Junkertown has been re-enabled in Quick Play and Competitive on all platforms. Thank you for your patience!
Hey everyone, we wanted to follow up on the performance of the Priority Pass and some next steps we’re taking to improve the process.
So far, our data indicates that the Priority Pass is functioning as intended, generally providing shorter queue times for those who use them. The goal of the Priority Pass is to improve player experience and get players into matches quicker. In the same vein, we don’t want this feature to have a negative impact on the quality of matches for yourself or others. We want to do our part to discourage players from intentionally losing and ruining matches for the sake of earning priority passes.
Moving forward, we’re looking to make the following adjustments to address some of these learnings:
- Losing a match will now earn 1 pass, down from 2
- A Priority Pass will be refunded back to players who used a pass, but ended up waiting longer that than the provided estimated wait time for those not using a pass
We’re going to continue evaluating data, make appropriat...
Read moreWoops - Put this in the wrong category! Now in the PTR Feedback. Feel free to share any feedback you may have.
Overwatch PTR Patch Notes – January 14, 2021
A new Overwatch patch is in development and now available for testing! To share your feedback or report any issues, please post in the PTR Feedback or PTR Bug Report forums.
Please note that the below patch notes only include changes currently available for testing on the PTR. While many of these changes may also be available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in a future patch, the PTR is PC-only and only reflects changes coming specifically to that platform.
GENERAL UPDATES
Feature Update: Replay Viewer Fine-Grained Playback Controls
- We’ve introduced a new option that allows you to toggle between two different playback controls, the default playback controls and the “fine-grained” playback controls.
- These “fine-grained” controls will allow you to increase and decrease the replay playback speed in smaller increments than 0.25x, from 0.10x to 1.00x. You can also hold your “Move Slow” binding while increasing or decreasing spee...
Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – January 12, 2021
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
NEW MAP: KANEZAKA
- Kanezaka , nestled beside Hanamura, is our newest Free-For-All Map!
- Fight for your life in a thrilling battlefield of alleyways, ancient stone, towering steel, and cat cafes. Shatter your enemy’s dreams in the pottery shop, deliver beatdowns in the Tora no Sumika nightclub, or rise above the competition in the tower at the center of the city.
KANEZAKA CHALLENGE
Celebrate the release of Overwatch’s newest map with the Kanezaka Challenge! Through January 25, earn limited-time rewards, including the new Kyōgisha Hanzo skin, by winning games and watching Overwatch on Twitch.
Learn more about the Ka...
Read moreHey - Thanks for the heads up! The PlayStation Experimental mode should be up and running now.
This Experimental mode is anticipated to be available until the morning of Monday, January 11th (PST)!
Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – January 7, 2021
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
EXPERIMENTAL MODE
The next experiment begins! This time we’re hoping to get your feedback on some balance changes. We’re using the 2-2-2 Role Queue ruleset so that you can get a feel for how these balance changes might affect the live game.
HERO UPDATES (ONLY IN EXPERIMENTAL)
Ashe
The Viper
- Aim-down-sights damage reduced from 80 to 75
- Aim-down-sights recovery time reduced from 0.7 to 0.65 seconds
Developer Comments: Ashe being able to eliminate 200 health enemy heroes with one headshot while assisted by 30% damage boost became too dominant, especially when combined with the other improvements to her weapon. We are...
Read moreThis Experimental mode is anticipated to be available until the morning of Monday, January 11th (PST)!
Hey everyone!
We’re back with another Experimental mode focused on testing some balance changes. As with all Experimental modes, these changes are not guaranteed to reach the live version of the game. Check out the patch notes here.
What are we trying to address?
While we don’t have an overarching theme for today’s Experimental patch, we’re hoping to get your feedback on a handful of heroes.
What are we testing?
For this Experimental patch, we’re adjusting four heroes:
Ashe – The Viper has received a number of adjustments over last year, resulting in a slightly too powerful state when combined when damage boosts. Her capability to eliminate 200 health enemies with a single headshot became too dominant. We’re reducing her aim-down-sight (ADS) damage, but also reducing her ADS recovery time, netting similar damage output, but requiring at least two shots to reach the same result.
Hanzo – Storm Arrows doesn’t quite have the impact we’re hoping for at the moment. We’re slightly reducing...
Read moreWelcome to Season 26 of Competitive Play
Season 26 of Competitive Play is here!
Unlocked at level 25, Competitive Play is designed for those players who want to put their skills to the test, and offers a more serious experience than our Quick Play or Arcade Modes.
GETTING STARTED
Before you can kick off your competitive career, every player will be required to complete five placement matches in a selected role to obtain their seasonal skill rating for that role. Within the standard Role Queue competitive mode, players will earn separate skill ratings (SR) for each role in Competitive Play, for a total of three distinct SRs. This rating will be a number between 1 and 5000, with higher values indicating a greater skill level. Players will also be assigned a tier per role based on their rating—Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, or Grandmaster – and climbing into the next tier is possible as you improve. Open Queue will utilize the same rating and tier system, but since ther...
Read moreUPDATE (Dec 22)
We have issued a manual action wave against players with confirmed instances of gameplay sabotage. We encourage everyone to take this time to review the purpose of the Priority Pass feature and its intended function within Overwatch.
Hey everyone! Now that the Priority Pass is live on the Retail environment, we wanted to make sure we were clear on the feature’s intended function, goals, and what constitutes misuse of the feature.
How It Works: Intended Function
The Priority Pass is intended to offer players a reward for queueing “Flex” on the role queue screen, thereby helping to fill games’ most needed roles and increase the rate at which matches begin. When you queue for “Flex,” you are essentially signing up for all three roles and will be assigned a role based on which have the lowest population at that time. Based on the final result of the match (win, draw, or lose), you will be awarded differing amounts of Priority Passes, i.e. if you’re looking to maximize your Priority Pass accrual rate, you’ll want to play to win! These Priority Passes can be used to “skip [part of] the line” when queuing for roles currently experiencing high volume (transparently, this is most often Damage).
Priority Passes may only be ...
Read moreOverwatch Retail Patch Notes – December 18, 2020
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
BUG FIXES
General
- Fixed a bug within Freezethaw Elimination that caused knockbacks to not count towards Thaw Interruptions for the “Thaw-Stopper” achievement
We have identified an issue with Junkertown that was resulting in an uptick in collapsed matches. We have temporarily disabled the map from Quick Play and Competitive Play while we investigate the issue. You will still be able to access the map in Custom Games and the Arcade.
Appreciate the report - Have this one logged and is under investigation.
Overwatch PTR Patch Notes – December 16, 2020
A new Overwatch patch is in development and now available for testing! To share your feedback or report any issues, please post in the PTR Feedback or PTR Bug Report forums.
Please note that the below patch notes only include changes currently available for testing on the PTR. While many of these changes may also be available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in a future patch, the PTR is PC-only and only reflects changes coming specifically to that platform.
NEW MAP: KANEZAKA
- Kanezaka , nestled beside Hanamura, is our newest Free-For-All Map!
- Fight for your life in a thrilling battlefield of alleyways, ancient stone, towering steel, and cat cafes. Shatter your enemy’s dreams in the pottery shop, deliver beatdowns in the Tora no Sumika nightclub, or rise above the competition in the tower at the center of the city.
GENERAL UPDATES
Feature Update: Replay Viewer Custom Spectator Options
- Added Detached Timecode UI option to...
“D.Va online.”
D.Va has been re-enabled! We appreciate your patience. Please let us know if you experience any issues similar to those reported earlier today.
We have identified a critical issue with D.Va in today’s patch. We have temporarily disabled D.Va from play in all game modes until a fix has been identified. Will follow up when we have rolled out a fix!
Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – December 15, 2020
A new patch is now live on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.
To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.
WINTER WONDERLAND 2020
Overwatch Winter Wonderland is back. Unwrap new cosmetics, earn weekly rewards, and freeze your foes in the new 4v4 holiday brawl, Freezethaw Elimination!
Celebrate the season with Winter Loot Boxes. Unlock festive new seasonal items—including legendary skins like Conductor Reinhardt, Ice Empress Moira, and Penguin Mei—along with wintery items from previous years. Plus, play the returning Snowball Deathmatch, Yeti Hunter, and Snowball Offensive holiday brawls!
Learn more about Winter Wonderland on PlayOverwatch.com.
GENERAL UPDATES
New Feature: Priority Pass
In an effort to help address the ...
Read more