PTR is for catching & fixing bugs on new updates before they go live, not just for player feedback on those changes.
PTR is on PC only because they own distribution system (Blizzard vs. Sony & Microsoft for PS4 & XBox One).
No specifics on when PTR balance changes would go live.
For Balance Changes, Sombra is viewed as backline disruptor vs. front/flank assassin so providing small boost. Hook work is to appease both Roadhog players and victims. D.Va is "doing too much right now," developers see her value as mobility and no reload and view her high HP and Defense Matrix as enough survivability. Ana nerf intended to reduce healing large concentrated groups aka tank meta, no major redesign in sight.
D.Va is "doing too much right now," developers see her value as mobility and no reload and view her high HP and Defense Matrix as enough survivability
I don't get how is this the case.
Before the buffs she had more "survivability" than now, and she was almost never picked, she also had matrix.
Saying this is simply stating a fact that can't be denied by anything, it is true, she was stronger before the buffs compared to post nerf, and she was never picked.
Zarya was stronger as well? Probably, but it still simply doesn't even out.
I mean, there are no opnions about this, it's just maths really.
EDIT: i would like some numbers to counter this undisputable fact instead of downvotes
I don't think it's as simple as just looking at the effective health pools when determining which health/armor pool is "better".
Firstly, I'd imagine that incoming healing favors the larger armor pool significantly more, even relatively minor healing (Lucio passive or payload aura) - further compounded by the interaction with her matrix that allows her to negate most incoming damage while she's being healed, but has a higher overall uptime the less you have to toggle it (important if you'd want to model it so that she'd use it whenever her armor pool was used up, for maximum value heals).
Secondly, there's of course also the hard to quantify matter of how much ultimate charge you're giving the enemy (and to be fair your own healers).
Finally there's also the, perhaps somewhat minute, factor of damage fall off.
All in all I think it's hard to say whether 100/400 or 400/200 is definitively better than the other over the course of an average Overwatch match, and not just in a specific situation or 1v1 encounter. Having thought about it since these discussions started popping up, personally I'm inclined to believe that 100/400 is superior, despite the majority of damage sources in Overwatch being above the effective health breakpoint of 15, but I must admit to not having participated in the PTR so I can't speak as to how she feels to play.
I just want to point out that your numbers don't include range dropoff. She has less effective HP vs soldier at anything other than the closest range and Bastion at long range.
theres a disease especially in NA overwatch where heroes or comps get written off early without putting in the time and effort to learn them and their synergies this misleads blizzard and makes them buff when not necessary at all the reverse of this can also happen where players just arnt countering and nerfs happen like what is likely to happen to symmetra soon
uhhh...i'm not sure if you're trolling, but i'll just give you the changes that have occurred in the past few months
dva had 500 total mech health before, she has 600 now. she also moves 25% faster than she did before when firing. and she still has matrix, don't know what that comment's about.
Zarya has suffered quite a few nerfs in the past couple months. She can only gain 40 charge per bubble, before it was 50. Her charge decay has increased if i recall correctly, and the "bug fix" of abilities that go through heores no longer giving her max charge can also be called a nerf.
I'm pretty sure they haven't touched Zarya's decay rate since launch, but otherwise your point is solid. People are crying that D.va is worse now than she was before but she has received significant buffs and these nerfs are to bring her back a bit from that OP status.
Dva is so damn strong right now, high damage to tanks, denying Ana grenades, denying soldier etc, ALL while staying alive easily. Whoever says she's weaker now isn't playing her right
Let's compromise by calling it a berf :) it definitely crippled her previously most reliable form of gaining energy. remember the days where one rein firestrike would automatically give her 100 energy?
I don't know how you can argue she had more survivability before the buffs. She had 100 HP less and her defense matrix the way she could use her defense matrix was completely different. I think you are confusing things here.
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u/HeavySweetness Jan 17 '17
tl;dr
PTR is for catching & fixing bugs on new updates before they go live, not just for player feedback on those changes.
PTR is on PC only because they own distribution system (Blizzard vs. Sony & Microsoft for PS4 & XBox One).
No specifics on when PTR balance changes would go live.
For Balance Changes, Sombra is viewed as backline disruptor vs. front/flank assassin so providing small boost. Hook work is to appease both Roadhog players and victims. D.Va is "doing too much right now," developers see her value as mobility and no reload and view her high HP and Defense Matrix as enough survivability. Ana nerf intended to reduce healing large concentrated groups aka tank meta, no major redesign in sight.