Overwatch's new hero Ashe has a problem with her aim, a fix is on the way

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Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan said there's a problem with the animation that makes it look choppy.

The Wild West-style gunslinger Ashe came off the Overwatch PTR a week ago, and her debut hasn't gone perfectly smoothly. Aiming is the issue: As Blizzard forumite OnlyReaper described it a day after Ashe went live, aiming down sights "feels so clunky and the hitscan feels like a projectile... I main McCree and Soldier, I have good precision with both, but it seems like I can't hit anything consistently like with my McCree."   

Plenty of respondents said they felt the same way, and yesterday Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan confirmed on Reddit that they aren't imagining things. Responding to a lengthy, detailed post breaking down "why it feels harder to aim with Ashe" (and what players can do to help compensate), Kaplan confirmed that there's a problem with the character and said that a proper fix is on the way—but not right away. 

"Currently, if you play Ashe on PC and have higher than 60 fps, the aim down site (ADS) animation can look choppy or 'stepped.' There is no lag going on. The ADS still happens at the correct speed. But the animation looks can feel a bit off," he wrote. "In an upcoming patch, the ADS is smoothed out regardless of how high your fps is and should feel much better."

"Unfortunately, right now, the patch that it is fixed in is 1.32 (1.31 is on the PTR right now). We're looking into pulling the fix forward but it's unlikely. It's a lot of code and needs a fair amount of testing so we don't want to rush it and risk breaking something else." 

Kaplan apologized for the problem, but didn't provide any timeline for a possible rollout of the fix. The next PTR update, expected to go live on Monday, will nerf Brigitte's Shield Bash and slightly amplify her Inspire Passive, and also dial back Doomfist's Seismic Slam and Meteor Strike abilities. 

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.