The latest update for Overwatch has gone live across all platforms—the PC, Xbox One and PS4. The new update adds the game’s latest female hero, Sombra, an offense-based character who uses hacking to disable her opponents and dominate the battlefield.
There are some concerns about how powerful her abilities are and how the addition of her into any roster will impact the meta—but it’s still too early to tell whether she’s going to be a must-have character in any team build.
In addition to Sombra, the new Ecopoint: Antartica map has been added. It was previewed at the recent BlizzCon 2016.
Multiple changes have been made to character balance, and players will no longer be able to stack the same character classes—even in quick play.
Finally, Arcade Mode has been added to the game, allowing players a chance to earn two new loot boxes weekly with rotating modes.
Season 3 of Competitive Play will resume next week on November 30. The current season is set to end on November 23, so be sure to get ranked if you want some free points.
General Updated
General
- [PS4] Added PlayStation 4 Pro support
- Made a number of data format improvements, which should decrease load times and reduce the game’s storage space requirements
- Made several adjustments to the amount of experience needed to level
- The amount of experience needed to reach levels 2 through 13 remains unchanged
- The amount of experience needed to reach levels 14 through 100 has been slightly reduced
- The amount of experience needed to reach levels after 100 is now constant (20,000 XP) and will no longer reset after each promotion
- Quick Play matches are now restricted to one of each hero per team
- Spectating – The number of observer slots in Custom Games has been increased from 6 to 12
Hero Balance Changes
General
- Dealing damage to things other than players (like Torbjörn’s turret or Symmetra’s teleporter) no longer charges ultimate abilities
- Ultimate costs have been increased by 25% for all heroes
Ana – Nano Boost: No longer increases move speed (nerfed)
- Va(buffed)
- Call Mech: Ultimate cost has been decreased by 20%
- Mech health increased to 200 (formerly 100). Armor remains at 400
- Movement speed while firing has been increased by 25%
Lucio: Amp It Up – Healing per second has been decreased by 10% (nerfed)
Mei – Blizzard – Ultimate cost has been increased by 15% (nerfed)
Mercy – Passive health regeneration now activates when Mercy avoids taking damage for 1 second (formerly 3 seconds) (buffed)
Pharah (buffed)
Rocket Launcher
- Minimum explosion damage has been increased by 13%
- Minimum explosion knockback has been decreased to 0%
Jump Jets: Lift increased by 35%
Soldier 76 (buffed)
Pulse Rifle
- Bullet damage increased from 17 to 20
- Maximum bullet spread increased from 2.2 to 2.4
Torbjörn (changed a bit)
- Scrap is now automatically generated over time
- The amount of scrap collected from a fallen enemy has been decreased by 40%
- Forge Hammer: Swing speed increased by 25%; Damage decreased by 27%
Widowmaker (buffed)
- Venom Mine: Explosion no longer damages the player who placed the mine
- Widow’s Kiss: Charge rate increased by 20%
Zarya (nerfed)
- Particle Barrier: Power gained from barriers decreased by 20%
- Projected Barrier: Power gained from barriers decreased by 20%
