The Overwatch blog was updated today with the development team’s plans for post-launch updates on competitive play, maps, and overall gameplay.
Off the bat, it’s revealed that every hero on the roster sees a win rate between 45% and 55%. Due to this balance, there are no planned balance changes for heroes at this time. One exception: the team has a “targeted adjustment” for Zarya in Total Mayhem. This update should go live for the next major patch releasing October 25th.
Rather than presenting sweeping hero changes for Overwatch 2, the development team will do the following:
“Our team is planning to make a series of balance changes for Season Two that are in line with our design goal of ensuring the overall game feels balanced and fair while giving each season a more distinct identity. While we’ll continue looking at hero performance and listening to player feedback prior to finalizing any specific changes to balance for Season Two, we want to share more about what we are seeing so far.”
Blizzard also gives feedback on various roles and heroes in said roles. When it comes to tanks, Blizzard acknowledges that many players deem D.Va to be the most powerful tanks in the game. Their internal data, however, disagrees. “Despite many players saying she’s one of the best tanks in the game, Reinhardt, Sigma, and Zarya actually currently lead up the competition with an average 53% unmirrored win rate,” the blog post continues.
In addition, Blizzard shares data for other heroes, specifically Genji, Sojourn, and Kiriko. Originally, these heroes had a higher-than-average play rate, but that has since balanced out. The win rate for these heroes continues to fall within the 45% to 55% range mentioned earlier.
When it comes to map rotation, Blizzard unveiled what’s in store for season 1 of Quick and Competitive play:
- Control
- Ilios – Evening Lighting
- Lijiang Tower – Dawn Lighting
- Oasis – Night Lighting
- Nepal – Morning Lighting
- Busan – Night Lighting
- Escort
- Circuit royal – Night Lighting
- Dorado – Evening Lighting
- Route 66 – Night Lighting
- Gibraltar – Morning Lighting
- Junkertown – Morning Lighting
- Hybrid
- Midtown – Morning Lighting
- King’s Row – Evening Lighting
- Eichenwalde – Evening Lighting
- Hollywood – Morning Lighting
- Paraíso – Morning Lighting
- Push
- New Queen Street – Morning Lighting
- Colosseo – Evening Lighting
- Esperança – Morning Lighting
Each season will see Blizzard rotate maps out of the pool while bringing back other previously out-of-rotation maps.
