While Blizzard made a bit of a misstep by walling off the newly released Brigitte from the competitive mode for another 5 weeks or so, they have more than made up for that with the latest PTR update. Not only does it contain some long-awaited nerfs to heroes that have been dominating the Overwatch League, but it also has some nice buffs and bug fixes for the underperforming ones!
D.Va and Zenyatta are getting their damage potential slightly reduced, Mei and Reaper are being made more reliable, while Moira, Doomfist and Bastion are getting some of their most annoying bugs and animations fixed. There is no easy way to sum all of this up, so allow me to share with you all of the most important hero changes:
D.Va
• Micro Missiles
- Explosive damage reduced from 6 to 4
Developer Comments: D.Va’s burst potential is a bit too high, and her Micro Missiles are a major part of that. Currently each missile deals 3 impact damage and 6 explosive damage. We’re reducing explosive damage from 6 to 4 but leaving the impact damage the same, the net result being 22% damage reduction.
Mei
• Endothermic Blaster
- Now pierces through enemies
Developer Comments: This change helps Mei combat multiple targets that are clumped up and also makes it easier to keep her freezing a specific target if another enemy gets in the way. In addition, this change helps her ultimate more consistently be able to freeze more targets, especially if they are near each other. Note: While her shots now pierce enemies, they still do not pierce barriers such as Reinhardt’s shield.
Reaper
• Death Blossom
- Reloads Hellfire Shotguns after use
• Wraith Form
- Move speed bonus increased from 25% to 50%
- You can now cancel the ability by pressing the Shift or Primary Fire hotkey
Developer Comments: These changes help Reaper use Wraith Form more consistently as an escape, but they also open up new options, such as chasing down key targets.
Moira
• Biotic Grasp
- Transparency increased the closer you are to a target
• Coalescence
- Now becomes more transparent the closer its visual effects are to a player’s camera
• Fade
- Transparency increased the closer you are to a target
Developer Comments: Due to issues with visibility, we have made most of Moira’s visual effects fade away the closer they are to the camera. We have also made modifications to Coalescence to greatly increase the ability for foes and allies alike to see through it when facing it.
Zenyatta
• Orb of Destruction
- Secondary fire rate of fire reduced by 15%
Developer Comments: Zenyatta is meant to be able to deal a lot of damage, especially for a support, but his alternate fire burst damage was a bit too high. This change keeps the overall damage the same but lowers the DPS slightly and makes it harder to hit multiple shots at very long ranges.
BUG FIXES
• Fixed a bug that prevented Bastion from firing projectiles immediately after going into Tank configuration
• Fixed a bug that prevented Bastion from being knocked back while transforming during Configuration: Tank
• Fixed a bug that prevented Brigitte’s impact effects from playing when hitting the environment
• Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte’s aim to be slightly offset after using Shield Bash
• Fixed a bug that caused a player’s camera to jitter when spectating Doomfist during his Meteor Strike
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from landing where it was telegraphed when standing close to a ledge
• Fixed a bug that allowed Doomfist’s Meteor Strike to access unintended locations
• Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist’s Meteor Strike to penetrate angled surfaces as he descended
And if that wasn't enough, Blizzard has decided to take things one step further by reintroducing the "Avoid this player" feature, though this time around as a much more reasonable "Avoid as Teammate" option. You can only avoid players you've actually met, and only two at a time, but this alone should be enough to prevent that one guy from constantly haunting your games and essentially ruining your entire evening. A very small change in the grand scheme of things, but one that will hopefully make Overwatch significantly better.
Speaking of which, I am also glad to say that Blizzard World's second checkpoint (Pylon Terrace) has now been moved back 10 meters. In other words, you're no longer going to be staring straight at the enemy spawn while pushing the final few meters, which should help make the point a lot less tedious to capture. I still feel like the third point needs to be a bit lighter given how characters can practically disappear in the shadows, but even so this is a good step forward for Blizzard World.
If you're interested in all of the details and bug fixes, you can read the full patch notes over at the Overwatch forums. And finally, here's the most recent developer update discussing the "Avoid as Teammate" option. You won't really learn anything new, but it might give you a bit of context for Blizzard's decision. Enjoy!