Overwatch Patch 1.5 released: Sombra and the Arcade go live alongside hero balancing, PS4 Pro support, more
Overwatch players can now try their hand at the game's newest hero, Sombra, and take a turn in the game's new Arcade mode. But, there's more than just a new feature and hero to found in today's patch notes.
The update is now live on all platforms, and comes with the Ecopoint: Antarctica map which was announced for Overwatch during the BlizzCon 2016 opening ceremony.
The firm also issues a reminder that Season 3 of Competitive Play will end next week on November 23 at 4PM PT/7pm ET/12am UK (Nov. 24). Season Three kicks off on November 30 at at the same times.
During the week-long off season, players can still queue for matches using the Competitive Play ruleset, but skill ratings will not be affected and no Competitive Points will be awarded.
Also with Season Three, players will be distributed more broadly across the skill tiers. This means the players' S3 rating will likely be lower than it was in the previous two.
Notes for update 1.5 are rather long, so be prepared before venturing below. To read over the developer comments for each section of the notes, hit up the Overwatch forums.
General Updated
General
Added PlayStation 4 Pro support
Made a number of data format improvements, which should decrease load times and reduce the game's storage space requirements
Made several adjustments to the amount of experience needed to level
The amount of experience needed to reach levels 2 through 13 remains unchanged
The amount of experience needed to reach levels 14 through 100 has been slightly reduced
The amount of experience needed to reach levels after 100 is now constant (20,000 XP) and will no longer reset after each promotion
Quick Play matches are now restricted to one of each hero per team
Spectating – The number of observer slots in Custom Games has been increased from 6 to 12
Hero Balance Changes
General
Dealing damage to things other than players (like Torbjörn's turret or Symmetra's teleporter) no longer charges ultimate abilities
Ultimate costs have been increased by 25% for all heroes
Ana – Nano Boost: No longer increases move speed (nerfed)
D. Va (buffed)
Call Mech: Ultimate cost has been decreased by 20%
Mech health increased to 200 (formerly 100). Armor remains at 400
Movement speed while firing has been increased by 25%
Lucio: Amp It Up – Healing per second has been decreased by 10% (nerfed)
Mei – Blizzard – Ultimate cost has been increased by 15% (nerfed)
Mercy – Passive health regeneration now activates when Mercy avoids taking damage for 1 second (formerly 3 seconds) (buffed)
Pharah (buffed)
Rocket Launcher
Minimum explosion damage has been increased by 13%
Minimum explosion knockback has been decreased to 0%
Jump Jets: Lift increased by 35%
Soldier 76 (buffed)
Bullet damage increased from 17 to 20
Maximum bullet spread increased from 2.2 to 2.4
Torbjörn (changed a bit)
Scrap is now automatically generated over time
The amount of scrap collected from a fallen enemy has been decreased by 40%
Forge Hammer: Swing speed increased by 25%; Damage decreased by 27%
Widowmaker (buffed)
Venom Mine: Explosion no longer damages the player who placed the mine
Widow's Kiss: Charge rate increased by 20%
Zarya (nerfed)
Particle Barrier: Power gained from barriers decreased by 20%
Projected Barrier: Power gained from barriers decreased by 20%
User Interface
General:Loading screen now displays the name of the chosen game mode when playing in the Arcade
Bug Fixes
General
Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented the PC client from closing properly, making the Battle.net application think the game was still running
Fixed a bug preventing players from receiving credit toward the Most Healing Done commendation
Fixed a bug that caused the columns on Recent Players to slightly overlap each other
Fixed a bug preventing the fourth column on the friends list from being displayed properly
Fixed a navigation error that could occur when attempting to adjust video options using a controller
Players will now be removed from the Practice Range if they are AFK
AI
Fixed a bug that caused McCree bots to Combat Roll into the well on Ilios
Fixed a bug that could cause bots to get stuck in a wall near objective B on Temple of Anubis
Fixed a bug that prevented bots from moving through certain locations on Volskaya Industries
Competitive Play
Fixed a bug that could cause overtime to continue indefinitely on Assault maps
Fixed a bug that could cause matches to begin with only 11 connected players
Heroes
Fixed a bug that prevented Ana's healing stats from showing up in the Career Profile page
Fixed a bug that prevented Ana's custom crosshairs from displaying while zoomed
Fixed a bug causing irregular placement of the pumpkin on Genji's “Pumpkin Carving” highlight intro with certain skins
Fixed a bug preventing Mercy's staff from showing up in the “Guardian Angel” highlight intro with her Cobalt skin equipped
Fixed a bug preventing Reaper's “R.I.P.” victory pose from animating correctly when the game client isn't in focus
Fixed a bug that allowed Tracer to use Blink while rewinding with Recall
Fixed a bug preventing some of Tracer's voice lines from activating with her Punk skin equipped
Fixed a bug preventing Zarya from gripping her gun's handle in the “Deadlift” highlight Intro
Fixed a bug causing Zarya's Graviton Surge to eject Reinhardt at high velocity
Maps
Fixed a typo on the bakery blackboard in Eichenwalde
Fixed a bug that allowed certain heroes to stand on unintended pillars on Ilios
Fixed a bug on Lijiang Tower that allowed heroes to reach unintended locations
Fixed a bug allowing Reaper to Shadow Step to unintended locations on Nepal
Fixed a bug that allowed players to contest the payload from a protected area above the gas station on Route 66
Fixed a bug that allowed Pharah to reach unintended locations on Volskaya Industries
Fixed a bug on Watchpoint: Gibraltar that allowed players to reach an unintended location near the final objective
Spectating: Fixed a bug that occasionally produced incorrectly colored health bars when spectating Custom Games
