Major changes are coming to Overwatch’s Swedish weapons designer.
In a Developer Update posted to YouTube today, game director Jeff Kaplan said that Torbjörn is finally getting his promised overhaul. It’ll be up on the Overwatch PTR soon. Multiple abilities are being changed, starting with the scrapping of Torbjörn’s armor packs and scrap system. It’s getting replaced with a new ability called Overload, which will work similarly to Molten Core—which is no longer the hero’s ultimate.
Overload will increase Torbjörn’s movement speed, damage resistance, and firing rate. Turrets are changing, too: There are no more levels of turrets. There’s just one, level two. There’s a “small but fast build time,” Kaplan said. The turret can also be tossed, allowing it to have a more useful range. Kaplan also said Torbjörn’s Rivet Gun is getting adjusted, too, but those will be detailed soon on the Overwatch forum.
“The goal with all of these changes is to make Torbjörn a more acceptable pick on both attack and defense and less map or role dependent than he was previously,” Kaplan said. “Hopefully we’ll see Torbjörn being played in a variety of new ways.”
Kaplan also mentioned changes to Orisa’s gun “and how it fires,” Soldier: 76 and McCree’s viability “with minor, minor changes,” and a change to Pharah that increases her potential as a high-skill hero, but nerfs her splash damage. Other hero changes will be detailed in the patch notes, which haven’t been released just yet.
Colorblind changes are also coming to the Overwatch PTR. Kaplan said there were many players who had problems in the game, but the new changes should help adjust not only the game, but the interface, too. Now, players can choose what colors work for each person individually. “It’s not the end of what we’ll do for colorblindness,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan also noted that Blizzard has shifted its focus to hero balance changes and quality-of-life adjustments. “It’s been a focus shift for the team,” Kaplan said. It’s impacted new game modes for seasonal events, but it’s necessary in bettering the game. Likewise, Kaplan noted that an upcoming social feature has been delayed into 2019. He didn’t expand on what, exactly, the feature is.
