Halloween has come! The Overwatch Halloween Terror 2017 event has arrived, and with it are a whole new set of cosmetics to collect. The previous year’s cosmetics are now available to get once again, alongside the 8 new legendary skins. With new sprays, voice lines, victory poses, emotes (Torbjorn and Mei), and a Highlight Intro for Roadhog, this year’s cache of horror-themed items add on to the many cosmetics Overwatch has. All the Halloween-themed cosmetics can be received from the Halloween Terror Loot Box, with the exception of all but one (Reaper’s) old tombstone victory poses.
Top Row: Ana, Zenyatta, Reaper, Symmetra. Bottom Row: Mei, Zarya, McCree, Torbjorn. Full previews of all Halloween skins, emotes, and highlight intros at the official event page. At the same time, with Blizzcon fast approaching, this year’s skin has also been revealed- Winston. This Overwatch skin comes alongside in-game items in World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Heroes of the Storm, and Hearthstone. This is unlocked through the purchase of the Blizzcon Virtual Ticket 2017. Blizzcon itself will occur on November 3–4, and in it, both the playoffs of the Overwatch World Cup and announcements for the Overwatch League will be the highlights for Overwatch.
The Blizzcon 2017 Winston skin in-game. Junkenstein’s Revenge, the PvE mode which pits 4 players against a horde of AI minions and bosses, returns for the event’s duration. Alongside the normal Junkenstein’s Revenge, a new mode has been released- Junkenstein Endless. With now 8 heroes to choose from in this new mode, the game pits players to defend for as long as they can against Junkenstein’s minions. There also 4 difficulties to choose from for both modes, from Normal, Hard, Expert, and Legendary in cascading difficulty.
The two special event modes. Endless rewards the loot box and achievements by the 12th wave, but continues. Patch 1.16.0.2 With the event in place, Blizzard also released a balance patch. In this patch, ultimates are “now immediately expended when a hero’s ultimate ability is activated, instead of depleting over a short period of time”. When the button for the ultimate is pressed, it now immediately goes to 0% regardless whether the ultimate is used or not. The official patch notes go on to explain the distinctions of which ultimate is what type, saying:
Transformation Ultimates: These add significant passive benefits to your heroes while allowing the use of weapons and abilities. Ultimates in this category: Bastion’s Configuration: Tank, Genji’s Dragonblade, Mercy’s Valkyrie, Soldier: 76’s Tactical Visor, Torbjörn’s Molten Core, and Widowmaker’s Infra-Sight. Channeled Ultimates: These force your hero into a new mode and render your other abilities unusable while active. In most cases, these abilities can be interrupted at any point to cancel them. Ultimates in this category: Doomfist’s Meteor Strike, McCree’s Deadeye, Pharah’s Barrage, Reaper’s Death Blossom, Roadhog’s Whole Hog, and Zenyatta’s Transcendence (though, Zenyatta’s ultimate renders him immune to interruptions). Cast-Time Ultimates: These abilities require a small window of time to pass before they become effective. If they’re interrupted during this window, they are canceled. Ultimates in this category: Ana’s Nano Boost, D.Va’s Call Mech and Self-Destruct, Hanzo’s Dragonstrike, Junkrat’s Rip-Tire, Lúcio’s Sound Barrier, Mei’s Blizzard, Orisa’s Supercharger, Reinhardt’s Earthshatter, Sombra’s EMP, Symmetra’s Shield Generator and Teleporter, Tracer’s Pulse Bomb, and Zarya’s Graviton Surge.
When the ultimate change was still in PTR, this video was created to show the distinction in how the ultimate charge was used up. Now, the “Live” in the video is how it used to work in the previous patch, and the “PTR” is now the live version that has been released with the Halloween event. (Credits: Live vs PTR comparison: Ult Usage) With Genji and Orisa’s ultimates fit into the categories, the ultimate change has standardized how ultimates can be played against. In addition to the ultimate change, both Sombra and Mercy have very distinct changes:
Sombra Any ultimate that can be interrupted by a stun (Channeled ultimates and Cast-Time ultimates) can now be interrupted by Sombra’s Hack as well. Now interrupts the following ultimate abilities: Ana’s Nano Boost, Orisa’s Supercharger, Mei’s Blizzard, Reinhardt’s Earthshatter, and D.Va’s Call Mech. Hack now interrupts ultimates that same way a Stun does. This means that both Channeled ultimates and Cast-Time ultimates are interrupted by Sombra’s Hack and EMP.
Mercy Fixed a bug that caused Mercy to maintain forward momentum after canceling Guardian Angel mid-flight. Fixed a bug that could cause heroes to respawn as a different hero after being resurrected by Mercy. Guardian Angel still provides a small boost in speed when latching onto an ally. However, the absurd amounts of speed Mercy could stack by canceling multiple Guardian Angel’s in succession is now removed. Also, respawning as a different hero after being resurrected by Mercy has now been fixed. The Halloween patch has brought additions to both the casual and competitive scene of Overwatch. With many items to collect, event modes to play, and a new way to use ultimates, this update has shaken the game at its very core.