GENERAL UPDATES

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 achievement 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



HERO BALANCE UPDATES

General

Self-healing abilities now charge ultimate abilities. As a result, some heroes’ ultimate costs have been adjusted (see below).



Bastion

Configuration: Tank
Ultimate cost increased by 10%


D.Va

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 RMB (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.

Lúcio

Sound Barrier
Ultimate cost increased by 10%



McCree

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.

Mercy

Caduceus Staff
Damage Boost
Bonus damage increased from 30% to 50%
Effect will no longer stacks with bonus damage provided by another Mercy
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. In addition, we always intended Mercy’s Damage Boost beam to be her primary method for dealing damage, but it often felt so weak that you were better off pulling out your blaster. To help address this, we've slightly increased its potency.

Roadhog

Whole Hog
Ultimate cost increased by 45%



Soldier: 76

Heavy Pulse Rifle
Spread recovery will begin after a short delay (rather than instantly)
Tactical Visor
Ultimate cost increased by 10%



Zenyatta

Base shields increased by 50 (now 50 Health/150 Shield)
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.

UI UPDATES

Game Options

Players can now enter numerical values for any option that also has slider (e.g. FoV, volume, sensitivity, etc.)
Controls
Mouse sensitivity can now be adjusted out to two decimals
Gameplay
Mid-match tips can now be toggled on or off (this will enable/disable tips that pop up after a player dies)
Social
Friend Request toasts can now be toggled on or off
Friend notifications can now be toggled on or off
Whispers can now be toggled on or off
Video
Added 21:9 aspect ratio support
Players can now enable a real-world clock by toggling the "Display System Clock" setting



Social Features

Certain commendations will now appear less frequently during end-of-round voting (e.g. Zenyatta’s Transcendence Healing and Zarya’s Projected Barriers Applied)



BUG FIXES

General

The Hero Gallery now remembers the last hero you were looking at and will properly highlight that hero whenever returning to the gallery
Fixed a bug that caused the “payload is nearing its final destination” music to continue playing even after the match was over
Fixed a bug that caused the UI to disappear whenever the game was forced into windowed mode by an external application
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause visual healing effects to appear on the wrong hero whenever multiple players attempted to up a Health Pack
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause different heroes’ victory poses to clip into each other
Fixed several lighting issues with the killcam



Maps

The payload on King’s Row will no longer retreat back inside its starting location if the attacking team fails to push it
Adjusted the Hero Select screen volume for the attacking team on Watchpoint: Gibraltar
Added Spectator camera collision to most maps
Fixed issues with player collision across multiple maps
Fixed issues with ambient lighting and shadows across multiple maps



Heroes

Fixed a bug that caused D.Va to sometimes ignore player collision when summoning her mech
Fixed a bug where Mei’s Ice Wall would persist in the game world even after the player switched heroes or left the game
Fixed even more bugs that allowed Reaper to Shadow Step to unintended locations
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Reinhardt’s Barrier Field to get stuck in the “on” position if the player used the “Toggle Barrier” setting
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Roadhog to accidentally Chain Hook targets standing behind him
Fixed a bug that caused Winston’s Barrier Projector shield to ignore the “Sound Effects Volume” setting