It has been a very busy week for the world of Overwatch 2 beta players. Getting used to the new tank lineup, learning the ins and outs of heroes such as Bastion and Sombra, and figuring out how to survive as support characters on new maps are just some of the challenges. There has been a lot of feedback from streamers, pros, and the general community both good and bad, and one thing was very clear. Some things certainly needed some fine tweaking, and the Overwatch 2 Dev team has risen to the task of keeping the updated and balancing where they can. The patch notes for this week have some surprises in store.
General fixes and add-ons to the Overwatch 2 Beta
- The introduction of Quick Play Open queue is upon us. Much like in Overwatch, players can now queue without a role restriction, meaning lower queue times across the board.
- Kill feed and Activity Feed UIs have been updated to be more accurate.
- Sound no longer does a reverb across the map and is much more directional, perfect for players who rely more heavily on sound.
Hero Fixes in the Overwatch 2 Beta
- Wrecking Ball no longer crashes other players.
- Doomfist can now be Melee’d during his Power Block.
- Roadhog’s Hook cast time has been fixed to begin the cooldown on casting.
- Lucio’s Sonic Amplifier doesn’t have a reload bug anymore.
- Ana’s Nano Boost doesn’t overwrite Doomfist’s damage reduction.
- Brigitte’s shield can now block damage from above.
- Several cosmetic bugs have also been fixed.
Damage Hero changes in the Overwatch 2 Beta
Damage heroes have always been popular, but there’s been a surge in that recently. Particularly because of the power they now hold without a second tank to hunt them down. Some fine tuning was done to try make it a bit more fair across the board.
Sojurn
- Railgun’s projectiles are larger up to 0.1m from the original 0.05m, meaning it’s easier to hit targets.
- Power slide’s cooldown is reduced to 6 seconds from the original 7 seconds.
Soldier 76
- Pulse rifle damage reduced to 18 from 20.
- Sprint’s movement speed down to 40% from 50%, meaning Soldier’s flanks will be harder to pull off.
- Tactical Visor now allows for critical hits and has damage falloff, meaning less damage is dealt if you’re outside the threshold.
Sombra
- Stealthed movement reduced from 65% to 50%.
Tank Hero changes in the Overwatch 2 Beta
Tanks have become pretty powerful, but there have definitely been some left in the dust. These changes should help old heroes become a bit more viable.
Roadhog
- Roadhog’s ultimate has changed to a Transformed ultimate, meaning to shoot his gun you have to press your Primary Fire button. This means you can do a targeted ultimate within the ultimate timer.
- Players can also use normal abilities in Whole Hog, such as a hook.
- Stuns can’t cancel the ultimate.
Winston
- The Tesla Cannon’s ammo costs 12 per spark rather than 20.
Wrecking Ball
- Knockback increased by 36%, so you can send your enemies flying around the map.
Zarya
- Graviton Surge reduced to 3.5 seconds.
Support changes in the Overwatch 2 Beta
Supports are finally getting some love after being bullied for near on a week. Players can now find themselves enjoying a few tweaks here and there to help them try survive a little more in this 5v5 world.
Lucio
- Lucio’s self-healing penalty is increased. He now heals less to himself, the penalty going up to 60% compared to the previous 30% during Crossfade.
Baptiste
- Baptiste’s healing ammo has increased to 13 from the original 10 per clip.
Ana
- Biotic Grenade’s duration has been reduced from 4 to 3 seconds, meaning the anti-healing effect, and the increased healing effect is shorter on targets hit by the grenade.
Zenyatta
- Zenyatta’s close-range Melee has been replaced with an ability named Snap Kick.
- Snap Kick is a passive ability that increases his overall melee damage by 50% as well as adding a knockback effect.
Brigitte
- Brigitte’s Shield Bash now does double the knockback effect that it did before, meaning you’ll be able to boop enemies away from you with more satisfying results.
