1.8 Update Live - Feb 28th

[Mister36]

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

New Feature: Game Browser



Starting today, every player can create their own, unique Overwatch experience and share it with their friends, teammates, or the entire world. Introducing the Game Browser.

An extension of Overwatch's Custom Game mode, the Game Browser allows you to adjust the settings on various maps, modes, and heroes to create your own tailor-made match. For example, if you want to increase the speed of Pharah’s rockets or remove the cooldown from McCree's Combat Roll, the power is yours. Once you're happy with your settings, and you're ready to launch your game, you'll need to set up permissions. You can limit the people who can join your game by toggling the "Friends Only" or "Invite Only" options, but if you want to put your strange creation to a real test, set your server to "Public" and click the launch button.

If you'd like to learn more about the Game Browser, click here.

New Mode: Capture the Flag

Capture the Rooster has been, without a doubt, Overwatch’s most popular brawl. We don’t want the excitement to end, so we’re bringing Capture the Flag to the Arcade as an ongoing game mode. Starting today, we’re adding Capture the Flag versions of Nepal, Lijiang Tower, Ilios, and Oasis, which gives you 12 maps to try when creating a Custom Game.

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HERO UPDATES

Ana

New Hero Option: Nano Boost Sensitivity
- Allows players to adjust Nano Boost’s targeting sensitivity


Bastion

Configuration: Sentry

• Reconfiguration time decreased from 1.5 seconds to 1.0 second
• Bullet spread increased by 50%
• Bullet spread is always at maximum (it no longer increases as the weapon is fired)
• Magazine size increased from 200 to 300
• No longer deals critical damage

Configuration: Recon

• Bullet spread decreased by 25%
• Magazine size increased from 20 to 25

Self-Repair

• Can now be used while moving
• Now bound to secondary fire (formerly Ability 2)
• No longer interrupted by taking damage
• A new resource meter has been added that depletes while Self-Repair is active and recharges when not in use

Configuration: Tank
- No longer grants bonus armor

New Passive Ability: Ironclad
- Bastion takes 35% less damage while in Configuration: Sentry or Tank

Developer Comments: The goal of these changes is to move some of Bastion's power from Configuration: Sentry to Recon, while keeping its sentry mode a strong option, especially versus tanks and barriers. Overall, Bastion should feel stronger and more flexible with these changes.

D.Va

Defense Matrix
- Enemy shots no longer need to travel a minimum distance before they can be blocked

Developer Comments: Previously, there was a minimum distance a projectile had to travel before it could be destroyed by Defense Matrix. This made it nearly worthless in situations where an enemy was right next to your teammate, such as when Roadhog hooks your ally. This change removes that restriction so Defense Matrix should now reliably destroy projectiles regardless of how far they have traveled.

Mei

Cryo-Freeze
- Mei can now be targeted by allies while in Cryo-Freeze


Mercy

Resurrect
- While performing a resurrection, Mercy now becomes temporarily invulnerable along with the allies being revived

Caduceus Staff
- Zenyatta can no longer be targeted when Transcendence is active

New Hero Option: Guardian Angel Sensitivity
- Allows players to adjust Guardian Angel’s targeting sensitivity

New Hero Option: Beam Sensitivity
- Allows players to adjust targeting sensitivity on Mercy’s Caduceus Staff beams

Developer Comments: Mercy’s Resurrect has always been very powerful, but it often forces her to sacrifice herself to use it well. There have been changes in the past that attempted to help her in this area, but haven’t done enough to solve it. This change means that once she uses the ability, she will always survive long enough to be with her team again.

Roadhog

Scrap Gun
- Spread decreased by 20%

Chain Hook
- Targets are now pulled to a location 3.5 meters away, up from 2 meters
- Cooldown increased from 6 to 8

Developer Comments: The Roadhog changes overall reduce the power of his hook a bit, but his gun is now more effective when not using the hook.

Sombra

New Hero Option: Hack Sensitivity
- Allows players to adjust the targeting sensitivity on Sombra’s Hack ability


Symmetra

Sentry Turret
- [CONSOLE] Damage per second increased from 21 to 25.5

Developer Comments: Back in July, the damage per second from Symmetra’s turrets was reduced by 30 percent. We’ve been keeping an eye on her over the past few months and decided to restore about 15 percent of that damage. On PC, her damage is still 30.

Torbj?rn

Rivet Gun
-Ammo is now loaded earlier in the reload animation

Build Turret
- [CONSOLE] Damage increased from 10 to 12

Developer Comments: Like Symmetra, the damage from Torbj?rn’s turrets was also reduced by 30 percent in July. After monitoring his effectiveness, we’ve decided to give his turret a small boost, restoring about 15 percent of the damage. By contrast, the damage from Torbj?rn’s turret on PC is still 14.

Widowmaker

New Hero Option: Grappling Hook Sensitivity
- Allows players to adjust Grappling Hook’s targeting sensitivity


Winston

Critical hit volume reduced by 15%

Developer Comments: Winston's head hit volume was just abnormally big, making him take more damage than he otherwise should. This change brings it more in line with other heroes.

Zarya

New Hero Option: Projected Barrier Sensitivity
- Allows players to adjust Projected Barrier’s targeting sensitivity


Zenyatta

New Hero Option: Harmony Orb Sensitivity
- Allows players to adjust Harmony Orb’s targeting sensitivity

New Hero Option: Discord Orb Sensitivity
- Allows players to adjust Discord Orb’s targeting sensitivity

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COMPETITIVE PLAY

General

Skill ratings below 500 will no longer be displayed.

Developer Comments: We’ve noticed that some players have been deliberately throwing their matches in an effort to reach the lowest attainable skill rating. We obviously don’t want to incentivize this behavior, because Competitive Play works best when everybody is trying.

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MAP BALANCE CHANGES

General

Respawn Delay

• When attackers outnumber defenders while taking a control point on Assault, Escort and Assault/Escort maps, the defenders’ respawn time will slowly increase until it hits a maximum value or the defense manages to gain the upper hand

.

Developer Comments: Until now, stalling an attack by repeatedly throwing yourself at the point has been a common defensive strategy on Assault, Escort and Assault/Escort maps—even when the attackers have a decisive advantage. Typically, this tactic doesn’t change the outcome of battle; it simply delays the attackers’ progress.

Eichenwalde

• A second gate no longer closes after the payload passes through the castle doors. Instead, rubble from the damaged doorway partially blocks the entrance.

Developer Comments: Once the offensive team gets through the castle entrance, the map becomes very heavily stacked in the defense’s favor. This change will give the offense more entrance options, which should improve the map’s overall balance.

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BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed an audio bug that prevented the point capture sound from increasing in pitch as the capture progressed
• Fixed an issue preventing key bindings on the communication wheel from displaying properly
• Fixed a bug causing some key bindings to revert to default after the first round of a Control map
• Fixed a bug that allowed commendation cards to be recalculated and transferred to a new player after the previous recipient left at the end of a round
• Fixed a bug that caused the “experience gained” audio effects to continue playing, even after the players left the game lobby
• Environmental damage to barriers no longer counts toward the "Damage Blocked" statistic

Unlisted patch: you can hear and see "Hello!" when looking at a teammate again

A.I.

• Fixed a bug that caused Roadhog bot to spin around after hooking a target

Competitive Play

• Fixed a bug preventing “60 seconds remaining” and “30 seconds remaining” voice lines from playing during the second round of a match

Heroes

• Fixed a bug preventing Lucio’s “Sound Barriers Provided” statistic from being properly calculated
• Fixed a bug preventing Reinhardt’s Charge from properly pinning targets
• Fixed a bug preventing Reinhardt’s shield from displaying cracks at low health with the Wujing skin equipped
• Fixed a bug that allowed Roadhog to turn freely while pulling a hooked target
• Fixed an issue that allowed Sombra’s Translocator to become stuck in the air
• Fixed a bug preventing Tracer’s ”Clock’s Tickin’’ spray from matching the thumbnail in the Hero Gallery

Maps

• Adjusted the collision in the attacker spawn room on Eichenwalde to prevent players from getting stuck in the pipes
• Torbj?rn can now construct turrets on the stairs in Oasis
• Fixed an issue that caused Highlight Intros to clip into the roof of a building on Lijang Tower

 

[Mister36]

Good:
Sensitivity changes
Eichenwalde Map change
SR <500 Hiding

Really Good:
2CP/Escort defensive timer changes
Server Browser
D.Va Defense matrix change

Remain to be seen:
Roadhog changes

Why:
Bastion

 

[Jade]

Good:
Sensitivity changes
Eichenwalde Map change
SR <500 Hiding

Really Good:
Mercy Buff so Jade can live longer.
2CP/Escort defensive timer changes
Server Browser
D.Va Defense matrix change

Remain to be seen:
Roadhog changes

Why:
Bastion

Edited for one important detail.

 

[FireHazard772]

Edited for one important detail.

Agreed..how could you not list something such as this 36? :sneaky2:

Fixed a bug preventing Reinhardt?s Charge from properly pinning targets

Please tell me this means no more charging directly at someone and having them bounce/fly above me instead

--

Definitely looking forward to testing out the new features with Custom Games though. A lot of new possibilities just opened up as events we could run!

EDIT: Speaking of Custom games, they released a short video about the server browser, with some of the content in it showing various things you can do:

 

[Spathika]

BASTION ?\WutFace

 

[whethers]

Custom games giving Xp, that's enough for me

 

[Spathika]

Bastion need nerfs
Mercy is ok
Road doesn't need to hook now
2cp is decent

just 2 cents from a tilted player

 

[Jolt387]

Now me bugging people to help me test stuff in custom matches won't be as much of a hassle. FREE XP lol

 

[Jimmy Kudo]

If Bastion can survive a head on Dragonstrike by just self-healing, there's a problem with the game.

If Bastion has the capability of having 70% damage reduction with a nano-boost, there's a problem with the game.

 

[Johnny]

If Bastion can survive a head on Dragonstrike by just self-healing, there's a problem with the game.

If Bastion has the capability of having 70% damage reduction with a nano-boost, there's a problem with the game.

That heal does look strong but I kind of hope they leave him alone so Sombra gets more play.

EDIT: I'd be curious to see what the damage is after his armor is gone. There might be a bug where armor is reducing too much dmg.

 

[Mister36]

Jeff posted this in the forums today:

"Thanks for the thoughtful feedback here, everyone. We know Bastion is a big focus for everyone right now. I've been playing online games since they existed and now working on them for almost 15 years. One of the things I've learned about online communities is that change -- any change -- can cause a lot of anxiety. Back when I was working on World of Warcraft, I used to say that if we mailed 500 gold to every player, the community would find some way to be upset about it... because change is bad.

With that said, we'll make some changes to Bastion and put them up on the PTR this morning. We'd love to hear your feedback about those changes when they go up. I don't have details right now because we're still making the changes!

I think it is interesting to reflect upon the idea of what the meta is, what the meta is perceived to be and what the meta should be. When I read some feedback about what the meta should be, I get the sense that for some people that means every hero in Overwatch is picked at the exact same rate (so everyone has a 4-5% pick rate). I'm not sure this is entirely realistic, nor do I think the game is necessarily better if this is the case. It might be and I would love to be wrong about that. One of the reasons that we try to keep all 4 of our game modes viable (I know the community thinks of it as 3 game modes or maybe 3.5) is because different maps and different game modes allow the meta to be more fluid. The more the community pushes us to eliminate maps or modes, the more the hero meta will stagnate. I totally agree that when the meta is too defined (i.e. people only play XYZ heroes) the game is less fun. So we need to watch for trends and adjust as needed.
One interesting thing is the actual meta vs. the perceived meta. The perceived meta is largely driven off of the professional scene and what gets played in tournaments. After those tournaments, really cool reports are written analyzing the pro scene. Those reports go out of their way to say that they are solely reflective of the pro scene and not necessarily representative of the playerbase at large. Yet people cite the pro pick choices as gospel. One thing that I found interesting was that there was a perception based on those reports and in the community that Mercy is never played. Yet according to our stats back during the "3 tank meta" when "Lucio and Ana were the only viable healers", Mercy was the 5th most played hero OVERALL -- and yes, I am talking about in Competitive Play, not Quick Play.
So often, the perception of what the meta is does not match what the actual meta is.

Balance changes can be very difficult to make when emotions run so high in the community. There is outrage if a hero does not get played a lot (like with Bastion or Symmetra). We make changes to make those heroes more viable which means they will get played more. The result is, people need to adjust to playing against Symmetra and Bastion more... and they are more powerful. We cannot just magically make Bastion get picked more so the stats look pretty and not make changes to make him more viable at the same time.

I want to share my personal opinion on Bastion (which is dangerous because I know I am a spokesperson for the game). I play every night. I'm playing both Quick Play and Competitive (I played 2 games of CTF to get my loot box). Over the past few nights I've played with, as and against Bastion. My perception is that he is a little too powerful right now. In particular, in one match I was playing Bastion and the enemy Tracer was trying to hunt me down. The Tracer player was clearly a better player than I am -- a very skilled individual. I relied heavily on my self-heal and the Tracer could not finish me off. But I was able to kill Tracer in recon mode almost through attrition. This part felt wrong to me. But a lot of the feedback I read feels wildly blown out of proportion. Bastion isn't the "I Win button" and he can be focused and countered. When a team is coordinated, he is far scarier than when a team is just playing a pick-up/deathmatch style of play -- and I've witnessed both over the past few nights. I think complaints and praise of Bastion are both valid. I don't think he's perfect yet. But I do think there is a high amount of hyperbole around this particular situation.

In any event, will put some changes up and we're eager to hear your thoughts."

Bless Papa Jeff

 

[Mister36]

Also, D.Va Matrix Bug is fixed and Winston Critbox is being worked on.

"| Jeff can we get a status on the Winston headbox in elbow glitch when crouching and the D.Va defense matrix not working if an enemy shoots through another enemy glitch?

D.Va is fixed. Fix goes live later this week or early next week. Winston fix is in progress."