Blizzard is making its first major update to the Overwatch 2 PvP beta today with the 2.0.8.2 update. The team has been clear on its plans to listen to player feedback during this beta period and make changes to the game prior to its official release.
But some of the more pressing issues have taken priority, resulting in a number of changes to various heroes in the name of balance.
Here are the patch notes for the Overwatch 2 PvP beta 2.0.8.2 update.
Hero changes
DPS
- Sojourn: Railgun Alt Fire projectile width increased from 0.05m to 0.1m. Power Slide cooldown reduced from seven to six seconds.
- Soldier 76: Heavy Pulse Rifle damage reduced from 20 to 18. Sprint movement speed reduced from 50 to 40%. Tactical Visor now allows for critical hits, if a shot would have been a critical hit without it running, and no longer removes damage falloff from his Heavy Pulse Rifle.
- Sombra: Movement speed reduced from 65 to 50%.
*DPS notes: The devs wanted Sojourn to have more freedom in her movement, and noticed players were missing her alt-fire shots. Soldier 76 was “over tuned during the first week.”
Tanks
- Roadhog: Whole Hog ability has changed from a ‘Channeled’ ultimate (e.g. Pharah, Reaper, Cassidy), into a ‘Transform’ ultimate (e.g. Soldier: 76, Genji, Winston).
- The weapon no longer automatically fires, and you must press Primary Fire to use the ultimate
- You can use normal abilities during Whole Hog without canceling the ultimate
- Stuns will no longer cancel the ultimate
- Winston: Tesla Cannon’s secondary fire ammo cost reduced from 20 to 12.
- Wrecking Ball: Roll Knockback increased by 36%.
- Zarya: Graviton Surge duration reduced from 4 to 3.5 seconds.
*Tank notes: Roadhog was “underperforming,” so the OW2 team wanted to make his ultimate more interesting. The Winston buff was to make his secondary fire feel “less restrictive to use and more fluid.” Wrecking Ball’s Roll knockback has reverted back to its original state. Zarya’s ultimate was over-performing with less counters.
Support
- Lucio: Crossfade’s self-healing penalty increased from 30% to 60%.
- Baptiste: Biotic Launcher healing ammo increased from 10 to 13.
- Ana: Biotic Rifle ammo increased from 12 to 15. Biotic Grenade reduced from four to three seconds.
- Zenyatta: Base shields increased from 150 to 175. Received Snap Kick passive, which increases Quick melee damage by 50% and significantly increases its knockback.
- Brigitte: Shield Bash knockback doubled.
*Support notes: Lucio’s survivability with Crossfade was too high when stacked with the new support role passive. Baptiste’s healing ammo has been increased to account for teams playing less grouped up. Ana’s balance was shifted too far towards her grenade and not her rifle. Zenyatta was getting slammed at close range, so he got shields and a more effective melee. Brigitte’s Shield Bash knockback was increased to be more satisfying.
Hero bug fixes
- Wrecking Ball: Fixed a bug where Wrecking Ball could crash other players.
- Doomfist: Fixed a bug where Melee attacks would not deal damage to Doomfist during Power Block.
- Roadhog: Fixed a bug where Roadhog’s hook cooldown would start on return instead of cast.
- Soldier 76: Fixed a bug where Soldier’s Heavy Pulse Rifle might snap awkwardly during Tactical Visor. Fixed a bug when Soldier 76 would have a slanted UI when wearing his Ugly Sweater skin.
- Symmetra: Fixed a bug where shooting Symmetra’s turrets into the horizon would cause turrets to be unusable.
- Hanzo: Fixed a bug where Hanzo’s White Wolf skin would appear invisible.
- Brigitte: Fixed a bug where Brigitte’s shield did not block damage from above.
- Ana: Fixed a bug where using Nano Boost on Doomfist would overwrite his damage reduction.
- Lucio: Fixed a bug where Sonic Amplifier could jam and not reload.
Other bug fixes
Midtown
- Adjusted some geometry on top of the train to prevent players from staying there indefinitely.
Colosseo
- Adjusted some geometry that could be abused by players
General
- Fixed a bug where the “Thank you for reporting” message would not clear.
- Fixed a bug where names in the friends list would appear alphabetically regardless of game status.
- Fixed a bug where heroes that killed themselves would show incorrectly in the kill feed.
- Fixed a bug where health packs would sometimes be missing timers.
- Fixed a bug where Reaper would sometimes be auto selected on hero select.
- Fixed a bug where the control progress bar would sometimes be the wrong color.
- Made several adjustments to sound volume and mix.
- Fixed several crashes.
