Overwatch’s communication wheel is a decent substitute when players don’t have voice chat enabled, but Blizzard is making it more robust, letting players customize that wheel with a variety of new voice lines.
Previously, that wheel let players communicate things like “My ultimate is ready,” “Group up,” and “Understood.” The options were severely limited. Game director Jeff Kaplan said in a new development update video that additional voice commands have been added to the wheel, including the option to say things like “Fall back,” “Goodbye,” and the oft-requested “Sorry.” Helpful voice commands like a “3-2-1” countdown, and “Press the objective” are also available, Kaplan said. Certainly more helpful that hearing “I need healing” eight times in a row, Genji.
Kaplan said that all 32 Overwatch heroes have new voice lines — 26 options in total — that can be slotted into the communication wheel, which has been updated as part of a patch released on the game’s public test servers on Thursday.
Other changes coming to Overwatch include patch notes in the game client itself, and numerous updates to the workshop and custom games. The full patch notes now available on the PTR can be viewed on Blizzard’s Overwatch forum.
Overwatch is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One.