Overwatch PTR Buffs Ana, Nerfs Mercy

If you've been keeping track of or playing Overwatch lately, you may have noticed that Mercy has become quite a common sight. Ever since her rework in the Junkertown update, Mercy has enjoyed a near 100% pick rate across all platforms in Competitive mode. Of course, it's rather unhealthy for the game as a whole if one Hero is deemed to be the best Hero for every situation. In an attempt to rectify the situation, Blizzard has implemented some changes on the Overwatch PTR, which is essentially a testing ground for major game updates.

The proposed changes are as follows:

Ana

• Biotic Rifle damage increased from 60 to 70

Mercy

• Resurrect cast time increased from 0 to 1.75 seconds
• Movement speed while casting Resurrect reduced by 75%
• Resurrect can be interrupted
• Resurrect cast time and reduced movement speed do not apply when Valkyrie is active

The idea behind these balancing changes is to make Ana slightly more viable while making Mercy a bit less of a must-pick. Of course, whether or not Blizzard will be successful in this endeavor remains to be seen, but at the very least Mercy's proposed nerfs will make it so that people can't just recklessly fly into the middle of a firefight, Resurrect someone, and then fly away before the other team can retaliate. The casting time alone should force people to actually consider their Resurrect targets rather than mindlessly Resurrecting the first person that they see, though people will undoubtedly attempt such a maneuver even with the relatively long cast time.

In theory, this would encourage people to learn proper positioning and give teams a chance to make a push off of a pick, but until the changes go live, Mercy will continue to dominate every match of Overwatch, snuffing out the other healers thanks to the sheer power of Resurrect.

What do you think of these proposed changes to Mercy? Are you worried that she could go the way of Roadhog if given too many nerfs? Let us know in the comments below!