Experimental is a temporary game mode in Overwatch that allows the development team to experiment with changes outside of the monthly patch cycles. The changes are not necessarily related to hero balancing, and entire game modes may be reworked.
Experimental changes can be applied to Custom Games, under the "Lobby" settings.
Unlike the PTR, Experimental is available in the live version of the game, meaning players in all platforms can use it, and players can level up their accounts while playing it. Furthermore, the main purpose of the PTR is to test stability and bugs; any balance changes on the PTR are intended to go live and modification of the changes, while possible, are usually minor. On the other hand, Experimental tests more radical changes that the team is unsure of and allows players to offer direct feedback; the changes are not guaranteed to go live in any shape or form.
Some changes are impossible to implement on Experimental (i.e. it involves more than changing number values), so the PTR will still used for balance changes. Experimental does not replace the PTR.
While a new PTR patch is generally available within 1 or 2 weeks of a new live patch and lasts for roughly 3 or 4 weeks, the Experimental card comes abruptly and arbitrarily, usually without warning, and only lasts a few days. The Experimental mode rolls out changes server-side, removing the need for a patch to be downloaded. This also, in turn, allows changes to be released on console simultaneously and without affecting PC release scheduling, due to not needing to wait for certification from Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. This makes it behave more like an Arcade mode, rather than a large update.
Current Experiment
None.
Previous Experiments
Hero Balancing - January 21st, 2021, to January 25th, 2021
Hero changes were experimented on. All of the changes came live.
Orb of Harmony's speed was decreased from 120 meters per second to 90 meters per second.
Orb of Discord's speed was decreased from 120 meters per second to 90 meters per second, also its damage amplification effect was decreased from 30% to 25%.
Hero Balancing - January 7th, 2021, to January 12th, 2021
Hero changes were experimented on. All of the changes came live.
Deploy Turret could now be manually destroyed while dead.
Hero balancing and adjusting HP by 25 - October 22nd, 2020, to October 27th, 2020
Hero changes were experimented on. Notably, many heroes' HP were adjusted by 25 instead of the usual 50 for the first time, to better fine tune them. All of the changes came live, though the changes to Amplification Matrix were delayed by a patch.
Combat Roll could be used in the air and the roll speed was increased from 15 meters per second to 18 meters per second (which increased the distance travelled by 20%).
Flashbang's stun duration was increased from 0.7 seconds to 0.8 seconds.
Rivet Gun's alternate fire recovery time was increased from 0.6 seconds to 0.8 seconds, but the pellet damage was increased from 10.5 to 12.5. (Total damage was increased from 105 to 125.)
Scaling Down Power - August 24th, 2020, to August 28th, 2020
Hero changes were experimented on to scale down damage and healing. All of the changes came live.
List of changes
General
Armor's reduction to beam damage was increased from 20% to 30%.
Biotic energy was decreased from 180 to 140. (Maximum primary fire duration was decreased from 9 seconds to 7 seconds. Passive generation per second remains at 2.4%, which decreased it from 4.32 per second to 3.36 per second.)
Primary fire's healing per second was increased from 65 to 70.
Primary fire's lingering healing was changed from 65 over 4 seconds to 35 over 2 seconds.
Alternate fire's attach angle was decreased by 37%.
Alternate fire's energy gain per second was increased from 18.75 to 21.875. (With the passive generation, percentage of the total energy gained per second was increased from ~12.82% to ~18%.)
Biotic Grasp's alternate fire attach angle was decreased by 37%.
Biotic Orb received multiple changes on the damage orb:
Sticked to enemies when impacting them, instead of piercing through them.
Only dealt damage if stuck to a target.
Once stuck, it dealt a constant 60 DPS to all nearby enemies and remained on a stuck player for 3 seconds or until 120 damage was dealt to that player (whichever happened first).
The Orb was destroyed if it hits an enemy barrier.
The maximum number of bounces became 1.
Projectile speed was increased from 20 meters per second to 25 meters per second.
Base health was decreased from 200 to 150. (Total HP is decreased from 250 to 200.)
Inspire's the total healing was decreased from 150 to 90 but the self-healing is no longer halved. (Healing per second was decreased from 21.667 to 15 for allies and increased from 10.833 to 15 for self.)
Hover Jets now increases movement speed by 20% but its resource regeneration per second was decreased from 50% to 35%. The maximum vertical velocity was increased from 4.11 meters per second to 4.27 meters per second.
Barrage's duration was decreased from 3 seconds to 2.5 seconds. (Number of rockets was decreased from 90 to 75.)
Orb of Destruction's alternate fire charge time per orb was decreased from 0.6 seconds to 0.52 seconds, also the rate of fire was increased from 8.5 shots per second to 9 shots per second.
Failed Assault Rework - July 30th, 2020, to August 4th, 2020
The Assault game mode was reworked. This was advertised as a failed experiment, meaning it was never intended go live.
Teams take turns attempting to capture points on the map. The game begins with Team 1 attempting to capture Point A. Once Team 1 either succeeds or fails to capture Point A, the teams switch sides and Team 2 attempts to capture the same point. If both teams succeed in claiming Point A, the next round will then move to Point B and the game continues. The team who succeeds in capturing more points wins the game.
Gameplay Flow
Each team starts with 6 minutes of time to score as many points as possible.
Every time a capture point is successfully claimed, the attacking team scores 1 point.
After each point is successfully claimed or defended, teams switch sides and respawn.
Once both teams attack capture Point A and if the score is tied 1-1, both teams then attempt to attack and capture Point B.
After each team attacks capture Point B, and if the score is still tied at 2-2, teams go back to attempting to capture the Point A and this cycle continues one team wins, or both teams' remaining time reaches zero without a winner. A draw is then declared.
Attacker respawn time has been reduced to 8 seconds, and defender respawn time has been extended to be 11.5 seconds.
After each team initially attacks capture Point A, each successive round has a shortened setup time.
After the initial attack by both teams on capture Point A, additional attempts to claim Point A in later rounds will have the defenders spawn in a new temporary spawn area.
The new temporary defender spawn area is only active until the round begins.
This new temporary defender spawn room was placed closer to capture Point A to allow for the shorter setup time. After the round starts, defenders will spawn in their normal spawn room.
Time Adjustments
This game mode uses similar "time bank" rules found in Competitive Play, even when played outside of Competitive.
If the game is tied at the end of each team's attacking rounds, if one or both teams have less than 60 but more than 0 seconds remaining, then an equal amount of seconds is added to both team's available time until both have at least 60 seconds remaining.
If one team has 60 seconds or more time remaining, and the other team has no time remaining at all, then only the team with at least 60 seconds of time will have an additional opportunity to attack and win.
Win Conditions
If Team 1 fails to fully claim a capture point, the Team 2 wins if they fully claim the capture point or can exceed the first team’s capture percentage with a minimum of 33% captured.
If a team fully takes the point and the other team fails to completely take the point, then the team that captured the point wins.
If both teams cannot fully claim a capture point, the team with the greater capture completion percentage (with a minimum of 33%) wins.
If neither team can achieve at least a 33% capture completion %, the game ends in a draw.
Hero Balancing - July 23rd, 2020, to July 28th, 2020
Hero changes were experimented on. The changes to Genji came live; the changes to Moira did not.
Biotic Grasp's alternate fire attach angle was decreased by 37%.
Biotic Orb received multiple changes on the damage orb:
Attach radius was decreased from 4 meters to 3 meters.
Projectile speed while tethered was decreased from 5.5 meters per second to 4 meters per second.
Damage per second was changed from a fixed 50 to 25–150, depending on the distance from the orb. (At 0–1 meter, it was a fixed 150; from 1–3 meters, it scaled down to 25.)
Fade phased out (made immune to damage and CC effects) all heroes within 6 meters of Moira (including Moira herself) for 1 second after Moira exited the ability.
This required line of sight and was blocked by barriers.
Hero Balancing - June 23rd, 2020, to June 26th, 2020
Hero changes were experimented on. All of the changes came live.
Configuration: Sentry's spread was decreased from 3–2 to 2.7–1.8 and the number of shots until max spread reduction was decreased from 60 to 40. (The time to reach the max reduction was decreased from 2 seconds to 1.33 seconds.)
Self-Repair's healing per second was increased from 75 to 90 but its resource drain rate was increased by 20%. (The max healing duration is decreased from 4 seconds to 3.33 seconds.)
Frag Launcher's projectiles got changed to maintain slightly more velocity on ricochet.
Concussion Mine's projectile speed was increased from 20 meters per second to 25 meters per second and its ricochet distance off of enemy players was greatly reduced.
Total Mayhem's bomb detonation time was decreased from 1 second to 0.7 seconds and the bomb spread was increased by 50%.
Crowd Control Reduction - April 23rd, 2020, to April 29th, 2020
Multiple Crowd Control effects were toned down, also Whole Hog got buffed. Most of the changes came live, with the exception of the reduction to Shield Bash.
Accretion's knockdown duration was changed from 0.75 seconds–3 seconds (increasing with distance) to a fixed 0.8 seconds and its cast time is decreased from 0.75 seconds to 0.65 seconds.
Hero Balancing - April 1st, 2020, to April 6th, 2020
Hero changes were experimented on. All of the changes came live.
Gravitic Flux's ultimate cost was decreased from 2170 to 1960. Also, Sigma's base speed while flying was increased from 5.5 meters per second to 7.15 meters per second.
Triple Damage - February 25th, 2020, to March 3rd, 2020
Introduced alongside Experimental, "triple damage" changed the role queue system from 2 tanks, 2 damage, and 2 support to 1 tank, 3 damage, and 2 supports. Many heroes in the tank role received significant balance changes to accommodate being the only tank. None of the changes came live.
Scrap Gun's pellet damage was decreased from 6 to 5, lowering the damage per shot from 150 to 125. (This also applies to the alternate fire, after it detonates.)
Take a Breather created an immobile circular "cloud" upon activation that healed and reduced damage taken for teammates inside.
8 meter radius; lasted 6 seconds; 25 healing per second; reduced the damage taken of allies by 25%.
It stacked with the normal Take a Breather, meaning Roadhog could heal himself 450 health with 1 usage.
If used in the air, the "cloud" fell directly down until it hit the floor.
Effect required line of sight to the center but it ignored barriers.
Chain Hook's cooldown was decreased from 8 seconds to 6 seconds.
Zarya's shields were increased from 200 to 300. (Total HP was increased from 400 to 500.)
Energy gained per damage blocked was decreased from 0.2% to 0.15%. (The maximum Energy gained per barrier was decreased from 40% to 30%.)
Particle Cannon's maximum damage per second was decreased from 170 to 140 (primary fire) and maximum explosion damage decreased from 95 to 80 (alternate fire).
Particle Barrier's cooldown was decreased from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
Projected Barrier created addition barriers for all allies (besides Zarya) within 8 meters of the target and the duration was increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds.
Trivia
Experimental is one of the few ideas that the development team unanimously agreed upon after the initial pitch.[1]