Along with LFG, endorsements, and Lunar Colony tweaks
The bigOverwatchupdate thatrevamps Symmetraand Horizon Lunar Colony has made it through public testing and it’s now ready for the live game on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Brace for impact.
Along with sweeping hero changes for Symmetra (including the loss of lock-on for her primary attack and additions like a gigantic photon barrier ultimate), Blizzard has added a looking-for-group feature and the ability for players to endorse each other for good teamwork, sportsmanship, or shot calling.
The update also lumps a ton of characters together by merging the Offense and Defense hero roles into one new category, Damage, and it introduces privacy settings for players’ career profiles.
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Endorsements
Acknowledge your fellow Overwatch players’ positivity with endorsements! Recognize commendable behavior for players exhibiting sportsmanship, being a good teammate, or for shot calling. Commend players who lead you to victory, put the team’s needs above their own, or exhibit humility in victory or grace in defeat. Endorsements are readily available to view on Career Profiles, the Groups menu, and more so you may tell at a glance the types of players you’re playing with. Those who consistently maintain a high endorsement level will receive periodic rewards, while those who display negative behavior or accrue suspensions will lose their endorsements.
Looking for Group
Play your way using the Looking for Group feature! You can craft your gameplay experience before stepping into a match by using specific parameters to create your dream team. Join a team of other like-minded players or lead a group of your own by creating a group with your personal preferences such as game mode, role enforcement, and more. Those who want to queue up for Quick Play, Play vs AI, or any competitive mode can set the types of roles others can play. These specifications will then be activated in-game (e.g. players who chose a Support role will be restricted to only using heroes in that category).
GENERAL UPDATES
Developer Comments:Since the line between Offense and Defense heroes has become increasingly blurred, we’ve decided to group all those heroes into a single new “Damage” category. We believe that the term more closely matches the role name used in Overwatch League and across most of our community.
GAME BROWSER AND CUSTOM GAMES
HERO UPDATES
Doomfist
Developer Comments:The increased movement speed on Meteor Strike gives Doomfist new options in how and where to deploy it. His passive is also being increased, allowing him to survive more often when diving into enemies
McCree
Developer Comments:While McCree’s Deadeye rarely came into play at 70 meters, we are increasing the range so it cannot be a limiting factor during normal gameplay.
Orisa
Developer Comments:Supercharger wasn’t getting enough use, considering its impact. This change allows Orisa to user her ultimate more aggressively, knowing that she will be able to generate them more easily.
Symmetra
Developer Comments:The goal of these changes is to move Symmetra to her new damage role and make her more flexible and viable across more areas of the game than she was previously. Now that Symmetra is no longer a support hero, she is expected to be able to dish out heavy damage, and these changes allow for her to do so. She should be more powerful and interesting in more team compositions and maps, and she should also be stronger on offense and defense.
MAP UPDATES
Horizon Lunar Colony
Developer Comments:We’ve wanted to make some gameplay improvements to Horizon Lunar Colony for some time now. The defenders’ spawn room had a problem with its main exit that allowed defenders to quickly duck back inside and regain health while attackers shot at them without doing damage. Since we were already reworking the entire back area, we decided to make some more changes addressing player feedback. The idea behind the rework of Point A was to not only help the defenders a bit, but also provide some gameplay options aside from sitting on the point and trying to hold it for as long as possible. Easier access to high ground, as well as limiting the routes for attackers (or at least allowing for defenders to more easily spot the attackers), will allow more opportunity for counters and create a better gameplay experience.
We’ve made a lot of additions and changes to the art throughout the map for you to discover as well.
