Moira's nerf seems to have been an unintentional byproduct of changes to the targeting code in Overwatch according to a post from Lead Engineer Tim Ford on the game's official forums. Additionally, she'll be available to play in competitive on Thursday, November 23, 2017, at approximately 2:00 PM Eastern Time according to Lead Software Engineer Bill Warnecke on the /r/Overwatch subreddit.
According to Lead Engineer Tim Ford, the developers at Blizzard Entertainment had made a number of improvements on the PTR to the system that determines how Moira select's a target with her right click ability. The change was put in place to rectify targeting issues in situations with multiple targets as shown in this video linked by Mr. Ford:
The change to the targeting system was intended to feel as close as possible to the way things currently work on live, but unfortunately, Moira's nerf cropped up as a byproduct of this new implementation. Larger heroes are somewhat more difficult to target under the new system and smaller heroes are closer to the live version of the game. Moreover, the Training Bots have specific issues with this new targeting system which contributed to player concerns brought to light after the recent PTR patch where the change that resulted in Moira's nerf was first noticed.The Overwatch team intended to improve Moira, and since the results are worse in some scenarios they'll be testing a new configuration on the PTR either later this week or early next week. The training bots on the Practice Range were also noted to need adjustments, although it hasn't been explicitly stated as to when those changes will go through.
Finally, Moira will be available in Competitive Overwatch on Thanksgiving, roughly a week after her introduction. It hasn't been clearly stated whether the new in-progress targeting system will be ported to the live version of the game. Considering that Blizzard has stated that it still needs a bit of work, odds are good that she'll make it to the Competitive Play scene in her current Live State. If you don't yet own Overwatch, you can grab it at 50% off its retail price directly from Blizzard until 2:59 AM Eastern Time on November 28, 2017.
Before Blizzard's statement on the matter, did you think that Moira's nerf was an intentional change? How do you think they handled responding to this particular situation? How viable do you think Moira will be in the Competitive Play scene? Let us know in the comments below!
