BlueTracker

Hey everyone!

We’re back with another Experimental mode focused on testing some balance changes. As with all Experimental modes, these changes are not guaranteed to reach the live version of the game. Check out the patch notes here.

What are we trying to address?

This Experimental mode is focused on fine tuning previous balance changes. While there isn’t an overall theme to these changes, we want to revisit some of our other experiments.

What are we testing?

For this Experimental patch, we’re adjusting a few heroes:

Genji – We’re making a small adjustment to increase Genji’s Shuriken damage potential while also increasing his Dragonblade ultimate cost. His playstyle is currently heavily focused on using his ultimate, so we’re looking to adjust this slightly to make gameplay slightly more inclusive of his other abilities.

Mei – Last year, we rolled out a change that made Cryo-Freeze’s collision consistent with Ice Wall, namely making her untargetable by allies or enemies while the effect is active. This resulted in Mei “missing out” on healing because she was unaffected by teammates’ healing effects. We’re increasing her health regeneration while in Cryo-Freeze to balance this out.

Pharah – We’re adjusting Pharah’s fuel regeneration rate to more easily allow her to maintain uptime at reasonable heights. These changes are mindful of not allowing too high a regeneration rate to avoid her being able to maintain extreme heights.

Reaper – Our recent changes were not as beneficial to Reaper as intended, so we’re increasing his damage slightly to ensure that he’s still a viable Damage pick.

Sigma – We’re reducing the cooldown time for Experimental Barrier slightly following recent changes. We want to allow players avenues for counter-play against Sigma, but still want his shield to feel impactful and less restrictive.

Zarya – Zarya is a consistent hero within the Tank category for a number of team compositions. We’re slightly increasing her energy drain rate to bring her average energy down between engagements.

We hope you check out the new Experimental mode and provide us with your feedback! Science will reveal the truth – And all great science requires data! As always, this is an Experiment, so the changes in this test may not reach the live game.

Thank you!

This Experimental mode is anticipated to be available until early next week.