This update introduced buffs for Qhira and Zarya, nerfs to Brightwing, Genji, and Samuro, as well as a slight horizontal change to one of Raynor’s talents at level 20. The patch also added tons of bug fixes, many of which seem to be related to how the Death Recap displays certain abilities and skills or how heroes are revealed when hit by certain ski

It should be noted that it is possible to create custom matches, banning a specific character. After learning about this when trying to research online why this title has received the acclaim it has, I tried to jump back in to see if I can create a public game that anyone can join and no one plays Bastion. The servers were down.

Imagine my surprise when I was looking through the cast of characters and stumbled upon Symmetra, a support character who has the ability to bend and reshape light into mechanical constructs. While there are a growing number of characters of Indian descent in video games ( The Order: 1886 and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate feature a few), it’s very rare that they are featured as playable characters. I immediately took her for a spin, and after I decided to check out the complete roster of playable characters.

That's a really interesting question! Early on in the project, we knew that we wanted [Overwatch 2 Ramattra] to have a competitive nature to it, but in a sense that two teams would come together and have a really great match against one another. That was the goal on that side, but we are always driving to, first and foremost, make it a great shooter. There was a point in the development where we conducted our own internal tournament with members of the team, and we had a hunch that the game was really fun to watch and become a great competitive game or a great eSports game. That was the first moment where we really felt confident about it, since everyone on the team stayed late every night to watch every tournament match, and they were so fun to watch. Once we got to that point, we started really focusing on the competitive side of the game.

Well our goal is to have all of the heroes viable, especially in the competitive scene; we want to see each of them played. I think that when this happens, the matches obviously get more dynamic, but you also feel as though there are more available counters for you to pick from at any moment. That's our value, and we're working towards that.

What goes into making maps that feel appropriate for all of these heroes at the same time. In terms of creating maps and creating heroes, what is the chicken and what is the egg? Which comes first, and how do you design Overwatch's maps to maintain the balance that's so critical to every moment of its gameplay?

If you were to rank all of Overwatch's heroes in terms of sheer quirkiness, then Lucio might wind up claiming the top spot. A support hero with potentially devastating offensive power when used properly, everyone's favorite Brazillian DJ has the potential to completely turn the tides of battle with proper positioning and ability knowledge. His main weapon, the Sonic Amplifier, has two distinct firing modes, each mapped to a specific mouse button (or trigger for those of you playing on console).
What are some of the biggest things that you've learned from the Closed Beta? Are there any things that made you think, "Wow, we're in such a vacuum designing this game and I never would have thought that this could happen?" I'd imagine there'd have to be something, since there'd be no point in having a Beta otherwise.

Now, it seems like another such update is on the way. Blizzard revealed a set of patch notes for hero balance and bug fixes that is available to play on the Heroes of the Storm PTR right now. Historically, these updates usually come between three and five weeks before they are implemented into the actual game, meaning players can expect these changes to go live in about a mo
I wouldn't call it a "misstep," but one of the things on which we iterated more than we normally would was progression. Early on, [Overwatch] had a totally different progression system than it does now, and it would make changes to your character's abilities, so there was a little bit of power-progression in it. What we found was that one of the great aspects of Overwatch is how easy it is to read what's going on on the screen and what's happening in combat. We put a lot of work into what we call "combat clarity," so once we started messing with people's abilities, it suddenly became harder to tell what was happening on the battlefield. You'd see the Reaper and wonder, "Is that the Reaper that heals while he's in Shadow Walk or is it a different Reaper?"


Now, Heroes of the Storm has rolled out another patch – and this time, it has added a feature back to the game that has been gone for almost five years. Heroes Brawl, originally introduced as Arena Mode, is officially back in Heroes of the Storm as Brawl Mode . This game mode features special maps with drastically different rules, ranging from the all-Nova Ghost Protocol snipe fest to the Escape from Braxis PvE map. Brawls will rotate every two weeks, on the 1st and 15th each month, with the first one, Lunar Rocket Racing, available now until mid-Febru