Overwatch Patch Notes

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – February 12, 2020

A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and 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.

HERO UPDATES

Ana

Biotic Rifle

• Allied projectile size increased from 0.3 to 0.4

Brigitte

Repair Pack

• Armor over-heal reduced from 75 armor to 50 armor
• HPS decreased from 60 to 55

Developer Comment: On top of the high utility Brigitte brings to her team, she also dishes out a ton of healing and armor. We’re reducing some of this healing and armor to help keep her in line with the other healers.

Symmetra

Photon Projector (Secondary Fire)

• Damage increased from 120 to 140

Sentry Turret

• Turret DPS reduced from 34 to 30

Developer Comment: Increasing Photon Projectors max damage allows Symmetra to play more effectively at a safer range when necessary.

Widowmaker

Widow’s Kiss

• Full charge time for scoped shots increased from 0.75 sec to 0.9 sec

Developer Comment: Widowmaker has become stronger over time following changes to other heroes, such as power reductions to barriers. This change is intended to slow down her shots, reducing her overall DPS.

Wrecking Ball

Piledriver

• Affected players’ loss of air control reduced from 1 second to 0.5 seconds

Developer Comment: This change allows Wrecking Ball’s enemies to regain control of their movement more quickly to try and avoid attacks, making Piledriver combos a bit less deadly.

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – January 28, 2020

A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and 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.

HERO UPDATES

Hanzo

Storm Arrows

• Damage reduced from 70 to 60

McCree

Deadeye

• Firing Deadeye no longer locks the player’s aim

Reaper

The Reaping (Passive)

• Healing amount reduced from 40% to 30% of damage dealt

Orisa

Fusion Driver (Primary Fire)

• Damage reduced from 11 to 10

Fortify

• Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds

Halt!

• Snare duration reduced from 1 to 0.65 seconds

Sigma

Gravitic Flux

• Can now be interrupted before targets begin falling
• Impact slow duration reduced from 0.9 to 0.6 seconds

Accretion

• Explosion damage reduced from 60 to 40

Baptiste

Biotic Launcher (Primary Fire)

• Recovery time increased from 0.35 to 0.45 seconds

Biotic Launcher (Secondary Fire)

• Heal explosion reduced from 60 to 50

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – January 23, 2020

A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and 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 an issue that prevented Find Group from working when using a controller
• Fixed an issue that could cause mispredicted movement (rubber banding) for fast movement abilities
• Fixed an issue that could cause spawn doors on multiple maps to not behave as intended
• Fixed an issue that prevented the “Year of the Rat” spray from being included in Lunar New Year event loot boxes

Lúcio

• Fixed an issue that caused Lúcio's eyebrows to appear disconnected from his head while wearing his "Samul Nori" Lunar New Year skin

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – January 16, 2020

A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and 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.

LUNAR NEW YEAR 2020

Get ready to celebrate the Year of the Rat!

This year, we’re celebrating Lunar New Year with new seasonal items including legendary skins like Face Changer Sombra, Mask Dancer Moira, Samul Nori Lúcio, and Opera Brigitte. Experience the third competitive season of our Capture the Flag mode, in addition to a brand new game mode called Blitz CTF.

To learn more about the new mode, click here.

GENERAL UPDATES

Feature Update: Party Flex for Role Queue

Unsure of which role you want to play? Now, party members who queue for any game mode with Role Queue enabled can select multiple roles, indicating what they're willing to play in the next game.

Your other party members' role choices and Competitive Play skill ratings may affect which roles you are eligible to choose, or which role you can play. For example, if you selected all three roles (Tank, Damage, Healing) to indicate your willingness to play any of them, and then two other party members choose Support, you will not get to play Support in the next game.

Custom Game Options

The Lobby section of Custom Game Settings has a new option “Data Center Preference”. This option provides the game creator with more control over where the game will be hosted. The default “Best Available” choice automatically provides the creator with the best quality connection available to them. We only suggest choosing a specific datacenter if no single datacenter can simultaneously provide the best connection to all players. This is usually only the case when the players participating in the custom game are located in different geographic regions of the world.

Spectate and Replay Updates

• Added a new hotkey, "Spectate toggle 3P camera side", which changes the shoulder you're looking over for the player you're spectating while using the simple third-person spectator camera option
• Added a new hotkey, "Toggle normal / simple 3P spectator camera", which toggles between the two third-person camera modes while spectating
• Updated the death camera to quickly shift from where you were looking to where your killer is, to make it easier to see if you were killed by someone behind you or to your side
• Updated the simple third-person spectator camera position for several heroes to have them cover less of the screen
• Fixed an issue that caused zooming in and out while in the simple third-person camera to appear choppy
• Transitioning into or out of first person no longer causes the camera to clip inside the hero's head
• Fixed several camera smoothness and popping issues

HERO UPDATES

Baptiste

Immortality Field

• Maximum duration reduced from 8 to 5 seconds
• Cooldown increased from 20 to 25 seconds

Amplification Matrix

• Ultimate cost increased by 20%

Developer Comment: Immortality Field ended up being too powerful when placed in locations that were safe from enemy fire, such as around corners. Reducing its uptime will help address this case while remaining strong at saving teammates out in the open.

Mei

Endothermic Blaster (Primary Fire)

• Slowing effect now reduces enemy movement speed from 20-70%, down from 30-90%
• Slowing effect duration reduced from 1.5 to 1.0 second

Developer Comment: The slowing effect of Mei's primary fire can sometimes feel too difficult to escape. Lowering the amount it slows by and the duration it lasts for will make it easier to react to. The time required to completely freeze a target remains the same.

D.Va

Boosters

• Cooldown decreased from 5 to 3 seconds

Developer Comment: The lower cooldown on her mobility will enable D.Va to more readily swap between playing offensively and defensively.

Orisa

Fortify

• Damage reduction reduced from 50% to 40%

Developer Comment: Orisa has been a little too difficult to deal with while Fortify is active, so we're reducing the amount of damage reduction to give enemies more effective damage during this time.

Hanzo

Storm Bow (Primary Fire)

• Maximum projectile speed reduced from 125 to 110

Developer Comment: The increased projectile speed Hanzo received in his rework ended up making his arrows too good at longer ranges. Decreasing the speed will reduce his sniping capability while still keeping him strong at mid-range.

Doomfist

Rising Uppercut

• Recovery time increased from 0.2 to 0.35 seconds

Developer Comment: Rising Uppercut followed immediately by his primary fire is a little too effective of a combo on its own, so we're increasing the time enemies have to react to it.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that caused toggle crouch to work inconsistently when high precision mouse input is enabled
• Fixed a bug that caused a small number of games containing very high-skill players to have greatly reduced SR gains and losses
• Workshop
  • Fixed an issue preventing Go To Assemble Heroes from working in Assault and Hybrid
  • Fixed an issue preventing Sombra Dummy Bots from being able to hack health packs

Maps

Temple of Anubis

• Fixed a bug where some heroes could get stuck behind one of the rocks outside of point B

Eichenwalde

• Fixed a bug that could cause Wrecking Ball to become temporarily stuck when using his Piledriver in a specific location
• Fixed a location where Doomfist could get stuck

Junkertown

• Fixed a bug that allowed some players to stand on a wall near the final checkpoint
• Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra's Translocator and Baptiste's Immortality Field to land in an unintended place between the stairs and wall near point A

Dorado

• Fixed a bug that caused the ivy growing on the wall between points A and B to block projectiles

Rialto

• Fixed a bug that could cause Winston and Sigma to become stuck between the wall, bridge, and gondola outside of Point A

Watchpoint: Gibraltar

• Fixed a bug that caused Baptiste's Immortality Field to disappear when thrown in a specific spot outside of the first Attacker's spawn

Heroes

Baptiste

• Fixed a bug that could cause Immortality Field to not deploy or get destroyed while deploying in some situations

Mercy

• Fixed a bug that caused Mercy's gold staff and pistol to disappear while using Valkyrie when viewing in 3rd person

Tracer

• Fixed a bug allowing players to swap heroes while using Recall

Sigma

• Fixed a bug that could cause Sigma's shield to fail to deploy

Symmetra

• Fixed a bug where destroying Symmetra's teleporter during construction briefly allowed her to make another without going on cooldown

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – December 10, 2019

A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and 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.

WINTER WONDERLAND 2019

‘Tis the season to get merry!

Overwatch is getting into the holiday spirit for the next three weeks! Expand your collection and enjoy three winter brawls: Yeti Hunter, Mei’s Snowball Offensive, and the brand-new Snowball Deathmatch! Visit Blizzard World to watch the snow fall, admire its twinkling nighttime lights, and savor the sight of confectionary-inspired décor.

Of course, we have new presents for you to unwrap from our Winter Loot Boxes! Unlock new seasonal items—including legendary skins like Rime Sigma, Jötunn Doomfist, Rat King Reaper, and more. Overcome weekly challenges with wins in Quick Play, Competitive Play, or Arcade to earn a series of festive rewards. And don’t forget to collect three special Yule Log sprays just by logging in!

Learn more about Winter Wonderland here.

GENERAL UPDATES

New Feature: “While You Wait”

In this patch, we’re replacing our “Skirmish” mode with a brand-new feature called “While You Wait!” Now you can choose between a variety of game modes to play while you queue for a match

When in queue, players will now be prompted to pick from the following game modes:

• Practice Range – Practice your skills—solo or in a group—against training bots
• Skirmish - Spar with other players without keeping score
• Deathmatch - Compete for the top place on the scoreboard
• Custom Game – Select a custom game from the Custom Game Browser or create your own. (If you want your custom game to be available for everyone to play, make sure to choose the setting: "Allow players who are matchmaking.”)

All While You Wait game modes are optional and can be accessed by a single player or as a group. Only your group leader can select the mode for their team.

Note: You don't have to leave your queue after a match ends to play another While You Wait mode. In order to access the While You Wait menu, click on the game mode you’re queued for and choose a While You Wait option from there.

WORKSHOP UPDATES

• Custom Games - Practice Range Mode
• New Workshop Values
  • Game Mode
  • Current Game Mode
• New Workshop setting
  • “Allow players who are matchmaking”: allows players who are matchmaking to participate in the Custom Game created

HERO UPDATES

General

• Armor damage reduction increased from 3 to 5

Orisa

• Base armor increased from 200 to 250
• Protective Barrier health reduced from 900 to 600
• Fortify cooldown decreased from 10 seconds to 8 seconds

Sigma

Experimental Barrier

• Health reduced from 1500 to 900
• Barrier health regeneration rate reduced from 150 to 120 health per second

Kinetic Grasp

• Cooldown reduced from 13 seconds to 10 seconds
• Damage-to-shield gain ratio increased from 40% to 60%

Reinhardt

Barrier Field

• Health reduced from 2000 to 1600
• Movement speed penalty reduced from 50% to 30%

Steadfast passive knockback resistance increased from 30% to 50%

Developer Comment: The above changes to armor, Orisa, Sigma, and Reinhardt are aimed at decreasing the overall amount time players spend damaging barriers while improving the individual heroes in other areas. This is a significant change to the pace of the game and we’ll be monitoring these heroes closely to ensure they retain impactful gameplay in the tank role.

Moira

Biotic Grasp healing reduced from 4 to 3.25 (80 HP/s to 65 HP/s)

Developer Comment: Moira’s primary heal has proven to be too potent, largely due to its ability to heal multiple targets.

D.Va

Defense Matrix cooldown decreased from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds

Developer Comment: With role locks in place there is some room to improve D.Va’s impact as a tank, so we’re partially reverting a previous change which increased Defense Matrix’s cooldown.

Widowmaker

Grappling Hook cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds

Developer Comment: With barriers having less uptime, Widowmaker will be even more effective at locking down long sight lines. This change weakens her mobility so she can still be reasonably countered.

Torbjörn

Overload cooldown decreased from 12 to 10 seconds

Developer Comment: Torbjörn has difficulty in extended team fights once his turret is eliminated and Overload has been used. This change allows Torbjörn to be able to rely on his Overload more often.

Genji

Ammo increased from 24 to 30

Developer Comment: As average hero survivability has gone up over time, Genji can sometimes have difficulty finishing off his targets. Loosening his ammunition constraints will help give him a small boost.

Zarya

Particle Cannon (Secondary Fire)

• Explosion radius increased from 2 to 2.5 meters
• Ammo cost decreased from 25 to 20

Developer Comment: Zarya’s overall damage output is in a good spot but the secondary fire was left feeling a little too weak after the last set of changes.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that caused players spectating teammates during killcam to be unable to rotate the camera
• Fixed a bug that caused the "Prepare Your Defenses" text to appear for the attacking team when a game starts in Mystery Heroes
• Fixed a bug that could cause a client crash when attempting to spectate a friend at the start of a quickplay game
• Fixed an issue where Max Health granted by heal-over-time abilities was being calculated incorrectly with Gravitic Flux
• Color Blind Mode - Fixed an issue which caused models affected by infra-sight to appear washed out when using colors other than red
• Workshop - Fixed an issue causing map names and dropdowns from being displayed in the incorrect case
• Workshop - Fixed an issue preventing D.Va from being detected in Player Died events
• Workshop - Toggling the custom game lobby hot key while viewing lobby settings should now properly close the screen
• Custom Games - Renamed Assault/Escort to Hybrid
• Fixed a bug that could cause heroes with regenerating health/shields to not take full damage when damaged while at full health
• Various hero abilities (e.g. Symmetra's Turrest, Roadhog's Hook, Sigma's Accretion, Orisa's Halt, etc) will now respect the collision boxes on vending machines and other such props
• Fixed a bug that caused High Precision Mouse Input to cause toggle crouch to behave inconsistently

Maps

• Black Forest (1v1) - Fixed a bug that allowed Reaper to Shadow Step through the breakable doors

Heroes

Doomfist

• The default circle is now hidden when using advanced reticle settings
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the sound effect of Doomfist's Rising Uppercut from playing
• Fixed a bug where Seismic Slam could land on an enemy's head while playing FFA modes

Junkrat

• Fixed a bug where Junkrat grenades would not explode when slowly rolling down steep inclines

Lucio

• Fixed a bug that caused the audio visualization effect on Lucio's glasses to disappear

Orisa

• Fixed an issue where Orisa's halt projectile could sometimes appear to go through the ground when viewed in 3rd person

Reaper

• Fixed a bug allowing a player to swap heroes while using Shadowstep

Roadhog

• Fixed a bug that prevented Roadhog's hook from damaging turrets and barriers

Sigma

• Fixed a bug that caused Sigma's primary fire not to function if he was hacked while deploying experimental barrier

Widowmaker

• Turning off the toggle zoom control option for Widowmaker while zoomed in no longer remains stuck in the zoomed state