Overwatch Bug Sends D.Va Flying Out of the Map
By Jasmine Henry 26 January 2017
Overwatch players discover a new bug in the game’s 3v3 mode that sends mech-piloting character D.Va into a texture-less version of the map when she is ejected from her mech.
Overwatch‘s 3v3 mode is much loved by fans as they work out the best strategies for the Arcade game mode also enjoying running around its frosty map, Ecopoint: Antartica, and making up their very own Hide and Seek game modes. However, the 3v3 mode has also suffered from several technical issues ever since it was introduced. For example, the Mei ice wall exploit allowed those playing as the Chinese scientist to get outside of the 3v3 map, something which was maddeningly frustrating for those playing against her.
Unfortunately, despite Blizzard taking action to combat the ice wall glitch, yet another big bug has cropped up in 3v3. As reported by Kotaku, Overwatch‘s Year of the Rooster update inadvertently introduced a glitch that sends mech-piloting character D.Va flying out of the map whenever her mech is destroyed.
The video embedded above shows the glitch in action. When Roadhog destroys her mech, D.Va is flung into a weird, texture-less version of Ecopoint: Antartica and she seems to float underneath the map. But the big different between the Mei ice wall glitch, which allowed players to get away (and avoid taking damage from) their opponents and this is that the D.Va bug still allows mech-less D.Va to be attacked though the lack of textures makes it incredibly difficult for the D.Va player to fight back.
In a statement posted to the Battle.net forums last night, Bill Warnecke, a software engineer at Blizzard said that the game’s servers were being “hotfixed” for the bug so it’s very likely that Blizzard has managed to zap it once and for all. Though, with Overwatch now having 25 million players across PC, PS4, and Xbox One, that’s a lot of opportunity for bug to crop up and a lot of people ready to identify glitches and technical issues, so other problems may well appear in future.
In fact, given the rate at which Blizzard continues to update Overwatch, it seems likely that new bugs and glitches will show their faces every week. Blizzard is planning to buff Bastion, make changes to both Symmetra and Torbjorn and introduce reporting for consoles. The company is even preparing to add the ability the save Overwatch replays, which fans have been asking for for a long time but could also come with plenty of technical problems of its own.
Overwatch is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
