Blizzard rolled out its latest set of tweaks to Overwatch‘s PTR server last week, this time putting emphasis on giving support hero Lucio a slight rework as well as taking the first steps toward reducing the number of competitive matches that result in a draw. Approaching the adjustments in order, it appears as if Blizzard hasn’t been altogether entirely happy with Lucio’s role in the shooter, the developer making direct reference to his “raw healing power” and versatility leading to the hero often being considered a “must-pick” for teams, something it aims to rectify with this latest update.
First up is his Sonic Amplifier weapon, which has had its projectile speed increased from 40 to 50. Likewise, the potency of the character’s Heal Song has been increased, now healing 50% more health per second than before. Pretty massive buffs, right? Well, to keep things balanced, the area-of-effect radius of both songs has been reduced from 30 meters to 10. Such drastic changes may take a while for Lucio players to become accustomed to, but the inclusion of a temporary visual effect illustrating their radius should help you to adjust.
“The end result is that he should feel stronger with teams that he can stay close to but not as strong when on teams with heroes that are often spread out,” says Blizzard, but we’ll likely not get a proper idea of how the changes affect the character until they hit the live game.
As for the changes to competitive play, a new tracking system has been added to the Assault and Assault/Escort maps that allow games that would previously end in a draw be decided by which team made the most progress toward capturing the objective. The system mimics the one already in place for Escort and Assault/Escort maps, which grants a win to the team that “pushes the payload the furthest.” That’s it for the major talking points, but if you’re interested in poring over every last detail, you can find the full patch notes by heading over here.
In related news, tomorrow marks the arrival of new hero Orisa to Overwatch‘s live servers on all platforms, following her debut earlier this month on the PTR.
