Last week, Blizzard released their first Overwatch update of the year, and yesterday, the developers announced an update to that update, which will be tested on the PTR before it’s pushed to the live client. Here’s the full list of included changes, courtesy of Geoff Goodman’s post on the forums:
Roadhog Hook
Added some more line of sight checks towards the left/right of a potential hook target. This means it should be easier to hook someone who is sticking halfway out of a doorway, or behind a thin pole, etc. These checks are also used for the persistent line of sight check, so if a hook target moves behind a slim object like a stump or a lightpole, they won’t be released anymore.
Hooked targets are now slowed heavily while they are stunned, even if they are in the air. This means if someone is strafe jumping away from you and you land a hook, they are a lot less likely to slide out of line on sight, breaking the hook.
Fixed a bug that could allow you to hook someone and pull them behind you if you spun around before the hook landed.
Ana
Biotic Grenade duration reduced from 5s to 4s
Sombra
Hack cooldown reduced from 12s to 8s
Let’s break it down.
Roadhog’s Hook
Once again, the meatiest change comes to Roadhog’s Hook, now dubbed Hook 2.5 by the fans. (Maybe that’s just me.)
- In addition to the line of sight checks they revamped last week, they’ve done some tweaking to the horizontal width of hero hitboxes, to keep elephants from effectively hiding behind palm trees. They’ve also made it so that slim obstacles do not break line of sight, saving the victim from Hog’s wrath.
- There’s now a heavy slow effect to players immediately after getting hooked–this applies even to heroes in the air. Jumping around a corner is now a lot less likely to break line of sight and save you from being dragged to a painful, piggy death. Personally, I also think it adds a sweet dramatic flair–just imagine the hook snaring your ankle as you claw your way towards cover.
- They also fixed a bug allowing one to hook another hero and deposit them behind you, which lead to shenanigans like this:
Ana
Not only has the health boost from Ana’s biotic grenade been nerfed, but the duration in which it both boosts allies and inhibits enemy healing has been reduced from five seconds to four seconds. That may only be a second of difference, but that’s an eternity in Overwatch time, and can very easily mean the difference between life and death for foes and allies alike. With Ana being one of the most picked heroes in competitive Overwatch, a nerf like this makes room for more diversity in hero selection–she’s still probably going to be a crucial component of many team comps, but now she’s less Lebron James and more… uh… whoever else plays for Cleveland.
Sombra
Everything’s looking up for Sombra, who not only had her Hack time reduced last week, but now the cooldown has been reduced from twelve to eight seconds. This is a huge improvement, as a lot of my time spent playing Sombra is spent camping a health pack and waiting for my Hack to come off of CD. Now, her Hack is going to be much more available, and she can spend more of her time helping out the team.
She’s still far from being many folks’ main, but this is a step in the right direction. I’ve still got my fingers crossed for a damage boost to hacked enemies, but Nate’s Suggested Fixes to Sombra & Genji/McCree Slash Fiction is the headline of another article that may never see the light of day, at least if my editors have anything to say about it.
D.Va
As for D.Va, the development team believes they got it right the first time. No changes are being made to D.Va in this update.
You can check out the changes on the PTR for now, but expect to see them make their way to live servers in the not too distant future.
What do you think about the latest batch of Overwatch updates? Is Roadhog’s Hook going to be broken forever? Let us know on Twitter!