The Overwatch 1.5 patch—that’s the one with Sombra—is now out of the PTR and fully live for everyone. The update also throws open the doors to the Arcade, and makes the new Arena map Ecopoint: Antarctica available to everyone.
Sombra, naturally, is what we’ve all been waiting for, and holy cow it’s nice to finally have that ARG gong show finished up. “Sombra is a master manipulator who can hack her enemies, temporarily blocking her their abilities. In addition, she can hack health packs and Torbjorn’s turret, making them useless to her opponents,” the patch notes state. “She uses her fully automatic Machine Pistol to take out her enemies, getting into position using her Thermoptic Camo, which allows her to become invisible and move quickly for short periods of time. This gives her the ability to slip past enemies defenses undetected, but she’s instantly revealed if she takes damage or attacks an enemy. She also has a Translocator, which can be tossed like a grenade. When it’s activated, Sombra is teleported to its location (even while it’s in flight).”
The Arcade, meanwhile, offers “a variety of regularly rotating game modes, maps, and rulesets that don’t quite fit into Quick Play or Competitive Play,” Blizzard said. “Whether it’s 1-on-1 duels, 3-vs-3 skirmishes, our alternating selection of brawls, or special rulesets like “no hero switching,” you should have no problem finding a game that fits your mood. Experience is earned just like any other mode, but you can also earn Arcade-specific rewards, like Loot Boxes!”
The full patch notes dig into deeper detail, but one noteworthy point is that the buff to Pharah’s jump jets will enable her to “fly forever,” has been retained. The minimum explosion damage of her rocket launcher has been boosted as well, “so hitting multiple targets should feel better.”
The most significant balance tweak overall is to ultimate abilities, which have had their charge costs increased by 25%. The notes also say that Mei’s ultimate cost has been increased by 15% and D.Va’s ‘Call Mech’ ultimate reduced by 20%—it’s unclear right now whether those hero-specific changes are additive or exceptions to the overall 25% increase in ultimate costs.
Soldier 76 also sees a buff to Pulse Rifle damage (from 17 to 20 per bullet) alongside a modest increase in maximum bullet spread, so his gun becomes slightly harder to handle but a bit more powerful too.
