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Overwatch 2’s “very serious” April Fools’ patch was a joke balance update posted on March 31, 2023, and its changes applied only to Arcade Mode—not Quick Play or Competitive. The deliberately over-the-top notes included flying Reinhardt Charges, a 350-meter Swift Step for Kiriko, and new Ultimate voice lines for every hero.
What were the Overwatch 2 April Fools’ patch notes?
The notes were titled “OVERWATCH 2 WIP VERY SERIOUS PATCH NOTES – DRAFT – DO NOT PUBLISH” and presented the changes as a test patch. The WIP label, mock-serious comments, and exaggerated ability changes were part of the joke, not an announcement of a normal game-wide balance update.
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Blizzard’s Overwatch forum hosts a reproduction of the full notes: the 2023 “Very Serious” patch notes. The changes described below are historical event mechanics.
Which rules affected every hero or role?
- Every hero received new Ultimate voice lines.
- Players retained 50% of their Ultimate charge when swapping heroes.
- Tanks gained Ultimate charge 10% faster, while the hero who landed the final blow on a Tank gained a significant amount of Ultimate charge.
- Damage heroes restored 50 health on elimination.
- Support heroes gained 30% increased movement speed for four seconds when they reached low health.
What changed for Tank heroes?
- Doomfist: Power Block could empower Seismic Slam. An empowered slam dealt 75 instead of 50 damage and launched enemies it hit.
- D.Va: Defense Matrix dealt 30 damage over one second after deflecting a projectile, and D.Va gained extra Ultimate charge on a kill.
- Junker Queen: Commanding Shout caused bleed.
- Orisa: Javelin Spin could propel her forward in the air; Fortify dealt area damage when she landed.
- Ramattra: He remained in Nemesis Form, with reduced bonus armor and other ability adjustments.
- Reinhardt: Charge granted flight, controlled with Jump and Crouch, and had steering increased by 33%.
- Roadhog: Hook range increased by 50%.
- Sigma: Accretion caused knockback and four seconds of low gravity.
- Wrecking Ball: His mines slowly moved toward nearby enemies.
- Winston: The entry simply read “Winston!”
What changed for Damage heroes?
- Ashe: Dynamite fire spread between nearby enemies, up to four times.
- Bastion: Tactical Grenade’s cooldown became 0.5 seconds during Configuration: Assault.
- Cassidy: Combat Roll used regenerating stamina, dodged damage while active, and reloaded two rounds rather than six.
- Echo: Tri-Shot fired two additional projectiles, with less damage per projectile.
- Genji: He sometimes healed himself when requesting healing.
- Hanzo: Storm Arrows ricocheted toward Sonic Arrow.
- Junkrat: He dropped grenades when launching himself with Concussion Mine.
- Mei: Ice Wall spawned more pillars.
- Pharah: Rockets caused no self-damage and had more knockback. Barrage could knock her back, and its rockets had self-knockback; Hover Jets fuel was reduced by 33%.
- Reaper: He could move after confirming Shadow Step.
- Sojourn: Power Slide hit enemies for 75 damage and knocked them down for 1.5 seconds.
- Soldier: 76: Biotic Field attached to him.
- Sombra: Translocator dealt area damage at its destination, with faster projectile speed and a shorter cooldown.
- Symmetra: Her turrets could target enemies while in flight and had damage resistance before landing.
- Torbjörn: Overload made weapon and hammer attacks ignite enemies.
- Tracer: Recall pulled nearby enemies in, while Pulse Bomb took two seconds to arm.
- Widowmaker: Critical hits dealt poison damage over three seconds, and she could see poisoned enemies through walls.
What changed for Support heroes?
- Ana: Biotic Rifle could headshot enemies.
- Baptiste: He could bounce repeatedly after using Exo Boots and gained horizontal distance based on charge.
- Brigitte: Whip Shot pulled her toward the flail head.
- Kiriko: Swift Step range increased from 35 to 350 meters, with its cooldown scaling by distance.
- Lúcio: Soundwave deflected projectiles and had a shorter cooldown.
- Mercy: Caduceus Blaster received more ammunition and projectile speed.
- Moira: She could stop or start active Biotic Orbs using the ability input.
- Zenyatta: Snap Kick launched him in the direction he faced while airborne.
Were these changes in Quick Play or Competitive?
No. The notes explicitly limited the changes to Arcade Mode. They were not presented as a general balance patch for Quick Play or Competitive.
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Can you still play the event mode?
The historical notes and contemporaneous coverage establish what the patch changed and where it applied, but do not establish whether that 2023 Arcade event is playable now. The listed mechanics should not be treated as current hero abilities or as a promise that the mode is available to queue.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- Experience the extraordinary
- Play as heroes, not classes
- Fight for the future.together
- The world is your battlefield
- Game requires Xbox Live Gold to play
Rank #3
- Experience the extraordinary
- Play as heroes, not classes
- Fight for the future together
- The world is your battlefield
- Overwatch legendary edition includes 5 Epic and 5 legendary skins
Rank #2
- Experience the extraordinary
- Play as heroes, not classes
- Fight for the future... together
- The world is your battlefield
- Games requires PlayStation Plus to play
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