Overwatch 2 beta update gives Zenyatta an ability that'd make Leonidas proud

Date:
Thu, 05 May 2022 18:15:00 +0000

Description:
A new Overwatch 2 beta patch has been released with a host of balance changes and bug fixes, including a new ability to help Zenyatta survive.

FULL STORY ======================================================================

Blizzard has released a new patch for the Overwatch 2 beta, nerfing strong characters and buffing weaker ones. On top of that, Zenyatta has gotten a
new, experimental ability.

In the patch, which is now live, a multitude of changes and fixes have been made to try and shake up the current Overwatch 2 beta . The most drastic change is almost certainly coming to Zenyatta, who is getting a whole new ability.

He now has a new passive, which should make him a little harder to get close to, giving him much-needed survivability. His new passive, Snap Kick, increases his melee damage by 50% and significantly increases its knockback. This allows him to get enemies out of his face, and a more powerful melee makes him particularly dangerous to dive characters like Tracer who will now fear getting too close.

In the patch notes, the developers explained: Zenyatta has trouble fighting
at close range, so he was at a disadvantage if an enemy flanked or jumped on top of him. His new passive, Snap Kick, will help him create space and put enemies at his fighting range.

We think this new passive will be a fun adjustment to his kit, but we also want this change to acknowledge community concerns. We understand 5v5 has
made support heroes feel more vulnerable, and we wanted to give Zenyatta
tools to help create space between him and enemies.

On top of this, Zenyattas base shields are increased from 150 to 175 to give him more health. Balance changes and bug fixes

Elsewhere, Wrecking Ball is returning from a short stint out of Overwatch 2 due to his ability to kick every other player in the game out. On top of
that, he returns with a buff, increasing his knockback by 36% which should allow him to displace the enemy team more.

Soldier 76, arguably the best Damage hero in the game, is seeing pretty big nerfs too in the hopes to bring him back in line with the rest of the roster. His bullets now do 18 damage rather than 20 and his Sprint has seen a 10% speed decrease.

He has gotten a little help in the form of buffs to his Ultimate, however. Tactical Visor now allows for critical hits and no longer removes damage falloff from his Heavy Pulse Rifle.

There are also quality of life changes, such as fixes to the kill feed not showing the correct information or health packs missing timers.

While this is just a balancing patch for the beta, it's exciting to see a patch just a week after the betas launch. Blizzards cadence of communications and action thus far is encouraging, especially with two years of near radio silence just past us. If this level of engagement continues, players will certainly feel their concerns are being heard. 2.0.8.2 Tech Beta 1 Patch
Notes

Here's a full list of the patch notes:

BUG FIXES

General

Fixed a bug where the "Thank you for reporting" message would not clear

Fixed a bug where names in the friends list would appear alphabetically regardless of game status

Fixed a bug where heroes that killed themselves would show incorrectly in the kill feed

Fixed a bug where health packs would sometimes be missing timers

Fixed a bug where Reaper would sometimes be auto selected on hero select

Fixed a bug where the control progress bar would sometimes be the wrong color

Made several adjustments to sound volume and mix

Fixed several crashes

Heroes

Wrecking Ball

Fixed a bug where Wrecking Ball could crash other players

Doomfist

Fixed a bug where Melee attacks would not deal damage to Doomfist during
Power Block

Roadhog

Fixed a bug where Roadhog's hook cooldown would start on return instead of cast

Soldier 76

Fixed a bug where Soldier's Heavy Pulse Rifle might snap awkwardly during Tactical Visor

Fixed a bug when Soldier 76 would have a slanted UI when wearing his Ugly Sweater skin

Symmetra

Fixed a bug where shooting Symmetra's turrets into the horizon would cause turrets to be unusable

Hanzo

Fixed a bug where Hanzo's White Wolf skin would appear invisible

Brigitte

Fixed a bug where Brigitte's shield did not block damage from above

Ana

Fixed a bug where using Nano Boost on Doomfist would overwrite his damage reduction

Lucio

Fixed a bug where Sonic Amplifier could jam and not reload

Maps

Midtown

Adjusted some geometry on top of the train to prevent players from staying there indefinitely

Colosseo

Adjusted some geometry that could be abused by players

HEROES

DAMAGE

Sojourn

Railgun Alt Fire

Projectile width increased from 0.05m to 0.1m

Power Slide

Cooldown reduced from 7 to 6 seconds

Dev Comment:

We saw a lot of players at varying skill levels struggling to land shots
with her Alt Fire, so we are making the projectile width wider.

Sojourn is all about mobility, and we wanted her to move around the maps
more freely. We think this will help increase her effectiveness and make her even more fun to play.

Soldier: 76

Heavy Pulse Rifle

Damage reduced from 20 to 18

Sprint

Movement speed reduced from 50 to 40%

Tactical Visor

Now allows for critical hits, if a shot would have been a critical hit
without it running

No longer removes damage falloff from his Heavy Pulse Rifle

Dev Comment:

We believe Soldier 76 was over tuned during the first week of the PvP beta. He was extremely mobile with the new damage passive that increases movement speed by 10%. We brought his Sprint ability down a bit with the new passive
in mind.

Soldier 76 has always been a high damage output hero, but we are seeing
fewer counters to him with one less tank per team. We lowered the damage of his Heavy Pulse Rifle to fit with 5v5.

We wanted to make Tactical Visor a more interesting ultimate for players who want to push their aim skills through the ability. The point of this change isnt purely to buff him or counterbalance the nerfs. We wanted to make
Soldier 76 more fun to play while rewarding mechanical skill.

Sombra

Stealth

Movement speed reduced from 65 to 50%

Dev Comment:

After a week of testing the new damage passive, we decided to balance
Sombras Stealth speed with the 10% movement speed increase in mind.

TANK

Roadhog

Whole Hog

This ability has changed from a Channeled ultimate (e.g. Pharah, Reaper, Cassidy), into a Transform ultimate (e.g. Soldier: 76, Genji, Winston). This is what that means:

The weapon no longer automatically fires, and you must press Primary Fire to use the ultimate

You can use normal abilities during Whole Hog without canceling the ultimate

Stuns will no longer cancel the ultimate



Dev Comment:

We saw Roadhog underperforming, so we are making his ultimate more interesting, effective, and fun. Roadhog was dying frequently while using Whole Hog, so we are trying to give him more options and flexibility in his ult.

Winston

Tesla Cannon

Secondary fire ammo cost reduced from 20 to 12

Dev Comment:

This change to Winston's secondary fire enables him to use it more often without sacrificing as much of his primary fire. We want his secondary fire
to feel less restrictive to use and more fluid like his kit.

Wrecking Ball

Roll

Knockback increased by 36%

Dev Comment:

We are reverting Rolls knockback to the original value from when Wrecking Ball was launched. We wanted to give Wrecking Ball a more unique role as a dive tank that can split up enemy teams. We made this change with the Tank passive of 30% knockback resistance in mind.

Zarya

Graviton Surge

Duration reduced from 4 to 3.5 seconds

Dev Comment:

There are less counters to Graviton Surge with one less tank per team and phase effects no longer escaping Zaryas ultimate. We observed the ultimate over-performing, so this change brings it in line with 5v5 gameplay.

SUPPORT

Lucio

Crossfade

Self-healing penalty increased from 30% to 60%

Dev Comment:

Lucio had incredible survivability with Crossfade stacked with the new support role passive, so we reduced the amount it heals himself.

Baptiste

Biotic Launcher

Healing ammo increased from 10 to 13

Dev Comment:

Baptist is under-performing because teams arent playing as grouped up right now. Increasing his healing ammo will let him heal more targets who arent necessarily grouped up.

Ana

Biotic Rifle

Ammo increased from 12 to 15

Biotic Grenade

Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds

Dev Comment:

Anas Biotic Grenade was too effective with one less tank and more infrequent barriers, so we are reducing the duration of the ability. We also saw Ana using her grenade less frequently on herself because of the new support passive ability. To help compensate for her grenade, we wanted to give her power back through increasing her Biotic Rifles ammo.

Zenyatta

Base shields increased from 150 to 175

New Passive Added: Snap Kick

This passive increases Quick melee damage by 50% and significantly increases its knockback

Dev Comment:

Zenyatta has trouble fighting at close range, so he was at a disadvantage if an enemy flanked or jumped on top of him. His new passive, Snap Kick, will help him create space and put enemies at his fighting range.

We think this new passive will be a fun adjustment to his kit, but we also want this change to acknowledge community concerns. We understand 5v5 has
made support heroes feel more vulnerable, and we wanted to give Zenyatta
tools to help create space between him and enemies.

Brigitte

Shield Bash

Knockback doubled

Dev Comment:

Its difficult to tell when Brigitte lands a Shield Bash because the impact
of that ability was not easily noticeable. This is a subtle change that will make the ability feel more satisfying. Overwatch 2 makes Overwatch fun again
: here's our early impressions of the game!



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/overwatch-2-beta-update-gives-zenyatta-an-abili ty-thatd-make-leonidas-proud/


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