Overwatch's Voice Lines Are Going To Get Much Better Soon

While everyone is practicing social distancing due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan uploaded a new developer update from his cell phone discussing some incoming changes. This includes an "improved" communication wheel, adjusting queue times, and more.

The headlining feature is a new, customizable communication wheel. Kaplan noticed that players wanted to say things such as "Goodbye" and "Fall Back" to teammates while in-game. With the improved communication wheel, you will be able to customize the responses based on an expanded preset list. All of these new responses are voiced by the characters.

Also baked into the improved communication wheel is the ability to slot the "Sorry" command into every character's response list, including the game's newest hero Echo. "A lot of you have asked for that level of customization in the communication wheel, and we think it will be really powerful for you," Kaplan said.

Another incoming change is a brand-new "Priority Queuing System." Currently, when a Competitive match ends because of random player disconnection, you're placed at the end of a queue and have to wait for another match. With the new system, as long as you're not the reason why the Competitive match collapsed, you'll be placed back in the same queue as if the spoiled match never happened. "So it's not going to guarantee that you're instantly going to get into another match after the match gets shut down by a leaver," Kaplan said. "But you're not going to have to wait the entire queue time."

Additionally, new Overwatch patch notes will now show up in-game instead of linking out to the game's official website. Kaplan hasn't clarified exactly when these new features will appear in Overwatch.

In other Overwatch news, the game's 32nd hero, Echo, is now live across all platforms. The Overwatch team shared some patch notes that tweaks some of the game's heroes, such as Mei and Tracer, and more.