Overwatch’s anniversary event is here, bringing skins, dances, and new maps

Three maps, lots of skins

It’s hard to believe thatOverwatchhas not only been out for a year, but that it’s one of Blizzard’s biggest successes, and one of its only new IPs in over a decade. They’re pushing hard when it comes to their global eSports presence, but there’s also a steady stream of content and events to keep people interested all around.

One of which includes the “Overwatch Anniversary,” which brings in new skins, emotes, plus a bunch of other cosmetic stuff on top of three new arena maps — Necropolis, Castillo, and Black Forest (read: re-skins of existing maps). I’m not particularly impressedwith any of the skins(outside of Sentai/Kamen Rider Genji), and the maps are limited to arena play, so this isn’t one of their better events — but still, it’s better than nothing.

I’m really just amazed that the game in general has held up this well. I play randomly during the week and typically rank Gold or above in competitive, and I’m still not getting bored. For the record, so far out of 12 boxes I’ve gotten the Cruiser D.Va skin, and I might buy Sentai Genji before the end of the run.

HERO UPDATES

General

Developer Comments: By default, weapon recoil recovery is overruled by downward crosshair movement. This means that downward movement during the weapon’s recoil recovery phase will override the weapon’s natural recoil recovery. This option allows you to remove this functionality, meaning a weapon’s natural recoil recovery movement acts independently from downward crosshair movement. In practice, this will make your crosshair move faster if you aim downward during the recoil recovery window.

Genji

Developer Comments: This is a quality of life change to make wall climbing feel better.

Hanzo

Developer Comments: Decreasing Hanzo’s draw time gives him more overall DPS, while also letting him fully charge an arrow and more quickly return to full movement speed when needed. And, like the change to Genji’s wall climbing, this is a quality of life change that will make climbing feel better.

Orisa

Developer Comments: To help Orisa maintain the front line for her team, we’re reducing the cooldown of her Protective Barrier. This change also helps her reposition the barrier more easily when needed. To compensate for this new defensive strength, we’re reducing her Fusion Driver’s damage, as it felt too high.

Reaper

Developer Comments: Wraith Form is typically used as an escape ability after firing. This change gives Reaper a fighting chance if an enemy chases him down as he uses it.

Reinhardt

Earthshatter

Developer Comments: Earthshatter tended to climb unexpectedly high, frequently hitting targets that were significantly above the ground. These changes help the ability stay more grounded.

Soldier: 76

Developer Comments: Soldier: 76 is in a much better place lately, but his damage output was making him a must pick, compared to similar roles.

USER INTERFACE UPDATES

Developer Comments: When PC players switch from using the Keyboard/Mouse to a game controller, the game’s user interface is dynamically updated to the console/controller version. Additionally, the button layout on many heroes (like Hanzo, Zenyatta, and Mercy) is different on console. In the past, when a player chose to play using a controller and a mouse, the UI would constantly switch, depending on which device was sending information to the game. This new option allows players to set a default user interface if they choose to use a controller along with a keyboard/mouse.