Overwatch PTR Update Patch Notes Include Doomfist, Loot Box Improvements, And More

A new Overwatch update has been released on the Public Test Realm today, and Blizzard has released the full patch notes. Its primary addition is undoubtedly that of Doomfist, the game's next playable character.

Coinciding with his announcement and release on the PTR, Blizzard released the video above, in which director Jeff Kaplan explains the general design of the character. This includes the potential use of Doomfist as a character who can flank and dive into groups of enemies, and how his passive--which gives him shields by dealing ability damage--allows him to survive. Sadly, there's no explanation for why he isn't voiced by Terry Crews.

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The remainder of the patch largely carries over other, previously announced changes that were live on the PTR, though they are significant. Blizzard is looking to avoid having players receive duplicates in Loot Boxes as frequently. This, of course, means you won't receive Credits as often, so the amount of Credits handed out in Loot Boxes is being increased. The end result, Blizzard claims, is that "should be earning just as many Credits, if not slightly more, from loot boxes as you did prior to these changes." Players will receive five Loot Boxes when they log in to the PTR to help test the adjustments, but as with other PTR earnings, none of this will transfer to the live game.

The other big addition is the revamped Highlights system. With this, you can finally manually save gameplay clips, and your top five clips will be retained for a full 24 hours. Those playing on PC also have the option of saving clips at a higher graphical quality than their computer can actually run the game, allowing you to record 4K/60 FPS video while playing on low-end hardware.

Other changes in this patch include a way to create customized reticles, fixes for various bugs, and the removal of the Projectile Speed and Projectile Gravity options for characters that don't fire projectiles. You can check out the full PTR patch notes here. The PTR is only available on PC; there's no word yet on when this update will launch in full on all platforms.