Overwatch 2 PvP Beta April 26 Patch Notes Detailed

The Overwatch 2 PvP Beta has received its first round of patches. Below we've detailed the full list of patch notes released on April 26.

The time has finally come. Players everywhere are slowing getting their first hands-on experience with Overwatch 2 thanks to the PvP Beta. From new heroes to new maps and game modes, those lucky enough to get an invite have certainly been making the most of it.

If you're still looking for a way to join in on the action, be sure to check out the variety of Twitch Drops streams for your chance to gain access to the beta.

But, if you just want to get up to speed with all of the new content, here's everything that's been listed in the PvP Beta patch notes.

Overwatch 2 PvP Beta: First Patch Notes Detailed

The following notes have been edited for the sake of brevity.

New Game Mode - Push

Push - a new game mode available on two new maps: Toronto and Rome. Two opposing teams fight over control of the Treadweather TS-1 Large Utility Robot, that starts in the middle of the map.

Each team fights to take control of TS-1 as they would a payload: by having teammates located next to TS-1 with no enemies nearby. When a team takes control of TS-1, it slowly pushes their team’s barricade towards the opposing team’s start location. If TS-1 and the barricade reach the goal at the end of the path, then the team controlling TS-1 wins the game.

When the opposing team takes control of TS-1, it leaves the first team’s barricade in place and reverses its direction. TS-1 then moves back along the path towards the opposing team’s barricade, which then pushes towards the first team’s spawn.

Midway between TS-1’s starting location and each team’s end goal, there is a forward checkpoint objective. When TS-1 pushes a team’s barricade to their forward checkpoint, that team activates a closer respawn location. This respawn location deactivates if the other team retakes control of TS-1, then moves TS-1 to a point on the path before the forward checkpoint.

Players have eight minutes to push their team’s barricade to the end goal. If neither team’s barricade reaches its end goal after eight minutes, then the team who pushed their barricade the farthest distance and has control of TS-1 wins. The game enters overtime if control of TS-1 is contested, or the team who currently has control of TS-1 does not have the farthest distance pushed.

Assault Maps Being Removed

All the maps using the Assault game mode have been removed from both the Quick Play and Competitive map rotations.

Although Assault maps will no longer be in standard rotations, all Assault maps (Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, Volskaya, Paris, and Horizon Lunar Colony) will still be available for use in custom games and the workshop.

5v5

For the Quick Play and Competitive Role Queue modes, the teams now consists of one Tank, two Support, and two Damage heroes. For Quick Play Classic, Open Role Queue, and arcade modes such as CTF or Mystery Heroes, the number of players on a team is now five instead of six.

Tab Score Board

Scoreboard screen will now display key statistics in real time for all the players in the game, including eliminations and deaths. They’ll be presented in a new layout that mirrors other competitive games and sports.

As a result, the Fire and Medal systems will be retired as they will no longer be necessary with the new Scoreboard.

Sound

Weapon Sound Updates

• New weapon fire audio for all heroes

Environmental Audio Updates

• New “Convolution Reverb” System – more realistic environments
• 3D Reverb – can hear the environment your enemies are shooting in, giving more
  gameplay information
• Weapon and Explosion Tails –decaying of weapons and explosions now reflect the
  environment in which they occur
• Debris Updates – a more complete pass to have weapon impacts and explosions react to the surface that they impact
• Whiz-by Updates - new bullet pass by audio for ballistic weapons
• Speed of sound adjustments for very long-range impacts and explosions

UI Sound Updates

• Added a "Kill Stinger” sound for final blows
• Added a “Teammate Down” sound to help you know when you lose a teammate in
  battle

Get Hits

• Performed a consistency pass across all damage sounds
• Added different impact sound for different types of health (regular, armor, shields,
  overhealth)

Home Theater Mix

• Enhanced use of the subwoofer/LFE channel
• Enhanced multi-channel panning

Sound Options

• Teammate and Enemy Eliminated optional sounds
• There are two new settings in the sound options to turn on sound when a teammate or an enemy are eliminated

Audio Mix Options

• Added audio mix options for various common settings (home theater, TV, headphones, etc.).

Unit Impacts

• Added unit impact sounds that now corelate with the type of health pool you are impacting – for example you will get armor impact sounds on Reinhardt until his armor is depleted, and flesh impact sounds when in his default health pool. This is true of all heroes regardless of what material type they are made of.

Features

Ping System

Bound to middle mouse, G, and D-pad left by default. Ping allows players to place waypoints to strategize with their allies or suggest which enemy heroes to attack. Tapping the Ping button will fire a contextual Ping that highlights a location, marks enemies, confirms allied Pings, objective Pings, or even tells injured allies to group up with you if you’re playing Support.

Pressing and holding the Ping button opens the Ping Wheel, where you can select from a variety of pings that can be placed in the world or on your hero. Double-tapping the Ping button places a Warning ping, for when you can’t see an enemy hero but want to let your team know about potential danger. Many of the Ping System’s parameters can be modified in Options>Controls.

Current work-in-progress elements for the Ping system:

• Enemy hero ping icons are using temporary art
• Controller support is in progress
• There are text-to-speech placeholders for some pings while we finish the recording
  process
• Localization is only partially complete for a few languages.

Heads-up Display (HUD)

• Visual updates to some Hero HUD items and in-game HUD elements
• Some elements of the HUD have not been addressed yet

Maps

Control

Ilios

• (NEW) Evening Lighting

Lijiang Tower

• (NEW) Dawn Lighting

Oasis

• (NEW) Night Lighting

Escort

(NEW) Circuit royal

• Circuit royal, the stunning future playground of the mega-rich, is Overwatch's brand-new Escort map. Protect the payload as you battle up the gilded promenade through the marble archways of luxurious Monte Carlo towards the majestic Hotel Arche.

Dorado

• (NEW) Evening Lighting

Route 66

• (NEW) Night Lighting

Hybrid

(NEW) Midtown

• Midtown, New York City, the site of some of the fiercest fighting in the Omnic Crisis, and our newest Hybrid map! Drive your enemies back through the shadows of skyscrapers. Then, lay claim to the payload and escort it through the thriving heart of Manhattan to its destination in historic Grand Central.

King’s Row

• (NEW) Evening Lighting

Eichenwalde

• (NEW) Evening Lighting

Push

(New) New Queen Street

• New Queen Street, in post-reconstruction Toronto, is one of our new Push maps! Fight for control of your robotic ally as the snowflakes and maple leaves fall and explore this picturesque cultural hub where omnics and humans live together in harmony.

(New) Colosseo

• Colosseo, the pride of Rome, is our second new Push map! Face your foes in the streets and piazzas outside the legendary arena, battling for command over your robotic ally. Rise to glory in the Eternal City... or fall, forgotten, into history.

Deathmatch

• Kanezaka
• Malevento

Heroes

Role Passives

Tank

• 30% knockback resistance
• 30% lower Ultimate generation from damage taken and healing taken

Damage

• 10% faster movement speed

Support

• Regenerate 15 health-per-second after 1 second without being damaged

Health Changes

• Temporary Shield and Armor health pools have been combined into Overhealth, with no special attributes
• Overhealth no longer provides Ultimate charge when damaged
• Base Armor health pools reduce incoming damage by 30%
• Base Armor no longer mitigates damage by the previous flat amount of –5 damage per hit
• Armor damage reduction now applies equally to all sources including damage over time effects and beams

"Phase" Effect Changes

• Phase effects no longer clear the Zarya Graviton Surge or Sigma Gravitic Flux movement restriction effects
• Mei Cryo-Freeze no longer removes Sigma’s Gravitic Flux effect
• Sombra Hack effect is now removed by phase effects

A number of heroes have received reworks thanks to this latest patch, such as Doomfist, and Orisa.

For the full list of unedited patch notes for the Overwatch 2 PvP Beta, be sure to check out the official patch notes.