Overwatch players are annoyed at yet another Mercy event skin
How many is too many? Overwatch 2’s support hero Mercy is getting another event skin for the game’s Lunar New Year event. With recent news around Mercy’s Jingle Belle skin that had caused public controversy, some Overwatch fans have had it with the amount of attention the Swiss doctor receives from the development team, asking other heroes to be served too.
The Mercy lobby
To get a feel for the disgruntlement of the wider Overwatch 2 community, one should consider recent history around the topic of Mercy skins and why some players feel the hero is given unfair recognition.
Overwatch 2’s development calendar stays receptive to some major global festivities, having skins around events like the Winter Season, Lunar New Year, Halloween, Summer Games and more. For this year’s end-of-year season, Winter Wonderland began on December 16 with ample time for fans to get into the holiday spirit and celebrate it with adequate in-game attire.
Moreover, the developers had teased Jingle Belle Mercy for over two years, putting out art containing the skin concept before the last Christmas season. It finally arrived in 2023, though its initial launch date of December 26 didn’t particularly excite Mercy fans.
Taking to social media, they argued that an event skin celebrating the season should be available before the festivities, finding it weird to have its Weapon skin feature launch before the holidays while a skin specifically designed with the celebrations in mind would only be available on the 26th. Granted, Mercy is also one of those select few heroes getting one of these new skin types which in her case is called “Hard Light.”
Eventually, Overwatch 2 buckled and released the skin on December 21, much to the surprise of other community figures who were shocked by Blizzard’s timely response, attributing it to the Mercy community’s ability to lobby for itself.
“The Mercy Mafia is undefeated,” wrote Overwatch 2 YouTuber Tom “Stylosa” Stewart on his Twitter.
Lunar New Year with yet another Mercy skin
Why does she get a skin and not genji and hanzo??
byu/WhoopsAhoy inOverwatch
For the Lunar New Year event, Mercy is announced to be receiving another high-effort event skin, adding to her pool of 19 other Legendary skins. Known under the name “Mystic Swan”, it is only the fourth legendary Mercy skin in Overwatch 2 while other heroes have received more legendary and even Mythic skin attention during the same timeframe.
Therefore, the schedule of her new releases seems more in line with other heroes around the cast at least in Overwatch 2. Especially a lack of a Mythic skin seems to be a strong point against the alleged favouritism.
Especially given the Chinese Lunar New Year falls on the year of the dragon, some fans argue that heroes like Genji and Hanzo with their respective dragon themes would fit this year’s celebration more.
Not much else about the Lunar New Year events is known at this point, so there might yet be surprises for the skins coming in 2024 which could help soothe the Overwatch 2 community.
