Get all the keypoints and news from the Ana: Decalssified stream. Timestamps and summaries of important updates, lore questions  and changes for the comepititve mode!

On July 14th, twitch streamer Ster had the opportunity to play with a team of Overwatch developers as they discussed the recently revealed character Ana and future updates that will be coming to Overwatch in the coming months. While fighting it out with the likes of director Jeff Kaplan, assistant art director Arnold Tsang and more, they answered various questions as they show off their skill in the game. The commentary and banter between the devs makes it a fun watch, you can find the full stream here with timestamps below:

Notable Timestamps Summary
 

  • (6:00) At the start of the stream, it was a dedicated discussion on Ana’s creation and how she was developed. Though she was always going to be a sniper support hero ideas like using chemicals were thrown around. The sleep dart was used instead of a movement option for escapes and attacks. They go more indepth at (27:45)
     
  • (19:10) “¿Quien es Sombra?” Ster Uttered. They go into a quick discussion of lore for the various heros.
     
  • (46:00) Brief discussion begins about competitive mode and its various systems. Kaplan comments on leavers, skill based vs progression based gameplay, overtime changes and hero limit. Public Test Realm (PTR) changes are usually pushed live in about 1-2 weeks. It is still being updated with various tweaks and balance changes.
     
  • (51:30) Discussion starts on releasing characters and their impact on the game. The most heros released at once were 3 back in beta (Mei, D.va and Genji) which caused a lot of instability, complaints and made it hard for players to adapt. They are currently releasing one character at a time but might do more at once later on.
     
  • (57:00) Some In-depth discussion on season 2 competitive mode and hero limits. Kaplan likes to keep hero-stacking comps in quick play but it can get irritating in competitive play as it stagnates the game's growth and can get very boring. The cointoss mechanic will be removed in favor of timebank and they will attempt to shorten average length of competitive matches.
     
  • (1:007:30) Kaplan goes into the large amount of changes being done to season 1 and why they are being done now. This will not necessarily be the norm but they want the competitive system to be in a good state as soon as possible which is the reason for mid-season changes.
     
  • (1:10:45) Discussion on new maps and game modes. Kaplan confirms that 4 maps are being worked on with 1 coming “soonish”. This does not mean all 4 will end up in the final game. They are experimenting with new game modes but don’t have plans to release any soon.
     
  • (1:16:30) General discussion with Tsang about character creation, design and skin creation. Stances, silhouettes and even run animations are a core part of making them unique.  
     
  • (1:24:30) Kaplan confirmed that new skins will be coming in the summer, does not specify which heros.
     
  • (1:29:30) The option to turn on friendly health bars for all hero will be coming soon.
     
  • (1:32:50) Discussion starts on the games hitboxes. The hitboxes are intentionally not pixel perfect due to the games pace and speed. Ana’s primary fire is now the largest in the game. Changes are being made to hitboxes and how they interact with corners.
     

 There will be more news on Ana’s development during their San Diego Comic-Con panel this Thursday. While no release date was given, expect Ana is be released sometime in the next two weeks. You can try Ana and changes being tested right now on the PTR server.

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