Overwatch

Did you follow all the steps correctly? According to the Internet, the best way to farm SR right now is:

• Step 1: Instalock Mercy
• Step 2: Have rez
• Step 3: Hide and wait for all your teams to die
• Step 3: Rez
• Step 4: ???
• Step 5: Profit (Instant GM)

Honestly, I take all those complaints with a grain of salt. Too many people sharing their "anecdotal experience" (read: salt) and little concrete proof. The real problem is Blizzard SR calculation favoring one-trick, but the best solution, apparently, is to remove Mercy from the game.

Yet the only way to gain SR is to win, obviously. And in that regard, I will reiterate: sometimes, your team just fails to take advantage of the support given to them, from basic heals to such luxuries like nano boosts and - given that we're talking about Mercy here - revives. In such cases, I dare say a match becomes unwinnable. It's most painfully apparent if you're playing supports while solo-queueing.

I call the theory of "Mercy players, and only Mercy, gets more SR gains than anyone else" bullshit. The only explanation for such salt is that they (the Mercies) were carried by a DPS/Tank (95% of the time Pharah) whose inherent skill was already at least two tiers above the Mercy from the start. Which, to be fair, is in part due to Mercy's design as the perfect pocket healer - even more so than the likes of Medic and Grover because none of them have as much mobility as Mercy, with which she can follow her patient basically anywhere they go (see: Pharmercy).

edited 27th Jun '17 10:24:06 AM by DarkDestruction

Don't stop, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need-proceed, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need!

I was playing some Overwatch quickplay and my team got wiped at least 3 times. The matches were over in 2 minutes, it wasn't pleasant.

Was there a rebalance or something? Or is it just because I haven't played the game in a little while.

Quite a few tweaks and nerfs. As a general summery:

• Tracer hasn't been buffed or nerfed, but she's significantly more powerful because of tweaks to other characters.
• D.Va's gone from a flanker to a defensive dive tank (whose barrier is considered more powerful than Reinhardt's shield, albeit with a higher Skill Gate).
• Rein himself is much less useful (partly because so many characters/strategies can be used to counter his shield, partly because his Ult no longer affects airborne targets).
• As of the latest update, Reaper is much more powerful against tanks (he gets health as he deals damage, instead of those orbs after getting a kill, meaning he can easily outheal them in a one to one fight).
• The same update soft nerfed Roadhog (his gun deals less damage but has a bigger clip, so his hook is less of a 1HK), making him better in formation, but much less powerful as a lone flanker.
• Mercy is either OP or useless, depending on the map, the state of the metagame, how well the team compliment her playstyle, current patches, and probably the alignment of the planets when a match starts or something. There is never any in between.
• Sombra's been getting stronger and stronger since she was released (currently she's considered a very strong support, since her EMP is quite useful and recharges super quickly if she serves as a healer via hacked health packs).

edited 27th Jun '17 3:37:58 PM by Bisected8

TV Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her, fae/faer

You forgot to mention that Sombra, unlike other healers, is impossible to be dived and can herself shut down D.Va and Winston.

edited 27th Jun '17 6:53:10 PM by shatterstar

Excuse me, "other healers"?

Sombra is kind of a healer. Hacking health packs is a huge asset.

Healer rank from best to worst (In raw healing output):

1. Ana

2. Mercy

3. Lucio

4. Zenyatta

5. Sombra

6. Soldier: 76

Uni cat

Don't worry. This mystical creatures show up once in every 5 match. But a lot of them will be Mercy one-tricks.

The Mercy ult making you invulnerable came right in handy last match.

We were on attack, last control point, and I ended up in the thick of it and most of the players were still up, so of course an enemy Soldier comes up and happily unloads his bullets into my poor, poor body point blank. Fortunately I think a Hanzo had died pretty recently, so I was able to quickly pop and fly away at 18hp behind another teammate — and after that a bit of luck, a bit of good work on my teammates' part, and the continued heals meant we won that last bit with no further casualties. Victory!

edited 27th Jun '17 5:35:05 PM by Lavaeolus

Wait, hacking a health pack makes it heal more? I thought it made it damage the opponent.

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

There are benefits to being friends with a hacker

x2. Neither is true. Hacked health packs simply regenerate faster and are inaccessible to the enemy.

Don't stop, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need-proceed, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need!

The idea of a hacked health pack doing damage instead of healing to enemies is deliciously evil though, given how many I see walk over the hacked packs anyway even if they still have a big shiny skull over them.

Depends on how much damage it should do.

Have you heard of the Mercy OT that is in masters with a 21% winrate?

I think Blizzard should definitely look into that. (Oh and nerf Pharah btw )

Uni cat

...fuck me. Here I am trying to claw my way out of Platinum while some guy who's clearly been boosted is sitting up there in Master/GM.

If the devs are compensating for the complaints of supports getting too little SR in season 4, well...it has Gone Horribly Right, that's for sure.

edited 29th Jun '17 5:53:42 PM by DarkDestruction

Don't stop, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need-proceed, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need!

The problem from what I saw is how Blizzard's SR distribution system works. It favors one tricks and favors certain stats that in the grand scheme of things really makes no sense to a team based environment. The Mercy one tricks know that about the system and exploit it.

Random thought.

I still think this is the all time greatest moment in Overwatch professional gaming so far.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Impressive.

but HOW?

-sniff- Beautiful. Too bad the redesigned Eichenwalde no longer allows that "jump through the small hole in the gate for a surprise" maneuver.

Don't stop, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need-proceed, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need!

x4

And it's brutal for tank players. You can have a 60+ win percentage, and still lose SR as a tank main.....and yet these Mercys have sub 40 win percentages, and are in Masters/GM.

Makes you think about this game's matchmaking system....

edited 30th Jun '17 11:08:06 AM by hardcorefakes

Well, who knows, maybe they'll fix it the Blizzard(tm) way: massively reduce gains and increase losses for Mercy players specifically, then jack up the gains and minimize losses for tank players (Zarya or Orisa players in particular because why the hell not?).

You know, just like how the "OMG OP PLZ NERF" torch has been passed around since launch from one particular hero to another. Kinda contrasts Valve's "fight OP with OP" approach to TF 2.

Don't stop, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need-proceed, just proceed, 'cause this is what you need!

Because, you know, there is never enough "DPS instalock, never support" player in the world for Blizzard.

edited 30th Jun '17 9:42:06 AM by Luminosity

Once we have enough villainous/TALON members

I know exactly what the Overwatch vs TALON cinematic needs to be a reference too

Fuck it, why not? I'd be okay with that. Then, when the Mercys fall back into Platinum where they belong, this whole cycle can begin anew.

Makes me wonder, how many more Talon/villainous characters will they be adding? I hope the pattern continues to be hero, villain, hero, etc...