Unlike the last map, Busan, which you may recall arrived with a trailer and all, Overwatch's new map, Paris, has arrived in a much quieter fashion. Again unlike Busan, we're talking about an assault map and it's currently live on the PTR.
In spite of Blizzard's l'amour-themed promotion efforts, there is very little love to be found on Overwatch's new map, as it is about duking it out "through alleys and corridors before clashing with your foes on the banks of the Seine".
Players start at Cabaret Luna, with the aforementioned corridors leading to the first point. "Once you establish dominance over your adversaries, make your way to Maison Marat and deliver the coup-de-grâce", Blizzard wrote.
As we've learned to expect, the company didn't leave Paris without its own distract-o-gimmick, which in this case is the playable piano that players seem to be getting a real kick out of. By the way, if you're looking to spice up your playing with those jazzy slides, might we advise keeping a Bastion around?
That being said, Paris may be the most prominent feature in Overwatch's latest patch but it's hardly the most impactful. Namely, Blizzard have changed up the prioritisation of shields, armour and health.
Seemingly a minor change, it's likely to leave much more than just a mark, as the new priority order applies damage to non-recoverable portions of shields, armour and health first, which is not the case on Overwatch's live servers.
The game's earlier model made it possible for recoverable shields to be prioritised when applying damage, while leaving the non-recoverable ones intact, which actually makes us wonder how Blizzard didn't address this earlier.
Both features are currently live on Blizzard's Public Test Realm, so PC only, but we can say with certainty that Paris, at least, won't take long before it lands on remaining platforms. After all, if you're not going to have Paris for Saint Valentine's, you might as well not launch it at all.
Blizzard
Overwatch's new patch also comes with some minor changes and a bunch of bug fixes, all of which you can check out in the official patch notes .
Overwatch, new skins exclusive to Summer Games 2018
- Image: 1 / 10
