'Overwatch' news: Blizzard announces changes for characters Roadhog and Winston via PTR; players voice concern over mouse–keyboard support ban

New balance changes for "Overwatch" are heading to the game's public test realm soon, and two characters will be tweaked for the next update.

As noted on the "Overwatch" forum, some of Roadhog and Winston's features and abilities will be modified. When Roadhog's hook is not in use, his gun is "more effective." The power of his hook is also reduced. Meanwhile, Winston's overall changes resolved issues with his head hit volume. The developer noted that they had to make adjustments because the character's critical hit volume was "abnormally big."

Blizzard introduces changes in the game through the public test realm (PTR). The company uses it as a means to gather information on how modifications impact the game. If required, further adjustments are made based on the feedback from players. The PTR can only be accessed on the game's PC version, and players can try it out by clicking the PTR: Overwatch option from the Battle.net client's Region/Account drop-down selection.

In related news, earlier this month, game director Jeff Kaplan spoke out against console players using mice and keyboards to score higher in the game. Many fans considered it as cheating, and Kaplan urged them to join him in expressing their concerns to first-party console manufacturers Sony and Microsoft.

Though some were pleased to know that Blizzard is taking action on the issue, many players saw Kaplan's announcement as dismissive of disabled "Overwatch" players. AbleGamers chief operations officer Steven Spohn, who has spinal muscular atrophy, also voiced his own concerns via Twitter. For the uninitiated, AbleGamers is a nonprofit organization in charge of charitable initiatives to help and assist disabled gamers.

"In order to [play Overwatch], I use an alternative input device called a TrackIR, which lets me move my head to mash keyboard buttons," Spohn tweeted. "While I have a lot of love for Jeff Kaplan, requesting manufacturers BAN the ability to use alternative input devices is dangerous for us."

Other players also took to social media to disagree with Kaplan's plan of having the mouse-keyboard support for consoles banned. Microsoft confirmed in a statement that they are already investigating the matter, but Kaplan has yet to respond to Spohn's comment.