Overwatch gets new hero, mode, maps and more

Huge changes are coming to Overwatch in the coming weeks including a brand new hero, maps, modes, competitive league and even an overhaul of the ‘Play of the Game’ system.

Blizzard are establishing a world-class professional league which provides opportunities for players to establish professional careers of all types. The first season begins in 2017 and Blizzard will host try outs for players who have previously ‘distinguished themselves in competition’.

Team announcements and additional league information are expected in the coming months.

3152604-ow_league_logo_lockup_dark_bkg8-1

Blizzard has also acknowledged some of the issues with the POTG feature and are hard at work on what they’re calling ‘POTG 2.0’ This will see some tweaks to the camera work, as well as cooperative POTG.

It’s also going to emphasise the combo play, tweak intros and ultimately who gets credit. No word on when this will get the full overhaul but it’s clearly a priority and work in progress for Blizzard who have been tweaking the feature constantly since launch.

overwatch-sombra

But in some least surprising news, Overwatch is getting that sneaky sneak infiltrator that’s been rumoured, leaked, and generally talked about the last few weeks.

From Voskaya, Russia, Sombra is able to hack security systems and disrupt enemies, all while teleporting around the screen. The below video shows her in full and is well worth a watch, even if it’s just for the slick animation.

Blizzard have been working on Sombra for a long time and are considering her an offense character that uses a machine pistol to blast down waves of enemies. She can also throw out a translocator beacon that lets Sombra return to that location at any time.

Meanwhile, the hack ability enables Sombra to temporarily disable enemy abilities, as well as first aid kits making sure they are useless for their enemies. Then there’s the Thermoptic Camo which enables Sombra to turn invisible for a period of time while boosting her speed.

As for the Ultimate Ability, Sombra uses an EMP which disables enemy barries, shields and also hacks any opponents in the wave.

Sounds pretty awesome, right? That’s not all.

There will be a brand new control map – Oasis – which has the first jump pad in Overwatch as well Exopoint: Antarctica which is a snow covered outpost designed for small-scale battles.

And to top it all off, a brand new Arcade mode. This is based on the weekly brawl mode, except that the game types will regularly rotate. You’ll get everything from 1 v 1 matches to 3 v 3 skirmishes.

Ecopoint: Antarctica and the new Arcade mode are coming to the Public Test Realms on November 8 as well as Sombra. We’ll take a peek and let you know

Skip to toolbar