Jeff Kaplan announces Overwatch’s first Experimental Mode “Triple Damage”

Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan has revealed that “triple damage” will be the first game type launching alongside the “Experimental mode.”

As Kaplan previously explained, the “Experimental mode” will test out new balance changes and features that may not make it to the live game. Unlike the PTR, which is normally for bug fixes, the mode will be available on both consoles and PC.

Amusingly, Kaplan had already hinted at the “triple damage” mode back in a January forum post where he explained that the team had been internally testing playing the game with three damage heroes, one tank, and two supports.

“We’ve also been brainstorming if there is a way to bring this experiment to the community somehow,” Jeff said at the time.

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Now, the mode is set to go live on February 25. According to Kaplan, the team would be monitoring queue times – something that has been somewhat of a problem for DPS players since role queue was added to Overwatch.

“We’re also looking for your feedback because this is a radical change,” Kaplan added.

With Triple Damage, one of the biggest concerns was how players would approach off-tanks such as Roadhog, Zarya, and D.Va who lack barriers. According to Jeff, there will be “big balance changes” for the off-tanks.

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“Don’t freak out, these balance changes aren’t intended to make it to the live game unless we were to put the 3-2-1 system out there,” he explained.

While Kaplan didn’t explicitly say Roadhog would be moved to the DPS slot, in the forum post he made in January, he stated that the tank was “moved from the Tank to the Damage category, he only has 400 health, Take a Breather only heals and does not do damage reduction and there were a bunch of DPS changes to his scrap gun.”

It will be interesting to see all the balance changes implemented just for this mode. Additionally, Kaplan hinted that an event could be going live alongside Triple Damage.

As Dexerto previously reported, a Mardi Gras Ashe event seemed to be leaked by Twitch drops, so it’s likely that this is what Jeff was referring to.