The New Season for Overwatch Competitive Play is Now Open!

Oct 31, 2017

Overwatch Competitive Play Season 7 has started!

The new season started 3 days after the 6th season ended on October 29th and will start in the same format as the other season without any dire changes. Overwatch players will gain skill rating points after playing 10 games of placement matches, and players who have received SR points will get Season 7 sprays, player icons, and Competitive Points.

Other than that, there have been no changes to the hard/soft reset for the new season, the standard for keeping SR points, or rewards for the top 500 players. However, the PTR update that came out with the new season included a nerf that changes Mercy’s Resurrect cast time to 1.75 seconds, which is expected to greatly influence the meta on support Heroes in later Competitive Plays or tournaments.

When the 7th season will end hasn’t been mentioned yet; however, seeing the 6th season reduced from 3 months to 2 months, the new season is expected to end around January 2018. Further details on the changes in the PTR are as follows.

▲ The spray for Season 7 takes after the Sanctum in Nepal.

▲ Mercy’s Resurrect now has a 1.75 cast time and can be interrupted.

▣ Overwatch PTR Patch Note - November 1st, 2017

▶ Hero Updates

Ana

Biotic Rifle - Damage increased from 60 to 70

Developer Comment: Ana has been outshined by other support heroes lately. Boosting her damage will help her defend herself and make her more threatening to the enemy team.

Mercy

Resurrect - Cast time increased from 0 seconds to 1.75 seconds
- Mercy’s movement speed is now reduced by 75% while casting
- Can be interrupted when Mercy is knocked back, stunned, or hacked

Valkyrie - When activated, Resurrection no longer has a cast time

Developer Comment: We feel that Mercy’s recent rework has been successful, but her Resurrect ability still feels too strong and frustrating to play against. Now that it has a cast time, there is more room for enemies to counter the ability. However, casting Resurrect happens instantly when Valkyrie is active. This should make her feel powerful when she transforms on the battlefield.

▶ Bug Fixes

- Fixed several issues that prevented the announcer voice lines from playing correctly in Competitive, Elimination, and Capture the Flag game modes

- Fixed an issue causing Roadhog’s Chain Hook to latch on to enemy players for longer than intended