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Overwatch’s latest developer update details matchmaking changes and hero balance

Overwatch beta update

Most of you probably don’t have access to the Overwatch beta. Don’t worry, neither do I. But you can pretend that you do by nodding sagely as you listen to game director Jeff Kaplan describe the latest changes to the beta, from matchmaking to hero balance.

For details on the Overwatch combatants, check out or Overwatch characters list. 

The new rating system is an unusual thing. Appearing last night, it lets beta testers rate the last match they were in, which Blizzard reckons will make it easier to fine tune the matchmaking system. I wonder how, though. I mean, what are people going to rate the match on?

Matches can be rated ‘positive’, ‘negative’ or ‘neutral’, but no doubt everyone’s going to be rating them based on different criteria, like if they won or not, or if they felt like their team was listening to them ranting and raving about how they are all noobs.

A whole bunch of characters have been tweaked as well, and while Blizzard are happy with most of the changes so far, they are still working on changes internally to balance characters like Bastion and Torbjorn.

For those of you playing, how have you been enjoying it so far, and are the changes a step in the right direction? And if you’re planning to play this weekend, you might want to grab the latest Nvidia game ready driver.