OVERWATCH PATCH NOTES – JUNE 26, 2018
A new patch is now live on Windows PC. Read below to learn more about the latest changes.

To share your feedback, please post in the General Discussion forum
For a list of known issues, visit our Bug Report forum.
For troubleshooting assistance, visit our Technical Support forum.

PATCH INTRODUCTION
We’re super excited about this patch because we are adding some social features that we hope you guys really like!

First, our Endorsement system. Endorsements give you a way to acknowledge other players for having a positive impact on your gaming experience. We have ways to report people for poor conduct, but now, if you have teammates who coordinated well, a leader who gave great direction, or even someone who was just being positive you can now let them know how much you appreciated it with an endorsement!

Second is Looking for Group. A long-awaited feature that we’ve being dying to get in the game. Looking for group allows you to find like-minded players before you queue to make sure you have the kind of Overwatch experience you want! Things like specifying what game mode want to play, preferring voice chat, and knowing that a player wants to play a certain role before you go into battle together goes a long way toward solid hero compositions and team work. One small tip: Once you have created a LFG group you can browse the list and search for groups that meet your needs and invite them to join up! This is a more proactive approach to getting a group together faster.

We can’t wait for you guys to start using these systems!

—Jeremy Craig, Principal Game Designer

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Endorsements

Acknowledge your fellow Overwatch players’ positivity with endorsements! Recognize commendable behavior for players exhibiting sportsmanship, being a good teammate, or for shot calling. Commend players who lead you to victory, put the team’s needs above their own, or exhibit humility in victory or grace in defeat. Endorsements are readily available to view on Career Profiles, the Groups menu, and more so you can tell at a glance the types of players you’re playing with. Those who consistently maintain a high endorsement level will receive periodic rewards, while those who display negative behavior or accrue suspensions will lose their endorsements.

Looking for Group

Play your way using the Looking for Group feature! You can control your gameplay experience before stepping into a match by using specific parameters to create your dream team. Join a team of other like-minded players or lead a group of your own by creating a group with your personal preferences such as game mode, role enforcement, and more. Those who want to queue up for Quick Play, Play vs AI, or any competitive mode can set the types of roles others can play. These specifications will then be activated in-game (e.g. players who chose a support role will be restricted to only using heroes in that category).

GENERAL UPDATES
General

All heroes in the Defense and Offense categories have been merged into a new category: Damage
Developer Comments: Since the line between Offense and Defense heroes has become increasingly blurred, we’ve decided to group all those heroes into a single new “Damage” category. We believe that the term more closely matches the role name that is now being used in Overwatch League and across most of the game’s community.

Combat can now be heard 25% further away
Changed the name of the Varok spray to Saurfang
Players must have Blizzard SMS Protect enabled on their account to be eligible for the Top 500
The Acknowledge and Interact buttons are now separate input bindings
Career Profile

Added an Inspire Uptime Percentage statistic for Brigitte on the Career Profile
Removed some statistics for Symmetra on the Career Profile
Added a Scoped Critical Hit Accuracy statistic for Widowmaker on the Career Profile
Career Profiles will no longer be public by default (now defaults to Friends Only). An option to make Career Profiles visible has been added under Options > Social > Profile Visibility
ARCADE UPDATES
General

Symmetra can now be played in 1v1 duel game modes (e.g. 1v1 Limited Duel and 1v1 Mystery Duel)
HERO UPDATES
Doomfist

Meteor Strike

Bonus movement speed increased from 150% to 200%
The Best Defense…

Shield gain increased from 30 to 35 for normal abilities
Developer Comments: The increased movement speed on Meteor Strike gives Doomfist new options in how and where to deploy it. His passive is also being increased, allowing him to survive more often when diving into enemies.

McCree

Deadeye
Range increased from 70 meters to 200 meters
Developer Comments: While McCree’s Deadeye rarely came into play at 70 meters, we are increasing the range so it cannot be a limiting factor during normal gameplay.

Orisa

Supercharger
Ultimate cost reduced by 15%
Developer Comments: Supercharger wasn’t getting enough use, considering its impact. This change allows Orisa to use her ultimate more aggressively, knowing that she will be able to generate them more easily.

Symmetra

Photon Projector
No longer locks onto targets
Range increased to 10 meters
Damage ramping now takes 2 seconds per damage level instead of 1 second
Damage ramp increased from 30/60/120 to 60/120/180
Now generates ammo instead of spending it when hitting a barrier
Ammo reduced from 100 to 70
Alternate Fire
No longer locks onto targets
No longer pierces targets
Now explodes on contact
Projectile speed increased
Charge up speed increased
Damage changed to 60 impact / 60 explosive
Sentry Turret
Turret is now placed like a projectile instead of being set in place
Can hold a max of 3, down from 6
Can now deploy a max 3, down from 6
Damage increased
Amount of slowing effect increased
Teleporter
Can now place the exit up to 25 meters away from Symmetra
Entrance will automatically be built in front of Symmetra, rather than at her team’s spawn point
Lasts 10 seconds
Health lowered to 300
More things can teleport through it (e.g. Junkrat’s RIP-Tire)
Entrance can be destroyed
If either the entrance or exit is destroyed, the other is removed
New Ultimate: Photon Barrier
Deploys a barrier that is big enough to span and cut through an entire map
Orientation can be changed by pressing the ultimate button again
Lasts 15 seconds
Has 5000 health
Developer Comments: The goal of these changes is to move Symmetra to her new damage role and make her more flexible and viable across more areas of the game than she was previously. Now that Symmetra is no longer a support hero, she is expected to be able to dish out heavy damage, and these changes allow for her to do so. She should be more powerful and interesting in more team compositions and maps, and she should also be stronger on offense and defense.

MAP UPDATES
Horizon Lunar Colony

Point A
Added a staircase on the right when exiting the Hydroponics Room
Removed the door to the lower room on the right
Removed the small wall on the catwalk above Point A
Added some cover walls to the catwalk area
Moved the door next to the staircase that led to Winston’s room
The door is now on the side of the wall in the training pit
Moved the large health pack to the back of the room
Removed some clutter in the upper left computer room
Hydroponics Room
Switched the positions of the large and small health pack
Changed some of the hydroponic plant cover on the right
Point B
Defender spawn room exits moved from the front to the sides out of direct line of fire
Small rooms added at spawn room exits
Additional cover added near the spawn room exits
Added a route and larger platform leading to the back right corner
Raised the platform to the same height as the attackers’ platform on the opposite side of the point
The location of the old defender exit is now an alcove with a small health pack
Both teams can still pass behind the point, but there is now a cut-through in the middle of the wall for better access
The area above the window overlooking the point is now covered
A large platform with cover has been attached to the left side of the catwalk
The upper platform for the attackers has been reduced
The doorway leading to the platform is slightly smaller
Developer Comments: We’ve wanted to make some gameplay improvements to Horizon Lunar Colony for some time now. The defenders’ spawn room had a problem with its main exit that allowed defenders to quickly duck back inside and regain health while attackers shot at them without doing damage. Since we were already reworking the entire back area, we decided to make some more changes addressing player feedback. The idea behind the rework of Point A was to not only help the defenders a bit, but also provide some gameplay options aside from sitting on the point and trying to hold it for as long as possible. Easier access to high ground, as well as limiting the routes for attackers (or at least allowing for defenders to more easily spot the attackers), will allow more opportunity for counters and create a better gameplay experience.

We’ve made a lot of additions and changes to the art throughout the map for you to discover as well.