Why Mercy is fucking garbage compared to TF2’s Medic, in terms of difficulty to use and value to team in the competitive 6 v 6 format
Healers are always extremely valuable characters in any team based first person shooter. However, this basic concept is thrown out the window with the advent of the newest installment of hot garbage from trash incorporated, aka “Blizzard”. Digressing from the modern trash, this writing will compare it to a long-standing monolith of flawless first person shooter game design. Of course, that game is Team Fortress 2. In TF2, specifically the competitive 6v6 format, the entire game revolves around the medic. His ubercharge ability allows his teammates to push through a strong defense or break free from enemy pressure and go on the attack. Playing medic in TF2 competitive is EXTREMELY demanding, and forces the player to keep track of not only his five teammates, their health, their crit heal timers, but also how long the enemy medic has been alive and how much non-fatal damage the enemy team is taking, since both factor into how fast the medic’s ubercharge is built up. Playing medic in high level competitive TF2 is a race to the ubercharge. Whichever team gets it and makes proper use of it first will have a massive advantage, sometimes even winning an entire round from the first fight. When both teams start out on an even playing field, rolling out to mid and engaging in the midfight, the medic is entirely responsible for whether that fight goes in his team’s favor. He has to keep those five players alive while also keeping himself alive. Even if all five players live, but the medic dies, and all five players on the enemy team die, but the enemy medic lives and gets away, the enemy has the advantage, despite losing the midpoint. Having that uber advantage lets the enemy push back, and then kill the medic again, therefore keeping their advantage. Playing high level competitive Medic is extremely difficult because of this concept, the concept of uber advantage. But this is just one aspect of the character, albeit the most important. Oh, and did I mention that Overwatch has no Uber? There’s no Ubercharge to keep track of or any advantage to be had. There is no punishment to a Mercy player if they die, since they keep their ultimate. There’s literally no consequence to being absolute dogshit at the game and dying, even when Mercy’s crutch abilities make it even easier to do exactly that. Take for example her shift, the ability that lets her instantly fly to any teammate within line of sight. Medic doesn’t have that. If a Phara decides that Mercy might be a target worth shooting at, she just zips away with one button press. But if a soldier or demo tries bombing a Medic, what can Medic do? Medic must watch them, predict where they’re going to shoot, and then properly position themselves to surf off the blast damage and use it to boost him to safety, where there may or may not be a teammate waiting to rescue him. On top of that, it’s not as easy as “Oh no, an enemy, better press shift to surf it!”. The Medic player would have to jump with perfect timing (Otherwise he will get popped up for a ridiculously easy airshot) and then crouch to take more knockback, AND then when in midair he has to use the A and D keys while aiming with his mouse to strafe and land where he wants to, hopefully somewhere where he will not die from fall damage. (Video example: https://youtu.be/TBnNY2EOTiE)  Just a reminder, Mercy only has to press shift, Overwatch doesn’t have fall damage, and she can hold space to gently glide down to wherever she wants to land, no airstrafeing required. Mercy is simply just a watered-down version of medic with any skill demanding techniques removed and replaced with single button clicks. Any game mechanic that makes Medic demanding or requires any kind of thought is simply nonexistent. For example, crit heals, when a player hasn’t taken damage for a few seconds, they get healed faster, which encourages players retreating to their medic instead of dying. Crit heals do not exist in Overwatch. Want another example? Ubercharges, flashing and revives. Ubercharge does not exist in Overwatch, counting the uber rate and racing to get your uber before the enemy medic does, DOES NOT EXIST IN OVERWATCH. When you uber push, you have to make the decision to push with one person and keep them invulnerable for 8 seconds, or flash your teammates and give them invulnerability as well, at the cost of your uber duration. Flashing people can effectively let your team run over the enemy, but you will lose out to a longer uber if the enemy medic focuses on one person. (By the way, this doesn’t exist in overwatch). If your teammate dies in TF2, that’s it, they are dead. You are fighting with a man down now. The 5v5 fight is now a 4v5. But you know what Overwatch does have? Another crutch game mechanic that helps bad players who aren’t skilled enough to manage their healing and keep everyone alive. A revive. A revive that you do not lose when you die, and you get back before you’re going to need it again. Overwatch is nothing but a casualized, dumbed down version of  TF2 and their treatment of the most important role in competitive is nothing short of irrefutable evidence of this.