'Overwatch' Developer Update: PTR's Main Job, Incentive And Balance Changes

Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch game director, is back with another Developer Update. This time he goes over what the PTR actually does and looks over the hero changes currently being tested. Here’s a TL;DW for those of us who can’t watch a 13-minute video in the middle of a work day.

• The PTR’s main job is to make sure the new update isn’t riddled with bugs when it goes live. If the game isn’t stable, Overwatch goes down. Kaplan and his team want to know how the players feel about balance, but that isn’t why the PTR exists.

• PS4 and Xbox players don’t get a PTR because it’s harder to get content through Sony and Microsoft than it is to get through Blizzard’s own client.

• “Right now it’s logistically challenging for us,” Kaplan said.

• Kaplan and his team want to add incentives to get more players on the PTR, like loot boxes or extra experience.

• “Is it the best way to spend our time engineering ways to get players incentive on the PTR or can we use that same development time towards more features or content in the game that goes out to all players?”

• Kaplan believes Sombra is very powerful but players haven’t mastered her yet.

• “We don’t expect Sombra to be a vicious assassin… she’s more of a hero that should be in the support category.”

• “D.Va is doing too much right now.”

• Kaplan and his team look at the statistics of the PTR and read what players are writing on the forums.