February 28 patch live

[Pendulous]

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/over...ic/20753535162


Main points:

Capture the flag is now a main event, featured in more maps than Lijiang Tower.

Game Browser: Custom games turned up to 11 is the best way to describe this. Best part though, is all the games can be set to public, so have fun with that.

Targeting sensitivity: You are now able to adjust how sensitive targeting allies with certain abilities is. Ana's nano-boost, Zenny's orbs, Mercy's beams, Sombra's hacks, Widow's grappling hook, Zarya's shield. No more Boostios.

Bastion changes:

"Configuration: Sentry
Reconfiguration time decreased from 1.5 seconds to 1.0 second
Bullet spread increased by 50%
Bullet spread is always at maximum (it no longer increases as the weapon is fired)
Magazine size increased from 200 to 300
No longer deals critical damage


Configuration: Recon
Bullet spread decreased by 25%
Magazine size increased from 20 to 25


Self-Repair
Can now be used while moving
Now bound to secondary fire (formerly Ability 2)
No longer interrupted by taking damage
A new resource meter has been added that depletes while Self-Repair is active and recharges when not in use


Configuration: Tank
No longer grants bonus armor


New Passive Ability: Ironclad
Bastion takes 35% less damage while in Configuration: Sentry or Tank"

Roadhog changes:

"Scrap Gun
Spread decreased by 20%

Chain Hook
Targets are now pulled to a location 3.5 meters away, up from 2 meters
Cooldown increased from 6 to 8"

Mercy has a few moments of invincibility when activating her ult. Mei can be targeted by allies while in her ice block. Sym and Torb's turrets were buffed on console. Winston's critical hit box was reduced in size (WEN D.VA?).

[Dug]

Bastion is pretty dang strong now but he's not as crazy as some people make him out to be. Maybe in higher levels he's more of a pain but I'm not having any problems taking him out yet.

[Explicit Teemo Nudes]

Question:
Did they buff Sombra's damage in the patch prior to this? I stopped playing for a while and when I came back it felt like she did more damage.

Targeting sensitivity: You are now able to adjust how sensitive targeting allies with certain abilities is.

Not sure I understand exactly what this means, or what's different.

[Deleted]

Not sure I understand exactly what this means, or what's different.

I think it's the snap targeting which some heroes have for supportive abilities, the sensitivity being how close to them you need to aim in order for it to snap on to them. For example Ana doesn't need to aim at an ally to use her ultimate on them, merely look in their general direction. It's merely a quality of life improvement as the snap targeting can both be useful to some players and an annoyance to others who prefer to "aim" to make sure it goes to the right person.

[Tharkkun]

Question:
Did they buff Sombra's damage in the patch prior to this? I stopped playing for a while and when I came back it felt like she did more damage.


Not sure I understand exactly what this means, or what's different.

It's supposed to help avoid things like Ana's alt suddenly targeting Mei when you're about to buff Soldier. Same thing goes for other classes where the targeting changes a lot when people are clumped.

Sombra did get buffed 1 patch ago to make her more appealing.

[Protean]

A slight aside, but has anyone else noticed a huge rise in low-level players in quickplay since patch hit?

Increase in popularity among casuals because patch?
A recent sale = more smurfs?
Change in matchmaking algorithm?
More serious players taking a breather from the game?

I'm hesistant to go with the influx of casuals because of patch, seeing how un-noteworthy it is for most people.
Seeing how toxic and hostile these players under level 20 can be, I'm leaning towards smurf accounts.

[Xargoth6634]

Looking forward to playing some tonight and testing out some of these changes. I play Mercy a lot and the brief invincibility boost while ult'ing will be nice.

[Him]

What is a smurf account?

Some high rated player buys a new account and tanks their rating so they can destroy all the low rated people that they now get put up against

[Jean Morgan]

Some high rated player buys a new account and tanks their rating so they can destroy all the low rated people that they now get put up against

Smurf accounts can also be used to play with a friend in ranked, that is to far behind your "main-account" SR. Got to low diamond and wanted to play with a friend 11,5k lower than me... could not do it *sadpanda*.

Some use it to get another shot at placement matches.

Some use it to just go trolling.

Some even use it for little experiments like "How helpful will experienced players be to a new player", like i do it at the moment for some time. (on console its easyier/cheaper to create a smurf account)