Overwatch Patch Notes – August 9th, 2018

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

Summer Games 2018

The Summer Games return for more fun in the sun! This year, we're celebrating the spirit of competition with a new Lúcioball arena, Season 2 of Copa Lúcioball, and a smörgåsbord of loot. Unlock over 50 new seasonal items—including legendary skins like Waveracer D.Va, Fastball Zenyatta, and Cabana Ana—alongside our growing collection of summer gear from previous years.

To learn more about Summer Games, click  here. 

GENERAL UPDATES

General

• Changed the name of Junkrat’s Buccaneer skin to Bilgerat
• Added under attack voice lines for Zenyatta, Lúcio, and Moria
• All Overwatch League skins now include the name of the team’s city or state

Looking for Group

• Settings will be saved after changing filters on the Looking for Group browse screen

Hero Gallery

• Added a What’s New option that displays new unlockable content

HERO UPDATES

General

• Some ultimate abilities now restore ammunition after completion for some heroes
  • Abilities affected: Genji’s Dragonblade, Junkrat’s RIP-Tire, Pharah’s Barrage, Roadhog’s Whole Hog, and Zenyatta’s Transcendence, Winston’s Primal Rage

Developer Comments:The change removes the need to immediately reload after a long duration ultimate.

Ana

• Nano Boost
  • Now also instantly heals the target for 300 health
  • Range increased from 30 to 40 meters

Developer Comments: These changes help Ana’s Nano Boost be usable in more situations. Previously it was almost entirely used to combo with other allies’ ultimates, just before they use them. With this change Nano Boost can now alternatively be used to save an ally from near death in the middle of a big fight.

Brigitte

• Shield Bash
  • Cooldown increased from 6 to 7 seconds
• Repair Pack
  • An option to control Brigitte’s Repair Pack targeting sensitivity has been added under Options > Controls > Brigitte

Developer Comments: Brigitte’s Shield Bash is one of her strongest abilities, and its short cooldown can make it difficult to play against. Slightly increasing its cooldown will give her opponents more opportunity to play around it. We’ve also added an option to control Brigitte’s Repair Pack targeting sensitivity which will allow players to reduce the width of the search angle for the ability. This is useful for trying to target specific allies in the middle of a fight at the cost of making it a bit harder to target allies in general.

Doomfist

• Rocket Punch
  • No longer impacts Symmetra’s teleporter
  • Now destroys Symmetra’s sentry turrets without stopping his movement

Developer Comments: These changes are just quality of life improvements for how Doomfist interacts with Symmetra’s placed objects.

Hanzo

• Lunge
  • Cooldown increased from 4 to 5 seconds

Developer Comments: Hanzo’s Lunge ability allows him to be a bit too evasive, so we’re increasing the cooldown to make him easier to catch.

Lúcio

• Crossfade
  • Aura radius increase from 10 to 12 meters
• Sound Barrier
  • Temporary shields granted increased from 500 to 750

Developer Comments: Increasing the amount of shield health gained from Lúcio’s Sound Barrier should make it more effective against incoming burst damage. As part of his last rework, Crossfade’s radius was heavily reduced, but its potency was increased to compensate. While the change was better for him overall, the radius was small enough that it was often difficult to keep his allies in range during a fight, even if they felt reasonably close together. The increased radius should help in these situations.

Mercy

• Caduceus Staff
  • Healing beam reduced from 60 healing per second to 50 healing per second

Developer Comments: Mercy’s previous healing output made her nearly irreplaceable in any team composition. Even after this change she will still be able to deliver more healing over the course of a match than any other support hero, but it should allow for other healers to be more viable.

Moira

• Biotic Grasp
  • Passive energy regeneration rate increased from 2 per second to 2.4 per second

Developer Comments: This change should help Moira in situations where there are no enemies within reach but your team still requires a lot of healing. She will still need to drain enemies to be fully effective, but this just helps her a bit in the rare cases where there is an extended long-range fight that she can’t reasonably take part in.

Reinhardt

• Barrier Field
  • Decorative insignia no longer protrudes from the shield’s surface

Developer Comments: By smoothing out Reinhardt’s Barrier Field, he now will be able to consistently block enemy abilities and projectiles that could sometimes unintentionally sneak through (e.g. Junkrat’s grenades).

Sombra

• General
  • Reduced the size of Sombra’s head hit volume

Developer Comments: The head changes are mostly a bug fix, as her head hit volume was abnormally large, especially from behind. Previously if you fired at her from behind near her upper spine, you could land a head shot. Now her head volume is much more accurate.

Symmetra

• Photon Projector
  • Primary fire range increased from 10 to 12

Developer Comments: Symmetra’s primary fire has huge damage potential but it is too difficult to charge because of its low range and slow charge rate. We’re increasing the range to see how it plays out, giving her more opportunities to use it, especially against enemy barriers.

Widowmaker

• Grappling Hook
  • Cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds

Developer Comments: The increased cooldown will slightly reduce the frequency that Widowmaker can reposition herself. This allows her to be threatened more easily by agile enemy heroes such as Winston and Genji.

Zarya

• Energy
  • Drain rate reduced from 2 energy per second to 1.6 energy per second
• Graviton Surge
  • Radius reduced from 8 to 6 meters

Developer Comments: The smaller radius on Graviton Surge makes it more reasonable for her enemies to try countering it by staying spread out, as well as putting more focus on Zarya to position the ultimate correctly to impact the most players possible. However, the intent of these changes isn’t to lessen Zarya’s overall power significantly so we’re reducing her energy drain rate, which should keep her energy higher on average resulting in more damage and quicker ultimate charge times. Overall, this takes some power out of her ultimate and distributes it else ware to add more counter play against her.

GAME BROWSER AND CUSTOM GAMES

Heroes

• Brigitte’s Repair Pack now has a minimum cooldown time of 1.5 seconds regardless of custom game settings

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that displayed an inaccurate AFK countdown timer before removing players from a match if they were flagged as AFK more than once
• Fixed a bug that caused the player camera to display an odd location before switching to the first-person view of the selected hero after Assemble Your Team phase ends

AI

• Fixed a bug that caused Torbjörn bot to fire his gun endlessly if his turret is teleported by a Symmetra player

Competitive Play

• Fixed a bug that could cause players to lose an endorsement level if they exited before a match completes, but after the return timer for a leaving player has expired

Heroes

Brigitte

• Fixed a bug that allowed projectiles and splash damage to penetrate Brigitte’s Barrier Shield while dashing with the ability

D.Va

• Fixed a bug that caused D.Va’s Light Gun to disappear if Roadhog used Chain Hook on her while she used an emote

Genji

• Fixed a visual issue that prevented Genji’s Shuriken ammunition from displaying the correct number briefly after activating Dragonblade
• Fixed a bug that caused Genji’s arms to detach from his body if he looked straight down a wall while climbing over edges

Hanzo

• Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s arms to detach from his body if he looked straight down a wall while climbing over edges

Junkrat

• Fixed a bug that refilled Junkrat’s ammo if RIP-Tire failed to cast
• Fixed a bug that refilled Junkrat's ammo if he attempted to use RIP-Tire while airborne

Lúcio

• Fixed a bug that allowed Lúcio to gain ultimate charge while Sound Barrier was active if he got hacked

Orisa

• Fixed a bug that caused the health bar on Orisa’s Protective Barrier to disappear when she used Supercharger

Reinhardt

• Fixed a bug that prevented cracks from appearing on Reinhardt’s Overwatch League Away skins when his Barrier Field takes damage

Roadhog

• Fixed a bug that prevented Roadhog’s Chain Hook from retracting to his hand if he is interrupted mid-cast

Sombra

• Fixed a bug that caused Sombra’s visual effects to display darker than intended
• Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to destroy her Translocator after teleporting to it
• Fixed a bug that caused Sombra’s Translocator to bleed when struck by enemy players

Tracer

• Fixed a bug that caused Tracer’s Pulse Bombs to stick onto the wrong side of shields when the targeted enemy moved quickly

Wrecking Ball

• Fixed a bug that prevented Wrecking Ball from using sprays when in Roll form
• Fixed a bug that allowed Piledriver to displace Mei while she is in Cryo-freeze

Zarya

• Fixed a bug that caused Zarya’s Graviton Surge visual effects to extend beyond the ability’s radius

Hero Gallery

• Fixed a bug that prevented rotating hero models while viewed in the Hero Gallery when equipped with Overwatch League skins
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Communication Wheel from functioning when equipping a spray, voice line, or emote from a Loot Box

Looking for Group

• Fixed a bug that caused some groups to be unable to queue for a game mode

Maps

Eichenwalde

• Fixed a bug that caused Eichenwalde’s castle gate to falls into the ground when destroyed by the payload

Overwatch Patch Notes – July 24, 2018

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 Hero: Wrecking Ball (Tank):

Wrecking Ball’s tinkering capabilities and iron-clad mech make him a formidable tank hero, capable of bowling through the front line of the opposition and causing mayhem in the back line. His primary weapon, Quad Cannons, are two sets of twin machine guns that shred enemies caught in their crosshairs. No team is too much for Wrecking Ball to engage against with his Adaptive Shield, which generates more health based on the number of enemies nearby. This shield makes him incredibly difficult to kill when he bulldozes into the fray and, once he starts to get low on health, also provides him the endurance to escape. The Roll ability allows Wrecking Ball to withdraw the mech’s robotic limbs, transforming it into a ball with increased movement speed. No obstacle can stand in Wrecking Ball’s way when he uses Grappling Claw, a short-range ability that grips the environment, letting him swing across terrain gaps or around corners to smash enemies. Grappling Claw also allows Wrecking Ball to reach top speed and ram into foes, dealing destructive damage and knocking them back. While airborne, the mech’s Piledriver ability causes Wrecking Ball to slam down from the air and knock his enemies off their feet.

When Wrecking Ball is at his strongest, he can use Minefield which flings mines onto the ground that deal a considerable amount of damage to enemies unfortunate enough to trigger them.

To learn more about Wrecking Ball, click  here. 

As with all new heroes, please note that Wrecking Ball's release in Competitive Play will be delayed by two weeks.

GENERAL UPDATES

General

• Added a note to Sombra’s Hero Information page about her ability to remove her own Translocator
• Removed the Shield Generators Destroyed statistic from players’ Career Profiles

Looking for Group

• Added a button that allows you to queue into the selected game mode once the group becomes full
• Added a button to relist groups in the LFG browser when the group has empty role slots

HERO UPDATES

General

• Several heroes have received major changes to their damage falloff:
  • Bastion
    • Configuration: Sentry and Configuration: Recon - Minimum damage at max range increased from 30% to 50%.
  • McCree
    • Peacekeeper - Minimum damage at max range increased from 30% to 50%
  • Mei
    • Endothermic Blaster - Removed all damage falloff from her secondary fire projectile
  • Soldier: 76
    • Heavy Pulse Rifle - Minimum damage at max range increased from 30% to 50%
  • Widowmaker
    • Widow's Kiss - Now has damage falloff applied on her automatic primary fire (50% at max range)

Developer Comments:The goal of these changes is to slightly reduce the impact of damage falloff on mid-range weapons. While assessing falloff mechanics across the board, weapons intended primarily for close-range combat benefited too greatly from lowering their falloff restrictions. We also normalized a couple of outliers in that Mei had a long-range travel time projectile with falloff applied and Widowmaker's automatic fire did not have any.

Hanzo

• Storm Arrows
  • Duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds
  • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds

Developer Comments: Hanzo’s new kit has proven to be a bit too powerful, especially his new Storm Arrows ability. We’re lowering the frequency that he can have this ability available to make it more reasonable to play around.

Sombra

• Stealth
  • Now lasts indefinitely
  • No longer can contest objectives while invisible
  • Movement speed buff decreased from +70% to +50%
• Translocator
  • Now lasts indefinitely
  • Can now be destroyed (has 5 health)

Developer Comments: These changes allow Sombra to more easily play as an infiltrator and scout for her team, as well as give her time to pick and choose when to reveal herself to ambush her enemies.

MAP UPDATES

General

• When final objectives on non-control maps are contested for extended amounts of time and attackers have an advantage in numbers, the respawn time for defenders now increases even faster

Developer Comments: In a previous patch we added a system to adjust the respawn rate of defenders in situations where attackers have a prolonged advantage in fights on final objectives. We’re just making this system a bit more aggressive to further reduce the duration of the long, drawn out fights that can occur when the defender spawns are so close to the action.

Assault Maps

• Objective time reduced from 5 minutes to 4 minutes per control point in Quick Play and Arcade modes

Developer Comments: We have reduced the overall game time for Assault maps in Quickplay and Arcade Modes. Players now have four minutes to capture each point instead of the current five minutes per point. In some games, Point A would be captured rather quickly resulting in what could be lengthy battle over Point B. Point B is typically more defendable than Point A and, in some games, defenders were able to hold for the entire duration of remaining time which could potentially be 8 minutes or more. We felt that in these instances the overall time was simply too long for either team, with attackers unable to take the point and defenders having to hold. The reduction in time is now consistent with the Competitive Play times which provides an ample amount of time for both attackers and defenders, but hopefully removes the occasional game where it feels like you are playing against the timer and not the other team.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that caused the group leader’s UI to appear that they’re canceling or leaving Waiting for Players when using a controller
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving an AFK warning for not moving after receiving the No XP warning for not being in combat
• Fixed a bug that caused Competitive Elimination to display as your last match played in the Recent Players menu
• Fixed a bug that prevented players added to Avoid as Teammate from being removed if that player was added to their friends list

AI

• Fixed a bug that caused Torbjörn bot to continuously try upgrading his turret when placed in an inaccessible location

Custom Game

• Fixed a bug that prevented groups electing to spectate from being placed into the Spectator section of the Custom Game they’re trying to watch

Endorsements

• Fixed a bug that caused the Team Information screen to display an Endorsement level of a player who left the game
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Endorsement input from opening the Endorsement tray if it shared that input with another input
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Nearby Players menu from displaying Endorsement levels
• Fixed a bug that caused the text for the Sportsmanship Endorsement to bleed outside the chat box

Game Browser & Custom Games

• Fixed a bug that allowed heroes to deploy multiple barriers or turrets when a decreased cooldown modifier was applied in a Custom Game
• Fixed a bug that caused players to sometimes spawn into a wall or floor when playing a Deathmatch Custom Game with Respawn as Random Hero enabled

Heroes

General

• Fixed a bug that prevented heroes from playing a hit reaction animation when shot

Brigitte

• Fixed a bug that prevented Brigitte from dashing forward when using Shield Bash if she was airborne due to Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut
• Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte’s portrait to show a non-existent ponytail with her Shieldmaiden skin equipped

Doomfist

• Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist’s Rocket Punch to stop if he hit Symmetra’s Turret when it was in midair
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from hitting Reinhardt if he faced his Field Barrier upward
• Fixed a bug with Doomfist’s Rocket Punch that prevented it from canceling Genji’s Cyber-agility, Lúcio’s Wall Ride, or Hanzo’s Wall Climb on impact
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Meteor Strike impact visual effect from occurring
• Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist to plummet to his death if he used Meter Strike in the basement of the Château Guillard Deathmatch map

D.Va

• Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s mech rear hatch from connecting to her mech when viewing D.Va’s Peace Victory Pose.

Genji

• Fixed a bug that caused Genji’s kneepad to clip into his legs when wearing his Classic skin
• Fixed a bug that caused Genji’s knees to pop while shifting his weight during his idle animation in the Hero Gallery

Hanzo

• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Hanzo’s Dragonstrike projectile to fire backward

Junkrat

• Fixed a bug that prevented Junkrat’s Frag Launcher grenades from dealing the correct amount of damage on direct hits
• Fixed a bug that allowed Junkrat to set multiple Steel Traps in Custom Games
• Fixed a bug that prevented teammates from viewing Junkrat’s respawn timer if he died while piloting RIP-Tire
• Fixed a bug that allowed the player to move the camera when Junkrat’s RIP-Tire was frozen
• Fixed a bug that caused Junkrat’s Frag Launcher grenades to get stuck in certain terrain

Mei

• Fixed a bug that caused Mei’s Ice Wall to be destroyed if Sombra hacked her

Mercy

• Fixed a bug with Mercy that caused her Cadeceus Staff and Cadeceus Blaster to appear missing when using quick melee and weapon swap simultaneously
• Fixed a bug that allowed Mercy to damage boost certain abilities (e.g. Hanzo’s Dragonstrike, D.Va’s Self-Destruct, and Junkrat’s Steel Trap)

Moira

• Fixed a bug that prevented Moira’s Healing Orb from healing friendly training bots in the Practice Range
• Fixed a bug that prevented Moira’s Biotic Orbs from trigging controller vibration when using a controller

Reinhardt

• Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt’s Charge from propelling him forward if he was airborne due to Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut

Roadhog

• Fixed a bug that allowed Roadhog’s Chain Hook target to be pulled to his new location when he used Symmetra’s Teleporter

Sombra

• Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to push and contest payloads while invisible
• Fixed a bug that caused parts of Sombra’s Translocator to be invulnerable
• Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to reach unintended locations

Symmetra

• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Turrets from displaying a red outline when viewed by the enemy team
• Fixed a bug that caused Reinhardt’s Earthshatter to sometimes go through Symmetra’s Photon Barrier
• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Teleporter from using visual effects with her Oasis skin equipped
• Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to receive credit toward her Huge Success achievement if she teleported her Sentry Turrets
• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Photon Barrier from destroying existing ones when placing a new one in Deathmatch
• Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra’s Sentry Turrets to shoot enemies through walls when placed on uneven surfaces
• Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s Teleport telegraph to cancel if she fell off a ledge while placing it

Tracer

• Fixed a bug that allowed Tracer to gain capture point progress during her Recall ability

Zarya

• Fixed a bug that prevented Zarya’s Particle Cannon from gaining energy when attacked by an enemy Symmetra or Zarya if they were too close to her when she used Particle Barrier

Widowmaker

• Fixed a bug that prevented Widowmaker from grappling to some walls

Looking for Group

• Fixed a bug that caused all game modes to be selectable when adding a player to a group
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Choose Roles menu from offering a default role when accessed
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving messaging notifying them why they were unable to change a Looking for Group title if they were suspended from changing Custom Game names
• Fixed a bug that prevented role icons from displaying on hero portraits
• Fixed a bug that allowed two players were able to queue for the same Looking for Group spot

Maps

Junkertown

• Fixed a bug that prevented Junker Queen’s voice lines from playing

Overwatch Patch Notes – June 26, 2018

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 INTRODUCTION

We’re super excited about this patch because we are adding some social features that we hope you guys really like!

First, our Endorsement system. Endorsements give you a way to acknowledge other players for having a positive impact on your gaming experience. We have ways to report people for poor conduct, but now, if you have teammates who coordinated well, a leader who gave great direction, or even someone who was just being positive you can now let them know how much you appreciated it with an endorsement!

Second is Looking for Group. A long-awaited feature that we’ve being dying to get in the game. Looking for group allows you to find like-minded players before you queue to make sure you have the kind of Overwatch experience you want! Things like specifying what game mode want to play, preferring voice chat, and knowing that a player wants to play a certain role before you go into battle together goes a long way toward solid hero compositions and team work. One small tip: Once you have created a LFG group you can browse the list and search for groups that meet your needs and invite them to join up! This is a more proactive approach to getting a group together faster.

We can’t wait for you guys to start using these systems!

—Jeremy Craig, Principal Game Designer

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Endorsements

Acknowledge your fellow Overwatch players’ positivity with endorsements! Recognize commendable behavior for players exhibiting sportsmanship, being a good teammate, or for shot calling. Commend players who lead you to victory, put the team’s needs above their own, or exhibit humility in victory or grace in defeat. Endorsements are readily available to view on Career Profiles, the Groups menu, and more so you can tell at a glance the types of players you’re playing with. Those who consistently maintain a high endorsement level will receive periodic rewards, while those who display negative behavior or accrue suspensions will lose their endorsements.

Looking for Group

Play your way using the Looking for Group feature! You can control your gameplay experience before stepping into a match by using specific parameters to create your dream team. Join a team of other like-minded players or lead a group of your own by creating a group with your personal preferences such as game mode, role enforcement, and more. Those who want to queue up for Quick Play, Play vs AI, or any competitive mode can set the types of roles others can play. These specifications will then be activated in-game (e.g. players who chose a support role will be restricted to only using heroes in that category).

GENERAL UPDATES

General

• All heroes in the Defense and Offense categories have been merged into a new category: Damage

Developer Comments: Since the line between Offense and Defense heroes has become increasingly blurred, we’ve decided to group all those heroes into a single new “Damage” category. We believe that the term more closely matches the role name that is now being used in Overwatch League and across most of the game’s community.

• Combat can now be heard 25% further away
• Changed the name of the Varok spray to Saurfang
• The Acknowledge and Interact buttons are now separate input bindings

Career Profile

• Added an Inspire Uptime Percentage statistic for Brigitte on the Career Profile
• Removed some statistics for Symmetra on the Career Profile
• Added a Scoped Critical Hit Accuracy statistic for Widowmaker on the Career Profile
• Career Profiles will no longer be public by default (now defaults to Friends Only). An option to make Career Profiles visible has been added under Options > Social > Profile Visibility

ARCADE UPDATES

General

• Symmetra can now be played in 1v1 duel game modes (e.g. 1v1 Limited Duel and 1v1 Mystery Duel)

HERO UPDATES

Doomfist

Meteor Strike

• Bonus movement speed increased from 150% to 200%

The Best Defense…

• Shield gain increased from 30 to 35 for normal abilities

Developer Comments: The increased movement speed on Meteor Strike gives Doomfist new options in how and where to deploy it. His passive is also being increased, allowing him to survive more often when diving into enemies.

McCree

• Deadeye

• Range increased from 70 meters to 200 meters

Developer Comments: While McCree’s Deadeye rarely came into play at 70 meters, we are increasing the range so it cannot be a limiting factor during normal gameplay.

Orisa

• Supercharger
  • Ultimate cost reduced by 15%

Developer Comments: Supercharger wasn’t getting enough use, considering its impact. This change allows Orisa to use her ultimate more aggressively, knowing that she will be able to generate them more easily.

Symmetra

• Photon Projector
  • No longer locks onto targets
  • Range increased to 10 meters
  • Damage ramping now takes 2 seconds per damage level instead of 1 second
  • Damage ramp increased from 30/60/120 to 60/120/180
  • Now generates ammo instead of spending it when hitting a barrier
  • Ammo reduced from 100 to 70

• Alternate Fire
  • No longer locks onto targets
  • No longer pierces targets
  • Now explodes on contact
  • Projectile speed increased
  • Charge up speed increased
  • Damage changed to 60 impact / 60 explosive

• Sentry Turret
  • Turret is now placed like a projectile instead of being set in place
  • Can hold a max of 3, down from 6
  • Can now deploy a max 3, down from 6
  • Damage increased
  • Amount of slowing effect increased

• Teleporter
  • Can now place the exit up to 25 meters away from Symmetra
  • Entrance will automatically be built in front of Symmetra, rather than at her team’s spawn point
  • Lasts 10 seconds
  • Health lowered to 300
  • More things can teleport through it (e.g. Junkrat’s RIP-Tire)
  • Entrance can be destroyed
    • If either the entrance or exit is destroyed, the other is removed

• New Ultimate: Photon Barrier
  • Deploys a barrier that is big enough to span and cut through an entire map
  • Orientation can be changed by pressing the ultimate button again
  • Lasts 15 seconds
  • Has 5000 health

Developer Comments: The goal of these changes is to move Symmetra to her new damage role and make her more flexible and viable across more areas of the game than she was previously. Now that Symmetra is no longer a support hero, she is expected to be able to dish out heavy damage, and these changes allow for her to do so. She should be more powerful and interesting in more team compositions and maps, and she should also be stronger on offense and defense.

MAP UPDATES

Horizon Lunar Colony

• Point A
  • Added a staircase on the right when exiting the Hydroponics Room
  • Removed the door to the lower room on the right
  • Removed the small wall on the catwalk above Point A
  • Added some cover walls to the catwalk area
  • Moved the door next to the staircase that led to Winston’s room
  • The door is now on the side of the wall in the training pit
  • Moved the large health pack to the back of the room
  • Removed some clutter in the upper left computer room
• Hydroponics Room
  • Switched the positions of the large and small health pack
  • Changed some of the hydroponic plant cover on the right
• Point B
  • Defender spawn room exits moved from the front to the sides out of direct line of fire
  • Small rooms added at spawn room exits
  • Additional cover added near the spawn room exits
  • Added a route and larger platform leading to the back right corner
  • Raised the platform to the same height as the attackers’ platform on the opposite side of the point
  • The location of the old defender exit is now an alcove with a small health pack
  • Both teams can still pass behind the point, but there is now a cut-through in the middle of the wall for better access
  • The area above the window overlooking the point is now covered
  • A large platform with cover has been attached to the left side of the catwalk
  • The upper platform for the attackers has been reduced
  • The doorway leading to the platform is slightly smaller

Developer Comments: We’ve wanted to make some gameplay improvements to Horizon Lunar Colony for some time now. The defenders’ spawn room had a problem with its main exit that allowed defenders to quickly duck back inside and regain health while attackers shot at them without doing damage. Since we were already reworking the entire back area, we decided to make some more changes addressing player feedback. The idea behind the rework of Point A was to not only help the defenders a bit, but also provide some gameplay options aside from sitting on the point and trying to hold it for as long as possible. Easier access to high ground, as well as limiting the routes for attackers (or at least allowing for defenders to more easily spot the attackers), will allow more opportunity for counters and create a better gameplay experience.

We’ve made a lot of additions and changes to the art throughout the map for you to discover as well.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that prevented loading screens from displaying the game mode
• Fixed a bug that caused the capture point UI to display capture progress as 100% before the point was captured
• Fixed a bug that caused some sprays to be pixelated

AI

• Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra bot to continue hacking health packs if the ability was disabled in a Custom Game

Heroes

Ana

• Fixed a bug that prevented Ana’s Naptime achievement from being granted when interrupting Moira’s Coalescence
• Fixed a bug that caused Ana’s Sleep Dart effect to persist on afflicted targets after changing heroes

Bastion

• Fixed a bug that prevented McCree’s Flashbang from interrupting Bastion’s Configuration: Tank transformation
• Fixed a bug that caused Bastion’s treads to disfigure if he was frozen while in Tank configuration

Brigitte

• Fixed a bug that caused Junkrat’s grenades to damage Brigitte when hitting her Barrier Shield
• Fixed a bug that allowed Brigitte’s Barrier Shield to become indestructible if her Barrier Shield Cooldown Time modifier was set to 0% in a Custom Game
• Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte’s Rocket Flail to clip into the ground during her Flail highlight intro on King’s Row
• Fixed a bug that allowed Brigitte to proc Inspire when hitting gondola omnics with her Rocket Flail in Rialto
• Fixed a bug that allowed Brigitte to proc Inspire by hitting the motorcycle in the Junkertown attacker spawn room
• Fixed a bug that allowed Brigitte to use Shield Bash while affected by Steel Trap or Graviton Surge
• Fixed a bug that prevented Brigitte’s Inspire passive from sometimes healing allies out of line of sight
• Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte’s knee pad and foot to clip the ground during her Kneel victory pose when wearing her Paladin or Engineer skins
• Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte’s arm animation to shake when using Repair Pack and Rally in quick succession

Doomfist

• Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist’s Meteor Strike animation to place him back on the ground when used in midair
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Meteor Strike cooldown UI from being hidden if he died during its activation
• Fixed a bug that prevented the HUD messaging for Doomfist’s Meteor Strike to indicate that players can zoom their camera out
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Rocket Punch from dealing bonus damage when the target hit a friendly Mei’s Ice Wall
• Fixed a bug that allowed Doomfist’s Rocket Punch bonus damage to hit Genji after using Swift Strike to move through the punch
• Fixed a bug that prevented Rocket Punch’s bonus damage from applying if the enemy used an evasive ability at the same time they hit a wall (e.g. Moira’s Fade, Tracer’s Blink, or Reaper’s Wraith Form)
• Fixed an issue that prevented Doomfist’s Rocket Punch from impacting some walls
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Rocket Punch, Rising Uppercut, and Seismic Slam from not playing the appropriate sound effect if these abilities were disabled or on cooldown
• Fixed a bug that prevented enemies struck by Doomfist’s Rocket Punch from taking additional collision damage when hitting Mei’s Cryo-freeze
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut animation from playing when used after hitting something with Rocket Punch
• Fixed a bug that allowed Doomfist to use Seismic Slam and escape Graviton Surge when within range
• Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist’s failed Seismic Slams to display the wrong UI information
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Seismic Slam from being usable if spammed in a Custom Game with 0% cooldown modifier

D.Va

• Fixed a bug that caused D.Va’s mech to do a standing pose right before detonating
• Fixed a bug prevented the South Korean flag decal from displaying when she was in her mech
• Fixed a bug prevented projectiles from hitting D.Va if she stood behind her mech after it detonated
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Team Kill sound effects from playing for D.Va inside her mech
• Fixed a bug that allowed pilot D.Va could summon extra, empty mechs if she used Call Mech while standing on top of an enemy
• Fixed a bug that allowed D.Va to activate her mech boosters after activating her Self-Destruct

Genji

• Fixed a bug that allowed Genji’s Swift Strike to do damage after he dies
• Fixed a bug that prevented stuns from applying if Genji used Swift Strike
• Fixed a bug that allowed Genji to wall climb while using emotes

Hanzo

• Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s Storm Bow projectiles to sometimes use the sound effect for Storm Arrow
• Fixed a bug that allowed Hanzo to wall climb while using emotes
• Fixed a bug that prevented Hanzo’s Dragon Strike animation from playing if he was in a Graviton Surge

Junkrat

• Fixed a bug that allowed Junkrat to place multiple Steel Traps
• Fixed a bug that caused Junkrat’s projectiles to become invisible if they were shot through railings
• Fixed a bug that caused the medal in Junkrat’s Medal victory pose to clip through his chin with his Scarecrow or Hayseed skins equipped
• Fixed a bug that caused turrets to target Junkrat’s Concussion Mines while airborne

Lúcio

• Fixed a bug that prevented Lúcio from using his Sonic Amplifier when waving hello
• Fixed a bug that prevented Lucio from using Soundwave if he had zero ammo

McCree

• Fixed a bug that prevented McCree’s Flashbang from giving credit for environmental kills
• Fixed a bug that caused McCree’s Deadeye targeting markers to persist if the target died while it was active
• Fixed a bug that caused McCree’s Deadeye reticle to lock onto players who die while the ability was active
• Fixed a bug that prevented the tumbleweed from appearing in McCree’s The Duel highlight intro

Mei

• Fixed a bug that prevented Mei from receiving environmental kill credit if her targets were frozen
• Fixed a bug that caused Mei’s projectiles to appear that they weren’t passing through friendly barriers

Mercy

• Fixed a bug that prevented Mercy’s Caduceus Blaster and Caduceus Staff from appearing when switching between weapons and using quick melee at the same time
• Fixed a bug that caused Mercy’s Caduceus Blaster shots to become invisible if they were deflected by Genji if her Pink skin was equipped
• Fixed a bug that prevented Mercy’s Guardian Angel cooldown from resetting if Valkyrie was used midflight
• Fixed a bug that prevented the cooldown on Mercy’s Guardian Angel from being refunded while Valkyrie was active
• Fixed a bug that caused the resolution quality of Mercy’s Today’s Top 5 highlights icon to drop with her Zhuque skin equipped
• Fixed a bug that prevented player names from displaying when being healed by Mercy
• Fixed a bug that allowed Mercy to see her eliminated teammates while resurrecting a target
• Fixed a bug that allowed Mercy to switch weapons while using her Caduceus emote

Moira

• Fixed a bug that prevented Moira’s Biotic Grasp from damaging barriers
• Fixed a bug that caused Moira’s Biotic Grasp’s beam to disappear when attaching to barriers from certain angles
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving the Excuse Me achievement when successfully interrupting Moira’s Coalescence
• Fixed a bug that allowed Moira’s Biotic Grasp to heal targets behind an enemy barrier
• Fixed a bug that allowed Moira’s Biotic Orb to pass through breakable objects
• Fixed a bug that caused Moira’s Biotic Grasp to attach onto the base of targets (e.g. Mei’s Cryo-freeze)

Orisa

• Fixed a bug that prevented players from being awarded Orisa’s Halt State achievement
• Fixed a bug that prevented Orisa’s Fusion Driver from closing if her Halt projectile was affected by Defense Matrix or Deflect immediately after it spawned
• Fixed a bug where Orisa’s arm would clip into her leg during her Puppy emote
• Fixed a bug that caused the effect of Orisa’s Halt! to persist if Wraith Form or Fade were used immediately after being pulled in

Pharah

• Fixed a bug that prevented Pharah from being knocked back by her Concussive Blast in spawn rooms

Reaper

• Fixed a bug with Reaper’s Shadow Step sound effect continuously playing while moving around on breakable terrain in Petra.

Reinhardt

• Fixed a bug that caused Reinhardt’s Barrier Field from not playing the correct sound effect if it was affected by Sombra’s Hack
• Fixed a bug that caused Reinhardt’s Barrier Field cooldown to cancel an active hammer swing when it became ready to use
• Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer eliminations from receiving credit in the Kill Feed

Roadhog

• Fixed a bug that allowed Roadhog’s Chain Hook to reel in targets even if the ability was interrupted

Sombra

• Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra’s Hack from interrupting Symmetra’s Teleporter placement
• Fixed a bug caused Sombra’s Hack to be interrupted by thin environment objects (e.g. lamp posts)
• Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra’s Translocator from being destroyed when it was thrown off a level

Symmetra

• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Photon Barrier from blocking Reinhardt’s Earthshatter
• Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra’s Photon Projector to gain charge when used on breakable objects
• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Photon Barrier from being placed with the correct orientation if the player rapidly turned during its placement
• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Photon Barrier from being placed on moving platforms or payloads
• Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to place her Shield Generator inside gates on certain maps
• Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to place her Sentry Turrets inside chests and vending machines
• Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra’s Sentry Turrets to deploy at maximum range without sticking to a surface
• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Sentry Turrets from dealing the correct amount of damage and slow values
• Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s Teleporter to self-destruct when it was placed
• Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn’s turret from being built on Symmetra’s Teleporter
• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s secondary fire from consuming ammo when minimally charged
• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Teleporter from teleporting allies that moved through it at high movement speeds (e.g. Genji’s Swift Strike)
• Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s Teleporter to fall through the ground if placed on platform edges
• Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s eyes from aligning properly during her Askew and Snowflakes highlight intros with her Dragon skin equipped

Torbjörn

• Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn’s Batter Up emote from playing sound effects if he switched weapons

Tracer

• Fixed a bug that caused Tracer’s Pulse Bomb to stick on the opposite side of barriers when thrown at a certain angle
• Fixed a bug that caused Tracer’s animation to pause at the start of her Bomb Spin emote

Widowmaker

• Fixed a bug that caused Widowmaker’s shooting animation to become stuck if she scoped while firing and then jumped
• Fixed a bug with the grammar in the flavor text for Widowmaker’s Comtesse skin
• Fixed a bug that prevented Widowmaker’s Venom Mine from being destroyed when thrown over the environment edges on Oasis Gardens

Winston

• Fixed a bug where placing Winston’s Barrier Projector while going a step upwards would cause it to fall through the floor

Zenyatta

• Fixed a bug that prevented Zenyatta’s Discord Orb sound effects from playing with his Cultist skin equipped
• Fixed a bug that caused Zenyatta’s arm to clip through his pants during his Heroic highlight intro

Maps

Blizzard World

• Fixed a bug that prevented Soldier: 76’s Helix Rockets and Zarya’s primary fire from popping balloons

Horizon Lunar Colony

• Fixed a bug that caused armor packs to land behind crates and not be usable

Petra

• Fixed a bug that prevented ability indicators for Seismic Slam and Ice Wall from being visible on the breakable terrain in Petra
• Fixed a bug that allowed Reinhardt’s Earthshatter to travel across holes in the breakable tile floor on Petra

Rialto

• Fixed a bug where heroes would move left and right on their own while standing in one of the speed boats in the canal
• Fixed a bug where players were able to apply a spray on the surface of a body of water

Watchpoint: Gibraltar

• Fixed a bug that caused the first Attacker spawn room to extend past its walls

Overwatch Patch Notes – June 12, 2018

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.

ARCADE UPDATES

Deathmatch

• Increased Deathmatch AFK timer from 60 seconds to 120 seconds

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that caused Career Profile statistics to clip beneath player names in the Groups tab in the Social menu

Mei’s Snowball Offensive

• Fixed a bug that caused Mei’s Snowball Blaster reload and Flurry UIs to appear on all players’ screens

Overwatch Patch Notes – May 22, 2018

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 Seasonal Event: Overwatch Anniversary 2018

Celebrate Overwatch’s two-year anniversary with a new FFA (free-for-all) Deathmatch map—Petra—and more than 190 Anniversary items (60+ new for 2018), including eight legendary skins: Stealth Bastion, Shieldmaiden Brigitte, Formal Doomfist, Buccaneer Junkrat, Sherlock McCree, Forest Spirit Orisa, Magician Symmetra, and Cybjörn Torbjörn. Did you miss an item from a previous event? Throughout Overwatch Anniversary, you’ll be able to unlock items from past seasonal events with credits (and opening Anniversary Loot Boxes)!

Many of our past seasonal brawls will be available to play in the Arcade, and the brawl of the day will rotate throughout the event.

As a bonus this year, each Anniversary Loot Box can contain items from past seasonal events! You’ll also get one Legendary Anniversary Loot Box, with at least one guaranteed legendary item, just for logging in to the game during the event.

Thank you all so much for spending the last two years playing Overwatch with us, and we look forward to celebrating with you in-game!

New Map: Petra

A group of archaeologists have begun an excavation and preservation project among the ruins of Petra, a new FFA (free-for-all) Deathmatch map that puts all heroes on their own, facing off against one another until one hero scores enough eliminations to win the match. Take in Petra’s majestic views, from high vistas to twisting passageways and deep caverns. Travel along deadly cliffs, but be careful to not fall off! A dilapidated bridge stretches across the map, and the ground underneath it can crumble away into a lethal pit (with a little firepower). Hopping on a green jump pad will boost you up to Petra’s higher levels and unlock new strategic possibilities for you. . . .

New Competitive Play Mode: FFA Deathmatch

Petra and Château Guillard will also be available in an optional Competitive FFA Deathmatch mode with placement matches, skill rating, leaderboards, and the opportunity to earn competitive points.

HERO UPDATES

Ana

• Biotic Rifle
  • Projectiles will now pass through allies with full health
  • Ammo increased from 10 to 14

Developer Comments: These changes should help Ana when she is trying to land clutch heals in the middle of a big fight. Allies that do not need healing will no longer potentially block shots meant for teammates that do need it. Increasing her magazine size makes it less likely that Ana will be forced into a reloading in the middle of an important fight.

Brigitte

• Rally
  • Maximum armor per player reduced from 150 to 100
• Shield Bash
  • Cooldown increased from 5 to 6 seconds

Developer Comments: Brigitte’s ultimate is very powerful, especially when it is placed on the entire team. This change will reduce the maximum armor value of Rally, but does not reduce the overall amount of armor given by the ability over its duration. This means when used in combat while her allies are taking damage, it should feel about the same, but the lingering effects of the armor should have less of an impact. Her Shield Bash is a very strong ability on a fairly short cooldown, making it difficult for her opponents to play around. Increasing this cooldown allows for more options when battling against her.

Hanzo

• Storm Arrows
  • Damage reduced from 80 to 70

Developer Comments: Hanzo’s Storm Arrows are doing too much damage considering his other changes, such as Lunge and projectile speed. This damage reduction will give Hanzo’s enemies a more reasonable chance to react and fight against him while using Storm Arrows.

COMPETITIVE PLAY UPDATES

Rialto

• Rialto is now available in Competitive Play

GAME BROWSER AND CUSTOM GAMES

General

• Added Infinite Ultimate Duration and Scalable Ultimate Duration options for Moira’s Coalescence

FFA Deathmatch

• Ana can now Nano Boost herself

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that caused players to repeatedly return to the Hero Select screen when backfilling into a match
• Fixed a bug that allowed the Show Network Ping to still display as an option under Show Network Stats in the Video tab
• Fixed a bug that prevented the sound wave visual effect from animating when previewing a voice line unlocked from a loot box
• Fixed a bug that caused a visual error to display 0/0 unlocks on the main menu
• Fixed a bug that caused Widowmaker to become stuck in a pillar in the Practice Range
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Groups tab in the Social menu from dynamically refreshing
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented shields from blocking projectiles (e.g. Tracer’s Pulse Bomb and Junkrat’s Frag Launcher)
• Fixed a bug that caused the camera to dip down for a frame when crouching and returning to an upright position

FFA Deathmatch

• Fixed a bug that allowed groups to queue for Deathmatch
• Fixed a bug that caused Sombra to be revealed to all enemies if targeted by Hanzo’s Sonic Arrow or Widowmaker’s Infra-sight while stealthed

Game Browser and Custom Game

• Fixed a bug that caused Moira’s Coalescence’s animation to incorrectly loop when Ultimate Duration was set above 100%
• Fixed a bug that caused Moira’s Coalescence SFX to stop playing after a couple of seconds when Ultimate Duration was set above 100%
• Fixed a bug that caused players who were idle in Assault and Skirmish game modes to be flagged as inactive and removed from the match
• Fixed a bug that prevented spawn resets and round start dialogue from playing when Random Heroes was enabled
• Fixed a bug that caused the start of match dialogue to say “Capture the enemy flag” instead of “Fight” in Team Deathmatch
• Fixed a bug that caused suicides to count as multiple deaths in Deathmatch when the Respawn as Random Hero option was enabled

Highlights

• Fixed a bug that caused dialogue lines to get cut short at the end of highlights
• Fixed a bug that caused placement indicators to appear red in Play of the Game playbacks and highlights when they were placed on valid ground

Heroes

• Fixed a bug that caused Ana’s Biotic Rifle crosshair to disappear momentarily when scoping and unscoping
• Fixed a bug causing Bastion’s Dune Buggy skin textures to stretch when waving hello
• Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte to reapply Repair Pack on her previous target rather than her new target if she used Repair Pack immediately after the cooldown ended
• Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte’s Shield Bash hitbox to be wider than her shield
• Fixed a bug that prevented Brigitte’s Self Healing statistic from being tracked
• Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s hand from animating when using Hand Cannon immediately after Rocket Punch
• Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s Lunge animation to follow the direction of the first jump after changing directions on a subsequent jump
• Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s hands to float above his legs during his Meditate emote with certain skins equipped
• Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s shins to appear malformed in his Heroic victory pose with his Scion skin
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from modifying Hanzo’s Lunge ability cooldown time in Custom Games
• Fixed a bug that prevented Hanzo’s reticle from constricting when using Storm Arrows
• Fixed a bug that caused Lúcio’s Soundwave animation to play twice if he used his quick melee attack immediately afterward
• Fixed a bug that caused the hammer on McCree’s golden weapon variant to be dull with his Scrooge skin equipped
• Fixed a bug that caused McCree’s ankles to deform when he used his Take a Load Off emote
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused frozen targets to evade attacks
• Fixed a bug that caused Mei’s Pajamei skin to exaggerate the curvature of her spine
• Fixed a bug that caused Mei’s Endothermic Blaster visual effects to go through shields
• Fixed a bug that caused Mercy’s wings to stretch out comically when waving hello while using Angelic Descent
• Fixed a bug that caused Mercy to be placed too far towards the back of the hero line up
• Fixed a bug that prevented Mercy’s healing and damage boosting beams from being visible the first time it’s used on a player after activating Valkyrie
• Fixed a bug that caused the pumpkin in Orisa’s Pumpkin Head victory pose to persist after navigating away from it in the Hero Gallery
• Fixed a bug that caused the player’s camera to zoom into Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer when struck by it
• Fixed a bug that caused Soldier: 76’s jacket collar to clip into his shoulder with his Classic skin equipped
• Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra’s laser sight from tapering at its end with her Talon skin equipped
• Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s hard-light prism visual effects to deform into a sphere on the Hero Select screen
• Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s Teleporter and Shield Generator to self-destruct when placed against certain walls
• Fixed a bug that caused Tracer’s Recall to appear jittery for spectators, in highlights, and in replays
• Fixed a bug that made Torbjörn’s turret lose sync with his breathing animation in his Medal victory pose
• Fixed a that caused Widowmaker’s crosshair to disappear for a moment when unscoping
• Fixed a bug that caused Winston’s shoulder to dislocate after using an emote
• Fixed a bug that caused Winston’s Jump Pack to stop short of its full distance when clearing ledges

Maps

• Fixed a bug that caused projectiles shot at Attacker spawn room doors to slide upward
• Fixed a bug that prevented the payload marker from appearing before the game started
• Fixed a bug that caused players in the first Defender spawn room to make water splashing noises
• Fixed a bug that prevented the payload thrusters from turning red when reversing
• Fixed a bug that caused Genji’s Cyber-agility and Hanzo’s Wall Climb animations to loop and stutter when scaling walls
• Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist to clip through the environment during his Combo highlight
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to get a Play of the Game by killing gondoliers in Rialto
• Fixed a bug that prevented the heal icon from displaying on with the first Defender spawn room
• Fixed a bug that allowed defenders to see attacker spawn entrances