Changes to the PTR include a Server Browser, Capture the Flag and custom game rulesets.
Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan is back with another Developer Update, this time introducing a Server Browser function for Overwatch.
For those of you not in the know, a Server Browser is a place where people create custom versions of the game and host them on specific servers for other people to access. The Server Browser will be region-specific and you can either use it to set up public games, for anyone to join, or private, for you to play with your friends.
The Server Browser will allow users to create very diverse rulesets, using the current options available in custom games, such as limiting maps, game type or even disabling certain heroes. A search option will also be introduced to help players sift through results easier.
”There's all sorts of sorting and filtering options to help you find exactly what kind of game you're looking for,” Kaplan explained. ”We think... [this] will be a very great way for players to find different types of games that they normally wouldn't find elsewhere.”
According to Kaplan, Blizzard wanted to give players more free range over how they can play the game, and the current match types - Quick Play, Competative and Arcade - weren't really cutting it.
With the addition of the Server Browser come new improvements to the Custom Game feature that's already in place. For one, players can now gain experience and thus earn loot boxes through custom games.
Custom game will also now include the Capture the Flag games mode, previously introduced as the Capture the Rooster mode during the Year of the Rooster event. There will be twelve maps total for Capture the Flag, with nine new maps being introduced in addition to those used in the Lunar Festival version. As before, these maps will be slightly tweaked versions of our current mappool.
The new update will also add some additional rule customisation. Examples of this were given for the new Capture the Flag game mode: requiring your flag at base in order to capture the enemy flag, another was to elongate or disable the pickup time for the flag. A final rule customisation teased was for abilities of heroes to be disabled, enabled or cause the flag to drop if an ability is used while holding it.
The customisation goes beyond Capture the Flag:
- Payload maps can also have an increased or decreased capture rate, as can control maps
- Individual abilities can be enabled/disabled
- Individual abilities cooldown rates can be adjusted
- Abilities can be on a per-team basis (example included one triple-health Roadhog playing against six other players)
”Wherever your creativity takes you,” Kaplan said, ”we're trying to give you as many options as possible to play around and come up with fun, different ways to play Overwatch.”
The first version is soon available on the Public Test Realm (PTR) and will change with feedback. They'll not only be looking for requests, but also look for consistencies from custom game to custom game and try to implement popular custom rules into the live game.
”I think it's a really great start to a really great feature that's going to grow over time,” Kaplan said. ”We really look forward to hearing what you guys have to say about it, and we'll be right there with you on the PTR with testing it, and we'll be there playing the game with you guys when it goes live.”
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