Blizzard has confirmed that Overwatch will now be operating on 60 tick rate servers globally on PC, bringing the default tick rate up from 20 and putting Overwatch in line with other shooters like CS:GO . The change in server tick rate is expected to reduce instances of getting shot behind cover or hooked through a wall, and will be applicable to all game modes. While the 60 tick rate rollout is expected to take some time, Blizzard is also exploring bringing it to console, according to community manager Lylirra in this post on Blizzard’s official forums:
“This process may take a few weeks for all regions, but once fully deployed all games including those in Quick Play and Competitive Play will be running in high bandwidth mode by default,” said Lylirra.
“So what does that mean? In Overwatch , our high-bandwidth option adjusts the game’s client update rate (the frequency at which your client gets updates from the game server) from 21 updates per second to 63 updates per second,” Lylirra added. “This reduces the amount of time between when you complete an action and when your client hears back about the result, which in turn will help make the game feel more responsive.”
Lylirra also explained that players will be able to self-limit their tick rate in a future patch. In addition, Overwatch will automatically scale your tick rate down if it finds your internet connection is struggling.
“Since we know that not all internet connections are equal, we’ve also added in tech that will automatically and adaptively scale down your update rate if we find your connection can't keep up. Similarly, because high bandwidth servers (as the name suggests) will increase your bandwidth consumption, we’re also looking to add an option to self-limit your update rate in a future patch,” Lylirra stated. “We’re very excited to be able to roll out this support on PC, and are already exploring how we can bring it to consoles.”
To check your tick rate for yourself, open a network graph during gameplay by pressing CTRL + Shift + N and check the ‘PPS in’ (pulse per second) and ‘PPS out’ fields. This tells you what your game’s tick rates/updates per second are. ‘PPS out’ is how often your client updates the server, while ‘PPS in’ is how often the server updates your client. Previously, your client would send the server info 60 times a second, but the server would only update your client 20 times a second. This led to latency and fluidity issues during gameplay, like the infamous “Roadhog hooked me through a boulder” moments.
Have you noticed a difference during your Overwatch game sessions now that this update is active? Or is the distinction between 20 and 60 tick too academic for you? Feel free to discuss this change to Overwatch in our comments section below.
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