Patch Notes

June 28, 2018

Overwatch PTR Patch Notes – June 28, 2018

A new Overwatch patch is currently in development and now available for testing. To share your feedback or report and issue, please post in the PTR Feedback or PTR Bug Report forums.

Please note that the below patch notes only include changes currently available for testing on the PTR. 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 will only reflect changes coming specifically to that platform.

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.

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
- Enemy detection radius increased from 2 meters to 4 meters
- Movement speed buff decreased from +75% 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

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

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

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 Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut animation from playing when used after hitting something with Rocket Punch
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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Looking for Group

Fixed a bug that caused all game modes to be selectable when adding a player to an LFG 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

Overwatch Patch Notes – June 5, 2018

A new Overwatch patch is currently in development and now available for testing. To share your feedback or report and issue, please post in the PTR Feedback or PTR Bug Report forums.

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 craft 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

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 used in Overwatch League and across most of our community.

Combat can now be heard 25% further away
Changed the name of the Varok spray to Saurfang
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
Players must have Blizzard SMS Protect enabled on their account to be eligible for the Top 500
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
The Acknowledge and Interact buttons are now seperate input bindings

GAME BROWSER AND CUSTOM GAMES

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 user her ultimate more aggressively, knowing that she will be able to generate them more easily.

Symmetra

New Abilities
- 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
- Alternate Fire
  - 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
  - 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 side
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

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
Brigitte
- Fixed a bug that caused Junkrat’s grenades to damage Brigitte when hitting her barrier
- 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
Doomfist
- 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 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 caused Doomfist’s failed Seismic Slams to display the wrong UI information
- 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 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
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
Hanzo
- Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s Storm Bow projectiles to sometimes use the sound effect for Storm Arrow
Lucio
- Fixed a bug that prevented Lúcio from using his Sonic Amplifier when waving hello
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
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 the cooldown on Mercy’s Guardian Angel from being refunded while Valkyrie was active
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
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
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 prevented Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer eliminations from receiving credit in the Kill Feed
- 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
Sombra
- Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra’s Translocator from being destroyed when it was thrown off a level
- 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)
Symmetra
- Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s Teleporter to self-destruct when it was placed
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from escaping Zarya’s Graviton Surge with Symmetra’s Teleporter
- Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra’s Photon Projector to do higher damage when rapidly toggled on and off
- 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’s Sentry Turrets to deploy at maximum range without sticking to a surface
- 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 Sentry Turrets from dealing the correct amount of damage and slow values
- Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to place her turrets inside chests and vending machines
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
Winston
- Fixed a bug where placing Winston’s Barrier Projector while going a step upwards would cause it to fall through the floor

Maps

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

PTR Patch Notes

Upcoming heroes and maps are tested on the Public Test Region (PTR) before official launch (PC only).

PTR Feedback forum

PTR Bug Report forum