Overwatch Patch Released, Horizon Map Now Live

Published: June 21, 2017 8:00 AM /

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Overwatch Roadhog Sitting Horizon Lunar Colony

The latest patch for Blizzard Entertainment's first-person shooter Overwatch has been released according to a post on the game's official forums.

The centerpiece of the patch is the latest map added to the game, Horizon Lunar Colony. This Assault Map is Winston's home turf and shows the aftermath of a rebellion by genetically-engineered apes that were being studied on the colony. Much of the map shows the aftermath of this rebellion, with certain portions clearly having been trashed. According to the New Map Preview video for Horizon Lunar Colony, this is the first map in the game that is "90% indoors". The tiny outdoors portions feature the moon's characteristic low gravity. Take a peek at the video yourself if you'd like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIsDXT8Xl8I

An important note regarding the map is that a miscommunication in the dev team resulted in an erroneous announcement that Horizon Lunar Colony would not be part of the Competitive map rotation for one week. The map is live and now available in the competitive rotation, and Lead Software Engineer Bill Warnecke explained the situation in an /r/Overwatch thread highlighting the correction.

Aside from a new map, the Oni Genji and Officer D.Va skins from the Heroes of the Storm Nexus Challenge have been added into the pool of available loot. If you missed out on them during the most recent Nexus challenge, you might just be fortunate enough to come across them in a box.

Three of the game's heroes have had small yet fundamental changes to the way they play. Reaper's health orbs are a thing of the past; he now gains back 20% of the damage he deals through a life steal mechanic. McCree's Deadeye Ultimate (a.k.a. High Noon) has had a pair of buffs - target lock happens in 0.2 seconds instead of 0.8 seconds and the damage buildup for the first second has been buffed from 20 to 80. Finally, Roadhog has had the size of his head hitbox reduced by 20% and a few small tweaks made to his Scrap gun. Bullet damage is down by 33%, but the fire rate has been increased by 30% and the magazine size has increased from 4 to 5.

A number of other updates have made their way into the game including changes to the end cards and various bug fixes. For the full details, head on over to the patch notes and read to your heart's content.


Quick Take

I played a round of Roadhog this morning, and my initial impression is that I like the changes that were made. Ol' Hoggy feels a bit snappier now and the Scrap Gun feels a good bit less clunky overall. I think it was a sensible change to have been made, but time will tell how it will affect the meta in the higher echelons of gameplay (of which I am most definitely not a part).

What do you think of the latest patch for Overwatch? What are your thoughts on the Horizon Lunar Colony map? Do you think there ought to be more indoor-only maps? Would you like to see maps with more exotic gameplay physics like lower gravity? Let us know in the comments below!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


A photograph of TechRaptor Senior Writer Robert N. Adams.
| Senior Writer

One of my earliest memories is playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've had a controller in my hand since I was 4 and I… More about Robert N

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Learn more about Overwatch
Game Page Overwatch
Platforms
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date
May 24, 2016 (Calendar)
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