Overwatch Lunar New Year 2018 kicks off with flashy new skins and a patch full of bug fixes

News by Stephany Nunneley-Jackson Former News Editor

Published on Feb. 8, 2018

The Lunar New Year 2018 event in Overwatch has started.

It's time to celebrate The Year of the Dog in Overwatch with new skins, Capture the Flag on the new Ayutthaya map, new emotes and intros.

Overwatch players will be able to collect over 50 new seasonal items including Legendary skins like Red Phoenix (Zhu Que) Mercy, Black Tortoise (Xuan Wu) Zarya, White Tiger (Bai Hu) Genji, and Black Lily Widowmaker.

As preciously reported, there have been changes made to Capture the Flag with the start of the event. It features a brand-new competitive mode and new rules such as restricted abilities and Sudden Death.

Capture the Flag Rule Changes

Flag pickup is instant
Flag cannot be picked up for 5 seconds after dropped
Flag return is 4 seconds
Flag return does not stop when taking damage
Match length is 8 minutes
After scoring, the flag takes 15 seconds to respawn
Restricted abilities drop the flag (specific hero skills)

Capture the Flag Restricted Abilities

Doomfist’s Meteor Strike, Seismic Slam, Rising Uppercut, Rocket Punch
Genji’s Swift Strike
Pharah’s Jump Jet, Concussive Blast’s recoil (when used on yourself)
Reaper’s Shadowstep, Wraith Form
Soldier: 76’s Sprint
Sombra’s Stealth, Translocator
Tracer’s Blink, Recall
Junkrat’s Concussion Mine (when used on yourself)
Mei’s Cryo-freeze
Widowmaker’s Grappling Hook
D.Va’s Boosters, Self-Destruct (D.Va will also drop the flag if her mech is destroyed)
Reinhardt’s Charge
Winston’s Jump Pack, Primal Rage
Lucio’s Amp It Up, Crossfade’s speed boost
Mercy’s Valkyrie, Guardian Angel
Moira’s Fade, Coalescence
Zenyatta’s Transcendence

Again, as previous reported, with Sudden Death matches will no longer end in a draw. When time runs out, a new round is started and flags are moved closer to the center of the map and the first team to score wins.

In addition to the game play changes, special music that plays when the flag is carried and team-colored flag status messages were added.

Along with the start of the Lunar New Year event, Overwatch players will be able to change hero skins at the start of each match using the “Select Skin” dropdown menu in the Hero Select screen.

As with every new update, a list of fixes, additions and balancing have been included to go along with the festivities. Full patch notes with developer commentary are below.

Overwatch - Lunar New Year 2018, Year of the Dog skins

Overwatch - Lunar New Year 2018 Patch Notes

Hero Updates

Doomfist

Hand Cannon
Damage reduced from 11 to 6
Number of bullets fired increased from 6 to 11
Spread pattern made more consistent

Developer Comments: We have made a lot of progress with Doomfist’s movement in recent patches but we wanted to revisit his Hand Cannon. While the damage per bullet has been lowered, the number of bullets he fires per Hand Cannon shot has been increased which makes his overall damage output unchanged. Overall, these changes will help his Hand Cannon feel much more consistent.

Reaper

Death Blossom
Now fires at players behind barriers

Developer Comments: Previously, Reaper’s Death Blossom would target barriers but not the players hiding behind them. This change will make it more effective against shields and consistent with how other auto-target abilities work (e.g. McCree’s Deadeye, Symmetra’s Sentry Turret).

UI Updates

General

Matchmaking UI now displays the game mode players have queued for while waiting for players
Competitive Play leaver messages now display as a chat notification
The Hero Select screen now displays the game mode and map type

Heroes

Zenyatta’s Orb of Discord and Orb of Harmony will now display its target’s hero name

Bug Fixes

General

[PC] Fixed a bug that caused the mouse cursor to lose focus when using third party overlays (e.g. Discord)
Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented the Overwatch League scheduled matches of the day from loading

AI: Fixed a bug that prevented bots from voting on cards at the end of the match on Hybrid and Control maps

Competitive Play

Fixed a bug that prevented capture progress UI on Assault and Hybrid maps from displaying the correct team colors
Fixed a bug that allowed players to use the Hero Select screen during the loading screen at the start of a match

Deathmatch

Fixed a bug that prevented Widowmaker’s Infra-sight from functioning if it was used at the same time as another Widowmaker’s Infra-sight
Fixed a bug that caused Torbjörn to collide with his turret
Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra’s Sentry Turrets to continue targeting Junkrat’s Steel Trap after it was destroyed
Fixed a bug that prevented players from being able to stand on top of enemy players
Fixed a bug that allowed backfilling players to enter at 9th place during the match
Fixed a bug that caused targets hacked by Sombra to appear purple instead of red
Fixed a bug that caused the displayed hero on the lobby screen to appear in low detail when entering and exiting the Overwatch League screen

Game Browser and Custom Games

Fixed a bug that allowed players to summon infinite bots in custom games
Fixed a bug that caused D.Va to lose her Self-Destruct ultimate if she died out of her mech when the “Spawn with Ultimate Ready” option was enabled
Fixed a bug that caused the Victory voice line to play when a match ended in a draw while spectating

Heroes

Fixed a bug that caused airborne heroes to lose speed when changing direction
Fixed a bug that prevented golden weapon visual effects from displaying when an Overwatch League skin was equipped
Fixed a bug that caused heroes’ scoped shots to be calculated as misses in the accuracy statistic
Fixed a bug that prevented Ana’s Candy emote from displaying when viewing Kill Cam footage
Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist’s Rocket Punch to impact with D.Va’s mech before it materialized during her Call Mech ability
Fixed a bug that prevented kills caused by Doomfist’s Rocket Punch from receiving environmental kill credit
Fixed a bug that allowed D.Va’s mech to take damage before it materialized when using Call Mech
Fixed a bug that prevented Genji from sheathing his katana after using his Whirlwind emote
Fixed a bug that prevented Genji from using his Cyber-agility occasionally
Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s Dragonstrike to be calculated in the accuracy statistic
Fixed a bug that prevented Hanzo’s Wall Climb from activating occasionally
Fixed a bug that prevented Junkrat’s Concussive Mine from dealing damage if it was deflected by Genji
Fixed a bug that caused Mercy’s Caduceus Staff to disappear when using the Parasol emote
Fixed a bug that caused Mercy to fly in an unintended direction if she was stunned during Guardian Angel
Fixed a bug that prevented Mercy from destroying breakables she collides with in her flight path when using Guardian Angel
Fixed a bug that caused Mercy’s Valkyrie flight controls to not be precise when using Resurrect
Fixed a bug that caused Moira’s Biotic Grasp’s hits against barriers to be calculated as misses in her accuracy statistic
Fixed a bug that extended the cooldown of Orisa’s Halt! by one second if it successfully pulled an enemy
Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to block Reaper’s Death Blossom if she used her Marioneta emote
Fixed a bug that caused Reinhardt to have a blank expression during his Toast victory pose
Fixed a bug that allowed projectiles to sometimes penetrate Reinhardt’s Barrier Field
Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt’s Charge bonus damage from being dealt if the target was sandwiched between a charging friendly Reinhardt and a charging enemy Reinhardt
Fixed a bug that caused Reinhardt to knock back a target instead of pinning them if he collided with an enemy at the start of his Charge
Fixed a bug that prevented Roadhog’s canister from appearing when viewing Overwatch League skins
Fixed a bug that caused Roadhog’s Chain Hook to clip the first-person camera when pulling in a target
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra’s EMP from canceling an enemy Sombra’s Hack if it was in progress
Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Shield Generator from displaying in the Overwatch League skin preview screen
Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn’s lava ball from appearing in his Batter Up emote if his hammer was equipped
Fixed a bug that caused Widowmaker’s hair to not hang properly in the Hanging Around Highlight Intro when an Overwatch League skin was equipped
Fixed a bug that caused Widowmaker’s Venom Mine to use Overwatch League team colors when an Overwatch League skin was equipped
Fixed a bug that prevented Widowmaker’s Grappling Hook animation from playing when using the ability
Fixed a bug that caused Winston to lose some upward momentum when using Jump Pack off small inclines
Fixed a bug that caused Overwatch League team decals to disappear from Winston’s suit when he used Primal Rage
Fixed a bug that caused Zenyatta’s Discord Orb to fly in an odd direction if its target died before arriving

Hero Gallery: Fixed a bug that prevented players from purchasing non-hero sprays

Maps

Fixed a bug that caused some heroes to get stuck behind the lamp post directly outside the first Defender spawn room in Blizzard World
Fixed an issue that allowed players to reach unintended locations in Blizzard World
Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s Micro Missiles from passing through piñatas on Dorado
Fixed a bug that allowed Junkrat’s RIP-tire to travel under the trailer at the final point on Hollywood
Fixed a bug that caused targets hacked by Sombra to appear purple instead of red
Fixed a bug that prevented Moira’s Biotic Orbs from bouncing off the wooden pillars on Hollywood
Fixed a bug that caused the UI to show a fraction of a meter to go when reaching checkpoints on Escort and Assault/Escort maps

Fixed a bug that prevented the hero portrait from displaying when watching Highlights when an Overwatch League skin was equipped
Fixed a bug that prevented player portraits from displaying during the Play of the Game, Kill Cam, Spectating, and Highlights