Blizzard released a small update today changing some of the things that appeared in their huge August 17 PTR Patch. The hot fix is technically part of the season 2 starting patch and features changes to quick melee, Hanzo, and Soldier76.
It’s not your typical patch notes, as Blizzard didn’t technically release a new patch yesterday. They released more of a hot fix to rebalance some of the changes made on August 17th. Included in the hot fix are changes to quick melee, Hanzo, and Soldier76. The changes went live yesterday in a small, but not unnoticed patch.
The biggest change was to quick melee. Blizzard was unhappy with how quick melee would interrupt other abilities so it is now canceled by most of them, including ultimates. According to Geoff Goodman:
“The general philosophy here is that quick melee shouldn't interrupt abilities and visa versa. There are a few exceptions to this rule. Quick movement abilities such as Tracer's Blink, Pharah's Jet Boost or Winston's Leap can work while quick melee is firing, so it isn't canceled in those cases. Ultimate abilities should now all cancel quick melee, since they are more rare special abilities that should have a higher priority.”
The other two changes were hero balance related. Hanzo is decidedly too strong since his buff so his projectile size has been lowered by 33%. The change will make the former “troll pick” sniper slightly more difficult to use, but will reward player skill like a sniper should. The only other change in the patch was to Soldier76. This patch featured Blizzards latest attempt at perfecting his weapon spread. The weapon spread will kick in earlier but also recover faster in an effort to improve burst firing and his long range effectiveness. These changes are live right now so go try them out on PTR and give Blizzard your feedback!
For Blizzards full statement, click here.
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