Overwatch has just posted their Season 19 patch notes but players are very unhappy with the changes and are expressing their displeasure through different means. The official Overwatch account, which is all about communicating with emojis, has shared the changes; how the community is responding is the next question. Well, the reaction is far from all happy and bright.
The most significant changes are Hazard’s Anarchic Perk lifesteal increase to 30%, which is quite a lot for a hero like that. Tracer’s Flashback Perk will give only one Blink charge instead of two going forward- this is a nerf that will definitely be felt by some Tracer mains. Widowmaker’s Seeker Mine Perk has had its damage upped to 50, and the powers and items of Ana in the Stadium have been refreshed. But that is just scratching the surface.
The real uproar is in the comments, where Overwatch players are really letting the developers have it as far as the changes are concerned. One player named Aero is really upset about Reaper changes that he bluntly puts, “The reaper nerf is so disgusting, this is a worst possible way to nerf a character, reducing the movement speed on wraith means 6+ years of my muscle memory of how far wraith takes me is now destroyed.” Just imagine! Having 6 years of muscle memory trained to character gameplay and then suddenly it is all gone??? That is not easy.
On the topic of Reaper, there is the whole Lifeweaver controversy that has been around for a considerable period. Some players claim that his buffs are nothing but an exercise in futility. CrayolaPony was one of the most outspoken ones, venting the following: “At the mythic Lifeweaver season he still didn’t get reliable buffs… Undo the nerfs and give him his seed back!!!” Even bernardo, who claims to be a Masters Lifeweaver main, called the changes “pretty much ineffective” and went on to elaborate that the lifeweaving perk consists of using up a crucial survival ability for extra healing that is rendered ineffective by the DPS passive anyway.
The drama is not over yet, more trouble has just begun! It is remarked that certain characters whose presence in the game has always been problematic have received no attention at all. lectronic_ says, “Still no Kiriko nerf as she runs rampant at high elo and pro play. Crazy how this is so openly just the golden child.” And there are many players who are questioning the moderators as to why Zarya and Roadhog have not been nerfed while other characters have been heavily subjected to nerfs.
The mythic skin issue is also causing trouble. Many players are reporting that they cannot purchase the Juno mythic skin, with Julio Carrillo outright questioning if it is a bug. Pixel is angry about mythical weapon bundles and wants to know if the company is “really trying to cash in on mythic prism bundles now” while using an angry emoji.
Some player’s reactions turn out to be utterly hilarious. For example, Darthcookie is asking if the balance changes were “an out-of-season April fools joke.” which is totally understandable, actually. And sithquill uploaded a GIF of someone looking heartbroken and wrote, “Wuyang and reaper my two mains found dead.” Ouch! It must be very painful to have both your mains nerfed in the same patch.
Opinions about the Stadium changes are also mixed. Yuki is declaring “ANA 500% SLEEP IS GONE FROM STADIUM” with celebration emojis, while Abdulrahman is ranting against no Freya or JQ stadium nerfs. It looks like everyone has their own private list of changes that either did or did not occur.
The community’s division about these shaders is the most fascinating thing to observe. On the one hand, people are celebrating Mauga buffs, with Cherry posting a happy GIF, while on the other hand, some are just pointing out that the disruptive heroes are still allowed to roam freely in the game. InUrDreams nicely summed it up: “- Hog Untouched – Mauga Buff – Cleansing Grip still exists – Weaver Buffs are negligible at best.”
And let’s not forget the random whines that get mixed in? Silvio Barcella is asking “Where Is my saitama doomfist. Overwatch respond.” Just think about it; amidst all the balance drama, somebody is still concentrating on the skin requests for the anime crossover.
Players are still upset about the equipment limit, as Luke says they are “Adding all these emotes and sprays and voicelines and still only letting us have 4 equipped of each” which is, to be honest, a pretty good point. Why offer so much customization if players are not even allowed to use it the way they want?
There is even a player who misses the old Halloween theme and so trabucooo is getting all nostalgic saying “when Halloween seasons used to feel like Halloween seasons with spooky skins instead of another 5 skins to kiriko that have nothing to do with Halloween.”
To say that this patch was not a bummer for a lot of players would be an exaggeration; some people were just angry. One of the misunderstood points in the comments is that the changes did nothing to solve the balance problems or to affect the characters that were already in compliance. It is the classic Overwatch cycle where every patch brings some players unhappiness, but this time it seems that the number of players questioning the developers’ decisions is larger than before.
Through their community’s response, the players have again shown that they are really monitoring how these changes would impact the meta and their favorite heroes. Whether these changes will be an aspect of the game or just a new problem is still a matter of contention; however, one thing is certain – Overwatch players will always speak their mind. The patch has been implemented so now everyone can feel these changes and probably complain more on their social media. It is more or less the typical behavior of the Overwatch community, isn’t it?
The Overwatch 2 developers at Blizzard continue to support the game across multiple platforms including PlayStation and Xbox.
