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Overwatch

10 years ago

UPDATE: These are the patch changes we have discovered


Explaining that the Closed Beta is an ideal environment for sweeping, dramatic changes, Kaplan gives the Overwatch community a heads up regarding an upcoming patch.

The last Overwatch balance patch was a big one. With sweeping changes to Bastion and Torbjörn, these heroes skyrocketed in pick-rate and power level. Whether this was Blizzards intention or simply a test to see how the community would react to such power level, we aren't quite sure.

But, what we are sure on, is the increasing "aggressive" changes Overwatch will go through, starting with a set of patch notes that should be released by the end of March, 1st. Jeff Kaplan explains the situation in the following forum post:

 Just a quick head’s up. We’ll be performing a patch soon. We’re mostly fixing bugs but there are some balance changes in this one as well. Because this is Closed Beta, we’re being a little more aggressive with balance changes than we intend to be once the game is live. During this phase, we’re more open to experimentation. So please don’t panic. If things aren’t quite right, we’ll fix them soon after. But allowing us freedom to experiment with the balance of the game will help prepare for launch.

What this likely means, is that the changes will be drastic. Maybe other heroes will receive the Bastion treatment and have their design fundamentally altered. If I had to guess, I would say that Genji is in need of some nerfs while Mei could use a little help.

UPDATE: Patch Notes are out here are some notable changes:
 

  • Mercy can again use her Shift again to quickly move to the graves of Allies (to get into range for Ressurect)
  • Mei's primary fire now has a minimum slow effect that is applied instantly.
  • Bation core while in Sentry Mode will now cause double damage, decreased from triple damage.
  • Winston's Barrier Projector cooldown now starts after the expiration/destruction of the shield.
  • The durability of his shield was also reduced from 1000 HP to ~600 HP.
  • Lucio's HP got nerfed down from 200 to 150.
  • Genji's HP also got nerfed from 200 to 150.
  • Notifications were added to announce when Zenyatta's Harmony and Discord orbs are no longer on a hero.
  • Junkrat's Riptire had his durability/HP increased from to 150.
  • If Junkrat's RIP-Tire is destroyed it no longer deonates
  • Zarya's ability to shield Allies was reduced, lowering the duration by ~2 seconds.

One thing we noticed when looking at these changes, is that Blizzard might very well be getting a lot of feedback from our competitive events (as well as all the others). Multiple pro players have stated that Genji was overpowered, and players also briefly complained about the strength of Winston's dome shield (especially when playing multiple Winstons). Let's see what these changes will do for the meta this weekend!

For more competitve Overwatch news, follow us @GosuOverwatch.

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