Gaming
Gaming
How the Overwatch PTR patch will change the meta
With a slew of changes currently being tested, Blizzard’s shooter is about to get a big shake up.
As with most games that have a thriving competitive scene, Overwatch feels like it is in near-constant need of a patch to keep things fresh. For too long we have seen Reinhardt and Ana dominate the high levels of play,and for too long have the likes of Widowmaker been relegated to the bottom of the tier list. Overwatch is still a fantastic game, but when you are constantly watching and playing it feels like things are getting a little stale.
Fortunately, in the run up to Blizzcon Blizzard have been making more than a few changes over on the Overwatch Public Test Region. While there's still no sign of Sombra, there are more than a few buffs and nerfs to some of Overwatch’s most deserving heroes. With Blizzard’s annual shindig just around the corner, chances are these will be the final changes that make it into the main build.
There could be a few tweaks here and there, but the main themes of the upcoming patch are already clear. Heroes that have been missing from the meta should be back with a vengeance and a few of the stalwarts of competitive play might fall off a little. There are also a few important global changes for all heroes to deal with.
So without further ado, these are the big changes to expect in the next few weeks.
Ultimate costs
Perhaps the biggest change currently in deployment on the PTR is the increase of every ultimate charge time by 25 percent (with the exclusion of D.Va’s call mech ult, which is the same as always.) This may sound insignificant as it impacts every hero, but this could change the pro scene dramatically.
This will go one of two ways; either the pace of the game will slow further with teams waiting even longer to fight with their ultimates, or it will force them to fight more often without ultimates, which seems to be the aim.
Currently most fights are a lot of pokes until ults are up, and then all hell breaks loose.With longer charge times they should be forced to take fights without ults, otherwise the attacking team won’t have enough time to make it through the map.
This could do very little to change the game, especially at lower levels, but chances are this will create more action with a lot more variation, and make big ult plays more of a spectacle.
Widowmaker
Widowmaker should enjoy her new buffs
© Blizzard
It’s fair to say that after being a menace at the start of Overwatch’s life, Widowmaker has fallen to the bottom of the pile. However, these new changes should bring her back up.
One of her biggest issues was that she had very little to defend against anyone who got all up in her grill, but a simple change to Venom Mine could be all that's needed. Venom Mine now does no damage to Widowmaker herself, meaning it can be thrown right at her feet if someone gets on top of her. It’s not a foolproof way of surviving a surprise Winston beating down on you, but it should make her a little more viable.
Perhaps the bigger change is a 20 percent charge rate increase for Widow’s Kiss, Widowmaker’s main weapon. This means that she can pump out more full damage sniper shots during a fight and no longer has to wait around for an eternity to be able to deal max damage to a squishy support.
With these significant buffs Widowmaker should once again become a situational pick. They probably won’t be enough to make her a must-have in every game, but in certain situations she could be vital.
Ana
Ana might not be as common in pro play
© Blizzard
Having a good Ana player has been vital for all the top Overwatch teams since her launch a few months back, but now that could change. A nerf to her Nano Boost removes the movement speed buff from the ability, making it less potent.
One of the most common tactics of recent months has been the Ana and Reinhardt combo, where Ana uses her ult on Reinhardt, who then proceeds to smack everyone in the face while benefiting from the buff. With no movement speed buff Reinhardt should once again find it difficult to get in the face of the entire team, and as a result this nerf should see the end of the strat.
Torbjörn
A couple of buffs that no one at lower levels will be happy with should see Torbjörn pop up occasionally in high-level play. Despite having a decently powerful turret, he was never quite able to be useful all the time in games. If the fight moved away from his turret he offered basically nothing, especially if his team wasn’t racking up the kills.
Now, however, Torbjörn generates scrap over time, meaning even if he sees no kills throughout the game he can still give his allies a nice armour pack. To counter this, enemies drop 40 percent less scrap, but overall his scrap production should be way up. He also got a nice hammer buff, meaning his turret should get more powerful much sooner.
D.Va
The previous changes to D.Va’s defence matrix went a long way to making her more viable as an actual tank, but she is still outclassed by her fellow beefy counterparts.
In order to continue her rise through the tank ranks she has been given an extra 100 health when in mech form. With 400 armour and 200 health to burn through, her tanking capabilities improve significantly. An increase to her movement speed when firing should also make it easier to dodge incoming projectiles.
The rest
Of course there are a lot of smaller changes to other heroes that could end up changing their standing in the meta. Lucio has lost 10 percent of his heal per second while amp it up is active, while Mercy can regen health after one second of taking no damage instead of three. These changes could see the two switch positions in the healer popularity charts.
Mei has seen her ultimate charge time nerfed, which could see her sink back to the bottom of the popularity pile once again. Soldier 76 has been given a slight damage increase, making it easier to rip through the back lines, while changes to Phara remove her ability to easily knock enemies out of position, so the damage dealer meta could be in for a switch up.
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