While Overwatch’s Halloween Terror event constitutes the bulk of the Oct. 13 live server patch, there are many more goodies hidden behind the scene. The developers have instituted quality of life changes to the game’s chat system, which now has a more substantial profanity filter that was sorely needed.
Soldier: 76 has also been graced with an overhaul to his primary weapon that was previously tested in an Experimental Card. With these huge changes, “the legs” may become more viable in competitive Overwatch.
Game changes
In response to community feedback over the years, Overwatch developers have overhauled the game’s profanity filter system to be more comprehensive and customizable. Players will now have three levels of chat filter they can choose from. Friendly, the most restrictive filter, will censor “all words currently identified by our constantly-updated list as obscene, vulgar, or offensive.” The Mature setting will filter some words and Unfiltered won’t censor anything.
Players will also be able to choose a level of filter for each of their chat options, from General chat to direct messages, or Whispers. For example, someone could have the Friendly filter enabled on General chat but Mature on for Party chat if they trust their teammates.
As far as other game changes go, elevators will act differently on Volskaya Industries and Hollywood. Elevators will now wait at the bottom of their loop for interaction from a player instead of lowering and rising in sequence. Once the elevator gets to the top, it will pause for a brief second and go back down.
Both of these changes were tested in Overwatch’s latest Public Test Realm (PTR) patch.
Hero changes
Reinhardt
- Earthshatter now has an allied voice line, “For the Crusaders!”
This change doesn’t affect Reinhardt’s gameplay but is a quality of life alteration for those who play alongside the steadfast main tank. Before this change, the voice line for both an allied and enemy Earthshatter was the same.
Soldier: 76 (Heavy Pulse Rifle)
- Bullet spread removed.
- Constant recoil added.
- Bullet damage reduced from 20 to 19.
- Ammo increased from 25 to 30.
Overwatch’s most recent Experimental Card teased extensive changes to Soldier: 76’s primary weapon, the Heavy Pulse Rifle. To the delight of many who love to lock the legs, all of these changes went through along with a minor nerf to bullet damage. This overhaul will reward players who fire the Heavy Pulse Rifle in “auto” mode instead of going for burst damage. A change to recoil means that aiming is more important, bringing Soldier: 76 back to his FPS roots.
Sombra
- Improved smoothness of Sombra’s First Person camera when Translocating short distances to a Translocator that’s in view.
Widowmaker
- Grappling Hook will now bounce off a surface if the distance between you and the hook is under two meters, canceling the hook and not costing any cooldown.
Finally, a buff for Widowmaker players who repeatedly miss their Grappling Hook shots.
Wrecking Ball
- Grappling Claw earns improved target detection to help with the consistency of connecting to walls.
Competitive changes
As of Oct. 13, the third season of Competitive Team Deathmatch is live. Join up with other players to earn the most kills and climb the leaderboards.
Published: Oct 13, 2020 02:10 pm