Overwatch 2.84 Update Patch Notes | New Archives event and balance changes

The Overwatch 2.84 update patch notes bring forth the Archives event once again as well as a few big balance changes, which fits Blizzard’s new approach. It also comes with a host of new skins that are pretty slick. This also includes the Archives event start date and end date.

Overwatch 2.84 Update Patch Notes | Archives event start date and end date

Once again, the Archives event is back with more cosmetics. This lore-based mode doesn’t have a new campaign but some new variations like Molten Cores, which makes dead enemies erupt like an ultimate from a certain Swedish builder, and Close Quarters, where enemies are only vulnerable up close.

ALSO: Overwatch League cancels March and April events over coronavirus

These are weekly events and will let players play old events with a new twist. The event runs from March 12 to April 2.

Overwatch 2.84 Update Patch Notes | Archives event skins

Here are all the new Overwatch Archives event skins:

Overwatch 2.84 Update Patch Notes | Balance changes

Baptiste has been buffed as his boots charge up .3 second faster (1 second to .7 seconds). D.Va’s boosters have a four-second cooldown instead of three seconds. Mei’s Ice Wall has a 13-second cooldown instead of 10 and some players can now fit through one-pillar gaps. Orisa’s primary fire now does 11 damage, which is up from 10. Sigma can now fly around 30% faster during his ultimate, which now takes 10% less ultimate charge to get. Soldier 76’s rockets have a cooldown of six seconds (down from eight). And Sombra’s gun now has 10% less weapon spread.

Overwatch 2.84 Update Patch Notes | Replay sharing

This one is rather small, but you can now share replays. Replays will yield a simple code that will last until the next patch.

Full Overwatch 2.84 Update Patch Notes

OVERWATCH ARCHIVES 2020

Experience story-driven co-op missions from pivotal moments in Overwatch history. While the event is active, earn Archives Loot Boxes containing skins, highlight intros, emotes, and sprays inspired by moments from Overwatch’s past. And, new this year, demonstrate your tactical finesse with weekly Challenge Missions. Challenge Missions allow you to play Uprising, Retribution, and Storm Rising with new gameplay twists.

GENERAL UPDATES

New Feature: Share Replays

Players can now share their in-game replays with others!

A replay is shared via an alphanumeric code typically 6 characters long. The code can be shared however you want: in game, on forums, over social media. Another player can input that code and watch your replay. Codes are valid until the next patch.

The replay system has also received several improvements:

• Pin up to 10 replays to keep until the next patch. Unpin a replay to make room for a different replay
• The 10 most recently imported replay codes are tracked. This allows you to watch the same imported replay again without retyping the code
• There is a new note field for each replay entry, allowing you to add descriptions or notes for yourself

General Updates

• In game friend requests will now only display in game once per session
• RealID friend requests will only show RealID names in game if you have recently played with that player
• The initial Assemble Heroes timer for games using the Assault, Hybrid, Control, and Payload game modes has been further reduced from 35 to 30 seconds
• In the Assault, Payload, and Hybrid game modes for Competitive Play, when both teams complete a round of offense and have more than 2 minutes of time bank then each team’s time bank is equally reduced until one of the teams has a 2 minutes remaining
  • Example: If Team A completes a round of offense on Volskaya with 4:37 remaining in their time bank, and Team B completes their round on offense with 2:50 remaining, then 50 seconds is removed from each team’s timebank. This leaves the teams tied 2-2 and Team A with 3:47 remaining and Team B with 2:00 remaining

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

• Season 3 of Competitive 6v6 Lockout Elimination has begun!

HERO UPDATES

Baptiste

Exo Boots

• Charge time reduced from 1 to 0.7 seconds

Regenerative Burst

• Cooldown lowered from 15 to 13 seconds

D.Va

Boosters

• Cooldown increased from 3 to 4 seconds

Mei

Ice Wall

• Cooldown increased from 10 to 13 seconds
• Player collision now allows large heroes to fit through 1 pillar gaps

Orisa

Fusion Driver (Primary Fire)

• Damage increased from 10 to 11

Sigma

Gravitic Flux

• Ultimate cost reduced 10%
• Flight speed increased 30%

Soldier: 76

Helix Rockets

• Cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds

Sombra

Machine Pistol (Primary Fire)

• Spread decreased by 10%

BUG FIXES

General

• Fixed a bug that could cause the “New” tag to remain on the “Player Icon” menu tab even after viewing the new icon(s)
• Fixed a UI bug that could cause both teams to show 100% at the end of a Control Point map
• Fixed a bug that could cause friend request “toasts” to be permanently displayed on screen when getting more than one request at a time
• Fixed a bug that could cause several heroes’ ultimate sounds to be silent when observing in third-person
• Fixed an issue preventing replays from recording in Custom Games that start immediately
• Fixed a bug that caused hero portraits in the Hero Select screen to appear blurry / low resolution
• Fixed a bug where Slept or Knocked Down heroes could not be walked over by enemies

Maps

Numbani

• Fixed a bug that allowed players to stand in an unintended location near the final checkpoint

Heroes

Bastion

• Brick Skin: Fixed a bug that caused Bastion’s brick bullets to grow in size after shooting through a Mei Icewall

Orisa

• Fixed an issue where Orisa’s supercharger placed on Petra’s breakable floors was not properly being destroyed along with the floor

Reinhardt

• Fixed a bug that resulted in assisted or environment kills not being counted in Reinhardt’s Charge Kills stat, if the killed player was first knocked back by Reinhardt’s charge

Sigma

• Fixed a bug where Sigma’s Gravitic Flux animation would play even if he was slept or stunned

Sombra

• Fixed a bug where Sombra’s translocator placed on Petra’s breakable floors was not properly being destroyed along with the floor

Zarya

• Fixed a bug where Zarya’s Projected Barriers could prevent mutual knockdowns from happening between charging heroes

Workshop

• Fixed an issue causing Player Joined Message to trigger multiple times when a player joined the match
• Fixed an issue preventing Set Team Score/Modify Team Score from working in Assault, Hybrid, and Payload
• Fixed an issue causing the editor to eat the last character of a unicode string when pasting in text
• Fixed an issue preventing “Is Firing Primary” from returning true when Doomfist shoots his last bullet
• Fixed an issue causing “Disallow Button” to fail to disable Reaper’s Shadow Step
• Renamed “Spectators” to “Non-Team Spectators” in Create HUD Text and Create In-World Text for clarity
• Fixed an issue preventing the Non-Team Spectators option from working properly in Create HUD Text and Create In-World Text