For April Fool’s Day, Blizzard has a comprehensive series of changes to Ear Watch it makes many heroes on the list a nightmare to deal with. May is now a tank with a ton of health. Junkrat can drop three of his bear traps simultaneously. And McCree gets an ammunition refund every time he gets a head shot.
Oh, and D.Va can crush her opponents to death by summoning her mech, leading to full team murders like these:
When I say that some heroes are now a nightmare to deal with, I really mean that it’s fun for them play with (and sometimes against).
Of course, these changes are currently limited to Ear Watch‘s experimental game mode, where Blizzard usually tests small balance changes. Don’t expect it to be forever, especially with a new seasonal event (Overwatch Archives) starting on April 6th.
Lots of Ear WatchThe “joke” changes should stay in the main game or be included, many fans say, because it made Ear Watch fun again. Nearly five years into the existence of the hero shooter, a series of April Fools breathed new life into the game one day. (The complete notes for the experimental mode are also wonderfully brutal.)
Some of the better changes to Ear Watch in experimental mode addresses the game’s shield problem. Sigma no longer has a shield at all; instead, he can fly around the map without considering gravity. Baptist’s Immortality Field, which is actually another layer protected, no longer offers its immortality, but reduces overall damage.
Zenyatta increased mobility through limited levitation (fun!). Reaper can now “fly” in its ghostly Wraith mode (makes sense!). Mercy can now target enemy players and zoom in on them using her Guardian Angel skill (which makes Valkyrie fashion Mercy even more terrifying).
Few of these changes feel ‘balanced’. Roadhog’s chain hook gets a shorter cooling timer when it lands, feels a bit broken. I’m not sure Soldier: 76s really needed a buff. And the number of characters flying around now feels unsustainable in the long run. But almost everything feels fun.
Some of these hero changes are an example of Overwatch 2, which will include character progression and heroic talents. These talents will, as far as we know, be limited to the PvE collaborative component of the game, and they will play together the heroes we have now spent half a decade with. The experimental patch also seems to Blizzard to be an easy way to break everyone in the game slightly and try out dramatic changes at the same time.
With Overwatch 2 still far and no new blood in the game for almost a year (since Echo arrived), it was great to see Ear Watch feel fresh again, even if only for a while.