‘Overwatch’ dev Blizzard improves servers for Australia, new patch live with notes

New changes are coming with the closed beta run of “Overwatch.” Blizzard’s latest title is going to see a major change, particularly for players who are in Australia and New Zealand.

The developer has confirmed that it is taking the necessary steps to improve the lag times of the game even while in beta. According to Kotaku Australia, Blizzard has been looking at issues concerning lags, which are brought on by the fact that players in Australia and New Zealand are playing the game using the servers in North America.

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The result of the new changes for “Overwatch” is improved ping times for those who are in Australia, as well as in South America and North America as well. While the changes were not detailed, Blizzard did mention that part of the improvement will be a tradeoff of longer matchmaking times for better ping times.

Blizzard has also released a new patch for “Overwatch.” The patch notes, available via the official Battle.net website, fixes a couple of issues involving gameplay, matchmaking, balances and a couple of previous bugs.

Most notable of the changes is the increase of speed for payload moves for players who are escorting for one or two players only. The in-game matchmaker has also been fixed. These are reflected especially well for players who are already at a higher skill level.

The loot boxes have also received a couple of tweaks. Any sprays and voice lines are now common. Except for default icons and poses, all of the player icons and victory poses are now labelled “Rare.” Players will now encounter more Rare and Epic quantities of credits in Loot Boxes. However, there will be less of the Legendary quantities of credits as well.

For the hero balances, the developer has put on a disclaimer that the changes may be drastic compared to the actual live game. As the beta is still underway, the goal is to experiment as much as possible so that there will be more feedback gained.

“We’re experimenting with some pretty significant balance changes this patch. Because this is beta, these changes are a little more aggressive than what you can expect to see once the game is live—but it’s the perfect environment for us to try things out,” said Blizzard in the official website.

Some major heroes, like Bastion had changes that were based on the original capabilities of the characters. As such, Bastion still has his run-and-gun playstyle emphasised thanks to the removed restrictions of transforming. Genji and Lucio also had their health decreased to balance out their fast play and mobility. All the other heroes that will receive changes are detailed in the link above.

"Overwatch" beta trailer (Credit: YouTube/PlayOverwatch)