Latest Overwatch PTR Patch Includes A New Map And Major Hero Changes

Getting tired of the current Escort map selections in Overwatch? Well, a new escort map is coming to the game soon. Blizzard has just released a new Public Test Region patch which includes the new Junkertown escort map along with major balance and skill changes to Mercy and D.Va.

Mercy will be getting a new Ultimate called Valkyrie which temporarily enhances her skills and weapons for 20 seconds. Resurrect will now be a single target ability instead of an AoE ability. D.Va, on the other hand, will have access to a new AoE missile barrage ability called Micro Missiles and her Defense Matrix ability will now be depleted twice as fast.

The devs have also released a patch for the console version of the game which will finally lets console players actually do something about toxic players, a problem which has plagued Overwatch multiplayer matches for quite some time. According to Kotaku, the new reporting system is now live on both the PS4 and Xbox One. Also, in addition to the stricter penalties implemented by Blizzard last July, Game Director Jeff Kaplan revealed in a forum post that they plan to take it up a notch. “In the short term we are re-evaluating every punishment and are in the process of converting silences over to suspensions. We're also increasing the length of suspensions,” says Kaplan. “Pretty soon, we hope for silences to go away all together and only have suspensions and bans for punishments.”

You can take a quick tour of the new Junkertown escort map right after the break.