The latest Overwatch update is currently available in the game’s Public Test Realm, and along with the new character Ana and a host of balance changes, it includes support for 21:9 aspect monitors. Unfortunately, the feature isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Below are some direct comparison shots via NeoGAF. As you can see, rather than giving players a wider FOV, it simply crops the top and bottom of the image, resulting in less visual information on screen.
According to game director Jeff Kaplan, who weighed in on the official message boards, that’s intentional. ”We do not plan to increase the max FOV beyond 103, in any resolution,” he said. ”As a result, this doesn’t leave us with a lot of options for 21:9 support. I know this is not the answer our 21:9 players want to hear. But we feel like it would be unfair to 16:10 and 16:9 players if 21:9 gave a substantial FOV advantage.”
Disappointing 21:9 support aside, the update also includes some much needed buffs to certain characters. D.Va’s defense matrix now has a meter rather than a cooldown, and her ultimate charges faster, explodes sooner, and no longer kills D.Va herself. Zenyatta now has more shields, faster orb abilities, and his Transcendence ult now doubles his movement speed and does a third more healing.
Finally, the update will restrict players from selecting more than one of each hero per team during Competitive matches. At last, no more awkward standoffs when there are too many Hanzos. There are more subtle changes as well, which you can read in the patch notes, but those are the highlights. The update, which includes the new hero, is currently being tested on the PTR, and should hit the game soon.
