UPDATED 17:10 EDT / MARCH 23 2016

NEWS

Overwatch update adds weekly brawls, highlight reels, and more

A new patch for the Overwatch closed beta has arrived with new maps, game modes, UI improvements, and more. In addition to the introduction of achievements, new hero skins, and a new map, here’s a breakdown of some of the biggest changes in the patch.

Weekly Brawls

Blizzard Entertainment has taken yet another page out of Hearthstone’s book for a new game mode in Overwatch called Weekly Brawls.

Like Hearthstone’s Tavern Brawl game mode, Overwatch’s Weekly Brawls will feature different rules each week that are designed to break up the repetitiveness of playing the same maps over and over.

For example, the one brawl only allows users to play as either Hanzo, a support hero that uses a bow and arrows to attack mid-range targets, and Genji, an offense hero that specializes in fast movement and quick kills. The brawl mode shortens the cooldowns of the heroes’ abilities, which makes for some crazy shenanigans that wouldn’t be possible in a normal game mode, another similarity the mode shares with Hearthstone’s Tavern Brawl.

One key difference between the two, however, is the fact that while Hearthstone rewards players with a free card pack for their first Tavern Brawl win each week, there are currently no intrinsic rewards for playing brawls on Overwatch.

Of course, that could easily change before or after the game launches, most likely with the reward of a free loot box.

Highlights

If you ever wanted to capture your best moments in Overwatch, Blizzard’s new highlight feature now has you covered…sort of.

The Highlights feature automatically records your best gameplay moments, storing up to five of your most recent highlights.

Unfortunately, the Highlights the game decides to keep are about as accurate as the Play of the Game replays, which typically feature a Torbjorn hitting his turret with a hammer, or running around a corner to get a healthkit, or staring at a wall.

The good news is that Blizzard is has also tweaked the Play of the Game feature yet again.

Play of the Game tweaks

Overwatch’s Play of the Game feature is meant to replay the best play of a match so both teams can be impressed with an expert player or a lucky shot, but so far it has frequently overlooked plays that changed the course of the game and focused instead on whoever got the best multikill.

Typically, this ends up being Torbjorn picking his nose while his turret does all the work, Bastion firing down a corridor while people stumble into his bullets, or Junkrat going kamikaze with his ultimate ability.

In order to improve Play of the Game’s variety, Blizzard is introducing a number of other metrics for the game to keep track of when determining who to award with the replay.

This includes High Score, which rewards multikills and killstreaks; Lifesaver, which rewards players who saved one or more teammates from certain death; Sharpshooter, which rewards difficult shots fired at moving or distant targets; and Shutdown, which rewards players who prevent an enemy from executing a dangerous ability at a critical moment.

“This is just the start of what we want to achieve with Plays of the Game, but we wanted to get these initial changes into your hands as soon as possible so you can work with us to make the system even better,” Blizzard said in the Overwatch patch notes.

“In the future, we’ll be looking to add new features to the Play of the Game system, too—such as dynamic cameras for playback, as well as more varied categories. So get out there and play and let us know what you think!”

Image credit: Overwatch courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

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