Overwatch PTR patch rolls out major changes to ranking system, new emotes

There's a new patch out for testing on the Overwatch public test realm today, and while not the most important change, the new sit and laugh emotes seem to have had the biggest effect on fans—namely D.Va's new 1,000-credit emote in which she plays a videogame while eating chips (D.Vas, but they're Doritos) and drinking soda (I'm going to call it Mountain Dew).

As far as balance goes, the test patch reworks competitive play ahead of season 2, changing skill rating to a 5,000-point scale made up of six labeled categories, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster. Although this is a significant change from Overwatch's existing 100 point scale, it's interesting that it represents a compromise between assigning players generalized categories (as CS:GO does, for example) and ranking players with a granular, numerical skill rating that arguably encourages them to grind.

You can read all of the patch notes on the official site, and try out the changes by selecting 'PTR: Overwatch' in the Region/Account drop down in the Battle.net launcher. Below I've embedded a video by Seba showing the most important thing about the update—all the new emotes.

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.