The Public Test Realm of “Overwatch” is a significant venue where players are given the chance to experience the upcoming updates before they are finally released in the game’s live servers. This is also an effective place where players give feedback and most often report issues encountered in the PTR.
A few days ago, patch 1.16 went live in the game’s Public Test Realm. The upcoming update contains a list of minor changes and improvements. It also includes enhancements to the Assault Play mode UI, which is a potential game changer.
Ultimate
“Overwatch” players are currently experiencing gradual depletion within a short period of time with their usage of their Ultimate abilities.
This means that players keep a part of their Ultimate charge even if they die after crashing the Ultimate key. This most often is applied to heroes like Bastion or Mei as these characters have longer activation time on their Ultimates compared to other heroes. However, it appears that this gameplay mechanic is about to change soon.
Patch 1.16
With the latest update in the game’s Public Test Realm, it appears that under the new rules, an untimely death while the ultimate ability is active will give players a frustrating experience. Now, players activating their Ultimate will consume the entire saved Ultimate charge. If the player happens to die afterward, they will respawn with their charge gauge reset to zero.
This new rule will make the player be more cautious in activating their Ultimates. This will also enable the player to get as much advantage as possible before getting killed by the opponents. In addition, enemy players will now have a new target. Ultimate-using characters are now the hot aim for opponents with this new rule.
Blizzard has not yet provided any specific release window for the upcoming patch.
Game-breaking bug
Meanwhile, a Reddit user named Chromega1231 shared a new game-breaking bug that gives out false season bans to players in the Competitive Play. It also dramatically drops the Skill Rating points of affected players. The bug has been in the game for almost six months with Blizzard not rolling out any fix.
On the “Overwatch” official forum, game director Jeff Kaplan acknowledged the existence of the bug. As a temporary fix, Blizzard will disable the Season Bans for players affected by this bug. In addition, the lost Skill Rating points will also be returned to the players. While the game director has not yet offered a definite timeline for the release of the fix, Kaplan assured players that they are currently working on it.
