After a rather interesting week of public testing Overwatch's big balancing patch has finally become available on the live servers as well... which promptly caused them to crash and burn.

That little issue aside, the July 19 update has brought with it a brand new hero, a support sniper named Ana, as well as a whole slew of balance changes intended to make some previously underutilized heroes actually useful. If you're interested in some "behind the scenes" details on this update and how each of the changes came to be, Overwatch's Game Director Jeff Kaplan recently posted a fascinating video going over just that:

On the other hand, if you're just interested in the full patch notes to see which heroes have finally become viable, you can find the full set of notes over at the Blizzard forums. Long story short, expect to see a lot more McCrees, D.Vas and Zenyattas, and a lot less Pharahs and Soldier 76s.

While I might not agree with all of these changes, especially in regards to how much McCree is creeping into Soldier 76's territory, its still a damn solid balance patch that will make a lot more heroes competitively viable, a reality that I've already come to experience in the couple of matches I've played so far. Nicely done Blizzard!