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Overwatch Patch 1.5 released: Sombra and the Arcade go live alongside hero balancing, PS4 Pro support, more

Stephany Nunneley-Jackson avatar
News by Stephany Nunneley-Jackson Former News Editor
Published on

Overwatch players can now try their hand at the game's newest hero, Sombra, and take a turn in the game's new Arcade mode. But, there's more than just a new feature and hero to found in today's patch notes.

overwatch_sombra_blizzcon_2016_3

The update is now live on all platforms, and comes with the Ecopoint: Antarctica map which was announced for Overwatch during the BlizzCon 2016 opening ceremony.

The firm also issues a reminder that Season 3 of Competitive Play will end next week on November 23 at 4PM PT/7pm ET/12am UK (Nov. 24). Season Three kicks off on November 30 at at the same times.

During the week-long off season, players can still queue for matches using the Competitive Play ruleset, but skill ratings will not be affected and no Competitive Points will be awarded.

Also with Season Three, players will be distributed more broadly across the skill tiers. This means the players' S3 rating will likely be lower than it was in the previous two.

Notes for update 1.5 are rather long, so be prepared before venturing below. To read over the developer comments for each section of the notes, hit up the Overwatch forums.

General Updated

General

  • [PS4] Added PlayStation 4 Pro support
  • Made a number of data format improvements, which should decrease load times and reduce the game’s storage space requirements
  • Made several adjustments to the amount of experience needed to level
  • The amount of experience needed to reach levels 2 through 13 remains unchanged
  • The amount of experience needed to reach levels 14 through 100 has been slightly reduced
  • The amount of experience needed to reach levels after 100 is now constant (20,000 XP) and will no longer reset after each promotion
  • Quick Play matches are now restricted to one of each hero per team
  • Spectating - The number of observer slots in Custom Games has been increased from 6 to 12

Hero Balance Changes

General

  • Dealing damage to things other than players (like Torbjörn's turret or Symmetra's teleporter) no longer charges ultimate abilities
  • Ultimate costs have been increased by 25% for all heroes

Ana - Nano Boost: No longer increases move speed (nerfed)

D. Va (buffed)

  • Call Mech: Ultimate cost has been decreased by 20%
  • Mech health increased to 200 (formerly 100). Armor remains at 400
  • Movement speed while firing has been increased by 25%

Lucio: Amp It Up - Healing per second has been decreased by 10% (nerfed)

Mei - Blizzard - Ultimate cost has been increased by 15% (nerfed)

Mercy - Passive health regeneration now activates when Mercy avoids taking damage for 1 second (formerly 3 seconds) (buffed)

Pharah (buffed)

Rocket Launcher

  • Minimum explosion damage has been increased by 13%
  • Minimum explosion knockback has been decreased to 0%

Jump Jets: Lift increased by 35%

Soldier 76 (buffed)

Pulse Rifle

  • Bullet damage increased from 17 to 20
  • Maximum bullet spread increased from 2.2 to 2.4

Torbjörn (changed a bit)

  • Scrap is now automatically generated over time
  • The amount of scrap collected from a fallen enemy has been decreased by 40%
  • Forge Hammer: Swing speed increased by 25%; Damage decreased by 27%

Widowmaker (buffed)

  • Venom Mine: Explosion no longer damages the player who placed the mine
  • Widow’s Kiss: Charge rate increased by 20%

Zarya (nerfed)

  • Particle Barrier: Power gained from barriers decreased by 20%
  • Projected Barrier: Power gained from barriers decreased by 20%

User Interface

General:Loading screen now displays the name of the chosen game mode when playing in the Arcade

Bug Fixes

General

  • Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented the PC client from closing properly, making the Battle.net application think the game was still running
  • Fixed a bug preventing players from receiving credit toward the Most Healing Done commendation
  • Fixed a bug that caused the columns on Recent Players to slightly overlap each other
  • Fixed a bug preventing the fourth column on the friends list from being displayed properly
  • Fixed a navigation error that could occur when attempting to adjust video options using a controller
  • Players will now be removed from the Practice Range if they are AFK

AI

  • Fixed a bug that caused McCree bots to Combat Roll into the well on Ilios
  • Fixed a bug that could cause bots to get stuck in a wall near objective B on Temple of Anubis
  • Fixed a bug that prevented bots from moving through certain locations on Volskaya Industries

Competitive Play

  • Fixed a bug that could cause overtime to continue indefinitely on Assault maps
  • Fixed a bug that could cause matches to begin with only 11 connected players

Heroes

  • Fixed a bug that prevented Ana’s healing stats from showing up in the Career Profile page
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Ana’s custom crosshairs from displaying while zoomed
  • Fixed a bug causing irregular placement of the pumpkin on Genji’s “Pumpkin Carving” highlight intro with certain skins
  • Fixed a bug preventing Mercy’s staff from showing up in the “Guardian Angel” highlight intro with her Cobalt skin equipped
  • Fixed a bug preventing Reaper’s “R.I.P.” victory pose from animating correctly when the game client isn’t in focus
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Tracer to use Blink while rewinding with Recall
  • Fixed a bug preventing some of Tracer’s voice lines from activating with her Punk skin equipped
  • Fixed a bug preventing Zarya from gripping her gun’s handle in the “Deadlift” highlight Intro
  • Fixed a bug causing Zarya’s Graviton Surge to eject Reinhardt at high velocity

Maps

  • Fixed a typo on the bakery blackboard in Eichenwalde
  • Fixed a bug that allowed certain heroes to stand on unintended pillars on Ilios
  • Fixed a bug on Lijiang Tower that allowed heroes to reach unintended locations
  • Fixed a bug allowing Reaper to Shadow Step to unintended locations on Nepal
  • Fixed a bug that allowed players to contest the payload from a protected area above the gas station on Route 66
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Pharah to reach unintended locations on Volskaya Industries
  • Fixed a bug on Watchpoint: Gibraltar that allowed players to reach an unintended location near the final objective

Spectating: Fixed a bug that occasionally produced incorrectly colored health bars when spectating Custom Games

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