[Update #2]: Overwatch Anniversary 2020 event has now arrived with a bunch of new cosmetics and the below-mentioned balance changes.

[Update]: Blizzard is bringing back Open Queue as an alternative competitive mode.

A little while ago Blizzard revealed that they are looking into rebalancing the support category, as well as helping out some of the more niche heroes. Usually something like this would involve a lengthy and fairly boring PTR, but thanks to the recently launched Experimental game tab, the developers have now put all of their proposed changes directly into the live version for testing!

So if you're eager to see what will happen with the meta in the near future, as well as offer Blizzard some much-needed feedback, you can do so immediately by visiting the Arcade. Before you do so, however, you might want to check out the actual changes. Have a look:

Ana

• Biotic Rifle

- Healing reduced from 75 to 70

Bastion

• Configuration: Sentry

- Spread decreased 10%
- Shots until max spread reduction lowered from 60 to 40

• Self-Repair

- Resource drain rate increased 20%
- Healing per second increased from 75 to 90

Junkrat

• Frag Launcher

- Projectiles maintains slightly more velocity on ricochet

• Concussion Mine

- Projectile speed increased from 20 to 25
- Ricochet distance off of enemy players greatly reduced

• Total Mayhem

- Bomb detonation time reduced from 1 sec to 0.7
- Bombs spread increased 50%

Mercy

• Caduceus Staff

- Healing per second increased from 50 to 55

Moira

• Biotic Orb

- Damage radius reduced from 5 to 4 meters
- Projectile speed increased from 16 to 20
- Projectile duration reduced from 10 to 7 seconds

Zenyatta

• Orb of Discord

- Damage amplification increased from 25% to 30%

While I do appreciate Blizzard taking a slow and nuanced approach instead of slapping 50% buffs and nerfs all over the place, I can't help but feel like this whole update is just misguided. For example, Moira doesn't really need simple number changes - she needs a minor rework in order to increase her skill ceiling while also giving her some team-based utility like the other supports have.

Moira could be really interesting - she just needs a bit more to play with

Similarly, does anyone really want Bastion to be more common in his current state? He's probably the most one-dimensional and irritating hero to play with or against. If he's in the game, you're no longer playing Overwatch - you're playing either "protect the Bastion" or "focus everything on Bastion", and neither of those two are particularly exciting prospects. So once again, why not use the experimental mode for some actually experimental changes that might make him into a legitimate hero instead of a once-per-match 'gotcha' strategy?

With all of that said, I have to admit I'm probably being too negative here because these really aren't bad changes. They'll have a small but positive effect on the meta, and that's always a welcome sight. Still, I do hope future patches will be a little bit more creative when it comes to fixing some of the constantly troublesome heroes.

Either way, have fun with the Experimental mode!