Overwatch Patch Notes – March 17, 2017

A new Overwatch patch is currently in development and now available for testing on the Public Test Region. Please note: This document only includes changes that are currently being tested on the PTR and is subject to change throughout the testing process.

To share your feedback or report and issue, please post in the PTR Bug Report forum.

While many of these changes will also be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in a future patch, the PTR is PC-only and therefore only reflects changes on that platform.

GENERAL

General

• Details about each hero’s unique backstory, along with information about some of their lore-inspired skins, have been added to the Hero Gallery

Competitive Play

• A tracking system has been added to Assault and Assault/Escort Maps that will allow us to break ties based on the progress that was made toward capturing the objective.

Developer Comments: To mitigate draws in Competitive Play, we're implementing a system that tracks each team's progress on the objective. This will work similarly to the system that's already in place for Escort and Assault/Escort maps, which grants a win to the team that pushes the payload the furthest. Now, even if neither team successfully captures the objective, a winner can be determined based on which team captured the largest portion.

For testing purposes, the Competitive Play map rotation will be limited to Eichenwalde and Hanamura.

Custom Games and Game Browser

• Custom Game settings can now be saved as a preset from the game’s details page
  • Access by right-clicking on the map image from the Create Game page or right-clicking a game name from inside the Game Browser

Maps

• A new route has been added to Eichenwalde that connects the attacking team's spawn area to the capture point

HERO UPDATES

Lúcio

• Sonic Amplifier
  • Projectile speed increased from 40 to 50
  • Alternate fire now considers vertical orientation when knocking targets back
• Crossfade
  • Song's area-of-effect radius decreased from 30 meters to 10 meters
    • A temporary in-game visual has been added to illustrate this radius (it is only visible to Lúcio and his teammates)
  • Heal Song
    • Healing-per-second has been increased by 50% (also applies to Lúcio's Amp It Up ability)
• Sound Barrier
  • Radius decreased from 30 meters to 20 meters
• Wall Ride
  • Movement speed increased by 30% when wall riding
  • Lúcio now receives a burst of speed when leaping off a wall

Developer Comments: Lucio has often felt like a must-pick due to his raw healing output and the versatility of providing a speed bonus to your entire team. The goal of these changes is to keep those elements feeling strong, but making them harder to apply to everyone on your team at all times. The end result is that he should feel stronger with teams that he can stay close to but not as strong when on teams with heroes that are often spread out (such as Pharah, Widow, Genji, etc). Much of Lucio’s character power was tied up in his large passive auras, which caused other elements of his kit to be weakened over time in an attempt to balance him. Now that his auras are more focused it will allow them to be much stronger and allow Lucio to be more active in his role.

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug preventing achievements from being unlocked during off-season competitive matches
• Fixed an issue that prevented voice lines from being heard during the Play of the Game
• Fixed an issue that prevented voice lines from playing on Control maps

Custom Games and Game Browser

• Fixed an issue that allowed empty player slots to be displayed even when disabled (e.g. in 6v1 games)
• Fixed a bug preventing the pause feature from working properly after the original host has left the match
• Fixed a bug that allowed extremely long team names

Heroes

• Ana no longer cocks her rifle after throwing a grenade
• The brightness on Bastion's Golden gun has been toned down when the BlizzCon skin is equipped
• Fixed a bug causing Mei's pinky to bend awkwardly in some poses with her Chang'e and Luna skins equipped

Maps

• Fixed a bug on Eichenwalde that allowed enemy player outlines to be seen through a pile of dirt at the castle gate
• Fixed an issue on Eichenwalde that allowed players to become trapped in the broken castle doors
• Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to reach unintended locations on King's Row
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended areas on the Capture the Flag version of Lijiang Tower
• Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to hide turrets in unintended locations on Oasis

Overwatch Patch Notes – March 2, 2017

A new patch is now live on Windows PC. Read below to learn 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.

Please note that these changes will be rolled into a larger patch for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at a later date.

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

New Hero: Orisa (Tank)

Built from the scraps of the city’s decommissioned OR15 defense bots, Orisa is still learning how to optimally perform her function. What she lacks in experience, she makes up for in her steadfast dedication to keeping her city—and her creator, Efi—safe from harm.

Orisa is the sixth tank to join the Overwatch lineup, and much like her programming, her gameplay is engineered around protection. Her main weapon is a rapid-fire Fusion Driver, an automatic gun with good range and accuracy even at a distance—though it comes at a cost. Orisa’s movement slows down while she fires and players will need to plan for a lengthy reload time. Her alternate fire, Halt!, launches a graviton charge across the map, slowing nearby enemies as it passes, then pulling them toward it when it detonates.

Her Fortify ability boosts her personal defense, reducing damage taken and making her unstoppable for a short time. She can throw a device that creates a curved, stationary Protective Barrier, perfect for intercepting projectiles and shielding teammates from the front, sides, and above. Lastly, as her ultimate ability, Orisa deploys a high-powered Supercharger that beams a buff to allies within its range, increasing the damage they can inflict on the opposing team

To learn more about Orisa, click here.

GENERAL UPDATES

Game Browser

• Players can now disable or modify abilities activated with the secondary fire button

HERO UPDATES

Bastion

• Ironclad
  • Bastion now takes 20% less damage while in Configuration: Sentry or Tank (formerly 35%)

Mercy

• Caduceus Staff
  • The amount of increased damage that’s done when boosting another player is now tracked under the match statistics and on the Career Profile page

Zarya

• Particle Barrier
  • No longer protects Zarya from knockback
• Projected Barrier
  • No longer protects allies from knockback

BUG FIXES

General

• When Teleporters, Shield Generators, and other player-owned objects are destroyed, the kill feed now properly displays the owner’s name

A.I.

• Fixed a bug preventing Bastion and Torbjörn from taking a defensive position when turret abilities were disabled

Game Browser

• Fixed a bug that could cause certain settings to appear on the Custom Game’s information screen even though they were not being used
• Fixed an issue preventing values from the “Ultimate Generation” setting from being correctly displayed
• Heroes and maps are now sorted alphabetically under the “Find Game” filters in the Game Browser
• Fixed a bug preventing Bastion’s Self-Repair ability from being disabled in the Custom Game settings

Heroes

• Fixed an issue preventing Bastion’s walking animation from being triggered while Self-Repair was in use
• McCree no longer receives credit toward his On Fire meter when his Flashbang is used against Mei’s Ice Wall
• Fixed an issue causing Zenyatta’s feet to clip through his robe with the Sanzang skin equipped
• Fixed a bug causing Reaper's shotguns and D.Va's mech to appear unusually large on the main menu

Maps

• Training bots that are destroyed in the Practice Range are now displayed in the kill feed
• Fixed a bug allowing more than one player to enter the Practice Range