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‘Overwatch’: Mercy And Mei To Receive Buffs While Zenyatta Gets The Nerf Hammer

By Bryan Star
Published on: 18:21 PST, Aug 12, 2016

Blizzard has been slinging the hammer of buffs and nerfs quite a bit lately, and there’s news as to who the targets are this time around.

If you’ve been following the competitive scene, or if you’re just interested in the current state of characters, Overwatch has been receiving quite a few patches that have included increasing or decreasing potential. We’ve seen McCree get the nerf hammer, while D.va has been given greater potential. Other characters have fallen to this, and recent news suggests that Blizzard isn’t done yet.

According to a report by IGN, Overwatch will be receiving a patch that buffs Mercy and Mei while nerfing Zenyatta. Such a patch may not be a surprise to some players, as there has been some controversy surrounding these characters for a while.

Mercy appears to be a staple on teams in Overwatch due to her ability to revive anyone in a given radius. This can lift the entire team and bring them back from the point of no return, giving them a small window of invulnerability to turn the tide of battle. However, the coordination required for such an effort leaves her falling short if not executed properly. As such, Blizzard appears to be toying around with the idea of giving her a new ability.

Overwatch principal designer Geoff Goodman weighed in on Mercy’s abilities.

“If she were to get a new ability it would ideally have to be something that she could use more ‘outside of combat’ or something that is generally used much more rarely,” Goodman stated. “That said there are some things we can do to help her out in the near future.”

Could Mercy see more utility outside of resurrection in Overwatch? It appears that developers are trying to make it so, as her win rate is on the low end.

Blizzard has also chimed in on Mei, who uses freezing abilities to hinder and hurt her enemies. A report by Destructoid leaves Mei in the underwhelming category, as she doesn’t see much tournament play. Her ultimate, Blizzard, also doesn’t appear as effective as some would think. It certainly doesn’t get as much mileage as other characters who make use of superior ultimates, and Blizzard is taking this into consideration.

Geoff had this to say in regards to Mei and her abilities.

“Currently her ult can feel a bit unwieldy and inconsistent, especially when you compare it to other similar ults such as Reinhardt’s. We’re internally testing allowing the ultimate projectile she throws to pierce barriers (such as Reinhardt’s shield), and increasing the radius a bit on it.”

There’s no telling whether this will increase her viability when stacked up against others, but Blizzard continues to look at fan feedback closely and adjust accordingly.

Zenyatta, the only character to receive a nerf in this Overwatch patch, appears to be doing quite well on the competitive scene. Developers have been looking at him as a whole, and it appears that he has seen more success than Blizzard might have hoped. As such, Goodman discussed a nerf that will bring him down a peg.

“Zenyatta is definitely playing a lot better these days. At this point anecdotal feedback, internal stats, and competitive feedback are all showing hes actually a bit *too* strong at the moment. At this point we’re looking likely to reduce some of his power in an upcoming patch, probably related to his Discord Orb.”

The Discord Orb is a tracking move in Overwatch, increasing the damage received to an enemy player that Zenyatta has attached the orb to. With this nerf, it will surely lower the potential that Zenyatta holds over other characters.

Ultimately, Blizzard is constantly changing the potential of characters in an attempt to make the competitive scene level in terms of what characters are being used. Will we see other characters get the nerf or buff hammer? It’s very likely.

How do you feel about these nerfs in Overwatch? Do you feel that Blizzard is rolling them out too frequently? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

[Image Via Blizzard]

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