Overwatch News and Guides - Icy Veins

FORUMS
PODCAST
SEARCH
Sign In

Remember me Not recommended on shared computers

Sign in anonymously

Forgot your password?
Or sign in with one of these services

Mobile Menu Button Show

x

NEWS & GUIDES

World of Warcraft

Heroes

Diablo III

Hearthstone

Overwatch

Soldier: 76 Icon

Widowmaker Icon

Wrecking Ball Icon

Heroes

General

Game Modes

Payload (Escort)

Point Capture (Assault)

Competitive Play

Competitive Rules

Slide Background

PTR Notes Feb 26: Baptiste, Armor, Knockback and Hero Changes The new PTR patch brings the new support Hero and a lot of changes to others as well.

Baptiste Is Coming Next Week + Big Q&A

We just got word that Overwatch Hero 30 will be arriving on Live servers next Tuesday! The support/DOS hybrid has proven to be popular on the PTR and we also got a very in-depth Q&A session with the devs covering both his lore backstory and gameplay mechanics and balance. Mar 13, 2019 at 20:06 by Starym 2 comments

Icy Veins Podcast Episode 37

In the latest episode of our podcast, we talk about Patch 8.1.5 release date, Tools of the Trade items, and Island Expedition gear tokens. We also discuss the new Esports format and the Year of the Dragon in Hearthstone with Sophia. Mar 06, 2019 at 23:48 by Stan

PTR Notes, March 6th: Junkrat and Zarya Balancing

It's been a particularly active PTR this time around, with multiple patches changing up Heroes. Today's brings some QoL and visual improvements to new Hero Baptiste as well as an increase to Junkrat's Ult cost, while Zarya's alt fire radius continues to get tinkered with. There's also a lot of Baptiste bug fixes, mostly related to the Immortality Field, as well as some Lucio wall ride improvements. Mar 06, 2019 at 22:34 by Starym

PTR Notes, March 1st: Symmetra Buff, Baptiste Fixes

No more Ults from car accidents! We have some Baptiste tweaks today as well as Symettra's primary fire ramping up faster, in addition to a few more bug fixes. Mar 02, 2019 at 00:44 by Starym 4 comments

PTR Notes, Feb 28: Dev Comments on the New Hero Changes

The announced additional Hero changes have now gone live on the PTR and we got the fully detailed patch notes, with developer comments included and a few more bug fixes. For the initial notes of the latest PTR head on over here. Feb 28, 2019 at 22:09 by Starym

More Significant Hero Changes Coming to PTR

The Baptiste PTR arrived recently with plenty of Hero changes, but we're not quite done with them yet. Today or tomorrow we'll be getting a lot more, featuring Lucio's speed buff getting nerfed in both passive and active modes, Mercy's bonus damage will ramp up more quickly and Junkrat, Reaper, Symmetra, Zarya and Zenyatta are also getting changes. Feb 28, 2019 at 20:01 by Starym 1 comment

Dev Update: Introducing Baptiste

We've seen his origin and his abilities, now it's time to delve deeper as Jeff Kaplan talks about Hero 30 and his kit in detail! From more info on his backstory to the general gameplay, as well as the specific abilities and his place in the meta, we get a lot of new info here, so check it out: Feb 26, 2019 at 21:09 by Starym

PTR Notes Feb 26: Baptiste, Armor, Knockback and Hero Changes

The new Hero reveal continues as Baptiste has arrived on the PTR today! We got an intro video for him, in addition to yesterday's origin story and the developer update, as well as bunch of other patch notes as well! Feb 26, 2019 at 19:12 by Starym 5 comments

Hero 30: Baptiste Origin Story

It didn't take long for the teases to move on to a reveal as we got our first look at Hero 30 today! So far we only have Baptiste's origin story, but there's plenty of info to work with already: a combat medic who left Talon to make the world a better place, and who seems to be holding an interesting looking gun (possibly a type of grenade launcher?). In any case he's a support Hero which brings their number up to par with the tanks, and he'll also be leaning more on the DPS side of things than Heroes like Brigitte. Feb 26, 2019 at 04:48 by Starym 7 comments

Hero 30 Teased - Ex-Talon Combat Medic?

Here we go with another round of speculation on an upcoming new Hero reveal! Today we got our first hint at Hero 30, who's expected to show up some time next month. It seems his name is Baptiste and he left Talon, who weren't all that happy about it and decided to track and take him down. Feb 22, 2019 at 01:14 by Starym 12 comments

Icy Veins Podcast Episode 36

In the latest episode of our podcast, we discuss potential Patch 8.1.5 release date, new Allied Races, recent layoffs at Activision Blizzard, and future game titles. Feb 20, 2019 at 20:56 by Stan

Paris Live Patch Notes: February 19th

Here comes a new patch, bringing with it the Paris Assault map! We're also getting the damage/health priority model changed so that all non-recoverable health, shields and armor get removed first, so for example Brigitte's armor isn't "hidden" under regular recoverable shields anymore. The patch is also very heavy on bug fixes, primarily for Heroes, as 9 of them get some issues ironed out. Feb 19, 2019 at 22:18 by Starym

Activision Blizzard Q4 2018 Earnings Call & Layoffs

Layoffs at Activision Blizzard have been confirmed during the earnings call earlier today. The company plans to eliminate 8% of its non-development employees according to Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick, who told investors that the main focus in 2019 is stabilization and restructuring due to missed expectations in 2018. Feb 12, 2019 at 22:41 by Stan 27 comments

Activision Blizzard Layoffs to Be Announced Soon?

According to Bloomberg, Activision Blizzard plans to cut hundreds of jobs due to slowing sales Tuesday. Feb 09, 2019 at 11:40 by Stan 38 comments

Icy Veins Podcast Episode #35

In the latest episode of our podcast, Kat joins us to talk about her Double Rank 1 Legend rank and recent Card nerfs in Hearthstone. Overwatch's getting a Paris map that's now available for testing on PTR and Heirloom Upgrade Tokens will cost less in Patch 8.1.5! Feb 08, 2019 at 15:08 by Stan

Why Overwatch Doesnt Have Fall Damage

Jeff "Jeff from the Overwatch team" Kaplan took to the forums and talked a little about a pretty basic aspect of the game we often overlook: why don't Heroes get damaged when falling from great heights? It seems we have Widow, Reaper and Pharah to blame/thank for that, as they were creating a lot of problems back when fall damage was a thing, and rather than just selectively turn fall damage on and off for specific Heroes, they just turned it off globally. Feb 04, 2019 at 04:21 by Starym

PTR Patch Notes, Jan 30: New Map, Damage Changes

Here comes a new PTR and it's a big one with the Paris Assault map coming online! There's also a change to how damage works, aka in what priority it takes down shields, armor and health, along with a whole bunch of bug fixes (for Ashe especially). Jan 31, 2019 at 02:05 by Starym 2 comments

Lunar New Year Event and Patch Notes: Jan 24th

Here comes the latest event, featuring new cosmetics and some major changes to how Armor works in general, lowering its damage reduction from 5 to 3. The event itself brings new skins, emotes and highlight intros, but more importantly it brings back the Capture the Flag game mode on Busan! Jan 24, 2019 at 21:48 by Starym 1 comment

Icy Veins Podcast Episode #34

Episode 34 of the Icy Veins Podcast is here and we have Deadset on the show talking about the Season of Grandeur in Diablo III and we go through the main features of Tides of Vengeance Part II that hit live servers this week. Jan 24, 2019 at 10:17 by Stan 1 comment

Three More Lunar New Year Skins

The Lunar New Year event starts today and we have another 3 skins revealed! We're getting Torbjorn, Zenyatta and Tracer in the mix, with some pretty nice skins (although not really as nice as the first three revealed). Jan 24, 2019 at 05:40 by Starym 6 comments

Three New Lunar New Year Skins

The latest Overwatch event is coming on Thursday the 23th, and we already have three skins to take a look at. They're actually pretty damn good ones, featuring Reaper, Hanzo and Reinhardt connecting with their eastern roots (with Hanzo going double eastern, not that that sentence makes any sense). Jan 21, 2019 at 05:59 by Starym 11 comments

The Lunar New Year Event Returns + Bastet Animation

The events keep on rolling in, as we still have the Ana Bastet challenge going on until the 21st, and now Blizzard have already announced the next big one. The Lunar New Year is returning with the Year of the Pig and Solider:76 is pretty happy about it. Jan 17, 2019 at 19:10 by Starym 4 comments

Four New Collectible Blizzard Books Coming This Fall

Blizzard today announced the release of four books, scheduled for Fall 2019: The Art of Hearthstone Vol. 2, The Art of Diablo, The Cinematic Art of WoW & The WoW Pop-Up Book. The books will be available for purchase on the Blizzard Gear Store or at your local bookstore. Jan 16, 2019 at 22:45 by Stan 1 comment

All Overwatch Funko Pop Figures

There's a pretty staggering amount of OW Funko Pop figures out there (55!), from the basic models to more specific skins and designs, and that doesn't even cover all heroes! Game Informer has put together a list of all the different editions you can buy, some at exclusive retailers and pointed out that we still don't have a Bastion one! Jan 15, 2019 at 09:06 by Starym 6 comments

Icy Veins Podcast Episode 33

Episode 33 of the Icy Veins Podcast is here, and we discuss Brode's Second Dinner announcement, Blizzard surveying players about Hearthstone Esports, Imperius in Heroes, and World of Warcraft's Patch 8.1.5. Jan 12, 2019 at 19:47 by Stan 3 comments

Bungie Regains Publishing Rights for Destiny

Bungie today announced on their website that they're regaining publishing rights for Destiny. They thanked Activision for their partnership on the game and said they're ready to publish on their own moving forward. Jan 10, 2019 at 21:39 by Stan 23 comments

Free Cosmetics with Anas Bastet Challenge

Ana's Bastet comic is being followed up with an ingame and twitch event! Players can earn a new victory pose, skin and player icon by winning matches, as well as three sprays through twitch! You can also get a free Ana Funko Pop figure when buying other Overwatch items at the Blizzard store, and the whole thing ends on January 21st! Jan 08, 2019 at 21:48 by Starym 1 comment

PTR Patch Notes: January 8th - Big Armor Changes,

Here come the announced PTR notes, focusing mainly on some armor changes, going from 5 to 3 maximum damage blocked (remaining at a cap of half of the original damage). We also have another Brigitte nerf, capping the duration of Rally to 30 seconds, a nef to D.Va's Defensive Matrix and a big buff to Reaper's self-healing. Jan 08, 2019 at 21:41 by Starym 2 comments

Bastet: An Ana Short Story

We have a brand new short story by Michael Chu, featuring Ana, Solider: 76 and Reaper, Cairo and a necropolis! The three of them meet while Ana is on a mission, and they all believe each other dead, but soon find out otherwise as Reaper chases Solider down and Ana steps in between them. Jan 07, 2019 at 19:22 by Starym 9 comments

The Future of Overwatch (and Next Week)

So, there's been a pretty long lull in the Overwatch dev's communication with the community, in terms of announcements or teases etc. However, recently Jeff Kaplan has posted on the forums about both very general plans for the future of the game and for some more close-by changes coming to the PTR as early as next week.

First off we have the PTR changes that may or may not appear next week/starting tomorrow, including a "surprise" that may well be a revision to the replay system: Jan 06, 2019 at 23:32 by Starym 19 comments

Box Changelog

CHANGELOG

22 Oct. 2018: Tracer Synergies and Matchups
- Removed Torbjorn from Counters following his rework.
22 Oct. 2018: Wrecking Ball Synergies and Matchups
- Removed Torbjorn from counters following his rework.
10 Oct. 2018: Brigitte Abilities and Strategy
- Updated Barrier Shield's health from 600 to 500.
10 Oct. 2018: McCree Abilities and Strategy
- Updated Combat Roll's cooldown from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
10 Oct. 2018: Pharah Abilities and Strategy
- Updated changes to reflect patch 1.29.0.1
10 Oct. 2018: Torbjörn Introduction
- Guide rewritten.
10 Sep. 2018: Winston Introduction
- Guide rewritten.
31 Jul. 2018: Reaper Introduction
- Guide updated and moved to new format.

Box Divider

Box Recent Posts

RECENT FORUM POSTS

Box Divider

Force desktop version

Force mobile version