One of Overwatch’s most vexing maps is getting a rework very soon. The development team is hoping to get the map up on the PTR early next month.
Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan posted an update about the map’s rework to the game’s forum on Friday.
“We have big changes coming to the Horizon map,” Kaplan wrote. “The changes will most likely hit PTR close to the beginning of June. We’ve fixed the Defender spawn room issue you noted on Point B (among other things).”
Kaplan promised more details as the rework’s arrival approaches.
Overwatch fans already got an accidental peek at Horizon Lunar Colony’s rework in late April when it was mistakenly uploaded to the game’s test server. That version added extra walls for defender cover, along with new platform and spawn adjustments. Blizzard noted at the time that the changes weren’t final.
“We have some changes that we are still working on and testing for the map so what you are seeing here may not be final,” Overwatch level designer David Adams said in April.
Whatever changes make it to the final version of the map will surely be welcome by Overwatch fans. As it is now, the map heavily favors the attacking team and its open sight lines and sneaky flanks making the points extra challenging to defend.
Blizzard is also still working on the highly anticipated Symmetra rework that will reclassify her as a defense hero. Overwatch developer Geoff Goodman posted an update on the team’s progress to the game’s forum earlier this week.
“I don’t really have visuals to show you, sadly, but we’re very much in progress working on her still,” Goodman wrote. “There have been a few changes to her as we’ve been play testing her since I last posted.”
The two big changes Goodman is referring have to do with Symmetra’s projectile turrets and teleporter.
Symmetra’s new turrets will still be projectiles, but enemy players can now destroy them as they’re tossed into the air. According to Goodman, this makes it harder to throw them directly at people in a fight, forcing Symmetra players to be a bit sneakier with the turrets.
The hero’s new teleporter has been shifted from her ultimate ability to her E ability and now requires a button input to trigger. Interestingly, the teleporter will work in both directions and it seems like objects such as Torb’s turret or D.Va’s mech will be able to travel through it as well.
Goodman noted that there have been a few numbers tweaks to “get her in shape,” too. Though the developer didn’t provide a set date that we’d get to see the new Symmetra, but said the team is hoping to get something out “reasonably soon.”