To sum up, Blizzard released patch notes for Overwatch, and the discussion about the reason for this change is already going on in the community. The official Overwatch account, while posting the classic ‘Patch Notes Incoming 🚨’ tweet, also hinted at some adjustments that would alter the game’s experience for a great number of players. Aim Assist for certain heroes was reduced, the Winter Wonderland event prizes were made bigger, and Doomfist’s currency earnings were bumped up slightly. And, of course, ‘more!’ because it is never just three things.
What is the matter? For the SEO bots and all others who just want the facts: Overwatch’s latest patch introduces a 4% restriction of Aim Assist for selected heroes, upgrades Winter Wonderland challenge rewards from 2 to 3 cookies per challenge, and increases the earned currency in Doomfist’s stadium mode by 25%. The patch is in place now, and full notes explaining other changes are available.
Next comes chaotic, human reaction since that’s where the real story lies. Patch notes are released, and you get prepared for the impact. And what about the responses? They create a vibe. A mixed, chaotic, and at times, salty vibe.
The first issue to raise is the Aim Assist modification. This is one of those aspects that relate only to controllers and it actually results in the disputes over PC vs. console heating up. The notes say it is for ‘select Heroes’, but they did not clarify which ones. That’s always fun—a little mysterious nerf. Player ‘Kaos Fox’ was displeased with it and said, “Thank you for not listening to the complaints about the aim changes at all, and double thanks for not allowing an option to revert to all my settings and feel of pre-changes.” That is a feeling that many gamers experience when everything is altered. It is as if someone slightly shifted your best seat. It feels wrong.
Now let’s move on to the Winter Wonderland reward increase. The difference between getting 2 and 3 cookies per challenge is nothing short of a 50% increase. That is huge for someone getting the seasonal cosmetics. It is an extremely nice, player-friendly change, especially during an event. A little holiday cheer from the developers, if you want? However, not everybody is, of course, looking at the cookies.
No, the sizeable talk in the community quickly turned to hero balance, especially one hero going by the name of Vendetta? Wait, what? Vendetta? That’s not an Overwatch character. A glance at the replies reveals that players are indeed referring to a hero, but the name either causes confusion or is a nickname in the community. The context indicates they are talking about Zarya. There’s even a thread where the user ‘guildkin_678’ is crying, “please get a new balance team that doesn’t just listen to gold players. vendetta is not a good character and yall have made her worse.” Another player, ‘Tr0llTheWeak’, also voiced that “she is freaking hard to play when you get into masters.”
This somehow triggered a mini-discussion in the replies. User ‘Iammaushold’ claimed that “Vendetta ain’t that bad,” highlighting Bastion as a counter and talking about the hero ban system in competitive modes as a way to deal with problematic picks. But ‘mazz_fs’ responded, saying that banning a hero should not be used as an excuse for them to be overpowered and that she “has been dominant for over a full season at this point.” It’s the classic clash of high-rank vs. mid-rank perception. What one tier finds oppressive, another might find manageable. The developers have to factor in all of this, which is essentially an impossible task. Good luck with that.
Oh, and someone requested Lucio to have 5 boops. Just like that, out of the blue. “Now make Lucio have 5 boops,” was from user ‘ngst2ctdz’. I mean, why not? Total chaos takes the stage.
The Doomfist buff is, indeed, a very interesting topic. A 25% increase in the currency received in the Stadium mode is a direct invitation to actually play a specific hero in a particular arcade mode. It appears to be a targeted nudge to allow for more Doomfists, possibly to evaluate or just to change the meta in that playlist. If you are a Doomfist main, now is the time to reap rewards.
However, in the midst of all the hero discussion, another common complaint surfaces. User ‘ZenoKagemaru’ outright asked, “I don’t see anything there about removing the quick play leaver penalty.” They supported their argument by stating that if matchmaking is not fixed, players should be permitted to leave their current match until they get a fair one.
