The Overwatch Halloween update includes a lot of new items to collect and a returning PvE brawl.
But it also has some major changes to the game as well.
While it doesn’t include the Mercy changes that are currently being tested on the game’s PTR, it does have plenty of nerfs and buff for hero ultimates.
Overwatch’s ultimates now fall into three basic categories: Transformation, Channeled and Cast-Time.
These all include differing benefits, while the Cast-Time and Channeled abilities can be interrupted.
It should also be noted that any ultimate that can be interrupted by a stun can now be interrupted by Sombra’s Hack.
You can find some of the biggest Overwatch updates below:
HERO UPDATES:
Ultimate charge is now immediately expended when a hero’s ultimate ability is activated, instead of depleting over a short period of time.
“One of the most common pieces of feedback we receive revolves around the way Overwatch handles ultimate interruptions. Players often feel frustrated when they’re able to prevent an enemy from using an ultimate, only to see that same enemy use it again immediately after respawning.
“Until now, many ultimates drained the meter quickly over time, instead of instantly setting the meter to zero when the button was pressed. We originally designed it this way to ensure that players had the chance to use (at the very least) a little of their ultimate every time. However, we now feel that it causes too much frustration without adding many benefits.
“With this patch, ultimate abilities will instantly set a hero’s meter to zero when the button is pressed, which means stopping an enemy ultimate at any point after it’s activated will ensure that it has been spent.”
BALANCING:
D.Va
- Boosters
- An option to manually hold down D.Va’s boosters rather than toggling them has been added under Options > Controls > D.Va
Genji
- Dragonblade
- No longer interrupted when Genji is stunned or hacked
Orisa
Supercharger
- Can now be interrupted when Orisa is stunned or hacked
Sombra
- Hack
- Now interrupts the following ultimate abilities: Ana’s Nano Boost, Orisa’s Supercharger, Mei’s Blizzard, Reinhardt’s Earthshatter, and D.Va’s Call Mech
USER INTERFACE UPDATES
Assault Maps
- When capturing an objective, the progress bar is now broken into three segments that will fill in with the team’s color that is capturing it (as each segment fills, it will trigger an animation and audio cue)
- The number of defenders currently on the objective will now be displayed in addition to the number of attackers, just below the progress bar
BUG FIXES
General
- Fixed a bug that allowed muted players to become unmuted after leaving and rejoining the same match
A.I.
- Fixed a bug that caused bots to get trapped in a movement loop after taking the tunnel under the capture point in the University section of Oasis
Competitive Play
- Fixed an issue that caused matches to end in a draw when both teams won their first attacking rounds in overtime on Hanamura, Horizon Lunar Colony, Temple of Anubis, and Volskaya Industries
Custom Games and Game Browser
- Fixed a bug that prevented the Capture Speed Modifier setting from being applied in custom games
- Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s Projectile Speed slider from appearing in Custom Game settings
Heroes
- Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s Micro Missles from producing rumble feedback when using a controller with vibration enabled
- Fixed a bug that caused Lúcio’s soccer ball to fly off in the wrong direction when activating his Juggle emote at 30 FPS
- Fixed a bug that caused Mercy to maintain forward momentum after canceling Guardian Angel mid-flight
- Fixed a bug that could cause heroes to respawn as a different hero after being resurrected by Mercy
- Fixed a bug that caused Roadhog’s chest to deflate when his Tuckered Out emote was activated while the Mako or Sharkbait skins were equipped
- Fixed a bug that prevented the sound effects on Symmetra’s turrets from being heard by teammates
- Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn’s weapon-draw animation from being played when turret placement was canceled
Maps
- Fixed a bug on Junkertown that allowed some heroes to get stuck behind a barrel near the final point
- Fixed a bug on King’s Row that caused a dark box to appear if you stared into the robot city for too long
- Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to reach unintended locations on Volskaya Industries
- Fixed a bug affecting Ilios, Lijang Tower, Nepal, and Oasis that prevented overtime progress from resetting when the point had been flipped after both teams’ progress bars reached 99%
UI
- Fixed a bug that could cause Widowmaker’s scoped overlay to appear while spectating her from third person view