Mercy changes go live in latest Overwatch patch
@liopleurodonic
The Mercy change that recently hit the Overwatch PTR is now going live for all platforms. Mercy’s most controversial ability, Resurrect, got even more retooling. She also got a bit of a buff at the same time they gave her a de facto nerf by fixing a momentum bug that cropped up after last patch. Lucio got a similar de facto nerf and slight buff out of the same bug.
It’s tough to say where the next step is for the development team with Mercy if they don’t like how it ends up. Making her slightly more slippery with that unintended buff may be a step in the right direction. One of the things that makes Mercy unique is a lot of the skill in playing her is found in spacial awareness more than aim, as in a typical shooter. Though Mercy “hiding” isn’t a great thing, finding those ledges to duck behind while amping or healing is what makes her sometimes tough to counter. As with many healing classes, a lot of your biggest opponents may be your teammates, who go around a corner just as you get in Guardian Angel distance to escape.
It’s difficult to keep a hero like Mercy accessible to all skill levels while still maintaining difficulty and keeping things fun across the gamut. I don’t envy the developers this task in the least.
OVERWATCH PATCH NOTES
OCTOBER 17, 2017
A new patch is now live. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
GENERAL UPDATES
Social
- Players can now set their social status to Online, Away, Busy, or Appear Offline (Note: appearing offline does not prevent friends from seeing you if you are placed into the same match). This option can be found under the social menu
HERO UPDATES
Lúcio
- Wall Ride
- The speed boost that Lúcio receives after completing a wall ride has been increased by 65%
Developer Comments: A recent bug fix slowed Lúcio’s Wall Ride. This change compensates for the reduced speed.
Mercy
- Guardian Angel
- Players can now glide past a targeted ally using the jump key
- Cooldown no longer resets when Resurrect is activated
- Valkyrie
- No longer resets or reduces Resurrection’s cooldown
Developer Comment: Valkyrie no longer resets or reduces Resurrect’s cooldown. Instead, it now provides an extra ‘charge,’ allowing you to revive an ally even if it is still on cooldown. If the bonus charge hasn’t been spent when Valkyrie ends, it will be removed.
This method makes Resurrect more flexible when used with Valkyrie. For example, in the past if you wanted to resurrect two teammates, you had to revive the first target, then activate Valkyrie (causing the Resurrect’s cooldown to reset), and then revive the other target. With this change, you can now activate Valkyrie and fly in quickly to resurrect both targets instantly.
However, this still reduces the overall number of Resurrects that Mercy can provide, since Valkyrie no longer reduces its cooldown.
Zenyatta
- Added a number of additional voicelines for Cultist Zenyatta
BUG FIXES
Heroes
- Fixed a bug preventing Mercy’s momentum from slowing down correctly when Guardian Angel was canceled
- Fixed a bug preventing the visual effects on Sombra’s Pumpkinette victory pose from displaying correctly
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