Overwatch: Experimental Card and Crowd Control Changes

A new Experimental insert should appear soon in Overwatch. We learned the news in a message from Jeff Kaplan on the official game forums. This time, Crowd Control abilities will be modified.

These are "abilities that heroes can do to other heroes that cause them to lose control of their character" — including Mei’s freeze, McCree’s Stuns, Doomfist’s kit... On the one hand, the game is meant to be a highly competitive FPS, but on the other hand, one of the defining elements of Overwatch is the fact that its heroes have extraordinary abilities and mobility. In this context, CC's abilities can cause a lot of frustration.

The changes that will be tested in the Experimental Mode will be targeted to certain heroes, with the intention that they will have less impact on the game.

The only exception is Roadhog. His ultimate ability will be buffed to make it a little more impactful. It will be able to push his opponents further, but it will keep them away from the damage of his Whole Hog.

Internally, the question is asked for Overwatch 2, and the teams already have many ideas for CCs — that cannot be tested in-game, as the changes are too fundamental.

The teams are now waiting for our feedback, and will be happy to get as much as possible. Feel free to drop by the official game forums if you want to add constructive arguments after testing the mode.

Roadhog

Whole Hog

• Knockback increased 20%

Sigma

Accretion

• Knockdown duration is now a fixed 0.8 second instead of scaling with distance

• Cast time reduced from 0.75 to 0.65 seconds

Reinhardt

Earthshatter

• Knockdown duration lowered from 3 to 2.5 seconds

McCree

Flashbang

• Stun duration lowered from 0.85 to 0.7 seconds

Mei

Endothermic Blaster (Primary Fire)

• Freeze stun duration lowered from 1.5 to 1.3 seconds

Blizzard

• Duration lowered from 5 to 4.25 seconds

Ana

Sleep Dart

• Sleep duration lowered from 6 to 5 seconds

Brigitte

Shield Bash

• Stun duration lowered from 0.75 to 0.65 seconds

Jeff Kaplan announced improvements to the Communication Wheel

Updates to the Communication Wheel, Match Queue, and the Workshop are the topics addressed by Jeff Kaplan in the last Overwatch Developer Update.