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Overwatch PTR Now Available - January 5, 2017

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Overwatch PTR Now Available - January 5, 2017

A new Overwatch patch is currently in development and now available for testing on the Public Test Region. For information on how to participate and what changes are included in the upcoming patch, read on below.

Mission details:

If you encounter any game-related bugs while playing the PTR, please post in the PTR Bug Report forum.


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To participate in the public test, you must have an Overwatch game license for Windows PC attached your Battle.net account in good standing (i.e. it hasn't been suspended or banned). 

Step 1: Restart the Battle.net desktop app.
Step 2: Navigate to the Overwatch tab on the left-hand menu.
Step 3: Select "PTR: Overwatch" from the REGION/ACCOUNT drop-down menu.
Step 4: Click "Install" to begin the installation process.
Step 5: Once the PTR client is installed and updated, click "Play" to begin!

Note: In order to access the PTR, you must have installed Overwatch and logged into the game at least once. If the PTR is not available for you after following the steps above, trying logging into Overwatch, exiting the game client, and then launching the PTR again.

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Q. On which platforms is the PTR available?
A. The PTR is available on Windows PC only. 

 

Q. What regions are eligible to participate in the PTR?
A. Accounts from all regions (excluding China) are eligible to participate; however, the PTR will be hosted on our Americas region. As a result, if you plan to play the PTR from a region outside the US, please anticipate lowered performance and increased latency. 

 

Q. Is there a cap to how many players can participate on the PTR?
A. The PTR can currently support 10k concurrent players (or players logged into the PTR at the same time). If we happen to reach this cap, any new players attempting to log in to the PTR will be placed into a queue.

 

Q. What languages will be supported on the PTR?
A. The PTR is available in all supported languages, though some content may not be fully localized yet.

 

Q. Will any account progress from the live game transfer over to the PTR with me, or do I need to start from scratch?
A. A copy of your account from the live game will be transferred over to the PTR automatically, and all progress will transfer over with it (level, unlocks, stats, etc). Please note that this copy is pre-made, though, and based on an earlier snapshot of your account.  As a result, depending on when you last played, your PTR account may not be as up-to-date as your live game account.

 

Q. Will any progress I make on the PTR transfer over to the live game? 
A. No. Any progression earned during the PTR—including levels, achievements, stats, skill ratings, loot boxes (including rewards from loot boxes), currency (including Competive Points), and cosmetic items unlocked with currency—will not transfer over to the live game.

 

Q. Will I be able to purchase Loot Boxes on the PTR?
A. No. All real-money purchases are disabled on the PTR. 

 

Q. Where can I share feedback about the upcoming patch content?
A. This iteration of the PTR is intended to make sure the upcoming patch is working correctly before it's released, so we'll be primarily focused on uncovering major bugs and technical issues. Though you are still welcome to share your feedback through our normal channels, it's unlikely that we'll be able to incorporate changes based on PTR feedback in this patch cycle.

 

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Please note that the below patch notes only include changes currently available for testing on the PTR. While many of these changes will also be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in a future patch, the PTR is PC-only and therefore will only reflect changes coming specifically to that platform.

GENERAL UPDATES

General

  • Emote Wheel
    • Players can now equip up to 4 emotes, sprays, and voice lines from within the hero gallery
    • Voice line and emote submenus can be accessed using the left and right mouse buttons from within the Communication wheel
    • Players can now bind individual sprays, emotes, and voice lines to unique keys or mouse buttons

HERO BALANCE UPDATES

Ana

  • Biotic Grenade
    • Healing boost on allies has been decreased by 50%

Developer Comments: The healing boost from Ana’s Biotic Grenade was providing too much healing, especially when used on targets with large health pools.

D.Va

  • Health increased from 200 to 400
  • Armor decreased from 400 to 200
  • Fusion Cannons
    • Bullet damage decreased from 3 to 2
    • Number of bullets per shot has been increased from 8 to 11

Developer Comments: D.Va’s armor often made her feel like she had no weaknesses, even against heroes that are often effective against bigger targets (like Reaper). The changes to her Fusion Cannons will result in a small overall decrease in damage, but they should feel more consistent now.

Roadhog

  • Chain Hook
    • Targets are now pulled directly in front of Roadhog (rather than straight to him), except in cases where Roadhog drastically rotates
    • Hooked targets are now released if they leave Roadhog’s line-of-sight before being pulled
    • Line-of-sight checks (which detect if targets should be initially hit by the hook) are now done from Roadhog’s position, rather than the hook’s position

Developer Comments: The hook should now feel more consistent for Roadhog players, but it should also feel more reasonable to his enemies, as they cannot be hooked or pulled around corners anymore.

Sombra

  • Hack
    • The time it takes to hack a target has been decreased from 1 second to 0.8 seconds

Developer Comments: Sombra often had difficulty hacking enemies, even when she surprised the target. This change should help her execute hacks more easily.

USER INTERFACE UPDATES

General

  • The “Stay as Team” button lights up when anyone on your team clicks it

Kill Feed

  • Hero ability icons are now displayed
  • Ultimate abilities are now indicated with an orange arrow
  • Headshot eliminations are now indicated with a red icon

BUG FIXES

General

  • Fixed a bug that allowed spectators to click the “Stay as Team” button after a game ended
  • Fixed a bug that caused the “Stay as Team” button to overlap with the “Back” button on the Social menu
  • Fixed a bug causing the “Mouse 4” button to execute the “Back” function during menu navigation, preventing it from being used for other features
  • Fixed a bug preventing the Social menu from correctly displaying World of Warcraft zones that have a single quotation mark in the name
  • Fixed a bug causing heroes to display a “T-pose” on the victory screen following a Mystery Heroes brawl

AI

  • Fixed a bug that prevented the Roadhog bot from grabbing enemies with his Chain Hook through a friendly Reinhardt’s Barrier Field
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the Sombra bot to hack through barriers
  • Fixed a bug that made the Torbjörn bot unresponsive after placing his turret

Competitive Play

  • Fixed a bug preventing players from receiving experience points when playing offseason games

Heroes

  • Fixed a bug that would cause the cup in Ana’s “Toast” victory pose to appear blurry on the right side of the screen
  • Fixed a bug causing a several visual effect issues on McCree’s “Hat Trick” emote
  • Fixed a bug causing Mercy’s wings to be improperly placed on her Valkyrie and Sigrún skins
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Symmetra’s Photon Barrier from playing a sound effect when destroyed
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Widowmaker’s Venom Mine from attaching to walls
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Zenyatta’s Nutcracker skin from glowing when his Transcendence ultimate ability was activated

Maps

  • Fixed a bug that allowed Widowmaker to reach an unintended location on Eichenwalde
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Widowmaker to reach unintended locations on Ecopoint: Antarctica
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to reach unintended locations on Dorado
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to reach unintended locations on Watchpoint: Gibraltar
  • Fixed a bug on Oasis's garden tier where the border around the capture point inaccurately marked the bounds of the capture point
  • Fixed an issue causing texture fragmentation on the Practice Range
  • Fixed a bug preventing some projectiles from destroying the piñatas on Dorado
  • Fixed an issue preventing the glass railings on Oasis from being easily broken by a melee attack

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