Overwatch update time: Overwatch Anniversary 2020 event LIVE with Patch Notes
A NEW Overwatch update is being released today that will include the 2020 Overwatch Anniversary event, among other changes listed in early patch notes.
UPDATE TWO: The Overwatch Anniversary event for 2020 is now live and full patch notes have been released covering everything that has changed on PS4, Xbox One and PC, today.
You find the full list of changes at the bottom of this article.
UPDATE: Today's Overwatch update is expected to be released by around 7pm GMT, on May 19, 2020. This will be a unified release time across all platforms, including PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Early patch notes have confirmed that Anniversary event will make up a big part of today's release but that there will be other changes too. This will include improvements to the Communications Wheel, as well as Patch Notes being shared within the game. Competitive Deathmatch Season 3 is also expected to kick off today and last until June 10.
ORIGINAL: Blizzard has confirmed that the 2020 Overwatch Anniversary event will be kicking off today, May 19, on PS4, Xbox One and PC. The development team announced its plans last week, following the launch of a new Experimental Card. This will come as part of a bigger Overwatch update, which is expected to weigh in at over 2GB and arrive on all platforms at the same time.
When it comes to the Overwatch update time, Blizzard is expected to have released its latest patch by 7pm GMT.
There is a chance of a later launch due to the current strains of internet infrastructure during peak time.
However, unless Blizzard says otherwise, we can expect the big Anniversary patch to arrive in the UK during the evening.
The most recent Overwatch Public Test Server build includes a number of bug fixes and a few feature tweaks.
Early patch notes have confirmed that improvements to the Communication Wheel should be going live alongside the event.
“We have added many more communication options so you can customize your interactions in Overwatch,” the PTR description reads.
“To help you pick your favourites, go to Options -> Controls and scroll down to the Communication Wheel section.
Overwatch anniversary event to introduce new heroes and maps
“From here, you can choose from one of 26 different options for each sector of the wheel. You can change out your choices and swap around their positions within the wheel. Now, you can still tell your team “I Need Healing,” but you can also tell them you are “On My Way” so they should “Press the Attack!”
“New options are now available to customize the Communications Wheel, Shortcuts are now customisable; pick from a set of 26 different communication options, and additional keybindings are available to support more voiceover lines.”
When it comes to the Anniversary content being released today, severa eventl skins have been revealed so far by Blizzard.
A legendary Dragoon Mercy outfit has been confirmed, as has Huitzilopochtli Zenyatta, Masquerade Reaper, and Little Red Ashe.
A leaked list also includes Carbon Fiber Sigma, Fleur de Lis Widowmaker, and Masked Man McCree.
Other tweaks are also going through the Experimental avenue, with game director Jeff Kaplan offering more on the subject earlier this month..
"A lot of changes targeted to make Bastion more viable, and I know many of you are just dying to see more Bastion in your matches," Jeff confirmed via a new developer video.
"So we'll see how this goes. I'm sure you'll all be very vocal about feedback."
"Lots of changes to Support heroes, some are getting brought down a little, some are getting brought up a little.
"For example, Ana is getting balance to tune her healing down a little bit, while Mercy is just getting healing that's purely a buff."
Along with the new confirmed skins, some Anniversary Loot Boxes will likely contain items from past Anniversary and seasonal events.
The official Overwatch end date is scheduled for June 9 and will be the culmination of the current cycle of events.
OVERWATCH ANNIVERSARY PATCH NOTES
OVERWATCH ANNIVERSARY 2020
Overwatch turns four this year and we’re celebrating with brand new items, including new Legendary skins like Masquerade Reaper, Dragoon Mercy, Little Red Ashe, and more! Participate in the weekly anniversary Challenges for even more epic rewards, such as Carbon Fiber Sigma, Fleur de Lis Widowmaker, and Masked Man McCree. Did you miss any Overwatch festivities over the previous years? Don’t worry—you’ll be able to unlock items from past events using credits (or by opening Loot Boxes)! Relive the thrill of previous seasonal brawls in the Arcade, with a brawl of the day rotating throughout the Anniversary celebration.
GENERAL UPDATES
Feature Update: Improved Communications Wheel
Added many more communication options so you can customize your interactions in Overwatch! To help you pick your favorites, go to Options, then Controls and scroll down to the Communication Wheel section. From here, you can choose from one of 26 different options for each sector of the wheel. You can change out your choices and swap around their positions within the wheel. Now, you can still tell your team “I Need Healing,” but you can also tell them you are “On My Way” so they should “Press the Attack!”
New options are now available to customize the Communications Wheel
Shortcuts are now customizable; pick from a set of 26 different communication options
Additional keybindings are now available to support more voiceover lines
We've changed how communication wheel throttling works in the game. You can use up to 3 communication wheel actions in rapid succession but there is now a delay between subsequent communications (similar to how Tracer’s blink ability works in the game)
Feature Update: Patch Notes In-Client
Players are now be able to read about the latest changes to Overwatch from within the game. We wanted to players across all platforms to have convenient access to this information, and it’s now easier than ever to stay up-to-date.
Selecting the Patch Notes button on the main menu will display the patch notes in the client, and no longer requires a separate web browser
Patch Notes will show as “new” whenever a game update is available
Custom Games Updates
Existing Share Codes can now be re-uploaded with new Custom Game Settings (requires same original owner)
Skirmish can now override which Control Points are valid on Control Maps
Developer Comment: When choosing to create a share code for your Custom Game Settings, we've added the option to re-upload the new settings to an existing share code (assuming the owner is the same). This should make it easier for content creators to update existing modes, even if the codes have already been shared. Note: One may also re-upload settings to a code that has expired (assuming the owner is the same), and the share code will become valid again.
General
Players will now receive an in-game notice thanking them for their cheat report when their report has resulted in an action
Added buttons to Control map dropships to allow players to reset basketballs
Play of the Game - Retuned a number of scoring factors to emphasize more active participation in fights
COMPETITIVE UPDATES
Competitive Deathmatch Season 3 has begun! Now through June 10, 2020, compete in Competitive 8-player free for all Deathmatch to earn a rank and rewards.
HERO UPDATES
Ana
Biotic Rifle
Healing reduced from 75 to 70
Ashe
The Viper
(Secondary Fire) Now reaches max zoom halfway through Ashe's aim down sights, instead of at its conclusion
Bastion
Configuration: Sentry
Spread decreased 10%
Shots until max spread reduction lowered from 60 to 40
Self-Repair
Resource drain rate increased 20%
Healing per second increased from 75 to 90
D.Va
General
Restored functionality allowing D.Va to maintain her current aim pitch when de-meching
Doomfist
Seismic Slam
Can now hold down the Ability 2 button to use Seismic Slam as soon as able (and valid, if using the aerial version)
When landing very close or on top of enemies, the enemy will be pushed in front/away from Doomfist slightly, instead of sometimes having then end up beside/behind Doomfist
Aerial Seismic Slam no longer has a slight acceleration time, which should make it arrive at the destination more reliably
Echo
General
Reduced the height of Echo's head hit volume
Junkrat
Frag Launcher
Projectiles maintains slightly more velocity on ricochet
Concussion Mine
Projectile speed increased from 20 to 25
Ricochet distance off of enemy players greatly reduced
Total Mayhem
Bomb detonation time reduced from 1 sec to 0.7
Bombs spread increased 50%
Mei
Cryo-Freeze
Now behaves like Mei’s Ice Wall when it comes to interactions. Cryo-Freeze will block line of sight and collision in much the same way
Mercy
Caduceus Staff
Healing per second increased from 50 to 55
Moira
Biotic Orb
Damage radius reduced from 5 to 4 meters
Projectile speed increased from 16 to 20
Projectile duration reduced from 10 to 7 seconds
Reinhardt
General
Reduced the height of Reinhardt's head hit volume, making it harder to hit him in the head from behind
Zenyatta
Orb of Discord
Damage amplification increased from 25% to 30%
WORKSHOP UPDATES
New Workshop Features
Allow strings to be stored as variables
Allow no string reevaluation in Create HUD Text, Create In-World Text, and Set Objective Description
Added Player Dealt Knockback and Player Received Knockback Events
Conditions and actions are now displayed using C-style syntax. This new syntax is used when copying to text, and both new and old syntaxes are supported when pasting from text
Nulls at the end of a String or Custom String value are no longer displayed (or required when pasting from text)
Adjusted syntax coloring for conditions and actions to make it more consistent
Relaxed type restrictions, allowing Boolean values (such as Compare) to be used where numbers are expected, and vice versa
Added support for the new communication types to related actions and values
Added nighttime versions of the Workshop Island and Workshop Expanse maps
New Workshop Actions
Break
Continue
Set Crouch Enabled
Set Melee Enabled
Set Jump Enabled
Declare Round Draw
Set Ability Cooldown
Cancel Primary Action
New Workshop Values
Is Meleeing
Is Jumping
Event Direction
Button
Event Ability
Ability Cooldown
Ability Icon String
Array
If-Then-Else
BUG FIXES
General
Fixed a bug that could allow voice lines from opposing teams to be heard at Hero Select screens on certain maps
Fixed a bug where some arcade game modes were not storing or displaying stats correctly
Custom Game Filter - Changed the custom game filter "Only Show Games with Space For Party" in 2 ways:
The names have been changed to be more descriptive: "on" is now "room in game" and "include in queue" is now "room in lobby". "off" is still "off"
The filter's default has been changed to "room in game" (previously "on") instead of "off"
Fixed a bug that caused per-hero Friendly Outline settings to not apply properly in some cases
Maps
Busan
MEKA Base: Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to traslocate to an unintended location near the capture point
Downtown: Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to place her translocator in several unintended locations
Havana
Fixed a bug that prevented Genji and Hanzo from consistently being able to wall climb in several locations near point A
King’s Row
Fixed a bug that caused Orisa's Protective Barrier to fall through the floor when deployed at a specific spot close to Point B
Heroes
Baptiste
Fixed a bug where people could stand on immortality field
Immortality Field can no longer be exploited by swapping heroes to reset the cooldown
Doomfist
Fixed a visual issue with Doomfist's primary fire animation while in a Graviton Surge
Fixed a bug where McCree's roll could cause Uppercut to not lift him to the correct height
Fixed a bug where hitting Sombra with Rocket Punch would not put hack on cooldown if she was using it at the time
Fixed an animation pop when doing an aerial slam at certain range
Holding secondary ability will now also trigger the ground version of Seismic Slam when it becomes valid
Fixed a bug where sometimes Seismic Slam would not trigger if Doomfist was on a slippery surface
D.Va
Fixed a bug that caused D.Va to not gain full health when spawning into her mech in Total Mayhem
Echo
Fixed a bug where some effects caused by Duplicated heroes were not always removing themselves after 3 seconds
Fixed a bug where an Amplification Matrix wouldn't boost damage during the 3 second linger window after Duplicate ended
Fixed a bug that caused a Graviton Surge created by clone Echo to stop displaying visual effects when Duplicate ends
Fixed a bug causing Echo to be credited with a "Double Kill" on a single kill, when playing with a damage scalar > 100%
Fixed a bug where kills done by cloned heroes after Duplicate had ended were not counting towards the Duplicated Kills stat
Fixed a bug where the Hacked effect on health packs that were hacked by an Echo Duplicating a Sombra would be colored wrong after her ultimate ended
Fixed a bug where Sticky Bombs could sometimes deal damage through shields
Fixed a bug where after using Call Mech, a Duplicated D.Va would use incorrect voice lines
Genji
When Genji reflects Reinhardt's firestrike, it will now swap team coloration from Reinhardt's POV
Fixed a bug where Genji did not receive credit for kills done by a deflected Hanzo Dragonstrike
Mei
Fixed a bug where enemy Mei’s Icewall would appear the incorrect color in FFA modes
Fixed interactions between friendly Mei's Cryo-Freeze and various abilities
Mercy
Fixed a bug that caused player nameplates to be invisible when Mercy's beam target is afflicted by Ana's Biotic Grenade and ally colorblind colors is enabled
Fixed a bug where Mercy could lose ultimate charge in custom games with a damage scalar under 100%
Torbjörn
Fixed a bug allowing turrets to be teleported into invalid locations in rare instances
Zarya
Fixed a bug where Zarya's bubble doesn't purge the visual effects of someone hit by a Venom Mine
Zenyatta
Fixed a bug that could cause a pink object to appear at the top of the screen for Zenyatta while wearing his Zen-nakji skin
Workshop
Fixed a bug where values were often being counted multiple times towards a script's total element count