Visit Blizzard World in Overwatch PTR Update Available Now

The Overwatch PTR has a new patch up that's brought the Blizzard World map to the masses for testing (alongside some other undocumented changes) according to a blog post on the game's official website.

The first (and most notable) change on the PTR is the introduction of Blizzard World, the latest map to be added to the roster of locations in Overwatch. This fictional theme park has rides and attractions that pay homage to Blizzard's other video game franchises, with even The Lost Vikings getting a nod as a minor feature in the map. A trailer was released when the map was announced earlier this month that can show you what it looks like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii3Hce3_fOw

In addition to the introduction of Blizzard World to the PTR, the current testing patch has added a few new options to the Custom Game Browser. These new settings focus on Ultimate abilities, their generation, and duration:

• Ultimate Generation - Combat
• Ultimate Generation - Passive
• Spawn with Ultimate Ready
• Ultimate Duration
• Infinite Ultimate Duration

These new options will allow players to create custom games with new scenarios that weren't possible before. For example, spawning with Ultimate Ready and Infinite Ultimate Duration on would allow you to have a game full of Bastions that could instantly (and permanently) transform into Tank Mode or a gaggle of Genji that could swing around their Dragonblades to their heart's content. Certain characters are exempt from the Ultimate Duration setting, namely D.Va, Hanzo, Pharah, Reaper, Reinhardt, Sombra, Symmetra, Tracer, Zarya, and Zenyatta. Most of these aforementioned characters have Ultimates that fire off in a single blow, but some of them feature Ultimates that may be trickier to work into a game with unlimited duration.

Moira has had an undocumented change to her beam lock-on as noted in a pair of threads on the /r/Overwatch subreddit (first thread, second thread). The radius for her beam locking on to enemies appears to have been reduced by a good margin. Another undocumented change that will nonetheless be welcomed by many players is a change to the Hero Gallery:

A new "Mark All As Seen" option will allow players to dispel the dastardly "New!" prompt that hovers on top of character portraits for whom you've unlocked new cosmetic items. This change was undocumented and brought to the community's attention on discussion forums such as this thread on /r/Overwatch.

Speaking of undocumented changes, a number of users on the /r/Overwatch subreddit are rather upset with undocumented changes in general. While some (such as the Hero Gallery change) are welcome, others (such as the Moira beam change) are less welcome. Moreover, the fact that changes to game mechanics are undocumented means that it's difficult to tell if they are intended or some sort of bug.

A number of other minor changes and bug fixes have been made as well; be sure to click through to the patch notes to read all of the ones Blizzard has documented. If you don't already own Overwatch, you can get it on PC at a 50% discount directly from Blizzard until November 28, 2017, at 2:59 AM Eastern Time.

What do you think of Blizzard World? Do you think the change to the beam lock-on for Moira was intentional, and if so, do you think it's a good change? Let us know in the comments below!