The Overwatch 2 PvP beta is over. For players, that means waiting until the next beta to jump back into the game. For the team at Blizzard, it means kicking off a whole new phase of development: data collection and response. Sojourn, Ana, and Orisa were the most-used characters in the beta, which means Blizzard will be looking not only at why they were so popular but also at what can be done to even out the playing field.
Blizzard shared its beta analysis charts in a blog post, and there’s a lot to learn from the different ways it presented the data. The first (pictured below) is an unweighted hero usage chart that looks at how often a certain character was used. While Sojourn started out quite high, her usage decreased over time. Ana, on the other hand, dominates the chart. This is true of Overwatch as well, as she’s a common pick in the first game.
The weighted hero usage chart (pictured below again) is where we see Sojourn and Orisa better highlighted — this graph compares usage with other heroes in the same category. Both of their top ranks make sense. Sojourn is a new character, so learning her strategies and counters was a goal for many beta players. The dropoff is explainable too since players likely returned to their mains after giving Sojourn a try. As for Orisa, the robot guardian was reworked for Overwatch 2, leading to the same desire to try out what is practically another new character.
So what does all of this mean for the future of Overwatch 2? Generally speaking, multiplayer developers want an even spread of character picks in their games. In Ana’s case, it could mean nerfing her abilities so that she’s not chosen so often. Looking at the dip in Sojourn interest, there could be ways to buff the new hero to keep players interested longer.
In any case, the next Overwatch 2 event is set for June. Blizzard said we’ll learn more about “the next phase of testing” then. We’re still waiting for a final release date too.
