Overwatch PTR’s Buffs to Mercy and Symmetra Are Bugs

Overwatch’s recent Public Test Realm update had a number of unpleasant changes to heroes like Moira, most especially the lock-on for her offensive Biotic Grasp. While Blizzard noted that this was a bug resulting from introducing a new lock-on system, it seems that bugs have unintentionally buffed Mercy and Symmetra as well. The key word is “unintentionally” however.

Symmetra, for instance, has increased lock-on range which can be deadly as her damage ramps up over time. Mercy’s Resurrect ability also had greater range, which further decreased the risk of reviving a fallen ally. On the official forums, lead engineer Tim Ford revealed these were both being caused by a “defect” that affected a number of area-of-effect abilities.

“The inconsistencies with Moira are unrelated to Symmetra’s increased lock on range. That is a separate defect that is also affecting Mercy Rez and a few other AoE abilities. We’ll get a fix for those up on PTR next week. Again, thank you all for your help. Hopefully a thorough dose of tryptophan over the weekend will improve our math skills,” said Ford. Tryptophan is a reference to chowing down on Thanksgiving turkey, for those who don’t know.

Expect to see changes to Moira’s aiming go live either this week or early next week. As Ford noted above, fixes for Mercy and Symmetra will be coming next week.