Blizzard has revealed the Overwatch 2 Season 4 launch patch notes a little earlier than expected. As always with these updates, they’re fairly lengthy, so I’ll keep the preamble short.
There are some big changes for Mercy (who had her Season 3 nerfs reverted) and Brigitte (who has a beefed-up ultimate). The patch notes also touch on new hero Lifeweaver’s abilities, welcome accessibility changes and major updates to competitive modes.
As ever, there are a bunch of hero balance chances and bug fixes, while the map pools of previous seasons are no more — you’ll be able to play on all currently active maps.
Without further ado, here are the Overwatch 2 Season 4 launch patch notes in full, including developer comments:
Lifeweaver
Lifeweaver has been added to the line-up.
Healing Blossom
Hold to charge a healing burst. Release to heal a targeted ally.
Thorn Volley
Rapidly fire a spread of projectiles.
Petal Platform
Throw a platform that springs upwards when stepped on.
Rejuvenating Dash
Dash toward your traveling direction and lightly heal yourself.
Life Grip
Pull an ally to your location, protecting them as they travel.
Tree of Life
Place a tree that instantly heals allies upon sprouting and continues healing periodically as it lives.
Parting Gift (Passive)
On death, drop a gift that heals the first enemy or ally to pick it up.
General Updates
Accessibility
Added a setting to select custom colors for health, armor, shields, and overhealth in health bars. Improved preview feature for custom color settings with different preview backgrounds.
Stranded Spawn System
Regrouping with your team after getting stranded in a spawn room has never been easier! Spawn rooms that shut down due to capturing or losing an objective will now remain partially active for 7 seconds. While you still can’t change heroes in these spawn rooms, other new features have been activated. In these “stranded spawns,” the doors remain locked to the opposing team, the healing field remains active, and you can now use the Interact key to instantly teleport to the new active spawn room.
Matchmaking
Backfilling players in Unranked modes will now prioritize finding players closer to the skill level of the other players in the match. Minor optimizations for large groups improving matchmaking quality.
Competitive Play
Top 500 Leaderboard Eligibility
Players will now be required to win 25 Competitive matches before being eligible to enter the Top 500 leaderboard for a specific role, queue, or region.
Developer comments: Previously, we only required 25 games to be completed regardless of winning prior to becoming eligible for the Top 500 leaderboards; however, this change should help make sure that players are consistently pushing toward winning matches, which should help ensure the leaderboards have the best players in each region.
Competitive Leaver Penalty Changes
Matches left in different Competitive queues are still considered separate for purposes of determining the lengths of suspensions or receiving a seasonal ban from Competitive Play.
The start of a new Competitive season also no longer fully resets the severity of these suspensions and bans. This should hopefully prevent players from leaving Competitive games at the end of a season without facing meaningful consequences at the start of the next.
Matches left in Competitive Play will also have a more negative effect on a player’s Skill Tier and Division after a 5-win Competitive Update.
Competitive Point Reward Changes
The number of Competitive Points (CP) rewarded for a win in Competitive Play has been changed from 15 to 25.
The number of Competitive Points earned from seasonal challenges based on your final seasonal rank has also been updated. Games played after your last Competitive Update during a season will still count towards your final seasonal rank. You must still compete in the season’s Competitive Play Qualification challenge to receive bonus Competitive Points.
Ending in Bronze will now earn 300 Competitive Points (previously 65)
Ending in Silver will now earn 450 Competitive Points (previously 125)
Ending in Gold will now earn 600 Competitive Points (previously 250)
Ending in Platinum will now earn 800 Competitive Points (previously 500)
Ending in Diamond will now earn 1000 Competitive Points (previously 750)
Ending in Masters will now earn 1200 Competitive Points (previously 1250)
Ending in Grand Masters will now earn 1500 Competitive Points (previously 1750)
Competitive Challenge Titles
Seasonal Competitive titles earned from challenges now distinguish between whether they are earned in Open Queue or Role Queue. For example:
Ending in Diamond rank in Open Queue will earn the “Diamond Open Challenger” Title
Ending in Diamond rank in Role Queue will earn the “Diamond Role Challenger” Title
Developer Comments: The goal of these changes is to prevent confusion about a player’s rank from the previous season if they participate in multiple Competitive queues.
Competitive Match Rank
The initial loading screen that shows all the participants of Competitive matches will now show an icon at the top of the screen representing the average Skill Tier and Division of all players in that match. This should provide players with a better comparison of their own rank to other players in the match.
Seasonal Rank Decay Removed
Starting with Season 4, a player’s Competitive Play rank will no longer be reduced at the beginning of a season. Furthermore, the effects of this reduction of rank from previous seasons will also be removed. Depending on how many games they played during the previous season, most players will see their skill tier and division increase. A player’s skill tier and division at the beginning of Season 4 will now closely match the matchmaker’s estimate of your current skill.
Developer Comments: The previous seasonal rank decay was causing considerable confusion for players, who would see players in their Competitive games who did not appear to be of a similar rank. Often these players were actually of similar skill, but they had not played enough games during the season to compensate for the initial decay.
Competitive Skill Update and Progression
Both the Competitive progress and Competitive update screens will now include information about a player’s losses and ties as well as their wins.
The Competitive Update screen will also now provide players with an indication of their current percentage progress within a skill division. This will hopefully make it more clear how the results of games played during the update affect a player’s Skill Tier and Division.
It is possible for players to have a positive win/loss record, but not go up a skill division because the progress occurs entirely within a single division. This new message will allow players to see that they did in fact make positive progress, just not enough to reach a new skill tier or division.
There is also a similar message with Competitive Updates for players who are Grandmaster 1, but not yet on the Top 500 leaderboard. This should provide those players with feedback about their progress towards earning a spot on the Top 500 leaderboard.
Hero Updates
Tank
Reinhardt
Armor health reduced from 300 to 250
Base health increased from 175 to 200
Developer Comment: Reinhardt has been overperforming after the recent increases to his offensive capabilities. Those changes have been playing well, so to adjust his overall power, we’re reducing his overall health through this armor reduction.
Sigma
Accretion
Impact damage reduced from 60 to 40 (80 damage total with explosion)
Knockdown duration increased from 0.8 to 1.1 seconds
Developer Comment: Like Roadhog’s Chain Hook, Sigma’s Accretion and primary fire combo can be highly lethal and can feel like a guaranteed kill against 200 health targets. We’re reducing the damage slightly to require an additional volley of primary fire but are also increasing the stun duration to provide allies with more opportunity to follow up on successful impacts.
Damage
Cassidy
Base health reduced from 225 to 200
Magnetic Grenade
Damage reduced from 131 to 120
Developer Comment: Magnetic Grenade only requiring one additional primary fire shot after sticking to a target was too reliable to execute on, even though it only works at close range. We’re reducing the total damage on Magnetic Grenade, evenly split between the direct target damage and explosion. The reduced falloff-damage buff his primary fire received recently enables Cassidy to play from safer engagement ranges now, so we’re reducing his health back to 200.
Sombra
EMP can now disable Blizzard
Developer Comment: We are expanding what Sombra’s EMP turns off to keep it consistent with how it affects other device-controlled ultimates.
Support
Ana
Sleep Dart
Maximum duration on Tank heroes reduced 30%, from 5 to 3.5 seconds
Developer Comments: We’ve been watching how effective Sleep Dart has been in 5v5 gameplay. It hasn’t been overly disruptive as a whole, but since it is significantly more reliable to land against Tank heroes due to their large hit boxes and even more valuable to do so with only one tank on the field, we’re reducing its maximum duration against those targets.
Brigitte
Rally
Brigitte now gains 100 restorable armor health pool for the duration of Rally
Brigitte no longer gradually builds temporary health like her nearby allies
Rally now upgrades her Barrier Shield, increasing both its size and health
Barrier health increased from 300 to 750 during the ultimate
During Rally, Shield Bash now impacts multiple enemies and briefly stuns them
Bonus movement speed reduced from 30 to 15%
Repair Pack
Range reduced from 30 to 25 meters
Developer Comments: Rally lost some of its power with the change from granting allies additional armor to temporary health, and overall took a relatively long time to build up its defensive benefits. This rework is intended to keep it as a defensive ultimate ability but with a more immediate impact due to gaining an increased armor health pool upfront and the enhanced barrier, which can be utilized to block for teammates while their temporary health builds or interrupt enemies with the stun.
Mercy
Caduceus Staff
Healing-per-second increased from 45 to 55
Healing is no longer increased for allies under half health
Guardian Angel
Cooldown reduced from 2.5 to 1.5 seconds
Jump and Crouch cancel active ability state duration increased from 1.0 to 1.5 seconds
The Jump and Crouch cancel active ability state can no longer be manually interrupted to begin the cooldown early
Valkyrie
Support role passive healing is now active for the duration of Valkyrie
Developer Comment: The recent increase to Guardian Angel’s jump-cancel mobility still needs to be kept in check in some way, but while the last iteration was simple, it also had some unintended effects, such as not being ready to use GA again after flying in and using Resurrect. This revision provides more flexibility, and allows Mercy to opt into an additional 1.5 second cooldown when using the increased mobility from the jump/crouch cancel options or otherwise waiting for the base cooldown time.
The increased healing multiplier condition on Caduceus Staff was intended to help Mercy players feel more agency in trying to save critical-health allies and to add depth to the healing mechanic without changing the total time to heal to full health. However, the overall rebalance of the healing values received significant negative feedback, both from those playing as Mercy and those playing against it. There wasn’t a satisfying middle ground where we could reduce the potency of this effect while still having it feel impactful, so we’re reverting it.
Moira
Fade
Can now be activated during Coalescence
Coalescence
Bonus movement speed reduced from 50 to 40%
Biotic Grasp
Lingering heal duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds
Developer Comments: Being able to use Fade during her Coalescence ultimate gives Moira more playmaking ability by being able to reposition even more quickly and avoid potential threats with quick reactions. Due to the more spread-out playstyle of 5v5, we’re increasing the lingering heal duration from her primary fire, meaning it will heal more in total.
Map Updates
General Updates
Map Pools have been disabled, all maps are now in rotation
New Arcade Map: Talantis
You designed it, we built it: an underwater Talon base with jump pads, pit traps, giant fish and waterfalls.
Talantis will be playable for a limited time from April 25 through May 1.
Season 4 Map Lighting
Push
New Queen Street – Dawn (New)
Colosseo – Morning
Esperança – Morning
Hybrid
Blizzard World – Morning
Eichenwalde – Morning
Hollywood – Night (New)
King’s Row – Evening
Midtown – Morning
Numbani – Morning
Paraíso – Morning
Escort
Dorado – Night
Havana – Night
Watchpoint: Gibraltar – Evening
Junkertown – Morning
Circuit royal – Morning
Rialto – Morning
Route 66 – Morning
Shambali Monastery – Night
Control
Antarctic Peninsula – Night
Busan – Morning
Ilios – Morning
Lijiang Tower – Night
Nepal – Morning
Oasis – Evening
Workshop Updates
Introducing Workshop Projectiles
There are three new Workshop actions allowing you to create either a fully functioning projectile or a cosmetic projectile effect:
Create Projectile
Create Homing Projectile
Create Projectile Effect
Additionally, there is a corresponding workshop extension that enables 19 projectile visual effects.
Bug Fixes
General
Fixed a bug in Competitive Modes that resulted in the rank-up animation playing when a player was actually ranking down
Fixed a bug where Relative Aim Sensitivity was unable to be set to a value of 0%
Fixed a bug where Hero Options could become unresponsive if modified during the respawn period
Fixed an issue where some map preview images were missing from Game Reports and Replays
Fixed Streamer Mode failing to obfuscate BattleTags in some cases
Fixed an issue with Custom Game Browser sorting by decreasing ping by default
Fixed an issue where the round transition screen in Competitive could break when played on 21:9
Fixed a bug with the Round Transition screen being significantly darker if you had colorblind options enabled
Fixed a bug that could cause the camera to become displaced if you used a Souvenir as you loaded into the map
Fixed a bug that prevented you from navigating the Endorsement UI while on the Challenge Progress Screen
Fixed a controller/gamepad issue that prevented players from accessing the While you Wait menu unless the middle card on screen was highlighted first
Maps
Circuit Royale – Fixed multiple lighting issues in Circuit Royale
Hanamura – Fixed multiple cases of lighting and geometry
Ilios – Fixed areas in Ilios where players could become stuck
New Queen Street – Fixed multiple cases of lighting an geometry in Toronto
Oasis – Fixed areas in Oasis that blocked players and gameplay
Shambali Monastery – Fixed areas in Shambali Monastery that allowed players to stand in unintended locations
Heroes
Ashe
The Raijin skin has been adjusted so that Ashe’s Viper no longer takes up a large amount of screen space when scoped in
Fixed a bug that allowed Ashe to gain Ultimate while B.O.B was active
Bastion
Fixed a bug where some abilities were able to interact with Artillery’s targeting reticle
Fixed a bug where Bastion’s attack animations could appear sped up (though they actually weren’t) after the effects of Kitsune Rush expired
Cassidy
Fixed in a previous update – Fixed a bug with Cassidy’s Deadeye not taking armor mitigation into account which resulted in a Killing Blow before the enemy was marked with a skull
Fixed in a previous update – Fixed a bug where the damage from Deadeye could be multiplied by reacquiring the same target before Deadeye completed
Doomfist
Fixed an issue with Seismic Slam not always registering when used on uneven surfaces
Echo
Fixed an issue with Echo’s Duplicate sometimes failing when duplicating a D.Va as she casts Self-Destruct
Genji
Fixed an issue where some abilities did not function correctly after being Deflected by Genji
Kiriko
Fixed an issue where in some cases Swift Step would fail to teleport the player
Fixed an issue with Kitsune Rush appearing orange to enemies if Kiriko had ‘Terrible Tornado’ equipped
Fixed invisible entities within Kiriko’s ultimate Kitsune Rush being pingable for a brief duration
Mercy
Fixed a bug that allowed Mercy, when using Valkyrie to clip for extended periods into the environment and prevent critical shots
Fixed an issue where Mercy could negate the effects of Rocket Punch in some cases
Fixed an issue with Mercy’s footsteps being extra quiet while crouched
Moira
Fixed an issue with Moira’s hand animations breaking during gameplay
Orisa
Fixed a bug with the art on Orisa’s Forest Spirit Spear
Pharah
Fixed an issue with the Barrage play of the game not using custom rockets from the selected skin
Roadhog
Fixed an interaction with Whole Hog and Hook where the hook would clip into the camera of the hook’s target
Sigma
Fixed a bug with Gravitic Flux picking up reviving heroes just before the Revive completes
Fixed a typo in Kinetic Grasp’s tooltip. It now correctly states it grants ‘extra health’
Sombra
Fixed a bug with Sombra’s footsteps remaining silent to players who had detected her
Torbjorn
Fixed a bug where Molten Core projectiles could become stuck in the air if deflected with Orisa’s spear
Tracer
Fixed a bug where in some cases Tracer would not get all her Blink charges back upon respawn
Widowmaker
Fixed a bug where Venom Mine would be missing a team color if Widowmaker was wearing an Away OWL Skin
Zarya
Fixed an issue where Zarya would not receive charge from Brigitte’s Shield Bash
Zenyatta
Fixed an issue where Zenyatta’s ability prompts on target characters being reversed when using a gamepad/controller
Fixed an issue where Orb of Discord could appear team-colored Blue when applied to an enemy
The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.
The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.
However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.
“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”
The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.
At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.
A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”
Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.
Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.
Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.
Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.
While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.
Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.
The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
