The "Overwatch" PTR update that was released on Friday, August 25, has some interesting changes for Mercy, the healer who previously could only heal through her ultimate ability, Resurrect. Now, Resurrect has become a secondary ability for the healer, as her primary ability now is called Valkyrie. Jeff Kaplan released a 10-minute developer update, in which he talks about the new PTR update changes. He shared, "Mercy is a one of the top played characters in 'Overwatch'...some are worried, 'What are you doing to my beloved Mercy? Please don't wreck her.
Keep her awesome, we love Mercy so much.'" Kaplan explained that the Blizzard team "loves" Mercy too, which is why they "wanted to put a lot of focus and attention into improving the Mercy play experience."
Why did Mercy change?
In the recent "Overwatch" PTR update, Mercy has been radically changed. Polygon reported that as per Jeff Kaplan, "It's going to seem a little bit shocking at first," but he also explained in the developer update that the reason behind this is that there has been a problem in terms of the character's core design of her Resurrect ability. Kaplan admitted that the studio saw two main problems with the design, "We think it's wrong to tell a main healing character to go off and hide somewhere and stop healing for some period of time.
The other thing is that on the receiving end, [when] you wipe out the entire enemy team, it's pretty disheartening to have Mercy just erase that moment with the full team [Resurrect]." Thus, the studio decided they must address Mercy's Resurrect ability.
Resurrect now a single-target only ability
In previous PTR updates, "Overwatch" character Mercy remained a healer.
Now, the character can do damage to opponents as well. According to Polygon, this new ability is called Valkyrie, and it enables Mercy to finally use her wings and fly. In addition, Valkyrie enables Mercy to have a shorter Resurrect cool down. She will have a faster fire attack weapon when Valkyrie is in effect, making her a lethal weapon in combat.
Adjustments necessary for a now-combative Mercy
As with any new updates to the "Overwatch" PTR, Blizzard recognizes the need for adjustments, especially for Mercy who is now lethal. Principal director Geoff Goodman wrote on Blizzard's forums that "[Mercy's] gun while using Valkyrie is a bit too strong at the moment.The idea is for it to have some extra juice to be able to use it in more niche situations. Right now, it is strong enough that it is feeling like the primary way to use the Ultimate, which isn't intended." He also assured that they will be fine-tuning and adjusting Mercy's damage abilities as they go.
"Overwatch" is now playable on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
