The Overwatch development team is constantly working out new ways to change and balance the game, and fight the ever-growing problem of power creep. This time around it’s Genji who will be receiving some nerfs, toning the hero down after his series of buffs a couple of weeks ago.
Specifically, Genji’s primary fire shurikens damage was decreased from 30 to 28, and the recovery of his secondary fire increased from 0.65 to 0.75 seconds. Overall, the hero still benefits from the buffs previously, and these nerfs will hurt his standing in the meta without shooting him back down to bottom tier.
Some players were left reeling after a series of drastic changes for Moira hit the PTR (the Player Test Realm is where the developers normally test out proposed changes to the heroes.) These changes did not make it into the live version of the game for a few different reasons.
First, what were the changes that had everyone so riled up? The Biotic Orb for Moira was changed to be slightly more difficult to lock on, while her damaging orb received a significant damage buff. This damage capped out at a whopping 150 DPS while phased directly through a player’s body.
If that wasn’t enough, Moira’s fade ability was also reworked significantly in this version of the PTR. The ability according to the patch notes:
”Now phases out all allies within 6 meters (and self) for 1 second after exiting Fade.
Phasing makes a hero immune to all damage and effects. It will work exactly like Reaper’s Wraith Form or Moira’s own Fade effect in this regard.”
This is a significant change to her kit that allows for Moira to make insanely impactful plays, turning the tide of entire games if used correctly. The proper usage of this ability can completely negate other ultimates such as D.VA bomb and Graviton Surge for an entire team, rather than just Moira herself.
For obvious reasons, this was not included in the live version of the game, but it does show that a Moira rework is likely in the works. It seems the team is aiming to make her gameplay more skill-based, and offer players some big rewards for making the right plays.
Unlike most changes on the PTR, this change wasn’t ever intended to reach the live version and was simply the team’s way of testing out new ideas for her kit. For now, we will simply have to wait and see what the team comes up with.