Opinion
Mercy and Her New Resonance Ability
Mercy received a “buff” recently, and well… It’s not a buff
Recently, I have been thinking about Mercy.
No, not in that way. Nope not that way either.
Mercy is a hero in Overwatch that heals people; she is the only hero who has a medi-beam like weapon. Soldier 76 has his beacon, Zenyatta has his harmony orb, Torbion has his Armour, other heroes have other things, but no hero is specifically dedicated to healing.
I play mainly Medic in TF2. Yes, I am that one person who mains Medic in TF2. I know how to be a credit to your team, and how to play as a class that is the first priority on the enemy team’s kill list.
I have studied Mercy’s powers, and I have to say, I am impressed with how Blizzard has balanced her powers and weaknesses.
Mercy has 200 health. In the world of overwatch, 200 is not a terribly low number, but not at all very high. to put that in perspective, Bastion’s sheild has 2000 health, which he can pull out and put away at any moment.
Mercy heals 60 health per second, which is enough to bring a Roadhog up to full health from any ammount within ten short seconds.
However, Mercy must be close to the teammate when healing him; she does not need to be aiming directly at them, but she still must be where the action most likely is; and therefore in the sight of the enemy.
Since the healer is the first target to take out in any game — since the amount of required damage to deal if the Mercy is dead is a lot smaller than if the Mercy is alive — Mercy will constantly be targeted by the enemy team. Blizzard has given her the ability to leap away out of danger (if she does it right). Mercy also has passive regeneration after one second of taking, dealing, or assisting any damage; so she can get back into the fight quickly if injured.
Though every second that Mercy is not healing her teammates, the team is losing ground — players must balance between not dying, and not losing. As a healing class, I often stay with a group of high-health, damage-dealing classes that can — as long as they have ears and actually check on that guy who is so kindly keeping them alive, — defend me, and make sure that damage does not come my direction too often.
Resonance
Resonance, or Rez for short, is the ability to bring back a deceased player to life, right where (or close to where) they died. Recently, this ability has been changed from her Ultimate, to a cooldown ability, which recharges every thirty seconds. The players that are rezzed are immune to damage for 2.25 seconds.
According to the community, this is a huge buff to Mercy’s abilities. I think it’s the opposite.
First of all, rezzes used to be able to happen across the map, where the enemy team had no say in what happened. At least now, the enemy team can stop the rezzes from happening. The mercy also cannot use her ability to rez everyone, only a single person at a time.
The old way of rezzing allowed for a team to make a push and kill the entire enemy team; but if they didn’t kill the mercy, all their work could be reduced to nothing.
The new changes allows for a team to counter a Mercy; they do not break the hero nor make her the “meta” for gameplay; it is simple as that.
