Blizzard has scaled back the nerfs to Ana in the latest update to the Overwatch PTR. The damage on her Biotic Rifle remains at the reduced value (60, down from 80) but the change to her Biotic Grenade has been reverted. It now once again does 60 damage to enemies and 100 healing to Ana and her allies.
"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," principal designer Geoff Goodman explained in a forum post. "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."
A few other heroes received additional tweaks as well. The change to Zenyatta's Orb of Discord has also been reverted, meaning it once again cannot target enemies through barriers. However, the weapon spread on his Orb of Destruction has been removed. It's a small change that many Zen players won't even notice, as the weapon spread was nearly negligible to begin with, but there is a difference—most noticeable when using his alternate fire at full charge.
Finally, Sombra has received another small change. At the suggestion of a community thread with more than 600 upvotes, Healthpacks that have been hacked by Sombra (and are available for use, not on cooldown) are now visible through walls to Sombra and her teammates. It's a small quality-of-life change, but one that greatly improves both Sombra's competitive viability and, perhaps most importantly, the visibility of her contributions to her team.
Original Story: The long range healer Ana might be getting a pretty significant nerf to her damage output, according to the current slate of balance changes being tested on the Overwatch public test realm. On the PTR, her Biotic Rifle now does 60 damage per shot to enemies (down from 80), while impact from her Biotic Grenade now does 30 damage (down from 60) to enemies and 50 healing (down from 100) to allies.
A handful of other characters have also received balance tweaks and changes. The new hero Orisa has had the magazine size on her primary weapon, Fusion Driver, shortened from 200 to 150. Her ultimate, Supercharger, also now costs 15 percent more.
The stealth hacker Sombra received a small buff: the sound effects and voice lines from entering and exiting Stealth have been reduced to 15 meters—a welcome change for Sombra mains who feel it's a bit ridiculous that a sneaky infiltrator announces herself upon exiting stealth. The cooldown on her Translocator has also been reduced from six to four seconds.
The cooldown on Winston's Barrier Projector now starts when the barrier is placed—a change that Winston players will be ecstatic about. Previously the cooldown didn't start ticking until the barrier disappeared or was destroyed, leaving Winston vulnerable for much longer than most other tanks. This change brings his Barrier Projector in line with Orisa's which also begins cooling down upon use, not end.
Zenyatta can now target enemies with Orb of Discord through barriers, and the recovery on his alternate fire has been reduced to .6 seconds (down from one). Finally, Junkrat can no longer hurt himself via his own explosions.
Blizzard said the balance changes should be available for testing on the PTR as early as tomorrow morning. As with all PTR changes, it remains to be seen if these will stick, or if more changes are on the way.
"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," principal designer Geoff Goodman explained in a forum post. "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."
A few other heroes received additional tweaks as well. The change to Zenyatta's Orb of Discord has also been reverted, meaning it once again cannot target enemies through barriers. However, the weapon spread on his Orb of Destruction has been removed. It's a small change that many Zen players won't even notice, as the weapon spread was nearly negligible to begin with, but there is a difference—most noticeable when using his alternate fire at full charge.
Finally, Sombra has received another small change. At the suggestion of a community thread with more than 600 upvotes, Healthpacks that have been hacked by Sombra (and are available for use, not on cooldown) are now visible through walls to Sombra and her teammates. It's a small quality-of-life change, but one that greatly improves both Sombra's competitive viability and, perhaps most importantly, the visibility of her contributions to her team.
Original Story: The long range healer Ana might be getting a pretty significant nerf to her damage output, according to the current slate of balance changes being tested on the Overwatch public test realm. On the PTR, her Biotic Rifle now does 60 damage per shot to enemies (down from 80), while impact from her Biotic Grenade now does 30 damage (down from 60) to enemies and 50 healing (down from 100) to allies.
A handful of other characters have also received balance tweaks and changes. The new hero Orisa has had the magazine size on her primary weapon, Fusion Driver, shortened from 200 to 150. Her ultimate, Supercharger, also now costs 15 percent more.
The stealth hacker Sombra received a small buff: the sound effects and voice lines from entering and exiting Stealth have been reduced to 15 meters—a welcome change for Sombra mains who feel it's a bit ridiculous that a sneaky infiltrator announces herself upon exiting stealth. The cooldown on her Translocator has also been reduced from six to four seconds.
The cooldown on Winston's Barrier Projector now starts when the barrier is placed—a change that Winston players will be ecstatic about. Previously the cooldown didn't start ticking until the barrier disappeared or was destroyed, leaving Winston vulnerable for much longer than most other tanks. This change brings his Barrier Projector in line with Orisa's which also begins cooling down upon use, not end.
Zenyatta can now target enemies with Orb of Discord through barriers, and the recovery on his alternate fire has been reduced to .6 seconds (down from one). Finally, Junkrat can no longer hurt himself via his own explosions.
Blizzard said the balance changes should be available for testing on the PTR as early as tomorrow morning. As with all PTR changes, it remains to be seen if these will stick, or if more changes are on the way.
