Overwatch: Die zweite Saison wurde gestartet
Überraschenderweise haben die Mitarbeiter von Blizzard Entertainment den seit einigen Wochen auf dem öffentlichen Testserver von Overwatch vorhandenen neuen Patch im Verlauf der vergangenen Nacht nun endlich auf die Liveserver dieses Titels (PC und die Xbox One) aufgespielt und der Spielerschaft dadurch dann Zugriff auf eine Reihe von neuen Inhalten gewährt. Gleichzeitig damit veröffentlichten die Entwickler dieses Hero Shooters in den Battle.Net Foren für Overwatch auch wieder offizielle Patchnotes, die zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt zwar nur auf Englisch verfügbar sind, aber dennoch alle mit diesem Update implementierten Neuerungen und durchgeführten Änderungen auflisten.
Bei dem Highlight aus diesem neuen Patch handelt es sich für viele Spieler vermutlich um die zweite offizielle Saison für Overwatch, die mit dem Erscheinen dieses Updates nun in allen Spielregionen gestartet wurde und es interessierten Spielern erneut ermöglicht, ihr vom System nach 10 Platzierungsmatches zugewiesenes Spielniveau immer weiter nach oben zu bringen. Da sich die zweite gewertete Saison von Overwatch allerdings stark von der ersten Saison unterscheidet und eine Vielzahl von Verbesserungen mit sich brachte, veröffentlichten die Entwickler zusätzlich zu den offiziellen Patchnotes in der letzten Nacht auch noch einen umfangreichen Blogeintrag (Am Ende des Artikels eingebaut) auf ihrer Communityseite, der den Spielern genau erklären soll, in welcher Weise sich Saison 2 eigentlich von Saison 1 unterscheidet.
Wichtige Inhalte aus diesem Patch:
- Saison 2 wurde gestartet.
- Das Spielfeld „Eichenwalde“ ist in Overwatch verfügbar.
- Reinhardt besitzt zwei neue legendäre Skins.
- Der gewertete Modus erhielt eine Reihe von Verbesserungen (Blogeintrag).
- Einige der spielbaren Helden wurden überarbeitet (Nerf für Genji, Buff für Mei etc.).
- Spieler können sich nun die Gesundheitsleisten von Mitspielern anzeigen lassen.
- Andauernde Ultimates verbrauchen die Anzeige für diese Fähigkeiten nun etwas schneller.
- Ultimates unterbrechen nun Nahkampfangriffe.
- Viele Fehler wurden behoben.
- Alle Charaktere können nun Emotes für „Lachen“ und „Sitzen“ freischalten.
Die Patchnotes:
GENERAL UPDATES
General
- When activating the „Ultimate Status“ communication, Symmetra now reports the number of charges left on her teleporter
- When activating the „Needs healing“ communication while targeting a teammate, Ana, Lúcio, Mercy, and Zenyatta will now tell allies to group up to receive healing. A marker will also appear above the player’s head, allowing teammates to locate the healer more quickly
- Added Torbjörn as an AI-controlled hero in Practice vs. AI, Play vs. AI, and Custom Game modes
- Sit and laugh emotes are now unlockable for all heroes
- New Legendary skins have been added for Reinhardt
Competitive Play
- Skill rating is now measured on a 1-5000 scale instead of the former 1-100 scale
- Skill Rating Tiers
- Players will now be assigned to a tier, depending on their skill rating
- Bronze – 1-1499
- Silver – 1500-1999
- Gold – 2000-2499
- Platinum – 2500-2999
- Diamond – 3000-3499
- Master – 3500-3999
- Grandmaster – 4000-5000
- In Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond tiers, a player will not drop out of their tier even if their skill rating falls below the cutoff
- In Master and Grandmaster tiers, a player whose skill rating falls below the tier’s minimum will be moved to a lower tier
- Players that have reached the Master and Grandmaster tiers must be within 500 Skill Rating of their groupmates
- Players that are Diamond-tier and below must be within 1000 Skill Rating of their groupmates
- Players will now be assigned to a tier, depending on their skill rating
- Skill Rating Decay
- Players in Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster tiers that haven’t participated in a competitive match for 7 days will lose skill rating
- Players with a skill rating above 3000 (Diamond tier or higher) will lose 50 rating points every 24 hours, but their rating will not fall below 3000
- Competing in a single match will halt skill rating decay
- Players that haven’t participated in a competitive match for 7 days will immediately drop out of the top 500
- Map Changes
- Several refinements have been made to the time bank system for Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, and Volskaya Industries
- The time bank system has been added to Dorado, Hollywood, King’s Row, Numbani, Route 66, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar
- Time granted for taking objectives on Dorado, Hanamura, Hollywood, King’s Row, Numbani, Route 66, Temple of Anubis, Volskaya Industries, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar has been reduced from 5 minutes to 4
- Competitive Points
- Existing competitive points saved from Season 1 will be multiplied by 10
- After winning a competitive match, players will now receive 10 competitive points (instead of 1)
- Players will now receive 3 competitive points for a draw
- The cost of golden weapons has also been multiplied by 10 – from 300 to 3000
- A soft cap is being placed on the number of competitive points that can be saved
- Players with more than 6000 points at the start of season 2 will no longer accrue points by playing competitive matches
- End-of-season rewards will still be granted to players at the soft cap
- Instead of going into Sudden Death, tied competitive matches will now result in a draw
- Players must now win at least 50 competitive matches to be eligible for a spot in the top 500
- Players must now complete more matches to clear their penalty status for leaving a competitive match early
HERO BALANCE UPDATES
General
- Ultimates that consume the ultimate meter when activated will now drain the meter more quickly (.25 second instead of 1 second)
- Reverted a recent change that reduced the size of heroes‘ projectiles
- Most hero abilities will no longer interrupt quick melee attacks
- Ultimate abilities will now interrupt quick melee attacks
Developer Comments: Altering the size of projectiles in flight had too many unintended side effects to keep in the game, at least in its current form. We will continue watching this and make additional changes if necessary. We’re also making quick melee more consistent when interacting with enemy abilities.
D.Va
- Defense Matrix
- After being activated, Defense Matrix will begin regenerating following a 1-second delay (formerly .5 seconds)
Developer Comments: Defense Matrix was too efficient when tapped repeatedly, instead of being held. Now, the recovery delay matches the ability cooldown.
Hanzo
- Hanzo will now experience a 30% decrease in speed while aiming (formerly 40%)
- Maximum projectile speed has been increased by 30%
- Arrow size has been reduced by 33%
Developer Comments: Hanzo has the potential to deal a lot of damage, but he can feel really inconsistent, even at a medium distance. By increasing the projectile speed, we’re extending his reliable range, making it easier to land shots without having to perfectly predict enemy movement. To compensate for the increased projectile speed, we’ve decreased the size of his arrows, meaning his shots now require a bit more accuracy.
Genji
- Double jump no longer resets when wall climbing
- Swift Strike
- No longer deals damage to traps like Widowmaker’s Venom Mine or Junkrat’s Steel Trap
- No longer bypasses Junkrat’s Steel Trap
- No longer interrupts quick melee attacks
- Dragonblade
- Duration of Genji’s ultimate has been reduced from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
Developer Comments: Genji was a little too difficult to pin down, and these changes will balance his speed. Swift Strike no longer cancels the recovery time from a quick melee attack, so players will no longer be able to get a free melee attack before using Swift Strike. Lastly, Dragonblade’s duration was long enough that it often felt too difficult to reasonably counter.
Lúcio
- Amp It Up
- The boosting of movement speed has been decreased by 30% (from a 100% increase to a 70% increase)
Developer Comments: Thanks to Lúcio’s speed increase, he was almost a must pick in every lineup.
McCree
- Deadeye
- Now drains over a .25-second period (instead of displaying a 50% reduction on the ultimate meter when activated and 0% when confirmed)
Developer Comments: If players managed to counter or avoid McCree’s ultimate, it would often regenerate very quickly since only half of the ultimate charge was spent. Now, this ultimate works like every other ultimate that has a duration.
Mei
- Blizzard
- Projectile now pierces barriers
- Radius has been increased from 8 meters to 10 meters
Developer Comments: Mei has an interesting toolkit, but her ultimate often felt like it was too difficult to use effectively. Consequently, it felt weak compared to many other ultimate abilities. The freeze effect has been piercing barriers for some time now, but the projectile would still be blocked. Now, you can throw it down exactly where you want it, so it’s much easier to utilize the full radius effectively.
Mercy
- Caduceus Staff
- Healing Beam
- Healing-per-second has been increased by 20%
- Resurrect
- Resurrected allies will be able to maneuver after 2.25 seconds (reduced from 3 seconds)
Developer Comments: Resurrection now allows teammates to jump back into the fight more quickly, which should help Mercy survive after activating her ultimate. Mercy’s healing is also getting a boost to solidify her role as a strong, single-target healer.
Roadhog
- Chain Hook
- If the hooked target isn’t in Roadhog’s line of sight when retracting the hook, they will be moved back to the position where they were originally hooked
Developer Comments: This change means that hooked targets will be less likely to slide along walls, potentially ending up in an odd place after they’ve been reeled in.
Soldier: 76
- Heavy Pulse Rifle
- Bullet spread now happens more quickly when unloading fully-automatic pulse fire
- Significantly Increased bullet spread recovery time
Developer Comments: These changes will make burst-firing feel more reliable and increase his effectiveness at longer ranges.
Zenyatta
- Orb of Discord
- The amount of damage amplified by a target with Orb of Discord has been decreased from 50% to 30%
- Orb of Destruction
- Damage has been increased from 40 to 46
Developer Comments: Zenyatta is in a far better place since the last update, but the strength of Orb of Discord has turned him into an almost mandatory pick. These changes reduce Orb of Discord’s effectiveness, but his damage-dealing potential has been increased. The amount of damage that he delivers should feel largely unaffected by the change.
MAP BALANCE CHANGES
Watchpoint: Gibraltar
- Watchpoint: Gibraltar’s first checkpoint has been removed
Developer Comments: The balance changes that were implemented in previous patches have eliminated the need for Watchpoint: Gibraltar to have an extra checkpoint.
USER INTERFACE UPDATES
General
- A new „Allied Health Bars“ option has been added (Options > Controls)
- Contextual menus have been added on the hero selection screen, giving players the ability to report or group up with other players
- Matchmaking UI is now purple in the Competitive Play queue
- Made several minor adjustments to typography in the Spectator UI
BUG FIXES
General
- Fixed a bug that allowed the kill participation metric to go above 100 percent
- Fixed a bug in the Custom Game settings preventing the Ability Cooldown modifier from affecting Ana
- Fixed a bug causing players to incorrectly see gains in experience points when completing Custom Games
- Fixed a bug that caused heroes to die when first spawned in a custom game if Health and Damage modifiers were used simultaneously
AI
- Fixed a bug that could cause AI Bastion to become stuck, continuously healing himself in the spawn area
- Fixed a bug preventing Torbjörn from placing his turret in viable locations
Heroes
- Appropriate sound effects now play when Ana shoots barriers, shields, and armor
- Ana’s scope now correctly displays all custom reticle options
- Ana’s attacks and abilities now activate the controller’s rumble function
- [XB1 Only] Fixed a bug preventing bullet shells from being rendered in Bastion’s “Bullet Rain” highlight intro
- D.Va no longer communicates her ultimate status for Self-Destruct while charging her Call Mech ultimate
- D.Va’s Boosters are no longer auto-cancelled if activated while her primary fire is active
- D.Va’s ultimate charge status is no longer reset to 0% if she falls to her death while piloting a mech
- Hanzo’s “Spirit Dragon” unlockable voice line now correctly plays when using his Okami and Lone Wolf skins
- Fixed various issues with Junkrat’s emote and highlight animations
- Fixed a bug that kept Junkrat’s ammo from being refilled when he was resurrected
- The alternate fire on McCree’s Peacekeeper ability now activates the controller’s rumble function for all six shots
- Fixed an issue causing Mei’s Ice Wall to push herself to the side when cast at her feet
- Fixed a bug preventing Mei’s Ice Wall from being destroyed by a moving payload
- Fixed a bug that prevented Mei’s Ice Wall from appearing at the target location when cast
- Fixed a bug allowing Reaper to reach unintended map locations using Shadow Step
- Fixed a bug causing Reinhardt’s shield to jitter when turning in third person
- Fixed an issue that prevented Roadhog’s chain from displaying correctly in some situations
- Fixed a bug causing Roadhog’s chain to become permanently extended if his target disconnected from the match
- Fixed several issues with Symmetra’s emotes and highlight intros
- The scarf on Tracer’s Slipstream skin is no longer stiff in the Hurdle highlight intro
- The names of Tracer’s Sprinter and Track and Field skins now display correctly
- Fixed a bug preventing overtime from being triggered while Zenyatta is using Transcendence
Maps
- Fixed an issue preventing Genji and Hanzo from reliably climbing a specific crate on Watchpoint: Gibraltar
- Fixed several issues that allowed Reaper to reach unintended locations on Watchpoint: Gibraltar
User Interface
- Competitive play leaver messaging no longer overlaps with the PvP HUD at the top of the screen
- Fixed a bug causing the end of season banner to pop up while the player is in a match
- Fixed a bug preventing the hero list in Custom Game settings from being organized alphabetically
- The spectate option now becomes unavailable (the button will be greyed out) when all spectator slots have been filled in a Custom Game lobby
- [PC Only] Fixed an issue causing in-game statistics to run off the edge of the screen in 16:10 aspect ratio
- [XB1 Only] Fixed a bug preventing the Network Quality notifications from functioning
- [XB1 Only] Fixed a bug on the main menu that caused the Hollywood background to appear brighter than intended
- [XB1 Only] Fixed a bug in the Hero Details page that occasionally caused some information to be pushed partially off screen
- [XB1 Only] Fixed a bug preventing the Button Legend in the Options Menu from repositioning when display margins were altered
Der Blogeintrag:
(Folgender Artikel soll euch die Neuerungen und Verbesserungen an der zweiten Saison erklären)
Welcome to Season 2 of Competitive Play
Once again, it’s time to put your Overwatch skills to the test—the second season of Competitive Play starts today! Before you get started on your placement matches, we wanted to give you the rundown on some of the updates we’ve made since the end of season.
For season 2, we’ve retooled the skill rating system. Instead of measuring player ratings on a 100-point scale, skill ratings will now range from 1 to 5000. This expanded scale should give players more detail about how their skill rating changes on a game-by-game basis.
We’re also implementing skill rating decay. Now, players with a skill rating above 3000 will need to stay active in order to maintain their status. If they aren’t able to complete at least one competitive match every 7 days, they will lose 50 points from their skill rating for every 24 hours they’re out of the action. The decline will stop once the player completes a competitive match, and their skill rating won’t drop below 3000.
In season 1, skill rating became a central part of nearly every conversation about Competitive Play. Because skill rating was the only gauge players had for their relative performance, and because the number constantly fluctuated throughout the season, changes in value could be frustrating. We didn’t intend for competitive players to focus on that one number, and so this season, we’re introducing seven discrete skill tiers. Depending on their skill rating, players will fall into one of these tiers, but climbing into the next tier is possible as you improve.
Here’s the breakdown:
Each tier has a unique icon that will be displayed next to a player’s name, so you’ll be able to size up your competition at a glance. A detailed breakdown of the skill tiers, along with icons and information about the corresponding skill ratings can be found by pressing the “Information” button under the Competitive Play menu.
For most skill tiers, players won’t be moved down at any point during the season after they’ve been promoted into a new tier—even if their skill rating falls below the cutoff. However, players in the Master and Grandmaster tiers need to maintain the minimum skill rating, or they’ll be moved into a lower tier.
In an effort to help provide a fair play environment across all skill levels, we’re implementing grouping restrictions in Competitive Play. In most tiers, players will be unable to group if they have a skill rating difference of more than 1000 from their potential group mates. However, in the Master and Grandmaster tiers, the difference will need to be less than 500, and players who are Diamond-tier or above cannot group with someone who is completing their placement matches.
Sudden Death is being removed this season, and we’ve incorporated an improved version of the time bank system that we’ve been using for Overwatch’s Assault maps into our Escort and Assault/Escort maps. If you’re not familiar with the system, here’s how it works.
Throughout the match, the game keeps track of how much time each team has left on the clock. When a competitive match is tied after both teams have played one round on offense and one on defense, a new attack/defend rotation will be played using the time bank system. The amount of time that each team will have for the second round depends on how much time was left on the clock at the end of their previous round.
When the second round is initiated, teams with less than 60 seconds remaining will have their time increased to 60 seconds, and an equal amount of time will always be added to the opposing team’s clock. Also, on Assault and Assault/Escort maps, it’s possible for the match to end in a draw if both teams are tied when the clock expires.
The overall round length of each competitive match has also been shortened by 60 seconds, which means players will have less time to capture points and escort payloads in the second season.
If you’d like to know more about the system, you can find a detailed breakdown over on the forums.
We’re also updating our Competitive Point system. In season 2, players will now receive 10 points for winning a game. The cost of Golden Weapons will also be multiplied by 10, meaning that golden weapons will now cost 3,000 Competitive Points instead of 300. This increase allows us to reward players for participating in Competitive Play when the match ends in a draw.
Also, we’re adding a soft cap to the number of Competitive Points that players can accrue. Once a player has collected 6,000 points, they will no longer accumulate points by winning games. They will, however, be granted the end-of-season rewards.
The Top 500 system is also undergoing a little refinement. In season 2, players will need to win at least 50 games to be eligible for a spot in the Top 500, and they’ll also need to remain active throughout the season if they want to hold on to their spot. Anyone who hasn’t played a competitive match within seven days will automatically drop out of the Top 500.
Throughout the first season, one of the biggest pieces of feedback that we received had to do with people leaving during competitive games. Leaving is something that we want to actively discourage, and we’re rethinking the penalties that occur when someone leaves a competitive match.
We recently added a 10-minute penalty for any players who leave an in-progress match, and starting in season 2, players will need to complete more matches without leaving before their account is returned to good standing.
Now that you’re up to speed on the latest changes to Competitive Play, it’s time to put your skills to the test. Season 2 is live right now on PC and Xbox One, and it’s heading to PlayStation 4 very soon.
Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for a steady stream of Overwatch information, and we’ll see you on the battlefield.
