Date played: September 2nd, 4th and 5th
Platform: PS4
There have been some major changes to Overwatch with the latest patch. Genji's ultimate and double jump were nerfed. Mei's ultimate has even more range. Mercy's healing beam is stronger. Zenyatta's Orb of Discord was nerfed. D.Va's defense Matrix was slightly nerfed. Hanzo's arrow speed was buffed. Lucio's speed boost was slowed down. Basically, tons of stuff was tweaked and adjusted, and so far, it's been great. There are also some new emotes and Reinhardt has 2 new skins. I bought one of them, and it looks amazing.
However, the biggest news in this patch is the new map, Eichenwalde. The map is set in a small town in Germany that is towered by a giant castle. The environment is visually gorgeous, with cobblestone streets, cool little houses and shops, a huge stone bridge and a giant castle. This is a hybrid payload map, where the attacking team must capture the payload, a huge battering ram, then move it all the way to the throne room in the castle. They battering ram is even used to knock down the castle's large front doors, and it looks awesome!
The attackers begin in a brewery, which opens into the streets of Eichenwalde. There's a big choke point early on. It's kind of a gate with room above it for characters with high mobility. The fighting here is always very intense. There are long sight lines, making characters like Widowmaker, Hanzo, Ana and Zenyatta very powerful here. Reinhardt is also an excellent choice on both attack and defense, since his shield is crucial when trying to pass the choke point. There are two side paths to the choke point, but honestly, they aren't that useful.
The first point is just beyond that, though it's hidden from sight due to a building that stands between the gate and the payload. This is a place where fast characters do well, like Genji, Tracer, Winston and even Junkrat, since he can attack from cover. Roadhog does rather well too. Speaking of which, I've been getting better and better with Zenyatta, Roadhog and Tracer. My heart still belongs to Reinhardt, but I like having more heroes being available to me.
On the point, there are three places where defenders can enter. There's a balcony inside a small building, which is often occupied my McCree, Reaper, Ana, Hanzo or Mercy. There's another high ground position nearby, great for Bastion and Torbjorn. Finally, there's a hallway where the tanks and offensive characters run through.
Once the first point is captured, the long trek to the castle begins for the attackers. The payload exits the village and stands before a large gatehouse, with ramparts all around. There's a lot of vertical fighting here, with Pharah being one of the stronger heroes in this section. It's nuts how many routes there are in this area. Good offensive players can easily flank and disrupt defensive lines in this segment. Junkrat is particularly dangerous here.
The ramparts above the payload's path are used by many heroes to have a nice aerial view of the battlefield. Right after that is a big fucking bridge, a very dangerous bridge. People get knocked off that damn thing all the time. Shit, I jumped off of it multiple times with Winston, and fell off with a few other characters.
The bridge is usually host to a big battle. It's a tough push because there just isn't much room near the payload, making big tanks like Reinhardt, Roadhog and D.Va absolutely crucial. Once past the bridge, the payload reaches a checkpoint and destroys the castle's giant doors.
The final portion of the map is insane, with intense fighting from both sides. The interior of the castle is a pretty small space, though there are a couple of side routes here. This is where people pop all their ultimates and the difference between victory and defeat can lie in a single kill. At the very end of the payload's path lies an iconic statue of Reinhardt's former master.
Eichenwalde is an amazing map, probably the best in the game at this point. If Blizzard can put out new maps of this quality on a regular basis, I'll be playing Overwatch for a very long time.
Platform: PS4
There have been some major changes to Overwatch with the latest patch. Genji's ultimate and double jump were nerfed. Mei's ultimate has even more range. Mercy's healing beam is stronger. Zenyatta's Orb of Discord was nerfed. D.Va's defense Matrix was slightly nerfed. Hanzo's arrow speed was buffed. Lucio's speed boost was slowed down. Basically, tons of stuff was tweaked and adjusted, and so far, it's been great. There are also some new emotes and Reinhardt has 2 new skins. I bought one of them, and it looks amazing.
However, the biggest news in this patch is the new map, Eichenwalde. The map is set in a small town in Germany that is towered by a giant castle. The environment is visually gorgeous, with cobblestone streets, cool little houses and shops, a huge stone bridge and a giant castle. This is a hybrid payload map, where the attacking team must capture the payload, a huge battering ram, then move it all the way to the throne room in the castle. They battering ram is even used to knock down the castle's large front doors, and it looks awesome!
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| Eichenwalde |
The first point is just beyond that, though it's hidden from sight due to a building that stands between the gate and the payload. This is a place where fast characters do well, like Genji, Tracer, Winston and even Junkrat, since he can attack from cover. Roadhog does rather well too. Speaking of which, I've been getting better and better with Zenyatta, Roadhog and Tracer. My heart still belongs to Reinhardt, but I like having more heroes being available to me.
On the point, there are three places where defenders can enter. There's a balcony inside a small building, which is often occupied my McCree, Reaper, Ana, Hanzo or Mercy. There's another high ground position nearby, great for Bastion and Torbjorn. Finally, there's a hallway where the tanks and offensive characters run through.
Once the first point is captured, the long trek to the castle begins for the attackers. The payload exits the village and stands before a large gatehouse, with ramparts all around. There's a lot of vertical fighting here, with Pharah being one of the stronger heroes in this section. It's nuts how many routes there are in this area. Good offensive players can easily flank and disrupt defensive lines in this segment. Junkrat is particularly dangerous here.
The ramparts above the payload's path are used by many heroes to have a nice aerial view of the battlefield. Right after that is a big fucking bridge, a very dangerous bridge. People get knocked off that damn thing all the time. Shit, I jumped off of it multiple times with Winston, and fell off with a few other characters.
The bridge is usually host to a big battle. It's a tough push because there just isn't much room near the payload, making big tanks like Reinhardt, Roadhog and D.Va absolutely crucial. Once past the bridge, the payload reaches a checkpoint and destroys the castle's giant doors.
The final portion of the map is insane, with intense fighting from both sides. The interior of the castle is a pretty small space, though there are a couple of side routes here. This is where people pop all their ultimates and the difference between victory and defeat can lie in a single kill. At the very end of the payload's path lies an iconic statue of Reinhardt's former master.
Eichenwalde is an amazing map, probably the best in the game at this point. If Blizzard can put out new maps of this quality on a regular basis, I'll be playing Overwatch for a very long time.
