Overwatch just got a new patch with buffs to Doomfist, Mei and Sombra, alongside changes to the Blizzard World map. In last week's Developer Update, Game Director Jeff Kaplan warned players of these imminent changes, saying these heroes needed some quality of life buffs to keep up with slippery heroes like Genji.
Here are the Feb. 27 Overwatch Patch Notes:
Doomfist
Hand Cannon Ammo recovery rate increased from 0.8 seconds to 0.65 seconds per bullet
Developer Comments: This change will help Doomfist more consistently be able to use his weapon as part of his combos.
Mei
Endothermic Blaster Freeze (slow) duration increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds
Weapon alternate fire ammo cost reduced from 25 to 20
Developer Comment: Increasing Mei's slow duration helps her freeze targets that are particularly elusive such as Genji or Lúcio. Lowering her alternate fire ammo cost allows her to more safely use it without costing her the ability to freeze enemies.
Sombra
EMP No longer blocked by small objects (e.g. sign posts)
Hack No longer gains ultimate charge from health pack healing
Cast time reduced from 0.8 seconds to 0.65 seconds
Now disables the following abilities:
Genji—Cyber-agility
Hanzo—Wall Climb
Pharah—Hover Jets
Lúcio—Healing Boost and Speed Boost (turns off current song entirely), Wall Ride
Mercy—Angelic Descent
Machine Pistol
Machine Pistol spread reduced from 3 to 2.7
Opportunist Enemy health bars are now visible when health drops below 100 percent (formerly 50 percent)
Her ability to detect enemies through walls at 50 percent or less remains unchanged
Translocator
Duration increased from 15 seconds to 20 seconds
Developer Comment: The goal of these changes for Sombra is to remove the necessity for her teammates to take damage and heal themselves with her hacked heath packs to try to get her ultimate charged up quickly. Her ultimate will now come up less often, but there are more abilities that are disabled by Hack so it is more effective when used. Previously, Opportunist would only activate when an enemy's health bar dipped below 50 percent but now the passive will reveal all damaged enemies which should help Sombra identify targets in her line of sight to pick off. Overall these changes should make her more effective and less reliant on her ultimate.
MAP UPDATES
Blizzard World Some health pack sizes have been reduced
Some health pack locations have been changed Additional health packs have been added
Developer Comments: Health packs are a valuable resource in Overwatch and positioning around them is key to holding ground on defense or keeping up momentum on offense. We have moved the location of some health packs and included additional ones to improve game play on Blizzard World.
USER INTERFACE UPDATES
Mercy
Valkyrie
No longer shows enemies' health bars unless they have taken damage
Developer Comment: This helps remove some clutter from Mercy players' screens when they use her ultimate
BUG FIXES
General
Fixed a bug that prevented Capture the Flag statistics from displaying on the Career Profile if the match was played on Ayuttheya in the Arcade
Maps
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented announcement voice lines from triggering on Blizzard World.
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