The popular shooter Overwatch has just dropped a large patch that adds a new escort map and significant changes to a few of the playable heroes. The Junkertown map has gone live just four weeks after Blizzard teased its inclusion with a trailer and animation short starring Junkrat and Roadhog, two of Junkertown's most famous residents. In it, the pair are scheming of ways to rejoin the town after being kicked out for bad behavior. Both the trailer and the short provided a solid look at what players will encounter in the map, along with glimpses into the society of the Junkers and their Queen.

Along with the new map, Overwatch made major overhauls on two popular characters, D.Va and Mercy. D.Va's Defense Matrix, which allows her to absorb projectiles in a frontal cone for a limited time, is getting a nerf. It's proven to be too effective, and its meter will now deplete twice as fast. Energy regeneration for the ability has been increased to 12.5% per seconds (formerly 10%).

D.Va can now use her Fusion Cannons while flying, which will help her play more aggressively, which is the style of play the devs have been pushing her toward lately. To help with this, D.Va is also receiving a new ability entirely. Micro Missiles can now be fired in a limited radius around D.Va, exploding on impact. They can be fired while using any other abilities – even while firing her Fusion Cannons.

Mercy, one of only three dedicated healer characters in Overwatch, is being reworked to be somewhat of a different hero entirely. Gone are the days when Mercy would hide, with her Ultimate meter full, only to jump out at the last second to resurrect her full party. Resurrect is now a regular ability with a 30 second cooldown timer and a radius of 5 meters. The ability now only targets a single player and no longer grants invulnerability. This also caused the "Huge Rez" achievement to get a rework, as players will no longer be able to earn it.

As for Mercy's Ultimate, it's now called Valkyrie and it allows her to go on a bit of a rampage. For 20 seconds, Mercy's staff can now heal and damage boost all allies near the targeted teammate, and its range extended. Furthermore, Mercy is now packing infinite ammo, increased projectile speed, increased range and speed, and the ability to fly freely. Cooldown for resurrect is also reset and reduced to a 10 second cooldown timer.

Reinhardt also got some love in this patch. Holding primary fire while shield is active now allows players to rotate the camera. This should help with survivability by allowing Reinhardt players a clearer look at their surroundings.

While players wrap their heads around Overwatch's recent changes, Blizzard has already announced progress on the game's 26th playable hero. According to the game's director, Jeff Kaplan, hero 26 is currently playable, but won't see a release for some time. He didn't let slip any details on the character, but did say they were very fun to play.

Overwatch is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Blizzard