WELCOME TO THE YEAR OF THE ROOSTER
by Blizzard Entertainment 01/24/2017
Welcome to the Year of the Rooster
Gather your family and friends, heroes, and get ready to ring in the Year of the Rooster!
Overwatch's Lunar New Year celebrations have begun and we hope this seasonal event brings you happiness, prosperity, and (most importantly) lots of fun. For the next three weeks, players will have the chance to collect over 100 commemorative cosmetic items, enjoy a firefight beneath some fireworks on Lijiang Tower, and work together to capture the flag in Overwatch's newest brawl mode.
Good Luck and Great Fortune Await
Starting today, our customary Loot Boxes have been replaced with our lucky Lunar Loot Boxes—and they’re packed with one heck of a (primal) punch, including new skins like Palanquin D.Va and Wukong Winston!
As with previous events, Lunar Loot Boxes can be earned or purchased, and each will contain at least one item from our Year of the Rooster collection—including player icons, sprays, victory poses, emotes, highlight intros, skins, and more. While the contents of each seasonal Loot Box are random, you can unlock a variety of these customization options in the Hero Gallery for credits throughout the event’s duration.
Once you've unlocked an item, it will be yours forever, which means you can celebrate the Year of the Rooster all year-round. The collection will return to the vault on February 13, however, so be sure to fire up your favorite gaming machine and see what good fortune might await before it’s too late!
Capture the Rooster
No event would be complete without a first-class brawl, and for the Year of the Rooster we took a cue from tradition and are introducing an Overwatch take on a true competitive gaming staple: Capture the Flag.
In Capture the Rooster, teams will face off on Lijiang Tower, attempting to secure the enemy flag while the opposing team does the same. In this fast-paced brawl, players will need to get creative with their team compositions as they attempt to construct a lineup that’s built for offensive speed and defensive stability.
Let the Celebration Begin
We’ll also be ringing in the Lunar New Year over on our social media channels, so be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for some extra luck—and don't forget to keep an eye on playoverwatch.com to stay up to date with the latest game news!
Overwatch’s Year of the Rooster is live RIGHT NOW on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. We wish you every success this season and can’t wait to see you in-game!
HERO BALANCE UPDATES
Ana
Biotic Grenade
Effect duration has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds
Healing boost on allies has been decreased by 50%
Developer Comments: The healing boost from Ana’s Biotic Grenade was providing too much healing, especially when used on targets with large health pools.
D.Va
Health increased from 200 to 400
Armor decreased from 400 to 200
Fusion Cannons
Bullet damage decreased from 3 to 2
Number of bullets per shot has been increased from 8 to 11
Developer Comments: D.Va’s armor often made her feel like she had no weaknesses, even against heroes that are typically effective against bigger targets (like Reaper). The changes to her primary fire will result in a small overall decrease in damage, but her Fusion Cannons should feel more consistent now.
Lúcio
New Hero Option: Allow Backwards Wall Ride
When enabled, allows Lucio to start wall riding while moving backwards.
Roadhog
Chain Hook
Targets are now pulled directly in front of Roadhog (rather than straight to him), except in cases where Roadhog drastically rotates
Hooked targets are now released if they leave Roadhog’s line of sight before being pulled
Line of sight checks (which determines if targets are hit by the hook) are now done from Roadhog’s position, rather than the hook’s position
Developer Comments: The hook should now feel more consistent for Roadhog players, but it should also feel more reasonable to his enemies, as they cannot be hooked or pulled around corners anymore.
Sombra
Hack
Cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 8 seconds
Time it takes to hack a target has been decreased from 1 second to 0.8 seconds
Developer Comments: Sombra often had difficulty hacking enemies, even when she surprised the target. This change should help her execute hacks more easily.
