The Overwatch 2 April Fools' Day patch notes are here, and they’re, uh, “really, really, really balanced”
Overwatch 2’s new April Fools' mode “Balanced Overwatch” is live in the Arcade.
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What you need to know
With every new patch, game developers are often scrambling to find a comfortable middle ground between their vision for a game and the requests from players to make nerfs or buffs. For April Fools' Day, though,Overwatch 2developer Blizzard Entertainment has gone above and beyond the usual googly eyes gag by giving players what they’ve wanted all along with a limited-time mode called “Balanced Overwatch.” It’s available to play now in the Arcade and lasts until April 8, and by completing special challenges in it, players can earn some unique new sprays made out of developer doodles.
The patch notes for the mode — all of which are included in the section at the bottom of this article — detail massive gameplay changes to hero abilities, health, damage, and more, and just may leave players a little more cautious about what they ask for in the future.
The Hero balance changes you’ve all been waiting for 👀Jump in this week for our most balanced update EVER ✨ pic.twitter.com/HavuYDjYMjApril 1, 2024
The patch notes for this “really, really, really balanced” balanced edition of Overwatch include tons of wild changes for every hero. D.Va, for example, now has a 900% increase to the knockback of her Self-Destruct Ultimate in addition to being able to boost backwards. Oh, and if a player can pull off canceling the boosters with a crouch within .4 seconds, the cooldown on boosters is reduced to just 1.5 seconds. Some other notable tank hero changes include giving Reinhardt the ability to deflect projectiles with Rocket Hammer swings, making Orisa’s Energy Javelin ricochet and explode, and shrinking Mauga’s size by a whopping 50%.
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Cassidy, meanwhile, gets a bump in the survivability department with a new Wanted passive that marks a single enemy on the opposing team. Once that enemy is killed, Cassidy earns an extra 50 health points until his next death. That seems balanced! Mei gets in on the new ability action, too, but the developers kindly ask that you don’t use her new ability to reach areas of the map that you’retotallynot supposed to get to. Jumping in the air activates Avalanche Launch, which creates a pillar of ice under Mei.
The fun isn’t just for tank and damage heroes, though. Mercy mains can say goodbye to those goose eggs in the damage stat, because Damage Boost has been removed and replaced, instead, with a Damage Staff that fires Caduceus Blaster projectiles. These do 2 extra damage, get bigger during Mercy’s Valkyrie Ultimate, and even reload automatically and at twice the speed while she’s healing. Nowthat’sbalance! Moira’s also getting in on the damage buff action, with the primary Biotic Grasp dealing damage and the secondary doing the healing, now. What could go wrong? Oh, and Brigitte is now Bigitte; you’ll see what we mean when you play.
Overwatch 2 April Fools' Day patch notes
Below, we’ve listed all of thevery balancedandtotally not absurdpatch notes for “Balanced Overwatch,” complete with all the developer comments straight from the horse’s mouth. You’ll also find them onBlizzard’s official patch notes page.
Patch Update
We are currently aware of an issue that these balance changes are only reflected in a game mode that appears in the arcade. So we’re gonna call it “Balanced Overwatch” for now. Sorry for any confusion. There are also some new challenges that are granting some of our developer’s doodles as sprays. We’re not sure why that is happening, but they are really cool looking. You might want to collect them as quickly as possible because this is planned to be fixed by April 8.
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Hero Updates
Developer Comments: Due to technical difficulties, a significant portion of the balance tweaks we intended to include in the S9 Competitive update were left out. To remedy this, we are releasing them now. We understand that players will want to try all these exciting changes, so we have made it easier than ever to switch heroes mid-game.
GENERAL UPDATES
TANK
D.VA
Developer Comments: Mech go zoom and D.Va bomb go boom.
DOOMFIST
Developer Comments: Doomfist is a mobility hero, so there’s no reason he should be slowing down while blocking right?
JUNKER QUEEN
Developer Comments: Leave it to Junker Queen to cut her way toward new heights.
MAUGA
Developer Comments: Smallga
ORISA
Developer Comments: Efi has made some changes to Orisa’s technology inspired by a completely hypothetical scenario where a certain archer rides her into battle.
RAMATTRA
Developer Comments: We heard Ramattra wasn’t suffering enough so we’ve increased his suffering so that when he causes suffering his enemies will suffer as much as he has suffered.
REINHARDT
Reinhardt Comment: HAHA! THIS IS JUST LIKE PING PONG! WATCH THIS, BRIGITTE! I WILL BE ENTERING THE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR!
ROADHOG
Developer Comments: Much to the chagrin of his enemies, Roadhog has recently discovered baseball.
SIGMA
Developer Comments: Danger! Falling rocks.
WINSTON
Developer Comments: Empowering the “no aim” playstyle.
WRECKING BALL
Developer Comments: We’re preparing to retcon Wrecking Ball into a crab. Hope these changes are sufficiently immersive.
ZARYA
Developer Comments: Please don’t burst Zarya’s bubble, no matter how big it gets.
DAMAGE
ASHE
Developer Comments: B.O.B.’s upset from being called the wrong name, so F.R.E.D.’s picking up the slack.
BASTION
Developer Comments: Yeah, we’ve switched up his configurations a little. So anyway, start blastin'.
CASSIDY
Developer Comments: Extra survivability is every cowboy’s dream – just don’t die.
ECHO
Developer Comments: Now bringing Mystery Heroes into other modes.
GENJI
Developer Comments: Parry this! *Not exclusive to casual players.
HANZO
Developer Comments: Hanzo has always struggled to overcome his past, so it’s hard for him not to bounce back to old habits.
JUNKRAT
Developer Comments: Junkrat put bombs on his bombs. Not sure why this would surprise anybody.
MEI
Developer Request: Definitely do not use this to get to spots on the map you’re not supposed to get to, thanks.
PHARAH
Developer Comments: You’ve used Hover Jets. You’ve used Jump Jets. You’ve used Jet Dash. But have you tried Jet Land?
REAPER
Developer Comments: Someone’s taken a page out of Mauga’s book.
SOJOURN
Developer Comments: Vivian Chase? More like Vivian Pull.
SOLDIER: 76
Developer Comments: Run and gun? Sounds like fun!
SOMBRA
Developer Comments: To keep fights fair, let the enemy team know that they should update their network anti-virus and firewalls as soon as possible.
SYMMETRA
Developer Comments: Symmetra can’t troll you if you don’t press Teleport.
TORBJÖRN
Developer Comments: Everyone deserves a pet turret.
TRACER
Developer Comments: krow slotsiP esluP ruoy woh gnignahc ,erutuf ro tsap eht ot uoy sdnes ylmodnaR
WIDOWMAKER
Developer Comments: Hooks + Headshot = Parkour
SUPPORT
ANA
Developer Comments: Rise and shine! How’s this for a rude awakening?
BAPTISTE
Developer Comments: Someone once advised Baptiste to keep moving forward. He’s really taken that advice to heart.
BRIGITTE
Developer Comments: Bigitte
ILLARI
Developer Comments: Fixing a longstanding Illari bug, her solar powers are now fully functional.
KIRIKO
Dev Comment: You should see her on her trampoline.
LIFEWEAVER
Developer Comments: Reach new heights with Lifeweaver through the power of photosynthesis.
LUCIO
Developer Comment: Lucio’s gun is now keepin’ it in time.
MERCY
Developer Comments: Goodbye, 0 damage numbers!
MOIRA
Dev Comment: Moira’s right arm is starting to melt from all the experimentation, so she’s switching it up.
ZENYATTA
Developer Comments: “Let Zen walk?” Not sure about that one.
Overwatch 2 is one of thebest Xbox gamesandbest PC gameson the market for fans of competitive multiplayer shooters, and it’s available now for free on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4. Recently,Blizzard committed to making all Overwatch 2 heroes free for everyoneonce Season 10 kicks off on April 16,including the new damage hero Venture.
Cole is the resident Call of Duty know-it-all and indie game enthusiast for Windows Central. She’s a lifelong artist with two decades of experience in digital painting, and she will happily talk your ear off about budget pen displays.
