Overwatch: Reporting For Consoles, Character Changes
By Alexander Pan 26 January 2017
Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan reveals that a reporting feature will be coming to consoles, as well as potential balance changes for Symmetra and Torbjorn.
Providing continual support for its titles has been one of Blizzard’s strongest attributes over the years, and there’s no doubt that the Overwatch development team is working overtime in order to get the upcoming Year of the Rooster Event ready for its January 24 launch. While players are undoubtedly getting excited over the Year of the Rooster legendary-tier skins that will soon be available, it appears that the community can expect more than Winston dressed as Sun Wukong.
Following a new post over at the Blizzard Forums, in which a player expressed a number of console-specific issues, such as the lack of a reporting system, Symmetra and Torbjorn’s lack of turret damage, and the possibility of additional voice commands, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan revealed that Blizzard is well aware of these issues and is working towards rectifying them.
In regards to possibly implementing a reporting feature for console owners, Kaplan revealed that the system will indeed be coming for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners. While the director didn’t reveal when this update will arrive as there are “many moving parts” and the possibility of things happening “beyond [the team’s] control” before the reporting system can be patched in, he hopes that the feature will arrive before Summer or perhaps even sooner.
Ever since a number of heroes were rebalanced and the single-hero limit was implemented for Quick Play and Competitive Play, players have reported that the damage output for Symmetra and Torbjorn’s turrets are now somewhat lacking. In regards to this issue, Kaplan stated that the team is watching everything closely and that it has only recently noticed that Symmetra and Torbjorn’s viability on consoles has started to slip behind the PC. Due to this growing divergence, Kaplan revealed that the team is now looking into the issue and is considering implementing some balance changes at some point. And lastly, Kaplan offered up a simple “[The team] will work on this” in addressing the possibility of additional voice commands, suggesting that it could come in a future update.
With these new features coming for console owners, additional character balance changes currently being tested on the PTR, a new Overwatch highlights saving feature in the works, and the aforementioned Year of the Rooster Event still to come, Blizzard’s dedication to Overwatch is unquestionable players can certainly expect a continual slate of big updates for the foreseeable future.
Overwatch is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
