Can't connect on PTR only

Hi. I can connect to the main Overwatch client without problem, I don’t even have latency issues. Up until the last patch I’ve also been able to join PTR but now I can’t. It either gets stuck at “Connecting…” and eventually fails or sometimes gets to “Connecting to game server…” and then fails. Either way I can’t get to the main menu.

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The PTR is currently offline so everyone is running into this same issue.

You may want to check back later to see if it’s back up. They can bring the PTR servers up/down at any time depending on what needs to be tested.

Thank you for the info but I haven’t been able to log in since PTR updated, I tried for hours. Meanwhile it seems every youtuber got in and they’re still uploading content about it. How can I know when PTR is actually up and whether this is a problem on my end?

I think this content you’re seeing was recorded earlier, edited, and then being uploaded. This is the process I use for making YouTube videos. In my experience, what Jambrix said is exactly what happens. The PTR will go up and down randomly while certain things are corrected, added, removed, and there is no set schedule. If you’re able to connect to the live game, you should have no issue connecting to the PTR if it is available for play.

Thank you for your response. I find it hard to believe it just happens to be down every time I try. I’ve tried dozens of times at different times of day. This has never happened with PTR before; I always logged on fine.

I’m asking if there can be anything else I can do, except waiting for another patch and hoping that will fix it?

If you believe you’ve encountered a bug, this isn’t the correct forum to report this at. Here in tech we focus on the live realms, because as earlier mentioned our developers will regularly bring the PTR realms up and down to modify them. We can’t provide any other insight on this issue since at any given time it could be up or down. You’ll want to post in the PTR forums to report bugs or see if any of the players there have insight on your issue. The PTR forums are a good place to check as well to see if others are having the problem.

I already did that too. No answers there. Thanks anyway.

Assuming you’re still here at this very moment since we happened to sync up - I am able to log into the PTR at this time. If you are unable to do so as of this time, that’d mean you’ve probably found a bug and you’ll want to post on the forums above. You can link our discussion here to confirm there’s some kind of client or account issue.

In the mean time if you haven’t tried it yet, it might be worth a PTR reinstall but that’s the main tech thing that could cause this, I’d wager. Alternately if you have any quality of service options on any of your network hardware, that may be worth a look at disabling. I’ve seen applications like Killer Control Center’s Advanced Stream Detect cause this kind of thing for specific apps.

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Thanks, will update the post with a link. I hope someone sees it.

… Apologies for the back and forth, but I actually had one more idea which just struck me when I saw your location. The PTR servers are in the US, and you’re usually playing on the Europe servers. Just to make sure we’re doing all of our due diligence here, can you try logging into the Americas overwatch servers and see if you get the exact same error? Alternately, are you able to log into the PTR while using a VPN client or connecting to a 4g network through your phone’s mobile tether?

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Thank you… It seems you have found the problem. You’re right; I can’t connect to the Americas servers and I tried it with VPN and I could (very slowly of course). After that I tried power cycling and connect but it didn’t work. Does this mean it’s a problem with my ISP? If so, what should I tell them?

If a VPN works that’s a good indication that the problem is with the ISP.

When you contact them you could mention that you are not able to connect to a specific IP address for Overwatch in the United States, but you can connect to the Europe servers. We don’t have a specific IP address to give you, but they should be able to check into it from their side and see if anyone else in your area is having issues connecting to the Overwatch US servers.

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Thank you both so much. I’ve talked to the ISP and it took them some time but they solved it. I appreciate your time and effort keeping on this issue until the problem was correctly identified.

What ISP are you with blacxthorne? I’m having similar issues with Optus 4g modem.

I live in another country, so there is no connection. But if you can connect to some servers and can’t connect to others (e.g. I could connect to Europe but not US and PTR, which is also US) there’s a good chance it’s your ISP. I’m not really good with the technical side of the issue but basically it’s something like, the route to the US servers are stuck somewhere along the line. If you’re able to connect with VPN that is a good indication also. That means there is a way for you to connect, but the ISP isn’t providing it. If you can confirm this, talk to your ISP and see if they can fix it.

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