Overwatch’s Newest Beta Patch Is Massive

Blizzard’s Overwatch is still in beta, but it is still growing and evolving beyond all recognition. The newest patch released for the beta includes the expected balance and bug fixes, yes, but it also brings with it a host of new content to the table, including a new map.

On the down side, this update completely wipes your Career Profile, resetting your previous high scores. However, Blizzard maintains that this will not affect matchmaking. The full patch notes, courtesy of Blizzard’s forums, follow:

New Control Map: Ilios
Situated atop a small island rising from the Aegean Sea, Ilios is a postcard-perfect Mediterranean town, with a bustling harborside, winding paths for rambling hillside strolls, and gorgeous vistas. It is the ideal vacation stop for people looking for a place to relax, or for those interested in exploring the ruins scattered at the top of the island, where many artifacts and relics of the ancient world have been recently unearthed.

Career Profile Reset
This patch includes a full wipe of players’ Career Profiles. As a result, the Career Profile page will appear empty when you first log in after patching, and your previous “Personal Best” records will be reset. (Note: This wipe will not affect matchmaking, player levels, progression, or rewards.)

GENERAL:

Map Updates

• Health pack placement has been adjusted across all maps
• Payload sizes have been adjusted to ensure that all heroes can move around them in narrow locations
• Numbani
  • Significant art changes have been made throughout the map
• Temple of Anubis
  • A new route has been added to reach the second capture point
  • The temple gate leading to the second capture point is now wider

Play Modes

• Play vs. A.I.
  • Players can now select their desired A.I. difficulty (Easy, Medium, Hard)
  • Added kill cam functionality
  • Added Zarya and Roadhog as A.I. opponents
• Custom Game
  • Added the ability to invite players by using their BattleTag
  • Added the ability to auto-fill teams with invited players or A.I.
  • Added Zarya and Roadhog as A.I. opponents

Progression Rewards

• Several new sprays have been added
• Signature, cheer, and taunt emote rewards are now available for all heroes
• New Legendary skins and themes have been added for several heroes:
  • “Steambot” Bastion
  • “Wooden” Bastion
  • “Space Frog” Lúcio
  • “Mystery Man” McCree
  • “Raptorion” Pharah
  • “Lionhardt” Reinhardt
  • “Spirit of: 76” Soldier: 76

Miscellaneous

• Default emotes have been added for all heroes and are immediately available in the communications wheel
• End-of-match commendations have received a tuning pass
• End-of-match medal art has been updated
• Mercy has been recast for the English version of the game
  • Developer comments: When casting for Overwatch, we often try to find actors who are fluent in the character’s native language. In the case of Mercy, we were able to find an actress that both captured the essence of the character and was able to speak German, which you will be able to hear in this version.

HERO BALANCE CHANGES:

Junkrat

• RIP-Tire
  • Ultimate charge cost increased by 25%

Developer comments: After last patch’s improvements to RIP-Tire, the speed at which Junkrat could activate his Ultimate was too frequent in comparison. Since RIP-Tire now has a much higher impact, we’ve adjusted the cost of his Ultimate to reflect that.

Lúcio

• Health increased from 150 to 200
• Sonic Amplifier
  • Damage reduced by 20%
  • Projectile size slightly reduced
• Sound Barrier
  • Ultimate charge cost increased by 25%

Developer comments: We’ve been listening to feedback from all sources and decided to try some alternate changes to Lúcio, taking a different approach from the last patch. The goal here is to let Lúcio to be a difficult support to kill, but reduce his combat effectiveness and make him less of a good duelist. We also felt Lúcio could also activate his Sound Barrier too frequently considering its impact, so the cost of his Ultimate has been adjusted as a result.

Mei

• Endothermic Blaster
  • Alternative Fire Projectile speed increased by 50%
  • Fire rate increased by 25%
  • Ammunition cost reduced from 40 to 25

Developer comments: In an ideal world, Mei is selected for her control and resilience, rather than her damage output. That said, we felt that there was still room to give her more consistent damage without compromising these goals. These changes are pretty significant, so we’ll be watching their impact closely.

Zenyatta

• Orb of Harmony and Orb of Discord will no longer stack with each other
• Transcendence
  • Ultimate charge cost increased by 25%

Developer comments: Zenyatta’s “orb stacking” could cause some degenerate situations—such as a player becoming nearly un-killable if he or she had several Orbs of Harmony buffs active at the same time. Also, much like Lúcio, we felt like Zenyatta could activate Transcendence too frequently considering its impact on a game, so his Ultimate cost has been scaled up to accommodate.

BUG FIXES:

Spectating

• The “On Fire” mechanic while viewed through the Spectator Mode UI should scale down appropriately with the size of hero portraits

Overwatch is set to launch some time later this year.

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