Overwatch 2 sport director Aaron Keller has been doing one thing fairly neat these days: speaking about Overwatch 2. The de facto voice of Blizzard on issues of Overwatch not too long ago made it a aim to speak with gamers extra usually concerning the present state of the sport, and the person is on a roll. Up to now together with his “Director’s Take” collection, Keller has written about ranked woes (opens in new tab), the way forward for Arcade mode, and the failed experiment that’s map swimming pools (opens in new tab).
It is refreshing to see a lot transparency from Overwatch’s high brass on matters that matter most to every day gamers, and at present’s weblog regarding win charges and hero recognition (opens in new tab) is definitely his most illuminating but.
Proper out of the gate, Keller shares some fascinating observations about Overwatch 2’s ranked meta within the first weeks of season 3. For example, “most helps are viable in almost each talent tier,” one thing that did not really feel very true again in season 1. He additionally confirms one growth that gamers have observed semi-reliable stat aggregation websites like Overbuff (opens in new tab): Brigitte is having a second proper now.
“Brigitte has actually popped this season and has the best win price for almost all talent tiers aside from High 500, the place Zen takes the lead, with each averaging out to a virtually 55% win price,” Keller stated. “On the opposite finish of the spectrum are Kiriko and Moira at round 45%.”
When you’d suppose that those that are enjoying a aggressive shooter, significantly its best mode, would gravitate towards heroes with the best win charges, Keller says that is not the case (names bolded by me):
“After we take a look at who is definitely being performed, the highest helps are Ana, Kiriko, and Mercy for almost all talent tiers till Silver and Bronze, the place Moira turns into picked fairly a bit.
“This goes to indicate, that heroes with the best win charges aren’t at all times the heroes which might be performed essentially the most.”
I discover that fascinating. We all know that in a aggressive setting like ranked Overwatch, it might probably look like sticking to the consensus-adopted meta of the month is all that issues. We additionally know that anecdotally it might probably really feel like teammates are selecting heroes based mostly on their choice, not essentially what’s finest for the staff composition, so it is fascinating to see the official numbers again that up. Keller notes it is “counterintuitive” that Kiriko is so standard regardless of profitable much less usually and, on the flip facet, Briggite wins continually with a a lot decrease presence.
There are a number of doable takeaways from this. I are likely to suppose this means that, even at excessive ranges of play, Overwatch gamers do not wish to really feel boxed in by a small pool of “finest” hero picks. Folks wish to play their favourite heroes, and in reality, they’re unlikely to swap (opens in new tab) to a hero they do not like.
As Keller mentions, the win/choose price disparities might relate to different elements that are not being straight in contrast right here, like total staff composition or map variations. Both means, Keller says the staff “tends to suppose that extremely expert gamers are persevering with to select sure heroes for good causes,” and is gathering extra metrics to review this. “If it’s fruitful, anticipate to listen to extra about it.”
In any case, I believe the numbers point out that there is a vital chunk of the Overwatch 2 neighborhood (a possible majority, even) for whom the meta is not essential. And if most gamers do not care concerning the meta, how a lot ought to Blizzard care?
Perhaps it comes all the way down to conserving issues balanced sufficient that the “finest” heroes are solely the very best by just a few proportion factors. We actually heard about it when helps weren’t getting sufficient love (opens in new tab) and Sojourn was one-shotting everybody into oblivion. It is secure to say that gamers care about each hero being viable in order that their favorites by no means must fall out of vogue, and based mostly on this information, that could be sufficient.