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Overwatch's Symmetra Changes Revealed, Now Live on PTR (With Sombra's "Boop")
The major changes in store for Overwatch's Symmetra have been unveiled, and you can check them out for yourself on the PC version's test servers right now.
These adjustments are indeed significant, providing her with a new ability, adjusting her existing abilities and weapon, and giving her with a second Ultimate to choose from. Besides Teleporter--which now has shields to compensate for having less health--Symmetra can also deploy a Shield Generator that provides a shield to all allied players within its range (regardless of walls, barriers, and other obstacles that might be in the way).
Photon Shield has been replaced with Photon Barrier, which moves forward and blocks enemy fire. Her primary fire now has increased range, and the cooldown on her Sentry Turret has been reduced (and she can carry six at a time, up from three).
"When looking into changes for Symmetra, we wanted to address two main issues: she didn't feel active enough, and she often felt weak in certain situations on different maps and game modes, due to her Teleporter," Blizzard explained.
On the active issue, it describes Photo Barrier as being "a much more active ability." Shield Generator is meant to provide a viable alternative to the Teleporter, which often felt useless in many scenarios and thus would lead to players switching away from Symmetra.
Alongside Symmetra's adjustments, today's PTR update makes a small change to Zarya, allows teams to opt to stay together between matches, and provides Sombra with the much-requested "Boop" voice line. You can see the full patch notes below, or try it all out for yourself on the PC's PTR.
Overwatch November 22 PTR Update Patch Notes
General Updates
General
Hero Balance Updates
Symmetra
Developer Comments: When looking into changes for Symmetra, we wanted to address two main issues: she didn't feel active enough, and she often felt weak in certain situations on different maps and game modes, due to her Teleporter.
To address the first point, we removed her more passive Photon Shield ability, and replaced it with a much more active ability: Photon Barrier. Now, Symmetra can help lead the charge on offense or help shut down a big push on defense by actively blocking damage for your team.
For the second point, we noticed players would often switch off of her when they felt like her Teleporter wasn't as useful. For example, when playing her on defense on an Assault map, players often only used her to defend the first capture point, then quickly changed if that point fell. To help her feel more useful in more situations, we've given her an alternate to her Teleporter. The Shield Generator is just as important for the enemy to deal with, but is useful in more situations than her Teleporter.
The turret changes allow her to rebuild her turret nests faster. Even if all her turrets are wiped out, it's now easier for players to build them all back up before the next push.
The last change increases the range on her Arc Welder to make it easier for her to build up and keep a powerful charge on her weapon.
Zarya
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These adjustments are indeed significant, providing her with a new ability, adjusting her existing abilities and weapon, and giving her with a second Ultimate to choose from. Besides Teleporter--which now has shields to compensate for having less health--Symmetra can also deploy a Shield Generator that provides a shield to all allied players within its range (regardless of walls, barriers, and other obstacles that might be in the way).
Photon Shield has been replaced with Photon Barrier, which moves forward and blocks enemy fire. Her primary fire now has increased range, and the cooldown on her Sentry Turret has been reduced (and she can carry six at a time, up from three).
"When looking into changes for Symmetra, we wanted to address two main issues: she didn't feel active enough, and she often felt weak in certain situations on different maps and game modes, due to her Teleporter," Blizzard explained.
On the active issue, it describes Photo Barrier as being "a much more active ability." Shield Generator is meant to provide a viable alternative to the Teleporter, which often felt useless in many scenarios and thus would lead to players switching away from Symmetra.
Alongside Symmetra's adjustments, today's PTR update makes a small change to Zarya, allows teams to opt to stay together between matches, and provides Sombra with the much-requested "Boop" voice line. You can see the full patch notes below, or try it all out for yourself on the PC's PTR.
Overwatch November 22 PTR Update Patch Notes
General Updates
General
- Added a new "Boop" unlockable voice line for Sombra
- Players can now select the 1v1 Mystery Duel and 3v3 Elimination game modes from the Custom Game menu
- Added a "Stay as Team" feature, which allows players to remain grouped with their teammates after the match has ended
Hero Balance Updates
Symmetra
- New Abilities
- Photon Barrier
- Replaces her existing Photon Shield ability
- Generates a large energy barrier in front of Symmetra that blocks enemy fire as it travels forward
- Shield Generator (New Ultimate Ability)
- Symmetra's Ultimate ability now offers a choice between her Teleporter and a new option: Shield Generator
- Shield Generator places a device that grants additional shields to any ally within the its effective radius, regardless of barriers, walls, or obstacles between heroes and the Shield Generator
- Photon Barrier
- Photon Projector (Primary Fire)
- Range has been increased from 5 meters to 7 meters
- Sentry Turret
- Number of turrets that can be carried has been increased from 3 turrets to 6 turrets
- Cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds
- Teleporter
- Decreased health from 200 to 50
- Increased shields from 0 to 350
- Photon Shield
- Replaced with the new Photon Barrier ability
Developer Comments: When looking into changes for Symmetra, we wanted to address two main issues: she didn't feel active enough, and she often felt weak in certain situations on different maps and game modes, due to her Teleporter.
To address the first point, we removed her more passive Photon Shield ability, and replaced it with a much more active ability: Photon Barrier. Now, Symmetra can help lead the charge on offense or help shut down a big push on defense by actively blocking damage for your team.
For the second point, we noticed players would often switch off of her when they felt like her Teleporter wasn't as useful. For example, when playing her on defense on an Assault map, players often only used her to defend the first capture point, then quickly changed if that point fell. To help her feel more useful in more situations, we've given her an alternate to her Teleporter. The Shield Generator is just as important for the enemy to deal with, but is useful in more situations than her Teleporter.
The turret changes allow her to rebuild her turret nests faster. Even if all her turrets are wiped out, it's now easier for players to build them all back up before the next push.
The last change increases the range on her Arc Welder to make it easier for her to build up and keep a powerful charge on her weapon.
Zarya
- Particle Barrier/Projected Barrier
- Attacks that deal damage to both a barrier and the target of a barrier (such as Reinhardt's Fire Strike, Hanzo’s Dragonstrike, etc.), no longer deal damage to the barrier twice
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