Given that the primary purpose of Overwatch‘s PTR servers are to allow players the opportunity to test proposed changes before they roll out to the live game on all platforms, I find it odd that the developer would revert modifications like these so soon after they’ve been made. Indeed, the recent tweaks it made to Ana in a PTR patch earlier this week saw the character’s Biotic Rifle and Grenade abilities take a hit to their effectiveness, but it looks like Blizzard jumped the gun on the latter, because they’ve already reverted the changes.
Providing an explanation for the reversion over on Battle.net, principle designer Geoff Goodman said:
Ana had the biggest changes in this patch, and upon testing, feedback, and talking about it a ton internally, we decided to pull back on the nerfs a bit for this patch. The damage reduction on her weapon is significant, but if this ends up not being enough we can re-visit some further tuning. We don’t want to swing her balance too wildly within a single patch.
Do note, however, that the rollback only applies to Ana’s Biotic Grenade – the damage reduction applied to her rifle is still in effect. Unfortunately, Zenyatta hasn’t managed to escape unscathed either – his Orb of Discord ability will no longer penetrate enemy barriers, buy hey, it was nice while it lasted, right?
Thankfully, not everything was pulled back to its pre-patch state. Sombra, unlike her peers, received a further buff to her abilities, one which allows teammates to see any health packs she’s hacked through walls. That might not sound like a particularly noteworthy change on paper, but being able to see which health spawns are up without having to check will be a huge boon for teams for which she’s present. Let’s just hope that this adjustment doesn’t end up being scrapped like the others.
If you’re an Overwatch player on PC and have yet to give the PTR servers a whirl – you should. You’ll not only be helping Blizzard to gather essential feedback, but you get first dibs on new, upcoming content like Orisa, who’s currently playable on the test servers. Expect her to arrive on consoles towards the end of March.
