Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – February 18, 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.

HERO UPDATES

Orisa

Fortify

• Prevents critical headshot damage while effect is active

Developer Comments: This will make Fortify more reliable at preventing large bursts of incoming damage and make it more consistent as a defensive ability.

Reaper

Hellfire Shotguns

• Spread reduced from 8 to 6
• Damage per projectile reduced from 7 to 5.5

Developer Comments: Reaper’s shotguns have a high damage potential but require close range or large targets to fully utilize. We’re smoothing this out by extending the range at which he can consistently deal damage while lowering the maximum damage of each shot.

Winston

General

• B...

Overwatch PTR Patch Notes – February 16, 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

General

• Updated how important off-screen elements (e.g. an exploding D.Va Mech) are displayed on the screen to make them easier to find

BUG FIXES

Maps

Eichenwalde

• Fixed a bug that caused the UI to incorrectly reflect payload progress in rare circumstances

Hollywood

• Fixed a bug that caused players to become stuck on a specific section of rooftop

Kanezaka

• Fixed a bug with player collision that allowed heroes to move through map geometry

Heroes

Baptiste

• F...

This Experimental patch is anticipated to be available until the morning (PST) of Tuesday, February 16.

We also rolled out a separate backend fix patch slightly before this. If you already had the game open when this patch was released, you will need to restart your game to pick up that update.

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – February 11, 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 HERO UPDATES

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)

Orisa

Fortify

• Prevents critical headshot damage while effect is active

Developer Comments: This will make Fortify more reliable at preventing large bursts of incoming damage and should help it feel more consistent as a defensive ability.

Reaper

Hellfire Shotguns

• Spread reduced from 8 to 6
• Damage per projectile reduced from 7 to 6
...

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:

Orisa – Orisa has been perceived as underwhelming on the Tank front recently. We’re looking to buff up her Fortify to remove the ability to receive critical headshots while the effect is active. We believe that, in addition to its CC immunity, this should make the ability more consistent in its defensive capabilities.

Reaper – Currently, Reaper is a very in-your-face hero, given the high damage potential but very short range on his Hellfire Shotguns. We’re experimenting with increasing his range slightly but decreasing...

Overwatch PTR Patch Notes – February 9, 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

General

• Added “Damage FX” options to the advanced Video options menu that will reduce the amount of impact effects seen during gameplay and replays
• Added a “Custom Spectator Options” menu for live spectating that opens when you press the “View Spectator Options Menu” button as a spectator
• Spectator camera bookmarks in live spectating and replay viewing now also save the current “Camera Field of View” (FOV)
• Added “Custom Game Invite Filter” and “Custom Gam...

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – February 9, 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.

GENERAL UPDATES

Bounty Hunter

• Bounty targets will lose their target status if they take too long to get a kill

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug within the Bounty Hunter game mode where the Target status could become unavailable if the active Target left the game

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – February 4, 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.

LUNAR NEW YEAR 2021

It’s time to celebrate the Year of the Ox!

We’re celebrating Lunar New Year with luminous new seasonal items, including legendary skins like Bull Demon Orisa, Dragonfire Bastion, Tiger Huntress Ashe, and more! Additionally, this event launches the fourth competitive season of Capture the Flag and introduces a new game mode: Bounty Hunter!

Learn more about Lunar New Year on PlayOverwatch.com.

NEW GAME MODE: BOUNTY HUNTER BRAWL

Test your skills as an outlaw with this new addition to the Arcade rotation: Bounty Hunter! Getting the first kill of the match makes you the Target and gives you extra poi...

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – January 29, 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.

BUG FIXES

Maps

Kanezaka

• Fixed a bug that allowed players to go outside of map bounds

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – January 28, 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.

HERO UPDATES

Echo

Tri-Shot

• Ammo reduced from 15 to 12

Focusing Beam

• Duration reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds

Developer Comments: Echo’s kit is designed around mobility and burst damage but she was performing too well against high health targets, such as tanks. Reducing the maximum firing duration of her primary weapon and Focusing Beam will lower her sustained damage output without impacting her burst damage potential against squishier targets.

Tracer

Pulse Pistols

• Min-Max damage falloff rescaled from 13-23 meters down to 12-20 meters

Developer Comments: This new falloff range causes the damage to scale...

This Experimental mode is anticipated to be available until the morning (PST) of Monday, January 25.

This Experimental mode is anticipated to be available until the morning (PST) of Monday, January 25.

Overwatch Retail Patch Notes – January 21, 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)

Echo

Tri-Shot

• Ammo reduced from 15 to 12

Focusing Beam

• Duration reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds

Developer Comments: Echo’s kit is designed around mobility and burst damage but she was performing too well against high health targets, such as tanks. Reducing the maximum firing duration of her primary weapon and Focusing Beam will lower...

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 three heroes:

Echo – Echo is intended to be a high-mobility, burst damage hero. Right now she’s excelling a bit too much against high-health heroes and barriers. In adjusting her Tri-Shot and Focusing Beam abilities, we’re aiming to reduce her efficacy at shredding Tanks, but still allow her to fulfill her existing role against other heroes.

Tracer – Tracer’s Pulse Pistols are slightly over-performing at mid-range. While these weapons are meant to be effective at longer ranges than other close-range heroes (say, Reaper), she’s stil...

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...

Woops - 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...

Hey - Thanks for the heads up! The PlayStation Experimental mode should be up and running now.