Overwatch: Console patch brings Ana and updates to PS4 and Xbox One out now
After much hype in the public beta, Overwatch’s latest support character Ana is now available for Xbox One and PS4 players.
After coming to PC players on July 20, the console community can now enjoy Ana’s support sniping skills for the first time. More importantly, there’s a huge list of balance changes for existing characters, as follows:
Gameplay
- If a match goes into Overtime for more than 20 seconds, the fuse will now start to “burn down” more quickly
- Players now respawn more slowly during Overtime (increased spawn time by 2 seconds)
Competitive Play
- Competitive Play matches can now only have one of each hero per team.
- For more info, click here.
Miscellaneous
- Added Ana as an AI-controlled hero in Practice vs. AI, Play vs. AI, and Custom Game modes
- Timing on Zenyatta’s Rapid Discord trophy is more lenient
- Targeted teammates now respond by saying “I’m with you,” when players use the “Group Up” communication
- Renamed five sprays to avoid duplicate titles
General
- Self-healing abilities now charge ultimate abilities. As a result, some heroes’ ultimate costs have been adjusted (see below).
- Configuration: Tank
- Ultimate cost increased by 10%
- Defense Matrix
- Cooldown decreased from 10 seconds to 1 second
- A new resource meter has been added. This meter will deplete while Defense Matrix is active and then recharge when it’s not in use.
- Defense Matrix takes 10 seconds to reach full charge from empty
- At a full charge, Defense Matrix will last for 4 seconds
- Defense Matrix will now remain active as long as its assigned hotkey is held
- Defense Matrix has been reclassified as an alternate fire and is now bound to secondary fire (by default)
- An option to “Toggle Defense Matrix” has been added under Options > Controls > D.Va
- Self-Destruct
- Ultimate cost decreased by 15%
- Explosion delay reduced from 4 seconds to 3 seconds
- Explosion no longer damages D.Va (the player who activates it)
Developer Notes: D.Va isn’t being selected as often as our other tanks, and we feel a lot of that stems from the underperformance of her damage absorption abilities. So, we’ve reconfigured her Defensive Matrix, making it more flexible and giving players the ability to use it more often. We’ve also given Self-Destruct a little more oomph, because it felt slightly underwhelming when compared to many of Overwatch’s other ultimate abilities.
- Sound Barrier
- Ultimate cost increased by 10%
- Peacekeeper
- Now maintains full damage at longer distances, but will deal less damage at extreme ranges
Developer Notes: While the game does feel better following the nerf to McCree’s close-range damage in a previous patch, it left him a little too weak. So, we’re increasing his effective distance, making his range similar to Soldier: 76’s. This should hopefully give players another option for dealing with pesky long-range damage dealing heroes like Pharah and Hanzo.
- Caduceus Staff
- Damage Boost
- Effect will no longer stacks with bonus damage provided by another Mercy
- Damage Boost
- Resurrect
- Ultimate charge cost increased by 30%
- Movement is no longer prevented during activation
- Guardian Angel instantly resets upon use
Developer Notes: Mercy’s ultimate is one of the most powerful abilities in the game; however, players would often fly into the fray and die while using it. With this update, Resurrect will now take a bit longer to charge, but Mercy will be a lot safer when activating the ability in the middle of combat.
- Whole Hog
- Ultimate cost increased by 45%
- Heavy Pulse Rifle
- Spread recovery will begin after a short delay (rather than instantly)
- Tactical Visor
- Ultimate cost increased by 10%
- Turret damage reduced by 30%
- Turret damage reduced by 30%
- Base shields increased by 50 (now 50 Health/150 Shield)
- Primary fire weapon damage decreased from 45 to 40
- Alternate fire weapon damage increased from 35 to 40
- Orb of Discord and Orb of Harmony
- Projectile speed has been increased from 30 to 120
- Transcendence
- Movement speed is now doubled upon activation
- Healing amount increased from 200 to 300 health per second
Developer Notes: While Zenyatta has never had the healing abilities of Lúcio or Mercy, he made up for it by dealing more damage. However, his lack of mobility and low health has meant he’s struggled to find a place in many games. To increase his effectiveness, we’ve made several changes, the biggest of which is an increased shield pool. This will allow him to go head-to-head with more enemies. The Orb of Harmony and Discord changes are also a quality of life change, helping Zenyatta move his orbs around and apply their effects more quickly. And lastly, we’ve increased Transcendence’s healing throughput. This ultimate was designed to be the most effective against sustained, high-damage fire and least effective against short, high-damage bursts (like D.Va’s or Junkrat’s ultimates). But, due to the amount of healing it provided, there were times when it was possible for even sustained fire to overcome Transcendence’s output. We’ve made the heal powerful and also allowed Zenyatta to move around more quickly while it’s active.
We’ve been playtesting Ana on PC, and she’s gonna require some high levels of skill to be of good use on console, that’s for sure.
