Overwatch reaches patch 1.13 soon as it’s now on PTR. It brings with it changes to loot boxes, highlights, and Doomfist. It should also line up with the Summer Games event returning. See what we know so far below.
Here’s what you can expect out of the next Overwatch patch, 1.14.
We don’t know about you, but having fewer duplicates in Loot Boxes sounds pretty good to us. We’re also into the idea of being able to save and easily share highlight videos. In 4K too! Here’s what we know:
Overwatch Patch 1.13 Release Date
Patch 1.13 is live now.
Overwatch Patch 1.13 hero changes
The PTR phase is over – here’s how the heroes look at the end of it all.
D.Va
- Defense Matrix
- New sound effects and voice lines have been added, indicating when Defense Matrix has absorbed an enemy’s ultimate ability
Genji
- Deflect
- New sound effects and voice lines have been added, indicating when an enemy’s ultimate ability has been deflected
McCree
- Flashbang
- Stunned targets are now slowed heavily, meaning they’re less likely to escape while stunned (especially while in the air).
Reaper
- Shadow Step
- VO and SFX distance reduced 50%.
Reinhardt
- Hammer
- Swing speed increased by ~10%. On top of the swing speed increase, we’ve gone through and tweaked many timings and other things about the Hammer to make it more responsive. Overall it should feel a lot better to swing and make contact with enemies.
- Charge
- Impacting another charging hero (Doomfist or Reinhardt) no longer deals damage to both characters, but still causes a knockdown on both.
- Various bug fixes were also implemented to grapple with the community’s recent issues. Kaplan made a post detailing them.
Zarya
- Graviton Surge
- Now disables all movement abilities of affected targets. This is similar to how Junkrat’s trap affects abilities.
Overwatch Patch 1.13 Doomfist
Doomfist has finally been unveiled, added to the Overwatch PTR today, July 6. The hero is a speedy Offensive character built for getting in, dealing damage, and getting out again. He can also punch folk into walls, so that’s nice. For a rundown of his abilities, check out our dedicated Doomfist abilities post.
Overwatch Patch 1.13 Doomfist Elimination
The new Brawl is a 6v6, Doomfist-only match with no respawns. Keep your guard up, clench your fists, and keep an eye on the skies.
Overwatch Patch 1.13 Loot Box Updates
Developer comments:Loot Boxes will now give out drastically fewer duplicates, so you should be able to unlock stuff for your favourite characters more easily. If you’re worried about taking a hit in Credits, Blizzard are also upping the Credits earned from Loot Boxes, so you should earn around the same, if not more, under the new system. Of course, the PTR exists to tweak how it works.
With that in mind, all players who log in to the PTR this patch cycle will receive five PTR Loot Boxes. These are standard loot boxes that will only be available on the PTR. Any items earned from Loot Boxes or unlocked via Credits on the PTR will not transfer over to your live account.
We’ve done some of our own research, which you can see above. This looks like everything the casual community was asking for regarding improved loot boxes, and should make the next event much less of a complaint zone.
Essentially, the close-to-no-duplicates claim translates to if there is an item in a dropped rarity that you don’t have, you will get it. So you open a box with two commons and two rares, but you own all but one common, you’ll get one duplicate common and the rest will be new. For the vast majority of players, it should mean no duplicates at all, and happy smiles all round.
For some interesting context, on the same day that these changes were announced, Hearthstone’s devs said they were changing card packs to never give you duplicate legendaries. They’re also guaranteeing legendaries within the first ten packs of a new set – something Blizzard could bring to Overwatch.
Overwatch Patch 1.13 Highlights Options
Developer comments:The highlights system has received several major updates:
- The game will continue to automatically generate highlights for you based on your recent gameplay. These auto-generated highlights—now categorised as “Today’s Top 5”—will be surfaced on a daily basis and persist for a full 24 hours (or until the game client is patched, whichever happens first).
- Players can now generate their own highlights! The ability to capture 12 seconds of your own gameplay has been added to the game, and can be bound to a single button of your choice (or a button per highlight slot) in the Options menu under “Request Highlight.” These player-generated highlights will be saved under a new section called “Recently Captured” and will persist until the game client is patched. Players can have up to 36 recently-captured highlights stored at one time.
- With the above, players can now record any of their “Top 5” or “Recently Captured” highlights, exporting them as a video file to their gaming platform’s designated media library (on console) or directory (on PC). On PC, players will also have the option to select the quality at which these highlights are exported, supporting up to 4K at 60fps for Windows 8 or higher operating systems, and up to 1080p on Windows 7.
While the power of things like Shadowplay and Twitch clipping means a lot of this functionality was available to PC players anyway, these are nice QOL changes, particularly for those running on less-uber setups. Since the initial post, there’s been two major updates, one adding more options for exporting videos and the other allowing you to change the save location.
If these changes don’t fill you with joy, there was a lot of tech riding on them being in place. Replays should now be possible as an expansion of the highlight system, for example. Improvements to highlights themselves should also be next on the block if possible – double hero POTGs, for example.
Overwatch Patch 1.13 Summer Games
People have been assuming that Summer Games will return, as it has been hinted at for a long time and is present in various datamined files. However, it’s not live so it must be coming further down the line – perhaps Blizzard will show it at Gamescom.
Overwatch Patch 1.13 General Changes
- Custom Games and Game Browser
- Clarified the text on the “Flag Carrier” options under the Capture the Flag settings for Custom Games
- Removed the “Projectile Speed” and “Projectile Gravity” options for heroes who do not have projectile weapons
- User Interface
- Added ability to create customised reticles
- Reticle options can be found under the “Controls” tab in the “Options” menu (click the “Advanced” expander under the “Reticle” heading)
Overwatch Patch 1.13 Bug fixes
- General
- Fixed a bug that could cause the user interface to incorrectly indicate that an enemy player has been hit when colliding with them
- Fixed a bug that could allow projectiles that would normally pierce shields (i.e. Reinhardt’s Fire Strike) to pass through other surfaces
- Fixed an issue preventing “Best In Game” stats from being updated
- Fixed a bug that caused some players to lose audio during the match
- Competitive Play
- Fixed a bug that caused players to get a leaver penalty during offseason matches, even after the in-game banner advised it was safe to leave the match
- Custom Games and Game Browser
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from being added to a Custom Game with 12 Spectator slots
- Fixed a bug in Custom Game settings that prevented some heroes with Self Healing from having a Healing Dealt modifier
- Removed the Projectile Gravity slider from heroes who do not have abilities affected by gravity
- Heroes
- Fixed a bug with D.Va’s Call Mech ability that allowed you to see her inside the mech before entering it
- Fixed a bug that could cause eliminations from Junkrat’s Total Mayhem to be mislabeled in the kill feed
- Fixed a bug that would cause Junkrat to use his Ultimate Callout when he is unable to use his Ultimate
- Fixed a bug that allowed Roadhog’s Chain Hook to latch on to Orisa’s Supercharger
- Fixed a bug that allowed Sombra to take damage after activating her Translocator
- The sound effects on Reinhardt’s Bloodhardt, Blackhardt, and Wujing skins have been updated to reflect the use of an axe instead of a hammer
- Fixed a bug preventing Lucio from receiving the full speed boost when traveling backwards during a Wall Ride
- Fixed a bug that occasionally prevented Torbjörn from building and upgrading his turret
- Fixed multiple hit registration bugs in Reinhardt’s Rocket Hammer
- Maps
- Fixed a bug on Eichenwalde that prevented Soldier 76 from placing his Biotic Field in certain locations of Point A
- Fixed a bug that caused AI-controlled players to perpetually move toward the objective on the Gardens point in Oasis
- Fixed a bug that prevented Training Bots from facing the right direction and returning to their original location after being moved by player interactions on the Practice Range
- Fixed a bug with that was causing unusual camera angles for Highlight Intros on Route 66
- Fixed a bug that could cause D.Va to fall through the floor while boosting into the ground in a specific area on Volskaya Industries
- User Interface
- Fixed a bug that caused the Heroes of the Storm promotional portraits to appear locked, even after being unlocked
- Fixed a bug that could cause an error message in chat if you attempted to spectate a new player while already spectating another player
- Fixed a bug that could cause the chat window to be placed too high on the main menu, blocking menu options
- Fixed a bug that prevented text from wrapping in the Report Player text box