Why are experimental features called experimental, If they get put in the game anyway

I don’t think I understand the purpose of experimental features cards. If the features on that card are going to be put in the game anyway, than what is the point of the PTR anymore?
The newest changes from experimental being put into the game immediately in the next patch feels like it destroys the purpose of that card.
Originally I thought the changes fit the experimental card pretty well, since all of them felt completely unnecessary and nobody asked for any of them, but now that they get put into the game I feel like they absolutely don’t fit the experimental card anymore. That is because apparently changes nobody asked for and nobody needed are now being put into the game.

Literally half the changes i see in the card every time it comes around are highly requested, I dont think you interact with the larger community enough

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Don’t get caught up on the name…

Yeah they can use it for radical changes like they did with 132…but it’s real purpose is just being a “useful ptr”…you’re more than likely just going t9 see stuff that would normally be on ptr on there

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PTR is for stuff they CAN’T put in experimental because they require larger changes to the game engine.

Experimental was put in, so more people could easily test the stuff they would put in PTR, but, since they have workshop code, they don’t have to now.

Ah, I guess that makes a lot of sense

Right, but it also means they don’t actually do a lot of crazy experimental stuff on experimental , which kinda sucks.

I had such high hopes for it.

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Think of experimental as changes you can only do in workshop. PTR is for much bigger changes like new heroes, maps, etc.

For small patch changes the Experimental card is used for testing, and I see it as if something doesn’t turn out right, then that’s where they take it out. Otherwise everything that’s in is usually going live.

However they did experiment with changes other than the patch notes. 1-2-3 was a fun little thing for a while with all of the tank changes.

Jeff has already addressed this

Not everything is guaranteed to make it out of Experimental. For example, BOB sleep immunity and Brig’s Bash nerf never made it to Live.

What Jeff says and what Blizzard does are almost always at odds.