Overwatch has a series of in-game events along with its ongoing and changed competitive circuit. One of those event is its yearly celebration of Overwatch’s anniversary. With it comes a heap of new skins, new sprays and special, limited time game modes. A brand new patch is out with a plethora of Hero changes to complement the events.
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The Overwatch anniversary event is always one of the fan favourites – it’s big Overwatch news when the event goes live and players can finally get their hands on ALL the skins that are normally locked behind event-walls. The anniversary event makes it possible to get both dedicated skins and those from, say, the Christmas event. Naturally, it also features several Overwatch anniversary-themed skins – among them are new looks for Reaper, Ashe, Mercy, Zenyatta and Wrecking Ball – plenty to keep fans excited. Overwatch also added new sprays and voice lines, two of which stand out – the game now features two dedicated Ramadan sprays called Fast and Feast.
Special game modes like Junkenstein’s Revenge, Snowball Offensive, Lucioball and Yeti Hunt among others will all be enabled. Players are already betting on this Overwatch anniversary event being one of the game’s best ones yet – it’s easy to see why with so many major changes and new skins to be had. Be sure to check out the event while it’s live on Overwatch – you’ll get a free loot box just for logging in during the event period!
For the followers of the Overwatch League another big update was announced. The Overwatch League Token rewards are back if you are watching the OWL streams.
This year, it also coincides with a balance patch that changed more than just what skins were available to players. Peeking at the Overwatch patch notes reveals that in addition to some bug fixes, there are plenty of other adjustments. The overall meta shift is no longer decided by pools after the latest patch.
A notable takeaway from this patch is the healer tuning. Ana is getting her healing toned down, while Mercy is just getting healing that’s purely a buff.
Additionally, Mei’s cryo-freeze now blocks sight and collision just like her ice wall. There is however a bunch of other problems with Mei. Wrecking Ball passes through Mei’s Cryostasis, she also cannot be targeted and healed while in Ice Block. Some of these issues are known, others are just being discovered as players are wondering if some changes were intended or not.
Ashe’s weapon snaps to zoom faster, and D.VA can maintain her aim when exiting her mech. Bastion had his sentry speed decreased and his mags reduced to 40 instead of 60. His self-repair has been reduced by 20% and made less effective – in other words, he was nerfed in almost every way.
Doomfist on the other hand was buffed and had his skill Seismic Slam made more accurate. Echo, Overwatch’s most recent hero, added just before the Overwatch anniversary event, had a slight reduction to her head hit volume height, while seasoned character Junkrat had all three of his skills adjusted. His Frag Launcher’s ammo now ricochet further, his concussion mine does more damage, and his Total Mayhem explodes faster and has a larger impact radius. Moira on the other hand had her ability Biotic Orb nerfed – it now has a lower damage radius, moves faster and lasts 7 seconds instead of 10.
Reinhardt had the same adjustment that new hero Echo had – his head hit volume was reduced, making it more difficult to headshot him, especially from behind. Already powerful healer Zenyatta also had his damage amplifier raised from 25% to 30%.
Overall, there is many changes happening all at once that are definitely going to change the core picks and send the meta out of whack. Maybe its the change Overwatch needs as they begin a the chapter in 2020.
Read next: How to get Overwatch League Tokens
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