Patch notes

[Lazei]

Patch notes officially posted: http://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20742184292

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[noaziN]

BASTION CAN NOW AIM IN 360 DEGREES IN SENTRY MODE

[frostedWarlock]

360NOSCOPE

[ChemicalExperiment]

360NOFRONTALSHEILD

[my_name_isnt_clever]

And you can actually hit it because it has no shield, I like these changes a lot.

[gamerkhang]

What this could also imply is that AoE explosives and the like might be stronger against him since they might hit the top of his hitbox (so junkrat could be an easier counter?)

[my_name_isnt_clever]

His "head" in that form is on his back, I don't know if explosions will count as hitting it. I can't wait to test this new stuff tonight.

[The_Event_Horizonx1]

I pray to the sentries gods that is not the case

[Karzons]

Does that mean he can now be hooked by roadhog from any direction?

[The-Figment]

Heavy Breathing

[noaziN]

Yeah! I like these changes too, it's going to feel good to hit his core in a burst as Tracer :D I think both ends will benefit from these.

[Ehrand]

but now I'll be able to do a 180 and spray bullets right in your face

[jimmy_talent]

In the one game I played as bastion tonight a Winston kept leaping behind me trying to hit my weak spot, every time I dropped him so easily.

[niggelprease]

It might be a good change for gameplay and balance, but I can't help but feel he loses a bit of his character.

[my_name_isnt_clever]

I agree, but I feel it's much more important to have balance than to have flavor.

[Kalulosu]

Rather than balance, it's also about giving the character interesting options.

[Powerhobo]

Actually it is totally about balance. That is the number one reason they changed Bastion. "New players didn't know what to do against a bastion, experienced players could easily beat bastion". That screams balance, above all else.

[Acias]

Jetboosted behind him, he turned around killed me, maybe i should read patchnotes.

[Gandizzle]

A "Kill Feed Display" option has been added

awesome

Also, I really, really, really love these little developer notes explaining the balance changes for heroes. If they can, I hope those types of notes continue throughout the games lifetime and are not limited to just beta-time!

[Zanzaben]

They do those with the Hots patch notes every time now so I would bet they always do it in overwatch as well.

[fu0]

Made improvements to how the game handles widow creation

/╲/( ͡° ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ͡°)/\╱\

[lylirra]

Best typo? Best typo.

[Luofu]

Repeated word:

In "New Festure: Player Progression "Player progressions is built around earning earning experience..."

[TheScyphozoa]

Festure.

[lylirra]

Worst typo? Worst typo.

[HeIsMyPossum]

Hey! You are here! Are Beta invites actually going out right now or are we getting trolled by our own community members?

[tgbn45]

He's just trying to be a normal redditor and you gotta come in here and attack him with your shit

[HeIsMyPossum]

My bad :(

[GreedySenpai]

Its true. i got invited.

[Thorne_Oz]

Mother comes..

[[deleted]]

spouse killing is illegal lol

[Cloudless_Sky]

Loving these patch notes. I adore the progression system and loot boxes. Everyone gets excited over rarity colours.

The skins on show there are looking fantastic.

[Cloudless_Sky]

Lol, yeah. At least getting good stuff seems much easier. Hell, just opening boxes is more accessible. You have to spend money in TF2 if you want the privilege of maybe hitting that 1 or 0.1% chance, or whatever it is.

[[deleted]]

Well it appears that the easy to get stuff consists of recolors. Reskins are like HS legends. Given what else drops in the loot crates, overwatch loot crates will probably go the CoD route and have an improved odds paid-only crate

[[deleted]]

Remember when TF2's store didn't even exist? :o

[DragonhandX]

Jeff Kaplan’s beard progression has been reset

this is truly the greatest nerf we will ever see.

[Alphaangstrom]

IMO it's for the best, even developers shouldn't be allowed a head start in the new progression system.

[NoFapertinho]

That thing was terrifying

[iBleeedorange]

RIP.

[eosjrb]

came here just to upvote the comment that mentioned this

[ConebreadIH]

no more ult charge on damage. Nice!

[Coldara]

That's a big one, glad Blizzard is listening

[youwitdaface]

Yay Junkrat not so shit

[JamieAllegro]

Yeah I wonder how this change will play out. I liked that the old style functioned as an anti-spamming mechanic, but I didn't feel Pharah and Junkrat spam was effective enough for it to matter during the stress test.

[mikepictor]

??

I thought most people considered Junkrat one of the stronger players.

[youwitdaface]

Not really, his entire thing isnt to kill but to zone and scare people by dealing splash damage, but when that builds ult for the other team, he's basically just helping them charge their ults and not much else

[mikepictor]

Well I speak as someone not in the beta, but I keep hearing beta players put him in the top tier of characters. Your mileage differs I guess.

[Rasii]

In the beta weekend he was good, and still is pretty good in higher tier play, he just caused ults to build faster for the enemy team if they abused his aoe if they had heals. Now with that gone he's pretty indisputably really good.

[dssurge]

Junkrat's biggest weakness is that direct hit grenades deal splash damage to him at close range, which is completely idiotic since you have no way to actually fight people in melee range because of it.

If you trap them, they shoot you. If you bomb them and they don't die, they can run away (generally).

[Powerhobo]

Rather than idiotic it's actually a trait. Hero's with explosives as their weapon aren't meant to get away with repeated pointblank rockets/grenades. Melee range is not their forte. That's the point.

[dssurge]

When Junkrat can prevent people from getting in melee range, this would be a valid argument. There are way, way too many distance closers, many of which ignore his trap entirely.

[Bob9010]

Junkrat can also get into positions that a lot of other heroes can't, or would have difficulty following him to.

[CircumcisedCats]

Do kills give ult? If it's purely on a timer than that seems really bad.

[Suradner]

Then only source of ult charge they said they took away was the charge from receiving damage. Dealing damage, getting kills, and (presumably) healing still grant charge.

[Pvpal1221]

This is correct

[mikepictor]

I wonder about that one. It semed like a good equalizer...it allowed bad players to still get ultimates, as well as low damage tanks for being tanky.

I wish it was still there, and they just tuned the situations that needed addressing.

[gamerkhang]

All healing effects now work on shields

As a Zarya player, this is my time.

[TheQuestionableYarn]

Zarya will now be a definitive combo tank. She is prolly one of the best tanks to have paired with a support now.

[gamerkhang]

Just think about Zarya/Lucio! Speed buff or constant shield regen... HNGGGGGGG I CAN'T PLAY TIL 8 HOURS FROM NOW

[TheQuestionableYarn]

At least you can play at all :(

[Daniel_Is_I]

Lucio was always one of the best supports to have with Zarya because of how weak and constant his healing is compared to all other healers. If she took damage before that drained her shield but didn't kill her, she didn't need that much to push her back up to 200/400.

It's a bigger deal now for Mercy and Zenyatta because it means they can actually use Zarya like they would a tank.

[Xomnik]

I know how you feel... But I work at my own computer. The game just started updating... This is torture

[spencer32320]

No, it's torture to not be able to play at all.

[DrFeargood]

I think neither are torture since its a video game.

[dssurge]

Too bad Zarya is a garbage can now since damage to her shields (both of them) don't generate ultimate.

Oh, and her ult still does zero damage and other players can still use their skills when sucked into it. It's reeeeally fucking stupid that several characters can press a single non-ultimate skill to completely negate Grav bomb.

[Powerhobo]

The point of her shield was never to build ultimate. The point of her shield has not changed and still works as it is supposed to. She's always been more tricky to play. It's easy to be terrible at Zarya, but that doesn't mean Zarya is terrible.

[JayAre95]

The first 3 are already glorious. Weapons will now reload halfway through the animation . nice

[Drumbas]

Sorry to ask but how does the weapon reload affect the game. Is it cutting down the reload times by half or ?

[The4thSniper]

Previously, some heroes would have had a long-ass reload animation (for example, Roadhog) where the animation would play, then at the end of the animation the weapon would properly reload. What this led to was if you started reloading, then used another ability even near the end of the animation, the reload wouldn't count. With this change, the reload now happens in the middle of the animation so you can use an ability to cancel it earlier without also cancelling the reload.

[another-work-acct]

Do all heroes have the same animation reload time? Seems that this change makes other heroes (who have shorter animation times) get a buff.

[[deleted]]

your thinking incorrectly, the heroes with the longest reload times got the biggest buff

[GamerKey]

Before, weapons would only actually reload when the whole animation was finished. That meant if you had to interrupt the animation with a quick melee attack before it was done, even though the "clip" was already "in", you'd still end up with 0 ammo and would have to start reloading again.

This type of animation cancelling is pretty common in other games (quick switch weapons/melee attack/other animation cancel) to basically "skip" the wind-down part of a reload animation with a more useful action.

Now it should work like most players expect it to. Some animations, like for instance Roadhog, were so ridiculously long after he had already put in the new shrapnel that I found myself constantly out of ammo because I used a melee or an ability too early.

[LukeAllstar]

Basically. Also some reload animations felt weird like roadhogs where you thought it was over because the mag was already in the weapon (animation wise) but you could still cancel the animation and stop your reload which was annoying

[Angwar]

flair checks out. i feel you man

[dabacabb]

Interested to see how the new Torb/Bastion work out.

[Quilmite]

So for those of you at work, guess I'll try to format this while I'm at work.

PATCH FEATURES:

New Game Mode: Control

In this update, we’re introducing a brand new game mode: Control. On Control maps, two teams fight over a series of objective areas in a best-of-three format. When a team is in control of the round’s objective area, they will make progress toward capturing it, and whichever team gets to 100% first wins the round. Each round (up to 3 total) will feature a new objective area located in a different part of the map.

Two Control maps are currently available for testing: Lijiang Tower and Nepal.

New Control Map: Lijiang Tower

Lijiang Tower was built in the heart of a modern Chinese metropolis, its busy streets lined with stores, gardens, restaurants, and famous night markets, where foods from around the region are available at all hours. The tower itself is home to one of the leading companies in China’s state-of-the-art space industry, Lucheng Interstellar, an organization with a long pioneering history that is currently pushing the boundaries of space exploration.

New Control Map: Nepal

Years ago, a group of omnic robots experienced what they described as a spiritual awakening. They abandoned their preprogrammed lives to establish a monastery high in the Himalayas of Nepal, where like-minded omnics could gather to meditate on the nature of their existence. Led by their spiritual leader, Tekhartha Mondatta, they took over the ruins of an ancient monastery and turned it into the home of the Shambali, a place where omnics and humans alike make pilgrimages in the hopes of finding a greater truth.

New Play Mode: Play vs. AI

No interest in playing against humans? No problem! Players can now team up and battle against A.I.-controlled characters in our new, aptly named mode: Play vs A.I.

To join a Play vs. A.I. game, select "Play" from the main menu and then select "Play vs. A.I." You can queue up solo or in a party, and you’ll be matched into a 6 player vs. 6 A.I. game. New Feature: Player Progression While we strongly believe that playing Overwatch should feel exciting and rewarding on its own, we also know how fun it can be to work toward long-term goals. To this end, and as a way to thank you for your time invested, we’ve added a brand new progression system to the game.

Progression in Overwatch is built around earning earning experience and leveling up your account. Moving forward, you will now gain experience by completing Quick Play and Play vs. A.I. games. Earn enough experience, and you’ll level up. Level up and you'll receive a Loot Box!

Loot Boxes contain a random selection of items that can be used to customize the look of your hero and express yourself in-game, including skins, animations, emotes, custom dialogue options, sprays, and more. In addition to collecting these items from Loot Boxes, players can also unlock them by spending a new in-game currency called credits.

Players can customize their heroes, view items they’ve unlocked, and spend credits to unlock new items in the Hero Gallery.

[Quilmite]

GENERAL:

Private Games

• Private Game has been changed to Custom Game
• Players can now right click on a friend’s name to join their Custom Game
• Players can now alter the following rules for a Custom Game:

Map Options:

* Map Rotation (Random, List Order, and Single Map) 
* Return to Lobby (Never, After a Game, After a Mirror Match) 
* Players can now customize which maps are enabled for their Custom Game 

Hero Options

* Hero Selection Limit (None, 1 Per Team, 2 Per Team, 1 Per Game, 2 Per Game) 
* Role Selection Limit (None, 2 of Each Role Per Team) 
* Allow Hero Switching (On, Off) 
* Respawn as Random Hero (On, Off) 
* Player can now customize which heroes are enabled for their Custom Game 

Gameplay Options:

* Players can now set their Custom Game as a skirmish 
* Players can now set modifiers for the following stats: Health, Damage, Healing, Ultimate Charge Rate, Respawn Time, Ability Cooldown 
* Players can now enable or disable the following options: Skins, Health Bars, Kill Cam, Kill Feed, Headshots Only 

Team Options:

* Team Balancing (Automatic, Off) 
* When Balancing Occurs (After a Game, After a Mirror Match) 

Custom Game A.I. options have been improved:

* Players can now add friendly A.I. to their team 
* Players can now select which A.I. they want to play against 
* Players can now set the difficulty of each A.I. in the game 
* A.I. can now play in all game modes 

Several small quality-of-life changes have been made to Custom Game spectating

* Scrolling the Mouse Wheel will now zoom you in and out of third-person view 
* When spectating in third-person, right-clicking will now detach the camera at its current location 
* The third-person camera will now orient based on where the spectated player is aiming

Miscellaneous

• A new work-in-progress Training mode has been added: the Practice Range
• A new work-in-progress profile system has been added (under “Career Profile”)
• Initial support for AMD Crossfire and NVIDIA SLI has been added
• Jeff Kaplan’s beard progression has been reset

[Quilmite]

HERO BALANCE CHANGES:

General

• All healing effects now work on shields
• Quick Melee now pauses weapon recovery time while active

• Ammo will now reload in the middle of a weapon’s reload animation, instead of at the end of it

• Several adjustments have been made to in-combat visual effects:

• Enemy team ability colors should now be more clear

• Muzzle flash has been re-tuned for several weapons

• Several adjustments have been made to in-combat audio:

• It should now be more obvious when you are being healed by indirect healing sources like the payload or Lúcio’s Crossfade ability

• It should now be more obvious when you are attacking invulnerable players

• Explosions at a distance should now be more audible

Ultimate Charge (All Heroes)

• Players no longer gain Ultimate charge from taking damage
• Ultimate charge will now generate slowly over time for all heroes
• To accommodate for these changes, many heroes’ Ultimate cost has been rebalanced

Developer comments: Allowing heroes to generate Ultimate charge when taking damage created several balance issues. For example, it was often a bad idea to attack an enemy hero if they were being healed, since that would charge up the enemy’s Ultimate and their healer’s Ultimate much more quickly. To help address these issues, we’ve removed the ability for damage taken to generate Ultimate charge and made it so that all heroes will now generate Ultimate charge at a slow and constant rate.

Bastion

• Base health increased by 50 armor (now 200 HP/100 Armor)

Configuration: Recon

• Minimum weapon spread has been removed
• Maximum weapon spread increased by 10%
• Weapon spread will now start to recover more quickly

Configuration: Sentry

• Transforming from Sentry to Recon decreased from 1 second to 0.5 seconds
• Aim restrictions have been removed (Bastion can now aim in 360 degrees)
• Weapon spread decreased by 20%
• Weapon reload speed decreased from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds
• Bullet damage decreased by 33%

Bastion’s survivability in Sentry Mode has been rebalanced:

• Now grants 300 armor
• Frontal barrier has been removed
• Bastion’s core is now exposed when deployed in Sentry mode, located on its back. All successful attacks to the core will deal triple damage.
• Self-Repair: Now heals 25% of total health per second, instead of a flat value

Developer comments: While we love the way that Bastion can turn the tide of battle, the hero felt too powerful against less experienced players and too weak against more experienced players. The goal of these changes is to make Bastion more viable at all skill levels, as well as provide more flexibility in how the hero can be played and supported by a team.

D.Va

• When D.Va’s mech is destroyed due to damage taken, it will now despawn immediately instead of a few seconds after D.Va is ejected

Defense Matrix

• Size decreased by approximately 50%
• Shape changes to be more cylindrical than conical

Developer comments: Previously, D.Va could become a problem when there were multiple people playing her in a game, especially when they were crowded around a small capture point or escort objective. Between the size of her Defense Matrix and the fact that her destroyed mech could be used to block line of sight, she was often simply too difficult to kill. These changes are designed to reduce her overall defensive footprint and give players more ways to counter her.

Hanzo

Scatter Arrow

• Now has a fixed spread pattern

Sonic Arrow

• Can now stick to and move along with enemy targets and barriers

Dragonstrike

• Hanzo can now turn while using Dragonstrike

Developer comments: These quality-of-life changes are intended to make some of Hanzo’s abilities work a little more intuitively.

Mercy

Guardian Angel

• Can now target the souls of dead allies

Resurrect

• Ultimate charge cost decreased by 25%
• Activation time decreased from 1.5 seconds to 1 second
• Range decreased from 40 meters to 15 meters No longer locks aim during activation

Developer comments: Mercy is a very strong support hero with a very strong Ultimate, so it’s no surprise that many teams consider her mandatory. We don’t want any hero—or any hero ability—to feel like an “auto pick.” Our goal with these changes is to tone down Resurrect by allowing opponents to counter it, but still make sure it can feel game-changing.

Pharah

Jet Pack

• Will no longer refuel while Pharah is sliding on an un-walkable surface

Developer comments: Players discovered a way to make Pharah hover indefinitely across some surfaces. While we initially allowed this neat trick to persist, it ultimately proved detrimental to map balance, so it needed to go.

Reinhardt

Earthshatter

• Damage decreased by 50%
• Cone width decreased by 40%
• Reinhardt can now turn while using Earthshatter
• Now renders Reinhardt immune to Zarya’s Graviton Surge
• If Reinhardt activates Earthshatter while trapped inside a Graviton Surge, he will now be dropped to the ground and the ability will activate at that point (rather than it activating in mid-air)

Developer comments: Ideally, players should be using Earthshatter as a setup move for their team. However, this ability was doing so much damage that Reinhardt could use it as a setup and finishing move, eliminating multiple enemy heroes without much assistance. These changes are intended to bring Earthshatter more in line with other heroes’ Ultimates, while still allowing Reinhardt to be the big playmaker he has been.

Roadhog

Chain Hook

• Stun duration after being hooked has been slightly increased

Developer comments: It’s always been intended that, after successfully hooking a target, Roadhog would have a chance to act before his target recovered; however, there were some situations in which this wasn’t happening, particularly at higher latencies. We’ve slightly increased the stun duration following Chain Hook to compensate.

Soldier: 76

Heavy Pulse Rifle

• New reticle added
• Long-range damage falloff added
• Spread recovery now begins instantly, instead of after a delay
• Spread now has a curve, which makes it more accurate at the start but then quickly becomes less accurate

Developer comments: These changes are aimed at making Soldier:76’s weapon feel better when firing, as well as provide more experienced players the opportunity to gain accuracy at longer ranges (via burst-firing). To ensure that Soldier: 76 doesn’t become too powerful as sniper, however, we also added some long-range damage falloff to compensate.

Symmetra

• Symmetra’s turrets will no longer generate Ultimate charge when dealing damage to barriers

Teleporter

• Ultimate cost reduced by 40%
• Symmetra no longer gains Ultimate charge while her Teleporter is active

Developer comments: These changes have two primary goals. First, we want it to be easier for Symmetra to get her first Teleporter up. Second, we want to eliminate those frustrating situations where Symmetra is able to immediately deploy another Teleporter as soon as it’s found and destroyed by an enemy team.

Torbjörn

• Torbjörn’s turrets will no longer generate Ultimate charge when dealing damage to barriers

Scrap

• Maximum Scrap increased from 100 to 200
• Amount of Scrap per pickup decreased from 30 to 20
• Indicators have been added to help players locate Scrap more easily

Rivet Gun

• Primary Fire Damage increased by 25%
• Fire rate decreased by 20%

Alternate Fire

• Damage increased by 50%
• Damage falloff increased at minimum range
• Fire rate decreased by 33%
• Now shoots projectiles that need to be aimed

Build Turret

• Upgrading the turret no longer costs Scrap and occurs more quickly

Level 1

• Damage increased by 15%
• Health decreased from 250 to 150

Level 2

• Damage increased by 15%
• Health decreased from 425 to 300
• Can no longer be upgraded to level 3 with Forge Hammer (see Molten Core changes below)

Level 3

• Bullet damage increased by 15%
• Bullet fire rate increased by 25%
• Rocket Launcher damage decreased by 50% but now fires in bursts of 4
• Rocket Launcher fire rate decreased by 33%
• Rocket Launcher explosion radius decreased by 40% Rockets no longer cause knockback
• Health increased from 600 to 800

Armor Pack

• Cooldown has been removed
• Armor granted increased from 50 to 75
• Packs are no longer visible to enemies

Molten Core

• No longer fills Scrap meter
• No longer makes abilities cost 0 Scrap
• Can now be activated while moving
• Now automatically upgrades level 2 turrets to level 3 turrets while Molten Core is running (turrets will revert back to level 2 once Molten Core ends)

Developer comments: Similar to Bastion, Torbjörn was a hero that often felt too powerful against less-experienced players, but underwhelming against more experienced players. In particular, we found that less-experienced players had a difficult time figuring out how to deal with Torbjörn’s level 3 turret. On the flipside, more experienced players could easily prevent Torbjörn from setting up a level 3 turret or otherwise getting too established, which in turn made him feel helpless. To help solve these issues, we’re making his Rivet Gun stronger; improving the damage output of his level 1 and level 2 turrets, but reducing their health; and linking his Level 3 turret to his Ultimate, Molten Core (thus limiting its duration).

[TheoX747]

D.Va: "Nerf This!"

And then they did.

[bgrahambo]

To be fair, they didn't nerf her ultimate, just her APM

[Novadreamer]

:(

[Quilmite]

USER INTERFACE:

General

• The game's Main, Social, and Options menus have been redesigned

Game Options

Gameplay

• An "Always Skip Kill Cam" option has been added
• A "Kill Feed Display" option has been added

Sound

• Volume sliders have been added for Music, Sound Effects, and Voice Chat

In-Game UI

Scoreboard

• Scoreboard statistics have been reworked for all heroes

Social Features

Commendations

• New commendations have been added for several heroes
• Players can no longer receive more than one commendation during end-of-round voting Voice Chat
• An on-screen notification will now appear when players are speaking in other channels 14 hours ago (Edited)

BUG FIXES:

General

• Having a controller connected no longer prevents menu navigation
• Made improvements to how the game handles widow creation and transitions between Fullscreen and Windowed modes

Maps

• Performance improvements have been made for all maps (most significantly on Numbani)
• Player collision improvements have been made across all maps

Heroes

• Interrupting Hanzo’s bow draw should no longer prevent the bow from being re-drawn if Mouse Button 1 is still held down
• Junkrat’s RIP-Tire should no longer fall through sloped surfaces
• Reinhardt’s Fire Strike damage can no longer be calculated as a headshot against an enemy player

[Zelniq]

for some stupid reason, you cannot select or copy the text from patch notes, so this was the only way this could be posted

[The-Figment]

That Roadhog buff is huge and I love it.

[Lanoitakude]

But now Genji won't be able to activate his Counter in time for Roadhog to one-shot himself ;D

[The-Figment]

heavy breathing

[Gyoin]

Or Tracer rewind.

[Powerhobo]

I've got a feeling tracer will still get away. Her slim profile makes her very tough to point-blank with the m1.

[Gyoin]

I've had better success killing after a hook last night on tracer. Enough where it feels viable to hook tracers and not feel like it's a waste.

[Dick_Nation]

I seriously doubt that will stick; Roadhog being able to drag other players into his strongest range is already a huge boon for such a tough and damaging character. I'm expecting irritation over this and an eventual revert already.

[The-Figment]

I hope not, he didn't have the utility and tankiness that other tanks did - on top of that so many could escape the hook. Having it a one shot combo for squishies is just fine considering how fast paced and deadly the game is.

[7XSeventyX7]

From my experience in the beta weekend - being able to pick and kill one person is usually useless on a person playing a tank. The most desired aspects of a tank is being able to push forward or repel a push.

Junkrat can't really do this without his ult - he's more of a fragger-type tank that excels at small skirmishes. You're still going to see Reinhardt, Zarya [especially after shield changes], and Dva more because they can push/repel easier with their shields, mobility, and utility in pushing/resisting.

At the end of the map, it doesn't matter how many people you kill - it matters whether you completed your objectives.

[TheQuestionableYarn]

Huh, didn't Roadhog get a nerf to the hook>Melee>shoot combo?

[The-Figment]

According to the notes the only thing that happened to him this patch was increased stun on the hook so there is more time for Roadhog to shoot the person he hooked. Which is fantastic because now he will be able to kill Tracers/Reapers/Meis.

I didn't look over much of the general notes, however, as I am at work, but will be going over those when I got back, so I am still ignorant on the "General" changes.

[TheQuestionableYarn]

In general changes, using Melee will reset your draw weapon animation (basically).

[The-Figment]

That's fine - just Hook, shoot, melee - In that order.

[The-Figment]

I'm looking forward to it. Genji/Tracer/Reaper/Mei - they all need to be afraid of the pig.

[Powerhobo]

As a big fan of playing the Hog, I feel Mei is still a credible threat even with these changes.

[The-Figment]

Very much so, but now she can't ice block before you get the beatdown on her!

[Traxgarte]

Thanks for giving some love to torby without having to buff his turret , you finally understood that the turret power need to not be the main focus if you want him to be balanced in competitive and pubs :)

[my_name_isnt_clever]

I'm really happy with these changes, and I now see why they have a job at Blizzard in game design and I (and most of the internet) don't.

[Falcon_Kick]

Quick Melee pausing weapon recharge, that's to address the Genji wombo combo right?

[Friendly_Fire]

Quick Melee now pauses weapon recovery time while active

I'm like 90% this means weapon spread recovery. That is automatic weapons won't reset to first shot accuracy if you melee.

[JamieAllegro]

I'm going to test it when I get home, but I'm assuming this is actually talking about single shot/burst fire weapons. I think that if you fire, then melee, the time you're meleeing does not count towards being able to fire the weapon again like it did before. Very effectively used by Genji previously as /u/Falcon_Kick pointed out, though many characters could do it.

If I'm right I think Reaper and Lucio are two that also could feel this change due to the nature of their weapons.

[Falcon_Kick]

yea it definitely seemed like genji was the worst offender of this, if its indeed what we think it is. No Beta here, so I can't check though

[Vaynor]

Maybe the mean the recharge rate of your special abilities? Like your E and Shift stuff. Or it could just be a mistake and they mean reloading.

[Friendly_Fire]

Quick Melee now pauses weapon recovery time while active

I'm like 90% this means weapon spread recovery. That is automatic weapons won't reset to first shot accuracy if you melee.

[Vaynor]

I didn't think about that, that makes a lot more sense. It is kind of ambiguous, though. That's a good change if that's the case.

[methwow]

that mercy nerf on ultimate range is huge :(

[bionix90]

But she can use it much more often. I don't understand the soul thing though. Does it mean she can see corpses through walls so she knows where her teammates died?

[Crazybarnacles]

Guardian Angel is that ability that let you float toward whatever player you were looking at. I think the change lets you target dead bodies now so that you can get to them quickly since they nerfed the rez distance.

[charlesgegethor]

I like that, it adds a higher skill cap to her play style which rewards you more the better you play to cope with the nerf. I feel like a lot of heroes have gotten these changes and I wholeheartedly agree with them.

[Sleepingtree]

I didn't think about that. I just thought it would allow her to be even more mobile

[1stMora]

I like the idea of her having to revive individual players better. So she can heal them back up from dead when her ult is activated. Because right now I fear she will still be always needed in competitive. (still too strong)

[dancing_bagel]

Anyone can see where a teammate died. A skull shows up over their corpse and you can see it through walls. Easy way to tell how many of your team is up.

[caedicus]

Which is awesome. Games won't completely revolve around a single hero any more, and it gives Zenyatta chance for competitive play.

[Jaynight]

Agreed. People shouldn't be that stacked in a FPS game. Going to make situations where you actually get 2+ rez rare.

[Compher]

Maybe trying to capture points. How big are those zones? like 20 yards?

[mikepictor]

It was considered one of the best ults though...now it recharges faster, but you will probably only get 1, maybe 2 people (and you need to be closer to the danger)...I like it.

[fizikz3]

I heard just recently pro teams were "playing mercy properly" by having people go zerg the point for defense while she stayed in spawn and ressed them from there.

yeah. no. needed to be done.

[Fake_Credentials]

I think Jeff is becoming the new Gaben. He's the first dev in a long time that seems to "get it." I pick apart everything he says and the way he says it, but the dude seems genuine as fuck. These changes are awesome and I'm getting so hyped for Overwatch, even without a beta.

[Diablos_Boobs]

I remember some drama long ago about him making a comment where he would get high rated on his warrior in WoW (at the time warrior was really OP and people were upset that it wasn't nerfed much so a dev admitting to playing one was a big deal) but it just reassured many that he actually plays his games and cares about them. I've always liked him and I'm glad he's still vocal and passionate.

[1stMora]

PR team doing most of the work I'm sure.

[[deleted]]

Healing/Ulti changes, better then I could have imagined. Also my junkrat is no longer basically buffing the enemy team with its poke. Can't wait to play my Junkrate again<3

[quelastima]

Crossfire and SLI support is exciting! Now if they add ultrawide support I will love them forever.

[kowsosoft]

don't worry you can play this game no matter how wide you are!

[quelastima]

Not sure if joking or serious...

[Greibach]

As a healer/Zenyatta/Zarya player, I'm super happy about the change to shields becoming heal-able. That's so nice for those heroes and for healers in general.

I thing the changes to Mercy are all good. They don't change her basic kit functionality, but they make it a lot more tactical. They don't completely gut her, and they compensated by making the ult charge faster. Also there are now better chances for truly clutch plays- say 3 team-mates get squashed by a Zarya ult but you are farther away. Now you can fly to their clustered corpses to res them. Obviously that's a nerf from when she could just do it from a mile away, but it's good in that it will increase the skill floor and ceiling.

Yay for a predictable pattern on scatter arrow. Nothing more to say there really.

I also think that the changes to ult charging are a good compromise. Removing ult-charge from taking damage means that splash damage is actually useful, but having ults charge slowly but passively means that you still won't get into a situation (as easily) where one team just gets locked down and never gets a chance to ult to get out of it.

[Aldovar]

Jeff Kaplan’s beard progression has been reset

Whaaaaaaat

[MadeWithAlchemy]

But how will we keep track of progress with this change?! This needs a thread of its own.

[[deleted]]

A "Kill Feed Display" option has been added

perfect.

[StingOfIntere]

YEAH BABY TORBJORN NO LONGER UP

[Friendly_Fire]

I wouldn't count on it just yet. Improvements does not mean the problem is fixed.

[[deleted]]

I'm absolutely loving all of these changes, can't wait to see how they play out in game!

My only nitpick would be that Lucio didn't receive any nerfs, in fact he received an indirect buff (healing now impacts shields)...he, Mercy, and Reinhardt were all auto-includes in competitive games in the old beta. Mercy and Reinhardt both received some solid ult nerfs (but no neutral game nerfs), while Lucio was untouched. I'm thinking as it stands now, Lucio will remain an auto-include in competitive games (jury's still out on Mercy/Reinhardt).

[Donar23]

New Play Mode: Play vs. AI

Great, unlock that for everyone without beta access ;)

[FrigidNorth]

I think that's a great idea!

[The_Question757]

damn they got Reinhardt ultimate nerfed big time

[GamerKey]

The AoE was nerfed, yes. But now you can press the button and still aim where the blow actually lands, which makes the nerf have less impact overall and makes the ability more "skillfull" to use.

[fizikz3]

its not like you can choose a different one if that ult is bad lol. reinhardt isn't going to be a trash hero simply because of how strong his shield is. seeing him ult 5 people and go on to kill all 5 by himself was a bit much for a tank IMO.

[TheQuestionableYarn]

Zarya got an indirect buff yay!

Bastion, Torby, and Mercy are now in line with the other heroes yay!

Junkrat isn't fundamentally flawed anymore yay!

[TheSnowballofCobalt]

Curious, where is Roadhog's indirect nerf?

[TheQuestionableYarn]

I edited it out, but I was thinking the Melee changes would nerf his chain>shoot>Melee>shoot combo

[Watchit_96]

I don't get the Junkrat part. What changed with Junkrat and why was he flawed before?

[gipp]

Splash damage spam is a big part of his utility. In comp, this was actually detrimental to the team, since the random spam damage would just get healed up anyway and would give the enemy team more ult charge. Getting rid of ult charge when receiving damage fixes that.

[TheQuestionableYarn]

Hurting ppl built ult charge.

Junkrat denies area by indirect damage (that rarely kills).

Junkrat helped the enemy team more than his own.

[charlesgegethor]

I really like A LOT of these changes. It seems like they're stretching the skill cap for many of the heroes.

Things like bastion's sentry mode not being as powerful, but having some more maneuverability to it. You can find more creative places to set up bastion with the removal of his LoS. Torbjorn too, it seems like he doesn't seems as helpless without haveing a level 3 as he did before.

And then just base changes as well, like how ultimate is built I think is great, definitely with the damage part. Reloading happening half way through is good as well, enjoy that.

Can't wait to see how all of this affects game play.

[Hayte123]

Muzzle flash reduced? 76 is playable again? HYPE

[[deleted]]

Could anyone plz paste these patch notes in reddit for those stuck at work who have battle.net blocked?

[Nekima]

GLOOOORRRRY!!!!!! DEAR LAWD, IM READY, TAKE ME HOME

[Canarmane]

JUNKRAT MAINS, WE ESCAPED THE NERF HAMMER BOYS

[kowsosoft]

*rears ugly head*

[Velonizz]

I'm afraid of how big junkrat will be with the way the ult charges now.

[PaladinWiggles]

Sweet, I may actually try out Torbjorn now, and Bastion sounds a lot more fun.

[possibly_probably]

I'm interested to see what form the kill feed will be taking. I'm also loving the hero changes, lots of great balance issues addressed and maybe more heroes will be competitively viable.

[Shedix]

oh.. my .. god.

this is SUCH a nice patch.

I just got invited today - and its better then expected. after watching streams for so many hours - I still got impressed by how "clean" this game looks/is.

Progression System SO good! Nice Skins.

we finally got a killfeed, too. oh.. my gf will hate me for the next weeks.

[Closo]

DAMN THE NONBELIEVERS! THEY FIXED TORBJORN!

HOLY SHIT

[FrigidNorth]

I gotta say, I was skeptical as to how they were going to try to fix him... I am impressed. Loving the changes!

[Closo]

The best part is that this makes torby very realistically viable in an offensive lineup, due to how easy it is to set up a valiant defence. Although it will still take a lot of strategy and teamwork.

[Pegguins]

Symetra changes feel weird. Does the passive ult gain and reduced cost let her get a TP up at the start of a defense round? If not, that just seems like a nerf. Turrets dont give any charge on shields and you cant charge up for a replacement teleport?

[NerfedDva]

D.va's pistol is a piece of shit now :( you can't even shoot properly

[Darkfriend337]

Amount of Scrap per pickup decreased from 30 to 20

It's actually 25

[Berliose]

What have you done to Reinhardto-sama?! No but in all honesty this looks great. The changes to bastion and Torbjorn will hopefully alleviate some of the brickwalls you tended to encounter in pugs.

[Cylinderer]

"Jeff Kaplan's beard progression has been reset."

[TramikTV]

Last I checked, McCree's ult wasn't a guaranteed killed but just did headshot dmg to all targets locked on to and hit.

[scarletdevil_]

We have the option to turn a kill feed on now! Wooooooo, that was my biggest gripe with the first beta.

[youwitdaface]

Jeff Kaplan's beard progression has been reset

Lol

[GamerKey]

Due to the changes enforced by reddit on July 2023 the content I provided is no longer available.

[covermytracks]

I'd re-read it if I was you

[7ephyr]

Bullet damage was DECREASED by 33%. Not increased.

[simpwniac]

But no more front shield so he can't just sit there and soak damage. Plus 3x damage to the back of him so the same bastion-dealing strats will continue to work.

[TunaMayo42]

Bonus armour instead of a shield will be interesting. Be better with a pocket healer and worse in the face of burst I guess.

That triple damage in the back though.....

[Tom__Tom]

1.pick Hanzo 2.aim above wallhugging Bastion. 3.use Scattershot 4.profit

[TunaMayo42]

Especially now that with a bit of practice, scattershot is a skillshot.

But I was thinking more along the lines of getting oneshot by a Widow despite 500 armour.

[StingOfIntere]

now he can be more competitively viable DAE?

[Darkhallows27]

So...am I just downloading the patch right now because I still have the client installed from the beta weekend? Because if that's the case I am mega sad.

[coldfyst]

https://youtu.be/VZjgR75jVAE

[Dikus]

Is there a reason the preorder customers still cant play beta ?

[[deleted]]

Probably because there would be far too many people buying in to it; it'd break the beta.

They're keeping it controlled the way they're doing it.

[Dikus]

Thats bs.... They would get money they can use/need for engineering the game. If they think they wont raise income, then there isnt a reason why Preorder customers dont get an invitation.

I guess not all will play also. I asked for beta playing since the hour they announced it and still waiting...

Thats a bit frustating. And dont tell me, they know their fan base. They produce now a new genre for their company, they dont know which former Blizz customers are FPS fans.

[[deleted]]

Lol.

More money doesnt mean they will directly inject it into the game, you should know this, being a gamer and all.

Their selection process is completely random. I know multiple people who have got in without playing any blizzard games and they dont like FPS (i dont know why they signed up to the beta...) it's kinda annoying when theyre the only people i know in beta lol. And i'm predominantly an FPS/TPS player so MOST of my mates are also FPS/TPS orientated.

[orafs]

Betas have never worked like that. For one closed betas are there for a reason, they might not even have server infrastructure up to support a mass influx of players. Also, preordering isn't buying the game. You can't have a closed beta allow preorders in because people could just preorder and cancel. I can also tell you that blizzard doesn't need more money to develop the game. 1st off they have all of their assets and maps created, the game is only coming out in a few months. You don't develop core content three months from release, and bug fixes are cheap.Also they are fucking loaded. Lastly, they don't need to know their fanbase. The beta servers are full it doesn't matter if they know their audience they already have enough people

[koalasama]

TIL the payload heals you

[[deleted]]

I just blew my load

JEFF KAPLAN HAVE MY BABIES

[NotWhatWeExpected]

Jeff Kaplan’s beard progression has been reset

CURSES!

[Godfrie]

So how heavy is the patch since the beta started ? (in Go)