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Overwatch PTR update: Roadhog's not the only one getting a nerf in these patch notes, but now you can have four emotes

Brenna Hillier avatar
News by Brenna Hillier Contributor
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Overwatch's latest test build brings a cool new features and some interesting balance changes.

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Overwatch players on PC can now check out a new test build on the PTR server.

The new build makes some changes to Overwatch's balance. Ana's healing grenade has been nerfed, and as promised, potentially overpowered Overwatch favourite Roadhog is getting a nerf, too - but it should make him more consistent to play. D.Va has had a more complicated adjustment with increased health but lower armour and a buff to her fusion cannon.

Elsewhere, Overwatch players can now equip up to four each of emotes, sprays and voice lines, something Blizzard pomised in its outline of 2017 Overwatch plans.

There's also a huge stack of bug fixes. But why read my summary when you could browse the full Overwatch PTR patch notes below?

As ever, it's worth remembering that these are experimental changes and may not make it into the live Overwatch build in this form, if at all, and that some PTR changes are PC-specific features.

General updates

    Emote Wheel
  • Players can now equip up to 4 emotes, sprays, and voice lines from within the hero gallery
  • Voice line and emote submenus can be accessed using the left and right mouse buttons from within the Communication wheel
  • Players can now bind individual sprays, emotes, and voice lines to unique keys or mouse buttons

Hero balance updates

    Ana
  • Biotic Grenade
    • Healing boost on allies has been decreased by 50%

Developer Comments: The healing boost from Ana’s Biotic Grenade was providing too much healing, especially when used on targets with large health pools.

    D.Va
  • Health increased from 200 to 400
  • Armor decreased from 400 to 200
  • Fusion Cannons
    • Bullet damage decreased from 3 to 2
    • Number of bullets per shot has been increased from 8 to 11

Developer Comments: D.Va’s armor often made her feel like she had no weaknesses, even against heroes that are often effective against bigger targets (like Reaper). The changes to her Fusion Cannons will result in a small overall decrease in damage, but they should feel more consistent now.

    Roadhog
  • Chain Hook
    • Targets are now pulled directly in front of Roadhog (rather than straight to him), except in cases where Roadhog drastically rotates
    • Hooked targets are now released if they leave Roadhog’s line-of-sight before being pulled
    • Line-of-sight checks (which detect if targets should be initially hit by the hook) are now done from Roadhog’s position, rather than the hook’s position

Developer Comments: The hook should now feel more consistent for Roadhog players, but it should also feel more reasonable to his enemies, as they cannot be hooked or pulled around corners anymore.

    Sombra
  • Hack
    • The time it takes to hack a target has been decreased from 1 second to 0.8 seconds

Developer Comments: Sombra often had difficulty hacking enemies, even when she surprised the target. This change should help her execute hacks more easily.

User interface updates

  • The “Stay as Team” button lights up when anyone on your team clicks it
  • Kill Feed
    • Hero ability icons are now displayed
    • Ultimate abilities are now indicated with an orange arrow
    • Headshot eliminations are now indicated with a red icon

Bug fixes

    General
  • Fixed a bug that allowed spectators to click the “Stay as Team” button after a game ended
  • Fixed a bug that caused the “Stay as Team” button to overlap with the “Back” button on the Social menu
  • Fixed a bug causing the “Mouse 4” button to execute the “Back” function during menu navigation, preventing it from being used for other features
  • Fixed a bug preventing the Social menu from correctly displaying World of Warcraft zones that have a single quotation mark in the name
  • Fixed a bug causing heroes to display a “T-pose” on the victory screen following a Mystery Heroes brawl
    AI
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the Roadhog bot from grabbing enemies with his Chain Hook through a friendly Reinhardt’s Barrier Field
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the Sombra bot to hack through barriers
  • Fixed a bug that made the Torbjörn bot unresponsive after placing his turret
    Competitive Play
  • Fixed a bug preventing players from receiving experience points when playing offseason games
    Heroes
  • Fixed a bug that would cause the cup in Ana’s “Toast” victory pose to appear blurry on the right side of the screen
  • Fixed a bug causing a several visual effect issues on McCree’s “Hat Trick” emote
  • Fixed a bug causing Mercy’s wings to be improperly placed on her Valkyrie and Sigrún skins
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Symmetra’s Photon Barrier from playing a sound effect when destroyed
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Widowmaker’s Venom Mine from attaching to walls
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Zenyatta’s Nutcracker skin from glowing when his Transcendence ultimate ability was activated
    Maps
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Widowmaker to reach an unintended location on Eichenwalde
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Widowmaker to reach unintended locations on Ecopoint: Antarctica
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to reach unintended locations on Dorado
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to reach unintended locations on Watchpoint: Gibraltar
  • Fixed a bug on Oasis's garden tier where the border around the capture point inaccurately marked the bounds of the capture point
  • Fixed an issue causing texture fragmentation on the Practice Range
  • Fixed a bug preventing some projectiles from destroying the piñatas on Dorado
  • Fixed an issue preventing the glass railings on Oasis from being easily broken by a melee attack

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