Overwatch PTR Update Makes Major Changes to Mercy And D.Va

In a new developer update from Overwatch ’s official YouTube channel, Game Director Jeff Kaplan discussed major upcoming changes to Mercy and D.Va.

Kaplan began with Mercy: “We wanted to put a lot of focus and attention into improving the Mercy play experience,” he said.

He pointed out two problems with Mercy’s kit. First, her Ultimate ability encourages players to stop healing and go hide, which is the opposite of what a character designed to heal should do. Second, it’s disheartening to have Mercy erase team wipes with a full team Resurrect.

Kaplan also added that unlike other heroes, Mercy doesn’t have an alternate ability, only Guardian Angel. Mercy has undergone two major changes to address these issues. Resurrect will now be her second ability, not her Ultimate. It is single-target only and on a long cooldown.

But what about Mercy’s Ultimate? “We felt like we really had to come up with something special for Mercy players so that they felt like their new Ultimate was really worthy of the hero they’ve come to love and respect so much,” said Kaplan. So…

Mercy’s Ultimate is an all-new ability called Valkyrie. Valkyrie allows her to fly, allows her abilities to extend much further, improves the speed and damage of her gun and resets Resurrect’s cooldown. (Kaplan notes that the PTR will experiment with different intersections of Valkyrie and Resurrect.)

“We feel like Mercy will feel a lot more engaging to play than standing around the corner, hiding, waiting for that moment to press the Ultimate,” said Kaplan.

Next, Kaplan explained why the team was considering changes to D.Va, notably to her Defense Matrix. “Defense Matrix can feel almost smothering… As a D.Va player, you feel almost required to maximize your uptime with this ability because it is so powerful, and on the receiving end, at times it feels like there’s no counter to Defense Matrix,” said Kaplan.

Even when lowered, D.Va can feather Defense Matrix quickly to deny crucial abilities, such as Zarya’s ultimate Graviton Surge. “It’s a little bit devastating right now… We’re looking to changes to D.Va to lessen the impact of Defense Matrix without injuring the character's ability to perform her primary role which is that of Tank,” said Kaplan.

The team also plans to give her things to do that are “more skillful and more fun to play offensively.” Geoff Goodman, Principal Designer on Overwatch , said earlier this week . Here are the details of the changes to D.Va, via the Overwatch PTR patch notes:

Micro Missiles (New Ability)

• D.Va fires a barrage of small rockets that detonate on impact, dealing damage in a limited radius around each explosion. These can be fired while D.Va is using any other ability or firing her Fusion Cannons

Defense Matrix

• Defense Matrix's resource meter will now deplete twice as quickly

Boosters

• Fusion Cannons can now be fired while flying

Goodman also shared the following stats for Micro Missiles:

• Number of missiles: 18

• Shots per second: 11

• Explosion Damage: 8 (has damage falloff)

• Impact Damage: 4

• Radius: 1.5m (for comparison, Pharah's rockets are 2.5m radius)

• Cooldown: 8s

Finally, there are some extra details from Goodman on how these changes work and feel:

• They fire straight at 40 m/s. For comparison Pharah's rockets move at 35 m/s atm.

• You cannot cancel them. Pressing the button fires them all over time (roughly 1.6s as mentioned). There is also a 0.5s delay before they start firing, similar to Mei's alternate fire.

• Also, yes they will self damage her if she is close enough.

• There is no spread. Each one fires directly at the point you were looking when it was fired. Of course, since they are firing individually over time, they wont all go the same place unless you stay looking at the same spot the whole time.

• Firing them doesn't stop you from moving, using other abilities, shooting your gun, etc. They just fire by themselves once you press the button. The only thing that stops them is dying or being stunned.

And here’s the details for Mercy:

Resurrect (formerly Mercy’s Ultimate ability)

• Ability now targets a single player, instead of every player within a radius

• Radius reduced to 5 meters

• Ability cooldown is 30 seconds

• Mercy is no longer granted invulnerability while Resurrect is active

Valkyrie (New Ultimate Ability): Valkyrie unleashes the full power of Mercy’s Valkyrie Suit, enhancing her weapons and abilities for 20 seconds.

• Caduceus Staff: Mercy’s healing and damage boost beams now affect all allies near the targeted teammate, and the staff’s effective range has been extended

• Caduceus Blaster: Granted infinite ammo, while simultaneously increasing damage and fire rate

• Guardian Angel: Increased range and movement speed

• Resurrect: Cooldown is instantly reset when Valkyrie is activated and reduced to 10s after the initial cast

• Hover: Mercy gains the ability to fly freely, at increased movement speed

• Regeneration (Passive): No longer interrupted when Mercy takes damage

These changes hit PTR today. Footage of them is already up, such as this clip of a quadruple kill from Mercy with Valkyrie active:

How do you feel about the changes? Feel free to discuss the new and improved D.Va and Mercy in our comments section below.