Blizzard Entertainment is celebrating the two-year anniversary of its popular online hero shooter “Overwatch” with a plethora of new cosmetics, a new deathmatch map, and more. Over 50 new cosmetic items are now available in-game, including eight new legendary skins: Stealth Bastion, Shieldmaiden Brigitte, Formal Doomfist, Buccaneer Junkrat, Sherlock McCree, Forest Spirit Orisa, Magician Symmetra, and Cybjörn Torbjörn. Unlockables from previous events are also available again and can be bought with credits or found in anniversary loot boxes. As a bonus, Blizzard is giving out one legendary anniversary loot box, which contains at least one guaranteed legendary item, to people who log in between now and June 11. The anniversary event also marks the launch of the new Petra map. It, along with Château Guillard, will be available in an optional competitive free-for-all deathmatch mode. The mode will have placement matches, skill ratings, and leaderboards, and it will award competitive points. Additionally, Blizzard said many past season brawls, like Mei’s Snowball Offensive and Junkenstein’s Revenge, are now available in Arcade mode. They will rotate on a daily basis throughout the event. “Overwatch” launched in May 2016 and has amassed a following of over 35 million players. But, if you’re not one of them, Blizzard also released the new Legendary Edition of “Overwatch” Tuesday and it’s a good deal for anyone who doesn’t already own it. It comes with five origin skins, five epic skins, and five legendary skins. Blizzard is currently offering it for $40 on all platforms, while the Standard Edition is down to $20. The sale ends June 4 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.<doc-sep>Overwatch is turning two this month, and Blizzard is celebrating with another massive anniversary campaign. The special event begins today at 11 a.m. — a.k.a. right now — and with it comes a ton of new skins, a new re-release of the game and more. The Overwatch second anniversary event will run until June 11, according to Blizzard. There’s a total of 190 new anniversary items, 60 of which are new this year. These range from eight original legendary skins, new dance emotes and more. Among the other items available during the event are several pieces of older seasonal content from 2017’s limited-time modes, alongside skins from more recent brawls. Everyone gets a Legendary Anniversary Loot Box for logging into the game as well, which includes all of this older contnet. There’s also Petra, a free-for-all Deathmatch map that comes to Overwatch as part of the event. The Chateau Guillard map will also be playable in the competitive Deathmatch mode during the anniversary special. Gameplay from these, as well as many of the skins, were previously seen as part of a Taiwanese leak that eked out over the weekend. Blizzard said that it make take as much as 30 minutes for the anniversary event to begin on all platforms, so don’t worry if it’s not immediately available. For anyone who has yet to check out Overwatch, Blizzard has released a special Legendary Edition version of the game. Available on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One, the Legendary Edition is currently on sale for $39.99. The standard Overwatch is also on sale for $19.99. Both offers are available through June 4 at midnight PT. The Legendary Edition includes five epic and five legendary skins, as well as the skins from the Overwatch Origins event. Blizzard is also throwing in skins and other content based on Diablo 3, StarCraft 2, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, World of Warcraft and Heroes of the Storm. Check out all of the anniversary skins in our gallery below.<doc-sep>The 2018 Overwatch Anniversary Event has kicked off. You’ve already seen some of the skins included in the 2018 Overwatch Anniversary Event thanks to leaks and teases. But, Blizzard has provided some official screens of the news duds. Three new emotes are available alongside those previously released and last year’s Anniversary skins also make a return. There are 190 Anniversary items in total. Along with the aforementioned the Overwatch Anniversary Event 2018 features the new Free-For-All Deathmatch map, Petra. Both Petra and Chateau Guillard will also be available in an optional Competitive FFA Deathmatch mode with placement matches, skill rating, leaderboards, and the opportunity to earn competitive points. Past seasonal brawls are also available to play in the Arcade. The brawl of the day will rotate throughout the event. Overwatch players will earn Anniversary Loot Boxes as they play, and can pick up one Legendary Anniversary Loot Box just by logging from May 22 – June 11. Each Legendary Anniversary Loot Box comes with at least one guaranteed legendary item and can contain loot from past seasonal events or other classic content. Anniversary Loot Boxes are also available for purchase. Watch on YouTube Along with the event, a new patch has been released and it makes changes to Hanzo, Ana, and Brigitte. Earlier this month, Overwatch’s Hanzo had his Storm Arrows projectile speed increased from 85 to 100. Today’s patch reduces damage from Storm Arrows from 80 to 70. So while they are faster, they now cause less damage. Previously, Brigitte’s Shield Bash had its cone angle reduced from 90 to 60, and from today, the cooldown will increase from 5 to 6 seconds. This patch also makes changes to Ana’s Biotic Rifle. Its projectiles will now pass through allies with full health, and ammo has been increased from 10 to 14. Full patch notes with developer commentary are below along with a look at the new map and skins. Overwatch Anniversary 2018 – Emotes, Petra Map, Skins Overwatch patch notes – May 22 Hero Updates Ana Biotic Rifle Projectiles will now pass through allies with full health Ammo increased from 10 to 14 Developer Comments: These changes should help Ana when she is trying to land clutch heals in the middle of a big fight. Allies that do not need healing will no longer potentially block shots meant for teammates that do need it. Increasing her magazine size makes it less likely that Ana will be forced into a reloading in the middle of an important fight. Brigitte Rally Maximum armor per player reduced from 150 to 100 Shield Bash Cooldown increased from 5 to 6 seconds Developer Comments: Brigitte’s ultimate is very powerful, especially when it is placed on the entire team. This change will reduce the maximum armor value of Rally, but does not reduce the overall amount of armor given by the ability over its duration. This means when used in combat while her allies are taking damage, it should feel about the same, but the lingering effects of the armor should have less of an impact. Her Shield Bash is a very strong ability on a fairly short cooldown, making it difficult for her opponents to play around. Increasing this cooldown allows for more options when battling against her. Hanzo Storm Arrows Damage reduced from 80 to 70 Developer Comments: Hanzo’s Storm Arrows are doing too much damage considering his other changes, such as Lunge and projectile speed. This damage reduction will give Hanzo’s enemies a more reasonable chance to react and fight against him while using Storm Arrows. Competitive Pay Updates Rialto Rialto is now available in Competitive Play Game Browser and Custom Games General Added Infinite Ultimate Duration and Scalable Ultimate Duration options for Moira’s Coalescence FFA Deathmatch Ana can now Nano Boost herself Bug Fixes General Fixed a bug that caused players to repeatedly return to the Hero Select screen when backfilling into a match Fixed a bug that prevented the sound wave visual effect from animating when previewing a voice line unlocked from a loot box Fixed a bug that caused a visual error to display 0/0 unlocks on the main menu Fixed a bug that caused Widowmaker to become stuck in a pillar in the Practice Range Fixed a bug that prevented the Groups tab in the Social menu from dynamically refreshing Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented shields from blocking projectiles (e.g. Tracer’s Pulse Bomb and Junkrat’s Frag Launcher) Fixed a bug that caused the camera to dip down for a frame when crouching and returning to an upright position FFA Deathmatch Fixed a bug that allowed groups to queue for Deathmatch Fixed a bug that caused Sombra to be revealed to all enemies if targeted by Hanzo’s Sonic Arrow or Widowmaker’s Infra-sight while stealthed Game Browser and Custom Game Fixed a bug that caused Moira’s Coalescence’s animation to incorrectly loop when Ultimate Duration was set above 100% Fixed a bug that caused Moira’s Coalescence SFX to stop playing after a couple of seconds when Ultimate Duration was set above 100% Fixed a bug that caused players who were idle in Assault and Skirmish game modes to be flagged as inactive and removed from the match Fixed a bug that prevented spawn resets and round start dialogue from playing when Random Heroes was enabled Fixed a bug that caused the start of match dialogue to say “Capture the enemy flag” instead of “Fight” in Team Deathmatch Fixed a bug that caused suicides to count as multiple deaths in Deathmatch when the Respawn as Random Hero option was enabled Highlights Fixed a bug that caused dialogue lines to get cut short at the end of highlights Fixed a bug that caused placement indicators to appear red in Play of the Game playbacks and highlights when they were placed on valid ground Heroes Fixed a bug that caused Ana’s Biotic Rifle crosshair to disappear momentarily when scoping and unscoping Fixed a bug causing Bastion’s Dune Buggy skin textures to stretch when waving hello<doc-sep>The Overwatch celebrations are coming to an end When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Sign up forfor the biggest new releases, reviews and tech hacks The Overwatch Anniversary event end date is homing into view, meaning that there's only a short time left to grab all those past cosmetic items you've been hankering after. Blizzard decided to make things a little more special with the second Anniversary of the game, offering fans the chance of enjoying the best of some of the past events. And to make the news of its impending end a little easier to swallow, the development team have also decided to launch a new double XP weekend too. Blizzard's Overwatch Anniversary event end date is set for June 12 in North America, with the double XP running out at around the same time on PS4, Xbox One and PC. Earning double the experience will remain open until June 11th at 11:59pm PDT. Because of the time difference, UK players can keep earning extra experience and playing the Anniversary content until aroudn 7.59am on the morning of June 12. When it comes to the exact Anniversary event end time, Blizzard have yet to reveal when everything officially finishes. There’s a chance that both events will end at the same time, however, Blizzard have yet to reveal more on the subject. The development team could also opt to wrap things up at around the same time the event started, so perhaps 4pm, BST.<doc-sep>
Overwatch is celebrating two years since its release, and in true Overwatch fashion, it's doing so with big event. The PS4, Xbox One, and PC game's Anniversary Event is now live, giving players the chance to score nearly 200 anniversary items, including Legendary skins. The event goes from now until June 11. Anyone who logs in during the Anniversary Event gets a free Anniversary Loot Box, which comes with at least one guaranteed Legendary item. It can contain loot from past seasonal events or other classic content; in total, there are more than 190 Anniversary event items up for grabs, with more than 60 of them being brand-new items. Of course, you can earn additional loot boxes by playing or by purchasing them with real-world money. You can see the new outfits below and in our Overwatch anniversary skins gallery. Gallery On top of the new skins and dances to earn, the Anniversary Event also introduces a new FFA Deathmatch map called Petra to keep you on your toes. Blizzard is making all past seasonal brawls available to play in the Arcade, as well. If you're new to Overwatch, Blizzard is also celebrating the game's second anniversary by making it free to try this weekend. From May 25 until May 28, you can jump into the game for free on PS4, Xbox One or PC, and play the full roster of heroes in a variety of modes. Any loot boxes you pick up can be transferred to the main game, if you choose to buy after the free weekend. There's also a new version of Overwatch to pick up, too. Overwatch: Legendary Edition is out now digitally (there's no physical release). It's geared more towards new players and comes with the base game along with a set of 15 Legendary, Epic, and Origin skins for US $45 / £30 / AU $64.95.