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New Overwatch Update Buffs Ana, Nerfs Mercy's Resurrection Ability
Blizzard's latest tweaks to the popular online shooter address some gameplay gaps and patch a few annoying bugs.
In a new post made to the game's official blog, Blizzard lays out changes coming to Overwatch via a patch currently in the works. Along with fixes for narrator lines which have failed to play during Competitive, Elimination, and Capture the Flag modes, the game will tweak the duration of Roadhog's chain-hook attack and add a cast time to Mercy's Resurrect ability.
"We feel that Mercy’s recent rework has been successful, but her Resurrect ability still feels too strong and frustrating to play against," the developers write. "Now that it has a cast time, there is more room for enemies to counter the ability."
Casting Resurrect will also incur a slowdown to 75 percent movement speed for players. However, resurrection can be cast immediately if Mercy is in her Valkyrie mode, a touch the developers hope will make the transformation feel more powerful.
Ana, meanwhile, will receive a boost to her base attack power from 60 to 70.
"Ana has been outshined by other support heroes lately," the developers write. "Boosting her damage will help her defend herself and make her more threatening to the enemy team."
The new gameplay tweaks are available for testing in the game's Public Test Region.
Our Take
Mercy continues to be a thorn in the side of Blizzard's balancing efforts, having already received tweaks to her mechanics last month and even bigger changes back in August. Hopefully this time they nail the type of moveset and limitations they've been looking for.
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