Overwatch dev responds to concerns over healers “always” getting POTG
Blizzard EntertainmentAn Overwatch developer has confirmed that some changes will be coming to the Play of the Game algorithm after complaints about support heroes constantly obtaining the match highlight.
The “Play of the Game” highlight plays at the end of an Overwatch match and shows off what is supposedly the top sequence of the round.
Normally the play consists of either a large number of kills, a tremendous amount of healing, or a couple of “boop” eliminations as they tend to be worth more when the game determines the top clip.
Recently, Overwatch players have taken issue with supports getting “too many” POTGs.
In a post on the official forums, user Roguebantha compiled all the complaints into one thread titled “Aggregating all ‘POTG’s always go to healers’ bug reports.”
The post linked back to numerous complaints by Overwatch players about certain heroes always getting their highlight played.
Most users found that the algorithm caused Moira and Brigitte to frequently getting POTG. “I’ve gotten multiple quads and quintuples but it’s always been taken over by some dumb Brigitte just swinging her weapon and getting assists,” one user wrote.
“Seems like in every game there is a Moira and someone does a big play, the Moira gets the POTG because she threw a damage orb and healed someone. This is really annoying,” another stated.
Now, according to developer Matt Whited, the team is working on a fix. “We are testing a fix and hope to resolve the issue with our next release (1.47),” he replied.
It’s unclear when this patch will be and what else will be included in it. Currently, the game’s newest hero, Echo, is still undergoing testing on the PTR and a series of hero nerfs and buffs are being tried out in the Experimental Mode.
Only time will tell if they go live alongside the fix to support POTGs.