We don't usually report on changes in Overwatch's Public Test Region, but today Blizzard have pushed out some very significant changes that aim to spruce up some heroes that have fallen by the wayside - D. Va, Soldier: 76 and Torbjörn - whilst reducing the effectiveness of the competitive core - Ana, Mei, Lucio and Zarya.

In fact, every hero is being touched by a 25% increase in ultimate cost that will make pressing Q to win that little bit more risky - something that everyone's favourite analyst, flame, has been requesting for months! Whether that will serve to make the game less ult focused or simply slow things down further remains to be seen, but Blizzard are ready to experiment in very impactful ways - a change of tact that was laid out yesterday by Principal Designer, Geoff Goodman on the Battle.net forums:

Hey guys,

I wanted to drop in and talk about our upcoming PTR patch that is due out very soon. We are going to try something a little different this time, so you might be surprised when you see the patch notes for it.

Previously we've been using the PTR, first and foremost, to make sure the game is solid and there aren't any heinous issues that would prevent us from releasing the patch. There was a nice secondary goal of gathering feedback on any changes we're planning and trying to iterate on them quickly, but we didn't always have time to try multiple different iterations of any particular change.

This time around, the PTR is likely to be around a bit longer than before, so we're taking this opportunity to try out some more significant hero changes, and the push more significant iterations throughout this PTR cycle.

The PTR patch changes you guys see are unlikely to make it through PTR unchanged, unlike previous PTR cycles.

We want to try a bunch of things and see whats fun and working, and iterate more quickly from there. In this way, we get to have you guys involved earlier in the process.

One quick note, since I already know this will come up. There aren't any Symmetra changes for this patch. Her changes ended up being much more significant and require more time to finish up, but shes feeling pretty great internally so hopefully we can get her out there pretty soon.

I don't have an exact ETA on when this PTR will update, but we're hoping for later this week some time. As always, the more you guys jump on and give feedback the better the game will be! Thanks.

The PTR patch notes are reproduced in full below:

As Geoff Goodman mentioned in a recent forum post, we're currently experimenting with a number of significant hero changes. We don't typically have the time to try multiple configurations to our hero balance composition, but the extended length of this PTR gives us a unique opportunity. Throughout the PTR, we'll be continuously adjusting our heroes' stats, which will provide valuable data needed to make some tough decisions.

None of these changes should be considered final, and we'll continue to update this post as the PTR progresses. Please feel free to provide feedback throughout this test. We're looking forward to hearing what you think.

Hero Balance Changes

General

  • Dealing damage to non-players (like like Torbjorn's turrets or Symmetra's teleporter), no longer charges ultimate abilities
  • Ultimate costs have been increased by 25% for all heroes

D. Va

  • Mech health increased to 200 (formerly 100). Armor remains at 400
  • Movement speed while firing has been increased by 25%

Soldier: 76

  • Pulse Rifle
    • Bullet damage increased from 17 to 20
    • Maximum bullet spread Increased from 2.2 to 2.4

Ana

  • Nano Boost
    • No longer increases move speed

Mei

  • Blizzard
    • Ultimate cost has been increased by 15%

Lúcio

  • Amp It Up
    • Healing-per-second has been decreased by 10%

Zarya

  • Particle Barrier
    • Power gained from barriers decreased by 20%
  • Projected Barrier
    • Power gained from barriers decreased by 20%

Torbjörn

  • Scrap is now automatically generated over time
  • The amount of scrap collected from a fallen enemy has been decreased by 40%
  • Forge Hammer
    • Swing speed increased by 25%
    • Damage decreased by 27%

With an official Blizzard Overwatch League being confirmed by Bobby Kotick, you can be sure they are going to be doing everything in their power to perfect the esports spectator experience. Encouraging greater hero variance and shifting the focus away from ultimates could well be important steps on that road.