Overwatch’s Halloween Terror update includes Torbjörn rework, major Pharah adjustment

Overwatch’s Halloween Terror 2018 event has started, introducing a ton of spooky cosmetics and map changes to the Blizzard first-person shooter. But a whole swath of hero changes have been added to Overwatch, too—ones that could change the game’s meta.

Colorblind options were added in the update. Players are able to customize how team colors are displayed on their user interface. Hero outlines can be changed to one of nine different colorblind-friendly options. All the options are viewable in the video section of the menu.

Blizzard’s targeted a lot of heroes in this update, including Torbjörn, Brigitte, and Pharah. Here are the patch notes.

General

• Updated visuals for all shields and barriers to increase readability

Brigitte

Barrier Shield

• Shield health reduced from 600 to 500

Developer Comments: The health of Brigitte’s barrier was extremely difficult for most heroes to deal with even as she was able to close the distance with her targets. This change still provides Brigitte with substantial survivability but should also be more rewarding for opponents who pressure her.

McCree

Combat Roll

• Cool down reduced from eight to six seconds

Developer Comments: Previously, the cooldown of McCree’s Combat Roll felt too restrictive, which sometimes prohibited players from using it. The new, faster cooldown should allow for more flexibility when choosing between using it for mobility or an instant reload.

Pharah

Concussive Blast

• Cool down reduced from 12 to nine seconds

Rocket Launcher

• Attack speed increased
  • Lowered recovery between shots from 0.9 to 0.75
• Damage redistributed between explosion and impact
  • Explosion damage reduced from 80 to 65
  • Impact damage increased from 40 to 55
• Explosion knockback reduced by 20 percent
• Self-knockback range increased by 25 percent

Developer Comments: We wanted to increase how responsive Pharah’s Rocket Launcher felt. Having almost a full second of recovery between shots made it feel sluggish. To balance out the improved recovery time, we shifted some of the damage from the rocket’s explosion to the direct impact damage. The overall damage potential is now increased when landing direct hits and decreased slightly when only dealing explosive damage. We reduced the amount of knockback each explosion causes, as they made it very difficult to aim at Pharah while rockets came in at a faster pace. The Concussive Blast cooldown reduction should allow the ability to sync up more closely with the Jump Jet cooldown when used for mobility.

Mei

General

• Updated visual effects for all abilities

Orisa

Fusion Driver

• Maximum spread reduced from 1.5 to 1.2

Developer Comments: Orisa spends a significant amount of time firing her Fusion Driver from a relatively stationary location and the weapon’s spread value caused it to feel too random when leading targets at a distance, taking into account the projectiles’ travel time. We’ve tightened the spread slightly, which should leave her close- and mid-range damage potential largely unchanged, while making it feel better to try to hit targets at longer ranges.

Soldier: 76

Heavy Pulse Rifle

• Number of shots until max spread increased from six to nine

Developer Comments: Soldier: 76’s damage output was a bit low but not too far off from where we feel it should be. Making it take a few more shots to reach max spread smooths out the weapon spread curve and should help his damage be more consistent.

Torbjörn

General

• Reduced the size of Torbjörn’s head hit volume by 10 percent

Rivet Gun

Primary Fire

• Projectile speed increased from 60 to 70 per second
• Reload time reduced from 2.2 to two seconds
• Turret targets enemy hit by primary fire

Alternate Fire

• Recovery lowered from 0.8 to 0.6 seconds
• Damage per shot lowered from 150 to 125
• Reload time reduced from 2.2 to two seconds
• Spread randomization readjusted

Forge Hammer

• Radius increased to align with Quick Melee

Deploy Turret

• Now a thrown projectile
• Automatically builds over three seconds
  • No longer has different levels
  • Same damage output as previous level two turret
• Maximum health reduced from 300 to 250
• Now incurs a five second cool down when deployed
• Now incurs a 10 second cool down when destroyed in combat
• No longer able to deploy a new turret if it’s in combat
  • While the turret is firing
  • If the turret has taken damage within three seconds
• Now able to destroy turret using the Interact input
• Now will complete self-building once deployed, even if Torbjörn is eliminated

New Ability: Overload

• Replaces Armor Pack
• Lasts for five seconds (12 second cool down)
• Temporarily grants 150 armor
• Increases attack, movement, and reload speed by 30 percent

New Ultimate: Molten Core

• Switches weapon from Rivet Gun to his claw arm
• Lasts six seconds
• Fire up to 10 molten globules that create damage pools where they land for 10 seconds
  • Bounces off walls and ceilings until coming into contact with the ground
• Base damage is 130
• Damage increases from 130 to 190 against enemies who have armor
  • Heroes affected by armor: Bastion, Brigitte, D.Va, Orisa, Reinhardt, Torbjörn, Winston, Wrecking Ball
  • Heroes who can grant armor to their allies: Brigitte

Developer Comments: Torbjörn was initially designed to be a specialized hero, intended to be a strong defensive option due to his armor-generating capabilities and ability to control areas with his turret. However, the scrap collecting and Armor Pack mechanics have proven to cause problematic gameplay issues through their feast or famine nature. In order to make the hero more flexible in a wide variety of situations, we’ve removed the scrap system, made the turret much easier to deploy, replaced the Armor Pack ability with Overload—a powerful self-buff—and transformed Molten Core into a powerful new area denial ultimate ability.

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