Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – September 24, 2019
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 4. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
HERO UPDATES
General
- Reverted edge-placement change for ground targeted abilities (Reaper's Shadowstep, Mei's Icewall, Symmetra's Teleporter, etc)
BUG FIXES
General
- Made changes to improve game stability
Maps
- Paris - Fixed a bug that allowed players to shoot through one of the spawn doors
Heroes
Bastion
- Brick Bastion Skin – Updated muzzle flash VFX
Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – September 17, 2019
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 4. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Bastion’s Brick Challenge
Get ready to play with Bastion’s Brick Challenge and some special, unlockable in-game content! Wins in Quick Play, Competitive Play, or Arcade will earn you themed sprays, player icons, and a new legendary skin: Brick Bastion!
Tune in to participating Twitch broadcasters while they’re playing Overwatch any time through 9/30 to earn a total of seven Bastion’s Brick Challenge sprays and icons!
To learn more about Bastion’s Brick Challenge, click here.
HERO UPDATES
General
- Ground targeted abilities (Reaper’s Shadowstep, Mei’s Icewall, Symmetra’s Teleporter, etc) will now more heavily prefer edges over placing as far away as possible.
Bastion
Self-repair
- Self-repair no longer consumes resource while Bastion is at full health
- Bastion now correctly initiates 0.25 sec of recovery time when canceling Self-Repair by firing
Symmetra
Primary Fire
- Beam width lowered from 0.3 meters to 0.2
- Beam DPS per level lowered from 65/130/195 to 60/120/180
Zarya
Primary Fire
- Beam width is now 0.15 meters and no longer scales with energy
- Max Beam DPS lowered from 190 to 170
Sigma
Hyper Spheres
- Explosion damaged reduced from 35 to 30
Experimental Barrier
- Added a toggle option for deploying Sigma’s Experimental Barrier
- Being hacked by Sombra will now recall his barrier if it is deployed. (EMP will still destroy the barrier first if both are in range)
Accretion
- Explosion damage increased from 50 to 60
Gravitic Flux
- Intro cast time increased from 0.4 seconds to 0.6
WORKSHOP UPDATES
New Workshop actions:
- Create Dummy Bot
- Creates a dummy bot, which is a full player that has no human or AI controlling it. Using other Workshop actions, dummy bots can move, aim, press buttons, and do most things that human players can do.
- Destroy Dummy Bot
- Start Throttle In Direction
- Either sets or modifies the throttle (directional movement input) for a given player (human, AI bot, or dummy bot).
- Stop Throttle In Direction
- Stops the change to throttle being caused by Start Throttle In Direction.
- Create Beam Effect
- Creates a beam effect between two positions (either or both of which may be a player).
New parameters to existing Workshop actions:
- Create HUD Text
- New SpectatorVisibility option for defining when spectators can see the text.
- New colors have been added to Text Color.
- Create In-World Text
- New SpectatorVisibility option for defining when spectators can see the text.
- New colors have been added to Text Color.
- Create Effect and Play Effect
- New colors have been added.
New Workshop value:
- Is Dummy Bot
- Whether a given player is a dummy bot.
New Workshop Inspector features:
- Copy current variables to CSV [PC-Only] :
- Copies the currently visible variables to the system clipboard in CSV format. These can be pasted into text and spreadsheet applications.
- Copy all variables to CSV [PC-Only] :
- Copies all variables throughout the Inspector history for the currently selected entity to the system clipboard in CSV format. These can be pasted into text and spreadsheet applications.
- Copy current variables as actions:
- Copies the currently visible variables to the clipboard in Workshop text format. These can be pasted back into a Workshop action list.
BUG FIXES
General
- Workshop - Fixed a bug that caused the "Enable Workshop Inspector" option not to reset when using Restore Defaults
- Workshop - The "Is Firing Primary" Workshop value now correctly reports whether Sigma is using his Hyperspheres
- Fixed an issue where killing D.Va's mech via Environment kill would not always grant the full amount of ult charge
- Fixed an issue where knockbacks would sometimes be shorter than intended if the target was moving down an incline
- Players should no longer get stuck inviting players when using 'Stay As Team' feature
- Attempting to save a highlight without sufficient disk space now displays an appropriate error message
- Fixed an issue where the first person camera would be incorrectly offset when switching heroes in some workshop scenarios
- Competitive arcade season ratings now display a skill rating in the career profile
- Season 1 competitive end ratings now show correctly in leaderboards
Maps
Paris
- Fixed a bug that allowed Moira's Biotic Orb to pass through the attacker's spawn door
Heroes
Ashe
- Improved the ability for B.O.B. to get through doorways and more consistently make it to where he was launched towards
Bastion
- Fixed a bug where Bastion was not entering a recovery state when immediately firing weapons after Self-Repair is used
Brigitte
- Fixed a bug with Brigitte’s Repair Pack cooldown scalar not working in custom games
D.Va
- Fixed a bug that allowed D.Va's mech to block Earthshatter briefly during the destruction animation
Hanzo
- Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo's bow to flicker when switching to Sonic Arrow, when certain skins were equipped
Lucio
- Fixed an issue where knockbacks applied to enemies moving down ramps would not knock back as far as intended.
Mercy
- Fixed a bug where Mercy could sometimes mispredict being able to Guardian Angel to a teammate who had died behind a wall.
Orisa
- Fixed a bug that caused players to be thrown further than intended when escaping the pulling effect of Orisa's Halt
Sigma
- Fixed a bug that caused the first-person animations for Kinetic Grasp, Accretion, Experimental Barrier return/retract, and primary fire not to play correctly when used immediately after being frozen
- Fixed a bug that caused Hyperspheres to appear without any VFX or animation after letting the cast timer on Gravitic Flux expire
- Fixed a bug that incorrectly allowed Sigma to gain shields after absorbing a healing orb from Moira with his Kinetic Grasp
- Corrected various Sigma team color visual effects
- Fixed a bug with Sigma’s Damage Blocked average per 10 min not appearing in career profile
Sombra
- Fixed a bug with Sombra detection radius being affected by player aim pitch
Wrecking Ball
- Fixed an issue preventing Wrecking Ball specific stats from showing up in the Career Profile
- Fixed a bug with adaptive shields area being affected by aim pitch
Zenyatta
- Fixed a bug that prevented Zenyatta from using a Teleporter while Transcendence is active
Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – August 27, 2019
A new patch is now live on Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
New Feature: Hotfixing
With this patch, the Overwatch client on all platforms can now automatically receive minor updates (hotfixes) without needing to be restarted. Hotfixes require online connectivity, access to disk, and sufficient disk space. In the event a hotfix can’t be received, you may encounter a message you can resolve via one of the following platform-specific support articles:
Xbox Articles
New Feature: Shared Install (PTR and Live)
The PTR and Live Overwatch PC clients can now share storage when installed to the same file path on disk. This should reduce the disk space required to install and update multiple clients. As a result, today’s PTR client should require only ~1.2GB of additional disk storage. Players with previous Overwatch PTR clients installed can uninstall and reinstall to a common disk location to benefit from this feature.
Note: Overwatch League Replay Viewer also supports shared installation with the PTR and Live clients.
BUG FIXES
General
- Custom Game - Fixed an issue where presets saved with Symmetra's "Teleportation Duration" were being flagged as invalid
- Role Queue Beta Season - Fixed a bug that prevented players from earning achievements when playing in the Role Queue Beta
- Role Queue Beta Season - Fixed a bug that could cause players not to receive an SR update when the entire opposing team left the match
- Fixed a bug that incorrectly applied Role Queue restrictions to vs. A.I. games
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from selecting roles in Quick Play LFGs
- Workshop - fixed an issue with "unknown error" preventing players from loading certain Custom Game presets
- Fixed a bug that could cause status effect toasts (stunned, slept, resurrected, hacked, detected, etc.) to get stuck on screen
Heroes
Brigitte
- Fixed a bug with Brigitte's Repair Pack granting defensive assist credit anytime after a target was healed
- Fixed a bug with Brigitte's Repair Pack not playing a sound effect for the receiving player
Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – August 13, 2019
A new patch is now live on Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
New Feature: Role Queue
Role Queue is an update to Overwatch’s matchmaking and queuing system that gives players the power to choose which role they play in games. In Competitive Play, players choose their role before finding a game. The matchmaking system will create a team that is comprised of two tanks, two supports, and two damage heroes. Upon entering the match, players select heroes to play within their chosen roles. At the end of a match, competitive players will return to the main menu and select their role before queuing into their next game. For more information about Role Queue, read the detailed blog post.
New Hero: Sigma (Tank)
Sigma is an eccentric astrophysicist and volatile tank who gained the power to control gravity in an orbital experiment gone wrong. Manipulated by Talon and deployed as a living weapon, Sigma’s presence on the battlefield cannot be ignored. Sigma launches two Hyperspheres (gravitic charges), which bounce off walls and implode after a short duration, damaging enemies within a sizable radius. Using Experimental Barrier he propels a floating barrier to a location of his choosing and he can dismiss the barrier at any time. With Kinetic Grasp Sigma freezes incoming projectiles in midair, converting them into shields. Sigma uses Accretion to gather a mass of debris, then flings it at an enemy, knocking them down. Unleashing his full powers with Gravitic Flux, Sigma takes flight, lifts enemies in a targeted area, and launches them into the sky before slamming them back down.
GENERAL UPDATES
Endorsements
- Players can now endorse each other in the following game modes:
- Mystery Heroes
- No Limits
- Deathmatch
- Total Mayhem
- Low Grav
- All PvE Event game modes (Uprising, Retribution, Storm Rising)
Game Modes
- Mystery Heroes - On Control maps, heroes are now reset between rounds.
Workshop
New Events
- Player Dealt Healing
- Player Received Healing
- Player Joined Match
- Player Left Match
New Actions
- Start Transforming Throttle
- Stop Transforming Throttle
New Values
- Healee
- Event Healing
- Host Player
Developer Comment: A commonly requested feature for the Workshop is the ability to track healing, so we’ve added two new event types and three new values to make this possible. We’ve also added events to make it easier to detect players joining and leaving matches. To support the creation of administrator-style privileges for custom games, the owner of the game can now be detected using Host Player. Finally, we’ve added the ability to scale, invert, and rotate a player’s input throttle to make controlling characters in third person easier.
HERO UPDATES
General
- Global ultimate cost increased 12%.
Developer Comment: Considering how high impact they are, ultimates are coming up too often. We are reducing how quickly they charge so fewer fights will be determined by ultimate usage.
- Slowing Effects: Instead of stacking together, friendly and hostile slowing effects are now separate, and movement speed will be determined by whichever is slower.
Developer Comment: This change will mostly impact heroes who slow themselves, such as when Widowmaker scopes or Reinhardt puts up his barrier. In these cases, hostile slowing effects, such as Symmetra’s turrets or Mei’s freezing will not hinder these heroes unless they stop slowing themselves or the hostile effect’s slow value surpasses their own.
- Fixed a bug in which full damage was not dealt by abilities that rapidly gain/lose targets, such as fast-tracking with Zarya's and Symmetra's primary fire beams.
Developer Comment: This is a fairly significant bug fix that can cause beam weapons to do much more damage in certain situations. In particular, Zarya and Symmetra will sometimes feel much more powerful as a result of this bug fix. We’ll be keeping a close eye on these heroes to make sure they don’t end up too strong.
Ashe
- Reload time per round decreased from 0.3 to 0.25 seconds.
Developer Comment: Ashe's full reload time felt overly restrictive. However, a long reload time is intended to balance out the power of her gun, so we want to be careful not to eliminate that completely.
Brigitte
Inspire (Passive)
- Healing amount increased from 100 to 130
- Self-healing from Inspire is now halved
Repair Pack
- Now has 3 charges
- Healing amount changed from 150 to 120
- Now heals over 2 seconds instead of instantly
- If you throw multiple packs at the same person, the current duration will be extended by 2 seconds
Whip Shot
- Out-going velocity increased from 60 to 80
- Retracting time reduced from 0.6 seconds to 0.3
Barrier Shield
- Barrier health reduced from 500 to 200
Shield Bash
- Stun duration reduced from 0.9 seconds to 0.75
Rally
- Ultimate cost increased 10%
Developer Comment: The goal of these changes is to make Brigitte more of a primary healer for your team, at the cost of weakening her survivability. Since Brigitte will now be only one of two support heroes for your team, it is important that she can provide enough healing to be valuable in that role.
D.Va
Call Mech
- Pilot ultimate cost reduced by 12%
Developer Comment: This change is just meant to counteract the global increase in ultimate cost. The time it takes to generate a D.Va’s ultimate when out of her mech should remain the same as it was before this update.
Doomfist
Melee
- Quick melee no longer pauses ammo reload.
Developer Comment: This is a quality of life change which allows Doomfist to more freely use Quick Melee as part of his combos, without feeling punished for it.
Hanzo
Storm Arrows
- Storm Arrows ammo reduced from 6 to 5
Developer Comment: The overall damage output of Storm Arrows was too high so we’re reducing the maximum number of shots.
Orisa
Protective Barrier
- Cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 9
Developer Comment: A common point of feedback for playing against Orisa was that it doesn’t feel useful to shoot the barrier as it comes back so quickly. Increasing the cooldown of Protective Barrier will make destroying it more rewarding.
Reinhardt
New Passive: “Steadfast”
- Reduces knock back effects by 30%
Developer Comment: As a frontline, melee-range tank Reinhardt was more adversely affected by knock back abilities than most heroes. To reduce some of this frustration and enable Reinhardt to more easily fulfill his role, he is now more resistant to being knocked back.
Sombra
Hack
- Duration on enemy players reduced from 6 to 5 seconds
EMP
- Activation time increased from 0.2 to 0.35 seconds
Developer Comment: Hack is a potent disabling ability with a long duration. Reducing the duration slightly will make it feel less oppressive as the hacked player without greatly reducing its effectiveness. The increased activation time on EMP allows for more time to react and opens up more counterplay opportunities for the opposing team.
Symmetra
Teleporter
- Now lasts an infinite duration until destroyed
- Players can destroy their Teleporter with the ability 2 input
- Cooldown now starts when Teleporter is destroyed
- Maximum range increased from 25 to 30 meters
- Teleporter is destroyed if the entrance is more than 40 meters from the exit
Developer Comment: Symmetra’s Teleporter is an interesting tool but often felt too restricting to use. Making the Teleporter last indefinitely opens up new opportunities for how Symmetra is used in various maps and group compositions.
Tracer
Pulse Bomb
- Damage increased from 300 to 350
Developer Comment: Pulse Bomb was reduced in power some time ago to make sure it was not overly punishing to Tanks, which are much easier to stick the bomb to. While this is still a goal, we’re restoring some of this lost power to help deal with other hefty targets such as Bastion, or enemies with bonus armor from Brigitte.
Wrecking Ball
Minefield
- Increased projectile speed from 10 to 12, causing the mines to spread out more
- Reduced the activation time from 0.25 to 0.1 seconds
Developer Comment: Wrecking Ball has a very active playstyle, but it often felt difficult to make good use out of his ultimate. This change allows him to spread out his Minefield further if he wants (especially from high in the air), while still allowing for a tighter cluster if he activates it near the ground.
BUG FIXES
General
- Fixed a bug that prevented subtitles from displaying when spectating while waiting to respawn
- Fixed a bug that caused charging heroes (Reinhardt, Doomfist, Brigitte) to inconsistently knock each other down when colliding
- Fixed a bug so that some abilities (Hanzo’s Dragon Strike and Roadhog’s Chain Hook) will appear smoother when time is slowed down (end of round or custom game)
- Fixed a bug that caused the Presets UI in Custom Game to be displayed in the wrong order
- Fixed a bug so that placement previews (Reaper’s Shadow Step, Mei’s Ice Wall) should now be much smoother
- Fixed a bug so that placement previews will now hold their position after clicking, until they’ve been confirmed by the server
- Fixed a bug where orientation toggles for placement previews could flicker at higher latencies (Mei’s Ice Wall, Baptiste’s Amplification Matrix, Symmetra’s Photon Barrier)
Maps
Route 66
- Fixed a bug that allowed attackers to leave the spawn room before the round starts
Heroes
Ashe
- Fixed a bug that caused her gun to clip into the camera slightly when jumping while shooting down sights
Doomfist
- Fixed an issue that enables Doomfist to get through doorways while using Rocket Punch and clipping the corner
- Fixed a bug that prevented Rocket Punch from consistently destroying Sombra’s Translocator and not being stopped by it, similar to Symmetra’s turrets
- Fixed an issue so that targets hit by Rocket Punch will now go directly backwards, instead of maintaining any lateral momentum they had
- Fixed an issue so that targets that are immune to stun but not immune to knockback (Zarya's Particle Barrier, Zenyatta during Transcendence) are no longer able to affect knockback trajectory
- Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist to move more slowly for the duration of Meteor Strike when using it while crouched
- Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist to move backwards slightly slower during Meteor Strike
D.Va
- Fixed a bug that prevented Defense Matrix from pointing down when D.Va was aiming downward while moving
Lúcio
- Fixed an issue that caused false positives with Lúcio’s animation landing prediction when wall riding
Orisa
- Fixed a bug that caused some VFX to stop playing upon successive viewings of Orisa's "Oh!" highlight intro in Hero Gallery
Reinhardt
- Fixed a bug that caused charge knockback to be applied multiple times
Wrecking Ball
- Fixed a bug that caused Wrecking Ball to get stuck in his slam animation if he landed on very flat, slippery surfaces
- Fixed a bug that caused Wrecking Ball to be temporarily stuck when using Piledriver on slippery surfaces
- Fixed a bug that caused Wrecking Ball to gain an incorrect amount of shields when using Adaptive Shield
Zarya
- Fixed a bug that caused Zarya's weapon and arm to animate oddly during her emotes when viewed in third person
Zenyatta
- Fixed a bug that caused a delay in Zenyatta's first person quick melee animation when interrupting his primary fire
Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – July 25, 2019
A new patch is now live on Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
BUG FIXES
General
- Fixed a bug that made it possible in rare circumstances to lose ultimate charge.
- Fixed a bug that prevented Competitive Play groups being found in LFG.
- Fixed rare instances of "avoid as teammate" not working.
Heroes
- Fixed a bug that caused Kendoka Genji to briefly t-pose during the outro for his Meditate emote.
