Blizzard Entertainment has updated Overwatch’s Public Test Region servers, adding the ability to respawn basketballs within player spawn rooms, among other quality of life improvements.
The new update also allows players to add new voice lines to their communication wheels. The wheels were previously restricted to standard phrases like “Hello” and “My ultimate is charging.” These phrases are incredibly useful for those who play Overwatch without a microphone. For example, the wheel was a quick and easy way of letting your team know you needed healing or wanted to group up.
The fresh update has caused many fans to rejoice, as players across all platforms love to shoot hoops while waiting for matches to begin. Losing the basketball has long been a source of frustration, especially with Overwatch adding functional hoops a month after release.
Overwatch fans love the entertaining Easter eggs in the game’s spawn rooms, like the karaoke on the Busan map, and of course, the many Overwatch basketballs. Fans who play on consoles (including Switch) will have to wait to get a respawn feature for basketballs, as PTR is only available for PC currently. However, Blizzard stated in their patch notes for the update that “…many of these changes may also be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in a future patch” – so there is hope that all players will get the update eventually.
Retrieving a basketball in a spawn room is a pain, as players only have thirty seconds or so to line up a great shot. Being able to quickly respawn a ball, instead of chasing down one that went AWOL, will give players much more time to shoot some hoops. A mini-game of basketball is a great team-bonding exercise before a match, and it adds character to the game itself. Most players feel that Overwatch wouldn’t be the same without its beloved spawn room activities.
Other updates included in the PTR patch are the ability to view patch notes within the game, lowered height of head hit volume for both Echo and Reinhardt, the ability to re-upload Share Codes with new Custom Game Settings, and which Control Points are valid on Control Maps can now be overridden by Skirmish. There are also a host of usual Workshop updates and bug fixes.
Source: Polygon
