'Overwatch' Symmetra Rework, Buffs Coming To The PTR: Are New Ultimate, Photon Barrier And More Turrets Enough? [UPDATE, PTR Is Live]

All six of you Symmetra mains rejoice, Overwatch ’s worst hero is finally getting a rework. Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch ’s lead game designer and overall prophet, announced in a new Developer Update plans to tweak Symmetra and turn her from garbage to a useful hero.Here are the full list of changes coming to Symmetra on the PBE “very soon.”

• Two Ultimates- Symmetra can now toggle between two different ultimates, the first of its kind in Overwatch. Her Teleporter is still the same, except it has more health and a shield that regens over time. If that doesn't seem like the best option, she can now create a shield generator that applies a substantial shield on allies in a large area around her. The shield generator ignores line of sight, so you can be creative with your placements. You can toggle between the two ultimates by pressing the ultimate button again before you place the object down.

• Photon Barrier- Symmetra is losing the ability to put shields on her allies, but is getting something much better instead. The Photon Barrier is a new shield, like Winston’s or Reinhardt’s, that travels along a straight path in front of her. Kaplan described it as “an elliptical in shape that moves along a trajectory.” Imagine a really long snake protecting your team, not too shabby.

• More Turrets- Kaplan and his team realized that you need more of Symmetra’s turrets and that’s what they are giving us. She now starts with six at the beginning of the match and can hold six more stacks. The turrets have a cooldown of 10 seconds, lower than the original 12.

• Photon Beam Range Increased- Photon Beam’s tether always felt a little short, so they are tweaking it a bit. The blue beam has a slightly longer range, not too large but still noticeable.

• New “Group Up” Button- Alongside the Symmetra changes, a new “Group Up” button will be added into the game. At the end of a game, you can click it and team up with the people you were just playing with.

Do you think these are the changes Symmetra needed to be competitive? Tell us in the comments.

EDIT: The update is now up on the PTR, here are the patch notes:

General

Added a new "Boop" unlockable voice line for Sombra

Players can now select the 1v1 Mystery Duel and 3v3 Elimination game modes from the Custom Game menu

Added a "Stay as Team" feature, which allows players to remain grouped with their teammates after the match has ended

HERO BALANCE UPDATES

Symmetra

New Abilities

Photon Barrier

Replaces her existing Photon Shield ability

Generates a large energy barrier in front of Symmetra that blocks enemy fire as it travels forward

Shield Generator (New Ultimate Ability)

Symmetra's Ultimate ability now offers a choice between her Teleporter and a new option: Shield Generator

Shield Generator places a device that grants additional shields to any ally within the its effective radius, regardless of barriers, walls, or obstacles between heroes and the Shield Generator

Photon Projector (Primary Fire)

Range has been increased from 5 meters to 7 meters

Sentry Turret

Number of turrets that can be carried has been increased from 3 turrets to 6 turrets

Cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds

Teleporter

Decreased health from 200 to 50

Increased shields from 0 to 350

Photon Shield

Replaced with the new Photon Barrier ability

Developer Comments: When looking into changes for Symmetra, we wanted to address two main issues: she didn't feel active enough, and she often felt weak in certain situations on different maps and game modes, due to her Teleporter.

To address the first point, we removed her more passive Photon Shield ability, and replaced it with a much more active ability: Photon Barrier. Now, Symmetra can help lead the charge on offense or help shut down a big push on defense by actively blocking damage for your team.

For the second point, we noticed players would often switch off of her when they felt like her Teleporter wasn't as useful. For example, when playing her on defense on an Assault map, players often only used her to defend the first capture point, then quickly changed if that point fell. To help her feel more useful in more situations, we've given her an alternate to her Teleporter. The Shield Generator is just as important for the enemy to deal with, but is useful in more situations than her Teleporter.

The turret changes allow her to rebuild her turret nests faster. Even if all her turrets are wiped out, it's now easier for players to build them all back up before the next push.

The last change increases the range on her Arc Welder to make it easier for her to build up and keep a powerful charge on her weapon.

Zarya

Particle Barrier/Projected Barrier

Attacks that deal damage to both a barrier and the target of a barrier (such as Reinhardt's Fire Strike, Hanzo’s Dragonstrike, etc.), no longer deal damage to the barrier twice