In a new “Developer Update,” Creative Director Jeff Kaplan detailed potential changes that could be coming to Overwatch. In the lengthy 13-minute video, Kaplan discussed the positive results of the new report system, as well as the nerfs and buffs being considered for the more controversial characters.
If you’re big into Overwatch, the 13-minute video is worth a look: (If not, there’s a summary below!)
We’re listening to your feedback! Join game director Jeff Kaplan as he covers popular community topics including progress on minimizing toxicity and insight to Overwatch’s hero balancing philosophy.
0:26 – Progress on toxicity
1:35 – Player warning’s effects on Competitive Play
3:05 – Hero balancing process
5:39 – Upcoming balance changes to Mercy
7:12 – Upcoming balance changes to Junkrat
7:57 – Current thoughts on Hanzo
9:11 – Update on Mei
10:57 – Thoughts on Symmetra
13:06 – Jeff thanks the community
If you don’t want to spend thirteen minutes listening to Kaplan, then you should at least give this summary a read: (Thanks Xhillia on Reddit!)
- Incidents of abusive chat are 17% down since the report changes
- People have been reporting 20% more since the report changes
- We now have a program to proactively seek out social media (like YT) and track down toxic accounts
- If the Mercy nerfs are too much, we will help her. So don’t worry if you main her.
- We are heavily discussing Hanzo and his Scatter Arrow. We’ve not decided if/how we will adjust Scatter Arrow or if we will give Hanzo a different ability instead.
- We don’t think Mei is in a horrible place, but we will try to bump her up
- We don’t believe Sym needs major buffs, she was designed to be situational. But we will help her.
That’s quite a few changes being considered. Which Overwatch characters do you want to see tweaked? Let us know.
In other Overwatch news, YouPorn is saying the game is hurting its traffic, new loot has been added to standard loot boxes, and the new hero is apparently going to be “meta changing.”
Source: PlayOverwatch (YouTube) via Reddit
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