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March 31, 2017
After a short induction period in quick play, Orisa is now available for play in competitive mode in Overwatch.
For those out of the loop, Orisa is a brand new hero that recently got added to the Overwatch roster. Orisa can be found in the tank category. Players have remarked that she offers a utility kit somewhat in between Bastion and Reinhardt. For example, Orisa has the ability to lay down shields that can block incoming damage, just like Reinhardt’s shield. Orisa's basic weapon is also fairly similar to Bastions' turret ability.
Orisa's ultimate allows her to boost the damage of players in her vicinity. For now, many players are still getting to grips with Orisa and we're not sure where she'll sit on the competitive meta if anywhere at all. With Reinhardt, Zarya and Roadhog still dominating the tank game, and other picks like D.Va and Winston still being relevant, it's hard to see where Orisa will fit in on the table.
It'll certainly take some more time to see
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March 29, 2017
With the new public test realm live on the PC, we can start to see some of the changes to Overwatch's Lucio.
For a long time, Lucio has been considered to be one of the top tier support heroes in Overwatch. His ability to heal his entire team with an automatic area of effect has proven to be the game winner in countless situations. Lucio's ultimate ability has helped teams fight off enemies in scenarios that would otherwise be unsurvivable.
In the public test realm, all of that is about to change, although he'll be getting some buffs to his own personal performance alongside these changes. Soon, Lucio's radius on his area of effect ability will be limited from 30 meters down to just 10 meters. This is quite a big jump and will make a massive difference in team fights where Lucio's team is spread thin.
To balance this change a little, the healing done from Lucio's healing song has actually been increased by 50%, so if you are within the radius of Lucio, you'll get even
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March 24, 2017
After a short time on the public test environment on the PC, Orisa, a new hero in Overwatch, has been added to the live servers for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
The new hero, named Orisa, is a brand new tank hero for Overwatch. To begin with, Orisa will not be available in competitive play. For the first few weeks, Orisa will be limited to Quick Play, Arcade and the Play Vs. AI modes. Blizzard has explained that they'd like their player base to get to learn how Orisa works before she is thrown into the competitive meta.
While Orisa is a tank, she has an arsenal of abilities to help protect her team, which makes her a viable support as well. Her main weapon is called the Fusion Driver - it can deal consistent damage to enemies, but Orisa is slowed down the longer the weapon is used as a throwback. Her alternate fire is called Halt and this allows Orisa to create a small detonated charge that can slow enemies.
Orisa's ultimate ability is called Supercharger. With this,
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February 28, 2017
After what seemed like an endless wait, the next Overwatch character has finally been announced. The next Overwatch character to make it into the roster is named Orisa, and she is already playable in the public test realm.
It may be some time before Orisa gets pushed to live servers and to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but we still have all of the information we could possibly need about Orisa from the public test realm.
Orisa has been nicknamed the "Mechanical Peacekeeper" and unexpectedly she has a very robotic appearance. Orisa is a straight out tank, and once again her appearance really shows it. She's big - Orisa is essentially a robotic centaur with a gattling gun.
Her main abilities allow Orisa to provide barriers and shield to her team, which gives teammates the option to tank it out themselves for a little longer in fights. Her ultimate is called Supercharger and this is the only offensive ability she has in her arsenal. With Supercharger, Orisa boosts the
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January 07, 2017
Suddenly the trophy at the Overwatch NGE Winter Premiere is up for grabs, as both Cloud9 and Fnatic have dropped out of the event completely.
It's been confirmed on the official NGE event team list that Fnatic and Cloud9 will no longer be taking part. FaZe Clan and Citizen7 will take their place.
Whilst both FaZe Clan and Citizen7 have both shared their great news, surprisingly neither Fnatic nor Cloud9 have made any mention about their quiet drop out. Fnatic's insane performances in 2016 allowed them to get a direct invite to the tournament and Cloud9 were following closely behind.
Dropping out of an event this big is rare, but it does happen, usually when scheduling issues are involved. For example, official news on the OGN Apex Season 2 event is rumored to be hitting soon, and if the drop out from Fnatic and Cloud 9 is anything to go by, both teams may have chosen to attend the OGN event instead.
We think this is a great thing for the Overwatch scene - not
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January 04, 2017
A brand new map has been released for Overwatch and it's now accessible for all players on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
The new map is called Oasis, and it features a couple of concepts new to Overwatch. Before we get into that, though, let's take a look at the official description for Oasis.
"Researchers and academics from around the region came together to found a city dedicated to scientific progress without restraints -- a monument to human ingenuity and invention. The city and its inhabitants are governed by the Ministries, a collection of brilliant minds who possess many secrets that have attracted the interest of powerful organizations from around the world."
The first interesting addition to Oasis is the traffic - moving traffic will prove to be an obstacle, or potential weapon - if a hero comes into contact with the traffic, chances are they're going to need to be scraped off of the pavement.
Oasis also has jump pads, which should add a new level of verticality
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December 30, 2016
After what felt like a lifetime, Roadhog is finally getting a nerf, and other heroes are getting changes too.
The times of Roadhog's overpowered hook are soon to be over - Blizzard has announced that they plan to nerf the big pig in Overwatch, and they also have a number of other balancing changes planned for the near future.
The new changes don't focus on cooldown time or damages, but instead add more of a skill curve to the hook ability. In simple terms, Roadhog players will need to practice a little bit to get good with using the hook. Blizzard think the hook should be a high risk high, reward play and it's slowly leaning towards that.
"There is a cap on how far 'to the side' you can be pulled, so you can't just hook someone, spin 180, and dump someone off a cliff," principal designer Geoff Goodman mentioned.
"There is a new persistent line-of-sight check back to Roadhog once the hook has landed. If this check fails, the hook breaks off and returns to Roadhog."
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November 14, 2016
A brand new Overwatch invitational event has been announced for MLG Vegas 2016.
The event will feature some of the top current Overwatch teams and the organizers will be putting $100,000 into the prize pool. Whilst the event was announced a little while ago, we've finally got details on the teams that will be attending MLG Vegas 2016.
The first team to make their faces at the Overwatch tournament at MLG Vegas 2016 will be Team EnVyUs from Europe; currently, one of the teams with the longest winning streaks in Overwatch history. It'll be interesting to see how they fare across seas. FaZe clan will be joining as a multi national team, Cloud 9 from Canada will be taking part, along with the following US teams:
- NRG eSports
- Rise Nation
- Fnatic
- Team Liquid
- compLexityThe MLG Vegas eSports event will start on December 16 and will end on December 18. The event will take place at Mandalay Bay, Bayside E&F.
Will
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November 04, 2016
Blizzard has taken a huge step at Blizzcon 2016 and have announced a brand new Overwatch league, which should give a wide range of teams a huge level of opportunity to get paid to play.
The Overwatch league has been considered a brand new competitive scene which should help to keep the competitive nature of the game as healthy as possible. The league has a focus to provide "long-term stability for teams as well as opportunities for players to establish the types of professional careers associated with traditional sports."
The Overwatch league will start in 2017 - A number of current players will be given the chance to get invited to some tests run by Blizzard, and if they pass those tests they'll be given a spot in a team. If they get a spot the players will receive a contract and a minimum salary.
Each of the teams will represent major cities and regions as opposed to sponsors and organizations like they do in traditional eSports. This will follow a similar system
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October 01, 2016
Dreamhack Winter 2016 is going to be a big one for any Overwatch fans out there.
A brand new tournament with a $50,000 prize pool has been locked in for the Dreamhack Winter event, and it’ll see 8 teams from around the world battle it out on a live stage. First place prize is $30,000, whilst second gets $10,000 and 3rd and 4th both get $5,000 each.
There will be three qualifiers for the event to determine which teams are allowed to take part in the tournament. A North American qualifier will go live from October 11-12th, whilst a Europe qualifier will take part from October 9th-10th.
2 Players from Europe will advance to the tournament, alongside 2 North American players. The final four tournament slots will be filled with winners of the bring your own computer tournament that'll happen on November 24th at the Dreamhack Winter 2016 event. If players win the BYOC event, they'll be seeded into the Overwatch tournament the next day.
Details including online qualifier