PTR Patch Changes - February 26th

On Wednesday, Overwatch received a brand new PTR patch that set to tweak some of the more popular picks as well as giving a hand to heroes that have not seen as much success. However, Blizzard did also add the functionality to share your replays with your friends, coaches, and communities now. This has been on the wishlist of many streamers and content creators since the game’s inception. 

Along with the addition of replay sharing, competitive games should be faster with the new 2-minute warning feature. On the second round of non-Control game modes, teams will subtract the least amount of time until one timebank reaches 2 minutes. For example if Team A finishes Dorado with 3:30 remaining and Team B finishes with 2:20 remaining, 20 seconds are subtracted from both time banks. Team A now has 3:10 and Team B has 2:00 remaining. 

And as always there are a few hero changes to discuss so, if you just need the bare bones patch review, stay tuned for a TL;DR at the end.

D.Va

Boosters

• Cooldown increased from 3 to 4 seconds

This is a nice tone down, but D.Va just brings so much to the table that I don’t see this impacting professional play all that much. Her mobility is vital on certain maps and she can still just negate a wide range of ultimates and abilities with her Defense Matrix, D.Va is just so versatile. In ranked, you’re going to have to be more conscious of the new cooldown and you may not be able to get away with all of the flanking that you might be used to, but D.Va is still a great pick.

Mei

Ice Wall

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 13 seconds

• Player collision now allows large heroes to fit through 1 pillar gaps

Increasing the window of punishment for Mei is a good change, but just slows things down rather then stops how good it is. It does separate the cream from the whey in terms of how skills people are at Mei, but it doesn’t shift things. The player collision is interesting but seems strictly for professional play, I don’t think ranked players are going to have the coordination to be able to save their poor, poor Reinhardts. 

Sigma

Gravitic Flux

• Ultimate cost reduced 10%

Not much here. Feels like Sigma is going to be the new Reaper where the developers slowly make small incremental changes until he’s a sleeper pick in a few months’ time. It doesn’t affect either professional or ranked play, but keep an eye out for more changes and keep this pinned. 

Soldier: 76

Helix Rockets

• Cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds

Soldier: 76 has always been a fan favorite but hasn’t seen much playtime in recent years and unfortunately I don’t see this pushing him into the limelight. However, if D.Va gets hit again, Soldier: 76 could seriously get pushed hard into the metagame. More Helix Rockets add to his damage, but D.Va still mitigates a ton of his damage and his ultimate.

TL;DR: Mei’s Ice Wall is more important now with the cooldown increased. Keep an eye on Soldier and Sigma in the coming patches, they might see more small changes. Play a little more safe as D.Va as your boosters have a longer cool down. Good luck, have fun!

Image via Blizzard Entertainment