Overwatch beta patch notes and developer update

November 17

A new beta patch is now live. Read below to learn about the latest changes.

To share your feedback, please post in the Beta Feedback forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Beta Bug Report forum.

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

This patch includes several changes to the in-game matchmaker. These changes are in large part an experiment, aimed at achieving two main goals:

1) Provide players with better, more balanced matches overall (short term)
2) Generate data that will allow us to make even further improvements (long term)

As with many experiments, however, we may find that these changes aren’t what’s best for the game—or, in some cases, may even make your experience worse—so we encourage you to share your thoughts and opinions in our forums.

Matchmaking Changes:

• New “Rate This Match” and “Rate This Player” options have been added to the end-of-round flow
  • Rate This Match: These ratings are designed to provide the Overwatch development team with feedback about how much you enjoyed a match. This data will be used over time to improve matchmaking and the game in general.
  • Rate This Player: Positive and negative ratings can have an effect on how likely players are to be matched with one another in future games.
• Several behind-the-scenes improvements have been made to the in-game matchmaker, especially for groups
• Refined some of the language that appears on-screen when searching for a match
  • Ex: Instead of “X of Y Players Found,” players will now see “Estimated Time” and “Elapsed Time” counters

GENERAL:

• A new loading screen is now available when loading into a Skirmish
• The Skirmish timer has been increased to 30 minutes

BUG FIXES:

• Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the Play of the Game recap to feature the wrong portion of the match when received by D.Va

November 18

A new beta patch is now live. Read below to learn about the latest changes.

To share your feedback, please post in the Beta Feedback forum.
For a list of known issues, visit our Beta Bug Report forum.

GENERAL:

• Players will no longer see their own real name displayed whenever they speak in chat
• BattleTag numeric IDs will no longer display in chat whenever a player joins or leaves Voice Chat
• Made several additional improvements to matchmaking

HERO BALANCE CHANGES:

• Mei
  • If multiple Meis are attacking the same target, their freeze effects will no longer stack

BUG FIXES:

• Fixed an issue where some players weren’t able to use microphones with Voice Chat
• Fixed several client-side crashes