Overwatch has been the smash hit of the summer, and Blizzard has promised to keep all future updates, characters, and maps free for players, which certainly guarantees the game’s longevity. As with any constantly evolving game, there’s always a few bumps that need smoothing out. Quite a few have been smoothed out recently, so here’s the four biggest buffs that have hit the game recently.
Ana’s debut was greatly anticipated, but players have found her rifle to be ineffective in practical combat – in response, her rate of fire has increased by 20%, and her magazine size has increased from 8 to 10. In the developer comments, community manager Lylirra noted that Ana “has been very well received,” but “she was showing to be a little weaker overall.” Hopefully, this buff will not only make her “feel better to play,” but also “increase her healing and damage output.”
D.Va is certainly a favorite of mine, but her defensive abilities needed a boost, and there’s nothing worse than dying by your own ultimate. Thankfully, in her latest patch, the cooldown for her Defense Matrix was reduced from 10 seconds to one second – but with a catch.
The Defense Matrix now has a resource meter, which depletes while active and recharges while not in use. It requires 10 seconds to reach a full charge, at which point it’ll last for 4 seconds. The Self-Destruct cost decreased by 15%, and now only takes 3 seconds until it explodes – and the explosion no longer damages the player who activates it.
The cost of Lucio’s ultimate – Sound Barrier – was increased by 10%, and he’s also received a nifty little boost to his skating ability. His wall ride – a handy shortcut on Ilios, by the way – now covers a lot more distance, and his transition at corners is much smoother, continuing to skate instead of abruptly falling off. Lucio is a personal favorite of mine, and hopefully making his movement easier to learn will encourage a few more people to give him a spin.
And as for our favorite cowboy, McCree, his Peacemaker primary fire received a range reduction of 10 meters – even with this nerf, his range is still higher than it was at launch. His fan ability received a 15% increase in rate of fire, and as for Flashbang, the recovery time’s been decreased from 0.5 seconds to 0.35 seconds. McCree’s always been a bit too powerful in the right (or wrong) hands, and while he still packs a punch, it’s not as brutal.
These are only some highlights – it’s worth reading through and catching up on the patch notes from the last few updates. They all look promising, and will definitely keep Overwatch exciting for a decent amount of time.