Overwatch - Hanzo

Overwatch, la nuova stagione competitiva si apre con una nuova patch

Blizzard ha rilasciato nelle scorse ore una nuova patch per Overwatch, che segna anche l’inizio della seconda stagione per la modalità Competitive Play.

L’aggiornamento, in arrivo nei prossimi giorni anche su PS4, introduce molti dei cambiamenti e bilanciamenti, provati in un test privato da un numero chiuso di utenti su PC, inclusa la nuova mappa Eichenwalde.

La vera novità arrivata con l’aggiornamento è tuttavia l’inizio della seconda stagione competitiva della sparatutto, con tanti i cambiamenti che la software house ha applicato a essa. Come avevamo già annunciato, da ora il sistema dell’indice di valutazione verrà misurato in una scala da 1 a 5000, e una volta superato l’indice 3000, per mantenere il proprio status i giocatori dovranno completare almeno una partita a settimana, o perderanno 50 punti nell’indice ogni 24 ore. In base all’indice di valutazione, i giocatori verranno suddivisi in sette leghe differenti: portando a termine più match da vincitori sarà possibile passare alla lega superiore.

Overwatch - Seconda stagione competitiva

Per quanto riguarda i bilanciamenti degli eroi, invece, è stata aumentata la velocità delle frecce di Hanzo a discapito di una minore dimensione di esse, che necessiteranno ora di più precisione per andare a segno; la durata della Spada del Drago di Genji è stata diminuita, mentre è stata aumentata la velocità di Lucio. L’abilità finale di Mei è stata rese più semplice da utilizzare permettendo ai giocatori di scegliere esattamente il punto in cui utilizzarla; il potere guaritore di Mercy è stato potenziato, permettendo ora ai compagni di ritornare in battaglia più rapidamente; è stata modificata anche la forza del Globo della Discordia di Zenyatta, ora meno efficace ma di gran lunga più potente. Per tutti i cambiamenti introdotti dalla nuova patch di Overwatch, vi riportiamo il changelog completo dell’aggiornamento (in lingua inglese) fornito dagli sviluppatori:

General Overwatch updates

  • When activating the “Ultimate Status” communication, Symmetra now reports the number of charges left on her teleporter
  • When activating the “Needs healing” communication while targeting a teammate, Ana, Lúcio, Mercy, and Zenyatta will now tell allies to group up to receive healing. A marker will also appear above the player’s head, allowing teammates to locate the healer more quickly
  • Added Torbjörn as an AI-controlled hero in Practice vs. AI, Play vs. AI, and Custom Game modes
  • Sit and laugh emotes are now unlockable for all heroes
  • New Legendary skins have been added for Reinhardt

Overwatch Competitive Play changes

  • Skill rating is now measured on a 1-5000 scale instead of the former 1-100 scale
  • Skill Rating Tiers:
    • Players will now be assigned to a tier, depending on their skill rating
    • In Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond tiers, a player will not drop out of their tier even if their skill rating falls below the cutoff
    • In Master and Grandmaster tiers, a player whose skill rating falls below the tier’s minimum will be moved to a lower tier
    • Players that have reached the Master and Grandmaster tiers must be within 500 Skill Rating of their groupmates
    • Players that are Diamond-tier and below must be within 1000 Skill Rating of their groupmates
  • Skill Rating Decay
    • Players in Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster tiers that haven’t participated in a competitive match for 7 days will lose skill rating
    • Players with a skill rating above 3000 (Diamond tier or higher) will lose 50 rating points every 24 hours, but their rating will not fall below 3000
    • Competing in a single match will halt skill rating decay
    • Players that haven’t participated in a competitive match for 7 days will immediately drop out of the top 500
  • Map Changes
    • Several refinements have been made to the time bank system for Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, and Volskaya Industries
    • The time bank system has been added to Dorado, Hollywood, King’s Row, Numbani, Route 66, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar
    • Time granted for taking objectives on Dorado, Hanamura, Hollywood, King’s Row, Numbani, Route 66, Temple of Anubis, Volskaya Industries, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar has been reduced from 5 minutes to 4
  • Competitive Points
    • Existing competitive points saved from Season 1 will be multiplied by 10
    • After winning a competitive match, players will now receive 10 competitive points (instead of 1)
    • Players will now receive 3 competitive points for a draw
    • The cost of golden weapons has also been multiplied by 10 – from 300 to 3000
    • A soft cap is being placed on the number of competitive points that can be saved
      – Players with more than 6000 points at the start of season 2 will no longer accrue points by playing competitive matches
      – End-of-season rewards will still be granted to players at the soft cap
    • Instead of going into Sudden Death, tied competitive matches will now result in a draw
    • Players must now win at least 50 competitive matches to be eligible for a spot in the top 500
    • Players must now complete more matches to clear their penalty status for leaving a competitive match early

Overwatch hero balance changes

General
  • Ultimates that consume the ultimate meter when activated will now drain the meter more quickly (.25 second instead of 1 second)
  • Reverted a recent change that reduced the size of heroes’ projectiles
  • Most hero abilities will no longer interrupt quick melee attacks
  • Ultimate abilities will now interrupt quick melee attacks
D.Va
  • Defense Matrix
    • After being activated, Defense Matrix will begin regenerating following a 1-second delay (formerly .5 seconds)
Hanzo
  • Hanzo will now experience a 30% decrease in speed while aiming (formerly 40%)
  • Maximum projectile speed has been increased by 30%
  • Arrow size has been reduced by 33%
Genji
  • Double jump no longer resets when wall climbing
  • Swift Strike
    • No longer deals damage to traps like Widowmaker’s Venom Mine or Junkrat’s Steel Trap
    • No longer bypasses Junkrat’s Steel Trap
    • No longer interrupts quick melee attacks
  • Dragonblade
    • Duration of Genji’s ultimate has been reduced from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
Lúcio
  • Amp It Up
    • The boosting of movement speed has been decreased by 30% (from a 100% increase to a 70% increase)
McCree
  • Deadeye
    • Now drains over a .25-second period (instead of displaying a 50% reduction on the ultimate meter when activated and 0% when confirmed)
Mei
  • Blizzard
    • Projectile now pierces barriers
    • Radius has been increased from 8 meters to 10 meters
Mercy
  • Caduceus Staff
    • Healing Beam healing-per-second has been increased by 20%
  • Resurrect
    • Resurrected allies will be able to maneuver after 2.25 seconds (reduced from 3 seconds)
Roadhog
  • Chain Hook
    • If the hooked target isn’t in Roadhog’s line of sight when retracting the hook, they will be moved back to the position where they were originally hooked
Soldier: 76
  • Heavy Pulse Rifle
    • Bullet spread now happens more quickly when unloading fully-automatic pulse fire
    • Significantly Increased bullet spread recovery time
Zenyatta
  • Orb of Discord
    • The amount of damage amplified by a target with Orb of Discord has been decreased from 50% to 30%
  • Orb of Destruction
    • Damage has been increased from 40 to 46

Overwatch map balance changes

Watchpoint: Gibraltar
  • Watchpoint: Gibraltar’s first checkpoint has been removed. The balance changes that were implemented in previous patches have eliminated the need for Watchpoint: Gibraltar to have an extra checkpoint.