Following our last patch which saw the introduction of Orisa into the game, Blizzard today released another major update focused on their latest event "Overwatch Uprising" which features a PvE game mode along with other new content. Additionally, the patch includes changes the development team had initially introduced in the PTR realm.

Lúcio received the focus of hero changes for this patch, with focus on enhancing his individual capabilities such as damage and movement, while also reducing the radius of his AOE heal/speed boost to encourage players to play closer with the team. The other major change was in the new way wins for Assualt/Hybrid maps will be calculated where each teams percentage in capturing a point will be recorded and used to break ties. The latter of these changes received outcries from the competitive community, requesting Blizzard to modify the change to be based on ticks instead of individual percentages - for now teams will have to watch out for players sneaking onto the point and stealing a win.

Fans will likely be able to see teams play with the new patch in effect during tonight's PIT Playoff matches unless Blizzard decides to surprise us by providing a separate tournament client. It remains to be seen what impact these changes will have on the meta. Best of luck grinding for your shiny new loot boxes and in the mean time, check out the patch notes below:

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

New Seasonal Event: Overwatch Uprising

Starting today, we’re rewinding the future, giving you the chance to relive the stories behind some of your favorite Overwatch heroes. Suit up with your friends and travel seven years into the past, joining Tracer on her very first mission in a brand-new cooperative brawl; or collect more than 100 declassified Loot Box items—including skins, highlight intros, emotes, sprays, and player icons!

For more information, click here.

GENERAL

General

• Details about each hero’s unique backstory, along with information about some of their lore-inspired skins, have been added to the Hero Gallery
• [PC] The Player Report system has been redesigned, adding new reporting options and activity examples to better capture the reason for each report
• In-game voice conversations for the Overwatch Uprising event can now be displayed as subtitles. This can be enabled under the “Sound” tab in the “Options” menu

Competitive Play

• A tracking system has been added to Assault and Assault/Escort Maps that will allow us to break ties based on the progress that was made toward capturing the objective.

Developer Comments: To mitigate draws in Competitive Play, we're implementing a system that tracks each team's progress on the objective. This will work similarly to the system that's already in place for Escort and Assault/Escort maps, which grants a win to the team that pushes the payload the furthest. Now, even if neither team successfully captures the objective, a winner can be determined based on which team captured the largest portion.

Custom Games and Game Browser

• Custom Game settings can now be saved as a preset from the game’s details page. This can be accessed by right-clicking on the map image from the Create Game page, right-clicking a game name from inside the Game Browser, or via the save button on the settings page Players can now change weapon clip and magazine size or grant unlimited ammunition when creating a custom game

Maps

• A new route has been added to Eichenwalde that connects the attacking team's spawn area to the capture point

HERO UPDATES

Lúcio

• Sonic Amplifier
  • Damage increased by 25%
• Projectile speed increased from 40 to 50

• Alternate fire now considers vertical orientation when knocking targets back

• Crossfade

  • Area of effect radius has been decreased from 30 meters to 10 meters
  • Heal Song
    • Healing-per-second has been increased by 30% (also applies to Lúcio's Amp It Up ability)
  • Self-healing has been reduced by 25%

• Wall Ride

  • Movement speed increased by 20% when wall riding
  • Lúcio now receives a burst of speed when leaping off a wall

Developer Comments: Lúcio has often felt like a must-pick due to his raw healing output and the versatility of providing a speed bonus to your entire team. The goal of these changes is to keep those elements feeling strong, but making them harder to apply to everyone on your team at all times. The end result is that he should feel stronger with teams that he can stay close to but not as strong when on teams with heroes that are often spread out (such as Pharah, Widow, Genji, etc). Much of Lúcio’s character power was tied up in his large passive auras, which caused other elements of his kit to be weakened over time in an attempt to balance him. Now that his auras are more focused it will allow them to be much stronger and allow Lúcio to be more active in his role.

Orisa

• The size of Orisa’s head hitbox has been decreased by 15%

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed an issue preventing voice lines from being played on Control maps

Competitive Play

• Fixed an issue that was preventing Top 500 icons from appearing until after completing a competitive match
• Fixed a bug preventing achievements from being unlocked during off-season competitive matches
• Fixed a bug that forced Play of the Game highlights to be drawn from the last round of play

Custom Games and Game Browser

• Fixed an issue allowing empty player slots to be displayed even when disabled (e.g. in 6v1 games)
• Fixed a bug preventing the pause feature from working properly after the original host has left the match
• Fixed a bug that allowed extremely long team names
• Removed unnecessary customization options (e.g. cooldown options for abilities with no cooldown)

Heroes

• Ana no longer cocks her rifle after throwing a grenade
• The brightness on Bastion's golden gun has been toned down when the BlizzCon skin is equipped
• Fixed a bug causing Mei's pinky to bend awkwardly in some poses when her Chang'e and Luna skins were equipped

Maps

• Fixed a bug on Eichenwalde that allowed enemy player outlines to be seen through a pile of dirt at the castle gate
• Fixed an issue on Eichenwalde that allowed players to become trapped in the broken castle doors
• Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to reach unintended locations on King's Row
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended areas on the Capture the Flag version of Lijiang Tower
• Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to hide turrets in unintended locations on Oasis