General
Arcade and Custom Games
- Players will no longer see the Assemble Your Team screen at the beginning of a game when Respawn as a Random Hero is enabled.
- Players who purposefully kill themselves in a game where Respawn as a Random Hero is enabled, will no longer respawn as a new hero. However, their Ultimate ability will reset and any equipment thats been placed (i.e. Torbjrns turret) will despawn.
- In games where Respawn as a Random Hero is enabled, players will no longer receive the same hero two consecutive times, unless Custom Game settings have restricted the hero pool to a single hero
User Interface Updates
- The skull icons that indicate where teammates were killed throughout the map have been replaced with Hero Portrait icons
- Third person camera view will now frame the action automatically when spectating or waiting to respawn
Hero Updates
D.Va
- Micro Missiles (New Ability)
- D.Va fires a barrage of small rockets that detonate on impact, dealing damage in a limited radius around each explosion. These can be fired while D.Va is using any other ability or firing her Fusion Cannons
- D.Va fires a barrage of small rockets that detonate on impact, dealing damage in a limited radius around each explosion. These can be fired while D.Va is using any other ability or firing her Fusion Cannons
- Defense Matrix
- Defense Matrix's resource meter will now deplete twice as quickly
- Defense Matrix's resource meter will now deplete twice as quickly
- Boosters
- Fusion Cannons can now be fired while flying
- Fusion Cannons can now be fired while flying
Developer Comments: D.Vas Defense Matrix uptime has proven to be too strong, but simply reducing it without making other changes would make her too weak (and far less interesting to play). Instead, were adding a new ability, and giving her the ability to fire while flying. These changes give D.Va a lot of new options while maintaining Defense Matrixs ability to shut down big enemy attacks.
Mercy
- Resurrect (formerly Mercys Ultimate ability)
- Ability now targets a single player, instead of every player within a radius
- Radius reduced to 5 meters
- Ability cooldown is 30 seconds
- Mercy is no longer granted invulnerability while Resurrect is active
- Ability now targets a single player, instead of every player within a radius
- Valkyrie (New Ultimate Ability)
- Valkyrie unleashes the full power of Mercys Valkyrie Suit, enhancing her weapons and abilities for 20 seconds:
- Caduceus Staff: Mercys healing and damage boost beams now affect all allies near the targeted teammate, and the staffs effective range has been extended
- Caduceus Blaster: Granted infinite ammo, while simultaneously increasing damage and fire rate
- Guardian Angel: Increased range and movement speed
- Resurrect: Cooldown is instantly reset when Valkyrie is activated and reduced to 10s after the initial cast
- Hover: Mercy gains the ability to fly freely, at increased movement speed
- Regeneration (Passive): No longer interrupted when Mercy takes damage
- Caduceus Staff: Mercys healing and damage boost beams now affect all allies near the targeted teammate, and the staffs effective range has been extended
- Valkyrie unleashes the full power of Mercys Valkyrie Suit, enhancing her weapons and abilities for 20 seconds:
Developer Comments: While resurrecting downed allies is a core part of Mercys gameplay, the way her Ultimate functioned was causing a number of problems. It was frustrating to play against, and it incentivized Mercy players to hide away from important battles, instead of taking part in them. This version turns Resurrect into a single target ability. Its still an important part of Mercys kit, but plays much better for both Mercy players and her enemies. Valkyrie, her new Ultimate, gives her the opportunity to make big game-making plays and opens a number of new options for her.
Reinhardt
- Barrier Field
- Holding primary fire while your shield is active now allows you to rotate the camera
- Holding primary fire while your shield is active now allows you to rotate the camera
Developer Comments: This change gives Reinhardt more situational awareness while using his shield, allowing him to keep an eye on the battlefield while still protecting his team.
User Interface
- Added an ?Outline Opacity option under the custom reticle settings (found under Controls > Options > Advanced), which allows players to control the opacity of the black outline surrounding the reticule
Bug Fixes
General
- Fixed an issue that prevented players from automatically joining Match Chat, even when the option was enabled
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving the Perfect Round indicator after an Elimination game if they received a temporary health boost from an ability (e.g. Lcios Sound Barrier)
Heroes
- Fixed a bug that occasionally caused the heroes ?sigh voice line to play when respawning
- Fixed a bug that interrupted the animation on Anas eye during the Beach Ball emote with her Captain Amari skin equipped
- Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist from being knocked back when his Rocket Punch ability was being used
- Fixed a bug that allowed Doomfists Rocket Punch to hit players through the taxi on Kings Row
- Fixed a bug that caused a pair of pink fuzzy dice to mysteriously float onto the screen when viewing D.Vas weapon in the Hero Gallery if her Cruiser skin was equipped
- Fixed an issue that caused the golden tint of Junkrats weapon to appear dull when his Firework skin was equipped
- Fixed a bug that caused Meis Ultimate to appear friendly (it failed to change from blue to red) after being reflected by Genji
Maps
- Fixed a bug that prevented reflections from appearing on weapons while standing in certain areas on Ilios
- Fixed a lighting issue that caused some items on the last point of Route 66 to take on a pinkish hue when players used low video settings
- Fixed an issue that caused reflections to appear overly dark while players were standing in areas of The Cave Inn on Route 66
- Fixed an issue that caused excessive camera zoom and flashing lights when players loaded into the tutorial map
- Fixed a bug that prevented plated railings from being properly destroyed by weapons fire on Volskaya Industries