Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan sat down for another Developer Update where he detailed changes coming to Torbjörn currently live on the latest PTR patch.
In the latest Developer Update for Blizzard Entertainment's popular first-person shooter Overwatch, Papa Jeff detailed the upcoming Torbjörn rework that has been talked about for some time. These changes were most recently discussed in mid-July of this year and it seems that many of those early ideas have now been realized. Have a look at the video for yourself to hear what's going on in the Game Director's own words:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TjlwUNuSg
A particular item of note in the Developer Update is an upgrade to Colorblind mode and a statement that we'll be getting the same Halloween Terror experience as we did the previous year. Mr. Kaplan made particular mention of the user experience changes that have been added in the last year like Looking For Group and the Endorsement system. Unfortunately, the prioritization of these features are likely a contributing factor to players not getting much in the way of new gameplay content for the Summer Games or the upcoming Halloween Terror event.
Gone are the days of Torbjörn building a turret and hammering it up to Level 2. In fact, both the Level 1 and Level 3 turrets are no longer in the game. Instead, Torb throws a package which deploys into a Level 2 turret after a short period. The armor packs and scrap system have also been removed.
A brand new Overload ability acts like his old Molten Core Ultimate and lasts for a short time, temporarily granting defensive and offensive buffs to Torb (but not his turret). His new Molten Core Ultimate instead switches to his claw hand where he can fire a limited amount of liquid hot magma that covers the ground. This makes for a particularly effective area denial tool and it has the added bonus of doing increased damage (190 versus the base 130) to heroes who have armor. These heroes are Bastion, Brigitte, D.Va, Orisa, Reinhardt, Torbjörn, Winston, Wrecking Ball, and anyone who has received an armor boost from Brigitte (either through her Repair Pack or Rally).
A few visual changes have also made their way into the game. Mei's Blizzard Ultimate is now shown as a sphere - the days of being mysteriously frozen should be coming to an end. All of the game's barrier shields have had a makeover to make it a bit easier to see through them, too.
[gallery columns="2" link="file" size="full" ids="254226,254224"]
As for the other heroes in Overwatch, a few of them have had some pretty interesting changes made. Here's the shortlist:
- Brigitte
- Barrier Shield health reduced from 600 to 500
- McCree
- Combat Roll cooldown reduced from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
- Pharah
- Concussive Blast cooldown reduced from 12 seconds to 9 seconds
- Rocket Launcher attack cooldown reduced from 0.9 to 0.75 between shots
- Explosion (area of effect) damage reduced from 80 to 65
- Direct hit damage increased from 40 to 55
- Explosion knockback reduced by 20%
- Self-knockback range increased by 25%
- Orisa
- Fusion Driver maximum spread reduced from 1.5 to 1.2
- Soldier: 76
- Heavy Pulse Rifle number of shots until max spread increased from 6 to 9
This latest PTR patch for Overwatch also includes a number of small bug fixes and other changes besides the Torbjörn rework and changes to other heroes; be sure to check out the patch notes for the full details.
What do you think of the changes made to Torbjörn in Overwatch? Are you disappointed that Halloween Terror is going to be a repeat of last year? Let us know in the comments below!
