Winston and Zenyatta get buffs
Ana has dominated the Overwatch scene for a while, but that may change when the next round of PTR changes hit (as a reminder, the PTR, or Public Test Region, is where the dev team tests their changes before they go live mostly for bugs, and for occasional balance reasons as well). Blizzard has provided some updated patch notes following what’s become known as the “Bastion patch,” and it heavily deals with Ana, among other heroes.
Pretty much all of her stats have been cut across the board, with her Biotic Rifle damage going from 80 to 60, and her Biotic Grenade going from 60 to 30 and 100 to 50, when it comes to damage and healing impacts respectively. Junkrat also won’t hurt himself from his own explosions anymore (poor Pharah), and Orisa got some small nerfs in the form of a lower magazine size (150 from 200) and a Supercharger cost increase (15%).
Finally, Sombra’s stealth audio has been reduced by 15 meters (so she can be a bit more secretive) and her Translocator is now on a four second cooldown (from six), Winston’s Barrier Projector cooldown now starts when it’s placed (!), and Zenyatta’s Orb of Destruction has a slightly better recovery time for his alt fire (.06s from 1s), and he can target enemies through barriers with Orb of Discord.
It’s an interesting set of changes for sure, especially for Ana, who is straight-up worse. Let’s see how the community deals with the next patch hits — but as always, PTR is not final, and a lot could change by the time the live version arrives.
Geoff Goodman [Battle.net]
