Latest PTR patch notes - Big Healer Changes

[Stretch616 697]

Shamelessy stolen from the official OW forum!!

 

Ana

Nano Boost

• Now also instantly heals the target for 300 health

Developer Comments: This change should give Ana the flexibility to use her ultimate in a wider variety of situations.

Brigitte

Shield Bash

• Cooldown increased from 6 to 7 seconds

Developer Comments: Slightly increasing the cooldown will give Brigitte’s opponents more opportunity to play around her Shield Bash ability.

Doomfist

Rocket Punch

• No longer impacts Symmetra’s teleporter
• Now destroys Symmetra’s sentry turrets without stopping his movement

Developer Comments: These changes are just quality of life improvements for how Doomfist interacts with Symmetra’s placeables.

Hanzo

Lunge

• Cooldown increased from 4 to 5 seconds

Developer Comments: Hanzo’s Lunge ability allows him to be very evasive, the increased cooldown should make him slightly easier to catch.

Moira

Biotic Grasp

• Passive energy regeneration rate increased from 2 per second to 2.4 per second

Developer Comments: This gives Moira a bit more healing to work with in situations with no enemy targets available.

Lúcio

Crossfade

• Aura radius increase from 10 to 12 meters

Sound Barrier

• Temporary shields granted increased from 500 to 750

Developer Comments: Increasing the amount of shield health gained from Lucio’s Sound Barrier should make it more effective against incoming burst damage. The increased aura radius will help keep more allies within his heal and speed range.

Mercy

Caduceus Staff

• Healing beam reduced from 60 healing per second to 50 healing per second

Developer Comments: Mercy’s previous healing output made her nearly impossible to replace in any team composition. Even after these changes she will still be able to deliver more healing over the course of a match than any other support hero. This change should allow for other healers to be a more viable pick.

Sombra

General

• Reduced the size of Sombra’s head hit volume

Developer Comments: This is mostly a bug fix, as her head hit volume was abnormally large, especially from behind. Previously if you fired at her from behind near her upper spine, you could land a head shot. Now her head volume is much more accurate.

Reinhardt

Barrier Field

• Decorative insignia no longer protrudes from the shield’s surface

Developer Comments: By smoothing out Reinhardt Barrier Field, he will be able to consistently block enemy abilities and projectiles (e.g. Junkrat’s grenades).

Widowmaker

Grappling Hook

• Cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds

Developer Comments: The increased cooldown will slightly reduce the frequency that Widowmaker can reposition herself.

Zarya

Energy

• Drain rate reduced from 2 per second to 1.6 per second

Graviton Surge

• Radius reduced from 8 to 6 meters

Developer Comments: With the reduced Energy drain rate, Zarya should be at higher energy on average resulting in more overall damage and quicker ultimate charge times. We’ve also decreased the wide area of Graviton Surge, so players are more able to aid allies without being pulled in as well.

[Stretch616 697]

The proposed changes between all the healers look good and it seems to level the playing field a bit more between them all now. Zen still out in the cold now for healing and given the big changes recently to Anna, I reckon we'll start to see a lot more of her played.

 

Also, I kinda like the change to the Zarya ult. Having more uptime on the ultimate and contribute more to the team fight by having extra energy is a better option for me than a larger radius on the ult.  I'm sure not everyone sees it that way but we have to remember the level of game that we play. The pro and master people who define what meta is are just so far above us in skill so the game dynamic is totally different

[LordBaguette 849]

Stop nerfing Bridgette 😞

 

mercy is steadily being destroyed update by update 

[Stretch616 697]

I like the patch for the healing changes. Should make it so that the healers are all doing a similar amount of HPS whether that be done in burst fashion on a single target or steady across multiple. Should make for interesting team comps I reckon, if nothing else it makes Lucio a lot more viable of a pick