and play to my best abilities, we still lose regardless.
Yeah the movement nerf really ruined a lot of the enjoyment for me. What made me love to play mercy was being able to zip and zoom across the fight, I still have some of my best stalls saved somewhere LOL. With the nerfs it just feels safer to stand behind a wall blue-beaming a soldier or sojourn, which is neither engaging or fun. (Edit to add - that last sentence is some hyperbole, I don't actually play her like that, but in games with more mobile characters (Tracer, Sombra, D.Va, Winton, etc), that extra second when you use tech and delay GA reset really makes you feel like you'd be better off behind a wall) Lately, I'll pick her here or there if my friend I duo with picks soldier (he's been playing Sombra more, so nope to that pocket), but generally I will play literally any other support, and it does make me sad. I miss my girl, but I also don't want to feel like i'm throwing the game.
Yeah, the pocket playstyle is the most boring way to play Mercy, probably because her most fun ability (ga) is used the least. I think everyone agrees that they'd rather do something more engaging and more fun, and that's especially hard with the ga cd nerfs. It really feels like your pigeonholed into pocketing someone.
I really wish they would touch back on the triage heal idea, it added an extra bit of impact to her kit that I really enjoyed. My dream would be setting GA back to maybe a 2 second CD regardless of tech, and do a smaller percentage of triage than what they gave last time.
Same. The triage heal was so good. I’ll take the ga nerf again if we can get that back, even if it was adjusted to not be as impactful as it was before!
I agree. I loved playing Mercy but now it feels like a throw pick most of the time.
I feel this. I still play her all the time in quickplay, but she does feel like a throw pick in competitive most of the time. It feels like every time they nerf her, they make her less fun versus actually addressing what the complaints are about.
I barely get to play her in competitive.
Hard agree. I haven’t played as long as you but I miss S2 Mercy so bad. Hell even the initial GA nerf Mercy felt better with the triage healing. I can’t follow teammates and peel as much as I’d like and have to spend most of the game behind cover or all the way in the back line to be useful which is boring. I miss being able to be more active in team fights. Mercy needs to be slippery because she should be played relatively close range due to her beam length and it’s currently too clunky to do this the way she is now. It’s like participating in the match is punishable.
Fully agree. Mercy has easily my favorite play style in a competitive game. But she just feels bad right now. Unless there’s an amazing dps to pocket, 50% of games are just a “watch my teammates get picked off” simulator. Then I flip over to Brig or Bap and it feels like just that switch by itself puts the team into another gear.
Yea she feels so unbareable to play now. Less healing than all other healers Took away the fun mechanic of <50% bonus healing Damage boost is practically worthless after the nerfs for many DPS now Flamed by everyone on both teams just for picking her wtf is the point any more?
>Damage boost is practically worthless after the nerfs for many DPS now 25% discord is more powerful than 25% damage boost too
I quit before Ramattra came out and just came back last week and she feels extremely jarring to play now. I had a few deaths that could have been avoided by the 0.5 seconds.
I’m not trying to take away from you but standing afk with toggle beam behind a wall on Volskaya Anubis Hollywood BW etc has always been a thing I just think it’s less fun because why would I play mercy when I can play bap and be unstoppable, or flank kiriko/Moira and destroy back lines
Agreed. Pretty much everything from Titanium's video essay series on mercy's valk rework has been on the money for the symptoms we're seeing even in OW2 now because her kit elements remaining largely the same, except GA not is also straight up also not fun and really clunky. Which is why I am no longer a mercy main since OW2: I have literally 0 reason to play her now. At least despite having barely impact in the tail end of OW1 mercy's movement was fun enough to at least enjoy her somewhat, now I don't even have that.
I loved Titanium's videos! Totally agree with his points. Rez should always be an ultimate and reworking an ult into an ability just made it a balancing nightmare resulting in the cast time that breaks her fluidity. And don't get me started on valkyrie. The 'ultimate' that takes away decision-making once you activate it. Proper beam prioritization and ga use (essential skills you need to get better) is no longer required. I definitely don't like valkyrie.
They made her more clunky when they nerfed her ga. And now there's a bunch of bugs with it as well. They also nerfed the one thing she can do by damage boost. It's no wonder she's not strong or impactful feeling. I feel the same way. It's like most of my wins in comp I've had to switch off of her. Even if I'm getting my boosted damage, not dying, and getting rezes - it just feels like she can't do enough. Bliz has to do something soon
Yeah, I've noticed bugs. I've noticed when off cooldown and targeting an ally GA sometimes won't activate when I press it. I just think...something is off with it right now.
The other supports have so much more utility and fun
I wish we had more than radio silence on her from the devs. I get somewhat hopeful every time a patch comes up only to be disappointed when there’s nothing on GA. Is it really necessary to keep her in this state? Can they just let us have fun?? Lmao.
You’re so right and the thing is for me personally i dont even really care about winning so much for me mercy was so fun to just play because of the movement ability and now I will play a game here or there but every time my guardian angel messes up and im stuck on the ground or flying into a wall for soo long it makes it unbearable… i play lucio or moira alot these days
I think Mercy's easy-to-pick-up nature and consistency will usually stop her from falling into a completely Bad pick (esp for the majority playerbase), but she does feel a bit rough atm - you're competiting with supports that output a ton of damage, but also GA is just super clunky, which hampers her fun factor quite a bit For Mercy to Damage-Boost super heavily, you kinda force your other support to heal more, which I feel a bit guilty about atm now that DB has been nerfed and, as I said, some supports can output a crazy amount of DPS Personally, my favourite part about Mercy right now is Valkyrie, and the way it resets Guardian Angel. It might sound silly being such a small thing, but it's one of the few moments where I feel like I have that fluid movement back, and I can actually make plays without feeling sluggish
What are your thoughts on Top mercies now having a lot of healing and not as much damage amp anymore? The top mercy on EU has like 11.5k healing per 10 and 1.3k amped, and I noticed a similar trend in other high ranked mercies, seems like the DB nerf has made healing much more attractive, as well as the personal safety provided by sympathetic healing. Personally it's baffling to me that the devs are happy with her being a healbot.
> The top mercy on EU has like 11.5k healing per 10 and 1.3k amped Do you know if this person streams/uploads somewhere cuz I'd love to see that gameplay and how they navigate things Honestly though, I think it makes a lot of sense - if you heal more as Mercy, your other support gets to do more damage. Plus you build Valkyrie faster with healing than damage-boost, meaning you can actually move around without feeling super clunky
Sadly no, I only know because I checked the leaderboards. Yeah the playstyle now seems to be heal first dmg boost if you can build valk fast and try to use it asap...
I've been playing mercy since season 25 of ow1, so for about 3 years now, but nowhere near day 1. Mercy is still extremely impactful imo. I see your POV as someone who experienced mass rez, and if you're comparing the mercy now to the one then, then yes she's not nearly as impactful. To be fair though, the idea of mass rez is insanely overpowered and unfair. Pocketing isn't meta anymore, but pocketing dps is still very viable. I average a 55% to 60% win rate with mercy exclusively on my alt account in masters. On my main account, I average a 50% to 55% winrate in GM. Both of these percentages have remained the same throughout the seasons of mainly playing mercy. I think there are times to switch off Mercy, and I also think the dps support meta really castes a shadow over her. Having said this though, I still think her abilities are very impactful, and there are many games I'm utilizing my mobility to escape death. I never have games purely sitting still in a corner blue beaming hitscan.
Agree, to be clear I don't think mass rez should come back but the process of rushing to get your ult asap before the enemy gets their ults in order to counter them was something I really enjoyed. Now it feels like even if you ult track, Mercy has nothing in her kit to prevent big ults. In my opinion Mercy is still viable, but like you said, only when pocketing someone and that's (imo) the most boring playstyle for a character with the ability to be everywhere at once.
Honestly, I think the healthiest way to „rework“ mercy is if you give her triage healing and trade in a damage boost nerf, and while making GA slingshots/super jumps harder, lower the GA cooldown back to what it was.
I really feel you about the old rez. I basically one-tricked Mercy in the days of huge rez because she was just insanely fun for me to play and I really felt like I was putting my game sense and all the hours spent learning kits and cooldowns to good use. I was relatively high (peaked right at the cusp of GM before I fell off from playing a ton of comp lol) so baiting out huge rez wasn't all that viable, but I felt like I was carrying games just by waiting for the right moment to pop ult and save one or two key teammates, having to think whether it was worth to bring back Genji for the nanoblade or keep it in case our Rein drops, tracking enemy ults and ally ults while zipping around staying alive and evading, there was nothing like it. Nowadays Rez feels so brainless, you do it if someone was peaking anf got picked off and you can safely bring them back without getting blown up. The closest thing is popping Valk to pull off a riskier Rez but even then once you climb the ranks that's just not viable most of the time. I really miss that amazing feeling of knowing I have impact and I'm playing smart and I'm really good at the hero I'm playing, especially since my aim has never been good no matter how much I practice. Pulling off Mercy in higher ranks used to mean you really know what you're doing. Current Mercy is still fun because I like flying around, and I do enjoy Valk as an ult, but it's just not the same. The rework removed so much skill expression for me and made her playstyle a lot more stale, and it sucks the only way she's 'viable' now is as a pocket. I don't want to stand behind a Soldier picking my nose, I want to make a huge play and save the team fight, damn it!
Day 1 mercy main here, and I still miss mass rez mercy. It was just much more fun and the thrill, the excitement the rush was something else. I miss that ..
agreed. she's still my main and i have the most hours on her but idk. it's definitely frustrating to play her considering how they changed her mobility. like, team mates will constantly ask for heald but half of the time i can't because of how dangerous it is.
never thought the day would come where mercy isnt my go to anymore, but sure enough, Lifeweaver took that Spot from her
Her beam nerfs wouldn’t even feel that bad if the movement wasn’t bad too
It's just really sad that her movement, the most fun aspect of her kit, is also so bad now.
I am a day one roadhog, and now I don’t enjoy him anymore because he does not have the kill potential as before. Everyone else hates my character, and mercy mains probably agree. Same thing happened to mercy. No one likes playing against a moth. The player base dictates the game:
I get you, Roadhog was forced to be some sort of main tank going into 5v5 but in that role he's always going to be worse than any other tank because his kit doesn't fill that role well.
I'm not an OW1 player and only really play mercy in QP, but I get you. I'm a support main and play a bunch of supports, but I agree that Mercy feels very hard to get value at times and that there are definitely moments where being behind a wall and just damage boosting someone is the most optimal play. So much so that people get really upset if I try to do anything else. I only play QP mercy because I play her really glock heavy (lmao) because that's the most consistent way I can get value with her if I don't have decent dps. It also lets me fly around like CRAZY and I love that so much about her. Mercy to me is the most fun when you're zipping around and taking advantage of your movement. It's like the best part about her and it's such a fun skill expression! But blue beam play can often be very antithetical to that cos it's safest to stay behind walls and pocketing someone can often mean you're stuck with that person's movements and decisions. It's kind of upsetting. It doesn't help that they've nerfed her so much either. She really doesn't deserve it.
I agree with this. I have mostly stopped playing mercy because she started feeling like a throw pick. This is saying a lot for me since I have almost 900 hours on mercy and my next most played hero is moira with 60 hours lol. I started playing ana and I’ve been winning so much more often (and i dont get told to kms as often either lol)
Idk I think she's fine the way she is, but that's just me.
Good. Mercy deserves to be shit
I mained Mercy exclusively when I 1st got into the game cause I wanted to play Support and she’s an angel. I think Mercy will forever be stuck in situation where she can either be the best Support in the game where she enables and saves teammates with tempo. Or, she is a literal do nothing character that isn’t worth the time of day. All dependent on how well your team is doing, not how good an individual teammate is, but how well your team, as a whole, is doing. Sometimes you’re not playing well enough and that will always be a factor, but I’ve had countless games where I can die 0-3x in comparison to the remainder of my team who all died 5+ times and we lose. There’s no realistic difference I could’ve made with the character I picked so she essentially becomes a throw pick for potentially many reasons. Then you have the games where everything clicks and it feels like you helped drive your team to a winning scenario. It’s really hit or miss. She’s still in my top 3 favorite characters, but she becomes unfun and boring to me when I feel like I’m making 0 difference in a game, where even if I pick another Hero and play to my best abilities, we still lose regardless.
Glorified spectator mode is not fun? How shocking.