Overwatch update with Bastion, Winston, Roadhog changes, CTF, more is live – here’s the patch notes

The Overwatch update which brings and overhaul to Bastion and smaller changes to Winston and Roadhog has gone live. But changes have been made to other heroes and Capture the Flag becoming permanent has also been added. Head below for the patch notes.

As previously reported, changes were made to Bastion’s Sentry, Tank and Recon configurations and he has a new passive called Ironclad. Today’s Overwatch patch notes on the character haven’t changed since the Bastion’s update hit the PTR, so we’ve not included those to save you from picking through the wall of text. You can look over those through our previous post.

A couple of weeks ago, small changes were made to Roadhog and Winston. The former has his Scrap Gun Spread decreased by 20% and his Chain Hook targets are now pulled to a location 3.5 meters away, up from 2 meters. The cooldown was also increased from six to eight. Meanwhile, Winston has his critical hit volume reduced by 15%.

A change to Competitive Play was also made. After applying the update, skill ratings below 500 will no longer be displayed. Blizzard said it noticed players have been “deliberately throwing their matches” in an effort to reach the lowest attainable skill rating. Because of this, Blizzard made the change, stating it doesn’t want to “incentivize such behavior, because Competitive Play works best when everybody is trying.”

Earlier this month, Blizzard said Capture the Flag (CTF), introduced with the Year of the Rooster event, would become a permanent fixture. With today’s update, it is now available in the Arcade as an ongoing game mode, starting today with Nepal, Lijiang Tower, Ilios, and Oasis. This gives the player 12 maps to try when creating a Custom Game.

Today’s update also includes the Game Browser which allows players to adjust the settings on various maps, modes, and heroes to create a tailor-made match.

Game Browser is an extension of Overwatch’s Custom Game mode, and once the player has created their settings, they just need to set up permissions. They can even limit the number of people who can join the game by toggling “Friends Only” or “Invite Only” options. The server can also be set to “Public” by clicking the launch button.

Below you will find a the rest of the patch notes focusing on Hero updates, map balancing and big fixes. Again, you can find the changes made to Bastion at the top of the post.

 

Hero Updates

Ana

• New Hero Option: Nano Boost Sensitivity – Allows players to adjust Nano Boost’s targeting sensitivity.

D.Va

• Defense Matrix – Enemy shots no longer need to travel a minimum distance before they can be blocked.

Developer Comments: Previously, there was a minimum distance a projectile had to travel before it could be destroyed by Defense Matrix. This made it nearly worthless in situations where an enemy was right next to your teammate, such as when Roadhog hooks your ally. This change removes that restriction so Defense Matrix should now reliably destroy projectiles regardless of how far they have traveled.

Mei

• Cryo-Freeze – Mei can now be targeted by allies while in Cryo-Freeze.

Mercy

• Resurrect – While performing a resurrection, Mercy now becomes temporarily invulnerable along with the allies being revived.
• Caduceus Staff – Zenyatta can no longer be targeted when Transcendence is active.
• New Hero Option: Guardian Angel Sensitivity – Allows players to adjust Guardian Angel’s targeting sensitivity.
• New Hero Option: Beam Sensitivity – Allows players to adjust targeting sensitivity on Mercy’s Caduceus Staff beams.

Developer Comments: Mercy’s Resurrect has always been very powerful, but it often forces her to sacrifice herself to use it well. There have been changes in the past that attempted to help her in this area, but haven’t done enough to solve it. This change means that once she uses the ability, she will always survive long enough to be with her team again.

Sombra

• New Hero Option: Hack Sensitivity – Allows players to adjust the targeting sensitivity on Sombra’s Hack ability

Symmetra

• Sentry Turret – [CONSOLE] Damage per second increased from 21 to 25.5

Developer Comments: Back in July, the damage per second from Symmetra’s turrets was reduced by 30 percent. We’ve been keeping an eye on her over the past few months and decided to restore about 15 percent of that damage. On PC, her damage is still 30.

Torbjorn

• Rivet Gun – Ammo is now loaded earlier in the reload animation
• Build Turret – [CONSOLE] Damage increased from 10 to 12

Developer Comments: Like Symmetra, the damage from Torbjörn’s turrets was also reduced by 30 percent in July. After monitoring his effectiveness, we’ve decided to give his turret a small boost, restoring about 15 percent of the damage. By contrast, the damage from Torbjörn’s turret on PC is still 14.

Widowmaker

• New Hero Option: Grappling Hook Sensitivity – Allows players to adjust Grappling Hook’s targeting sensitivity

Zarya

• New Hero Option: Projected Barrier Sensitivity – Allows players to adjust Projected Barrier’s targeting sensitivity

Zenyatta

• New Hero Option: Harmony Orb Sensitivity – Allows players to adjust Harmony Orb’s targeting sensitivity
• New Hero Option: Discord Orb Sensitivity – Allows players to adjust Discord Orb’s targeting sensitivity

Map Balance Changes

General

Respawn Delay

• When attackers outnumber defenders while taking a control point on Assault, Escort and Assault/Escort maps, the defenders’ respawn time will slowly increase until it hits a maximum value or the defense manages to gain the upper hand.

Developer Comments: Until now, stalling an attack by repeatedly throwing yourself at the point has been a common defensive strategy on Assault, Escort and Assault/Escort maps—even when the attackers have a decisive advantage. Typically, this tactic doesn’t change the outcome of battle; it simply delays the attackers’ progress.

Eichenwalde

• A second gate no longer closes after the payload passes through the castle doors. Instead, rubble from the damaged doorway partially blocks the entrance.

Developer Comments: Once the offensive team gets through the castle entrance, the map becomes very heavily stacked in the defense’s favor. This change will give the offense more entrance options, which should improve the map’s overall balance.

Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed an audio bug that prevented the point capture sound from increasing in pitch as the capture progressed
• Fixed an issue preventing key bindings on the communication wheel from displaying properly
• Fixed a bug causing some key bindings to revert to default after the first round of a Control map
• Fixed a bug that allowed commendation cards to be recalculated and transferred to a new player after the previous recipient left at the end of a round
• Fixed a bug that caused the “experience gained” audio effects to continue playing, even after the players left the game lobby
• Environmental damage to barriers no longer counts toward the “Damage Blocked” statistic

A.I. – Fixed a bug that caused Roadhog bot to spin around after hooking a target

Competitive Play

• Fixed a bug preventing “60 seconds remaining” and “30 seconds remaining” voice lines from playing during the second round of a match
• Heroes
• Fixed a bug preventing Lucio’s “Sound Barriers Provided” statistic from being properly calculated
• Fixed a bug preventing Reinhardt’s Charge from properly pinning targets
• Fixed a bug preventing Reinhardt’s shield from displaying cracks at low health with the Wujing skin equipped
• Fixed a bug that allowed Roadhog to turn freely while pulling a hooked target
• Fixed an issue that allowed Sombra’s Translocator to become stuck in the air
• Fixed a bug preventing Tracer’s ”Clock’s Tickin’’ spray from matching the thumbnail in the Hero Gallery

Maps

• Adjusted the collision in the attacker spawn room on Eichenwalde to prevent players from getting stuck in the pipes
• Torbjorn can now construct turrets on the stairs in Oasis
• Fixed an issue that caused Highlight Intros to clip into the roof of a building on Lijang Tower

Overwatch update with Bastion, Winston, Roadhog changes, CTF, more is live – here’s the patch notes posted first on http://ift.tt/2k0LiGW