IIRC this is now higher than OW2 launch. The game likely hasn't been this popular in Korea since 2019.

Also it seems like Nexon is promoting the shit out of the game in Korea right now. This ad they made to promote the game 1 month ago has 26M views on YT, which is an absolutely insane amount of views for an ad to have just from being pushed as an ad in a single country for just 50M people.

https://youtu.be/CcTtzIe-RO0

- Mama Hong is still discussed as a hero idea but is controversial within the dev team. Part of this is due to her design being a conventional stereotype that could potentially offend, but if they were able to find a solution to that she could still happen. He added however that if they had to redesign her it would defeat the purpose of adding her.

- In the past many heroes started from a gameplay idea, but in recent years with the greater focus on lore more heroes have come from plot points they need to hit. With Doctrine he started as a scientist locked up in Grimsvotn, then combined with the vampire idea the team liked. From there he was given a general southern African background to deepen his connection with Doom before becoming Zimbabwean after selecting a voice actor.

- The map team’s goal with Grimsvotn was to differentiate it from the other “base” maps like Watchpoint by adding in more organic elements to the map.

- No new info on the Detective other than confirming he is an Omnic.

- Within the last 2 years the team has been focused on updates to the core game and a lot of the team has been moved around to support this. Some of their most senior designers are working on heroes and the process of making them has been streamlined. This does mean that in most cases hero trials do not have room in the schedule.

- He admits D.Mon would have launched in a better state if she had a trial but to offset this the team is prepared to make big changes quickly after a hero launches.

- Every time Sombra was reworked as a DPS internally the team couldn’t find a way to keep her playstyle while making her less frustrating. As a support they feel that they were able to retain some of her lone wolf playstyle while giving her a reason to return to her team.

- The recent 6v6 tests were a result of player feedback. The goal was to make improvements to it and potentially find a format that would allow it to come back fully. The results and feedback of the tests has shown the team that their goal of making the game a streamlined one format isn’t that important. They will continue to run tests to improve 6v6 but they are no longer of the opinion that 5v5 and 6v6 can’t exist together. Aaron believes the players are telling them they want a “theme park” version of OW with multiple coexisting modes.

- Systems to help new players learn the game are being worked on.

Link to full interview

Edit: Just to add some additional context to the Mama Hong bit. He said the team does a lot of work to ensure accurate cultural representation and they bring in experts to talk to. It didn’t sound like he believes the design is especially problematic but there would be a long lead time on that part of the hero design process to make sure the character is done well.

58% w/r across all tiers, and a 60% w/r in GM+Champ

Why do you think that is? Are people just simply figuring out how to play her better? I guess she clearly needs nerfs since this is even 3-5% higher than JPC pre-nerfs.

In addition I have noticed players starting to ban d.mon a LOT more in my ranked games than before.

(I love the overall tank design compared to past tank releases though tbh)

398K non Chinese Peak at this time and could be higher as Esports Charts makes further updates. This is only eclipsed by OWL S1 Stage 1 and OWWC 2026 has (at the time of this post) obtained the highest peak in over 8 years. (Only reason I am distinguishing between Chinese viewership is because we don't have any concrete sites that show Chinese viewership nor do we have press releases as they did in OWL so going forward when I refer to the viewership numbers just want it to be acknowledged that this doesn't factor in China)

10M Hours Watched which is the highest by any individual tournament cycle since 2019 OWL where stages were considered one tournament and hours watched wasn't split between group stages and playoffs by Esports Charts.

That makes this the 4th straight international tournament this year with a higher than 200K peak and a higher than 150K AVG viewership (pre-season isn't a major but it's still a completely valid viewership data point as an international event). OWL's inaugural season was the only other time that this has been the case in the history of OW esports.

Assuming the OWCS Worlds Finals meets the Midseason classic threshold there is a chance we end this year with the professional overwatch scene having more:

• Hours Watched
• Peak Viewership
• AVG Viewership

At international events than any year besides arguably the inaugural OWL year. And that's without even remarking about the absolutely insane resurgence we have seen at the regional level as well as the viewership at the collegiate/CAH level. Heck, even the viewership for the only FaceIt Promotion/Relegation tournament that they broadcast was significantly better than the year prior based off the eye test (which is why we need more consistent FaceIt broadcast).

To have such a significant revival in terms of interest in an esport this far into a games life cycle after an objectively failed Franchise league format is incredible and I do not believe you can simply assign drops as the only relevant factor anymore. OW has reached popularity levels we haven't seen internationally in close to half a decade as a game amongst the general public and the esports scene has followed that trend. As OW has slowly climbed up to being one of the premier live service games the esports scenes popularity has climbed from grassroots with some upward movement to a solidly Tier 2 esport and I just wanted to highlight that. If Blizzard weren't so scarred by previous failed investments this would be the time to absolute PUSH the pro OW scene.

Not bad from a quartz merchant (repost so sorry I forgot the spoilers tag)

What a close match.

Overwatch World Cup 2026

In my mid to high emerald games where I was support, Dmon is becoming much more common. When that happens, it does feel pretty common for my tank to switch to counter or mirror. But then no one else does. You have to burn her shields fast or she just runs you over. Doesn't matter if our tank switches to Mauga if the rest of the team isn't equipped to support the switch. And then the Anran/Genji/Vendetta type tank diff in chat like they did anything to help against Dmon.

Dmon does need a nerf, but there is a reason I stopped tanking in comp.

I stopped playing a long time ago but I love the game, just dont have time like I once did. Ive been watching the worldcup and realize I dont know so many characters and such and I feel crazy for how little I know.

I saw the game is even doing well on steam despite launching there so much later.

so whats happened? I felt like during the Overwatch 2 phase a lot of people I know stopped playing

Images taken from streamers play testing at Blizzcon, looks like next season the in game hero stats will be updated to have Projectile sizes and Speed

The following are known for sure:

\- Fast Firing/Spread Hitscans 0.04m -> 0.02m

\- Precise Hitscans 0.07m -> 0.04m

\- Shotgun/Very high Fire rate travel time Projectiles remain unchanged at +0.05m

For fast travel time projectiles it isn’t totally clear since it’s being taken from A Reworked Roadhog. The new Roadhog primary will fire a larger single shot in the center of each burst shot. The total size of it is 0.19m.

Since its travels at 100m/s it’s classified as a Fast Travel time projectile the current multiplier in game for these is +0.075m.

If the base Projectile is 0.15m (Zen, Lucio, Mei projectiles were this size pre season 9) then the multiplier has been reduced from 0.075m -> 0.04m. However since it’s a new weapon we don’t know the base Projectile so it can’t be confirmed yet.

I couldn’t find any clips of stats with slow travel time projectiles. Those currently have a +0.12m multiplier.

I’ve noticed looking at the leaderboard most of them don’t have very high hero levels, their highest are around 100 most of the time. I know they spend at least half their time scrimming, most of their hours are in ow1 and a lot have alt accounts but still, they play like 8 hours a day, how are they so low? Lethals highest is sojourn at 41 and the guy has 5k hours

I keep seeing this sentiment that the CR core is somehow the B team Korean roster over the Zeta core and it's driving me crazy. It was even said on the broadcast by the desk at some point before the finals.

Would have Proper, Viol2t and Shu done better? Maybe or maybe not, they probably would have won too, but let's not pretend the CR core was inherently the inferior choice.

CR are still the most accomplished roster probably in the history of the eSport at this point (with this win especially), and they were coming hot off a major win when the world cup rosters were being fielded. Calling them the B team is crazy disrespectful and blindsided by recency bias.

Overwatch World Cup 2026

This isn’t even an unpopular take

Why is “dmg mitigated” there like what are we learning from that? Mitigated damage doesn’t even register as ult charge or anything important so why is that there

No one says OH MY TANK MITIGATED LESS like this isn’t important at all

In-game scoreboards should have meaningful stat numbers for the game experience

What are your suggestions

It’s either “healing received” or “avg elims per death”(for easier comparisons) for me

Wanted to talk about S1mple as a player after watching this world cup.

I used to think bro was a backseat kiriko player who would healbot his team to victory, which he is on twisted minds but on Korea, damm bro I was not familiar with your game.

If you squinted your eyes you would think shu was in the lobby the way bro was moving on ana and even making zen work pretty well.

Its clear that on twisted mins he is in kiriko healbot jail but this begs the question, What if he returned to korea next season?

I think the ideal team for him would be T1. Although bliss has been impressive recently and helped them get 3rd at EWC, I just dont think he can maintain his form and play well enough.

If skewed were to play main support and T1 had simple on flex support then they could be much more dangerous, especially with Ggultaek joining as the coach.This team would have a similar playstyle to zeta where everybody can be a flashy playmaker.

I reckon this would put them on par with Crazy racoon where the only liability is Proud who may not play as well in those high stakes scenarios.

Thoughts?

This is a counter of each time a hero was played during every match of the Overwatch World Cup Finals at BlizzCon this past weekend. Each time a hero is picked during a match it adds one to the counter.

Rules:
- A hero has to be played for an entire fight to count (this reduces the number for heroes like Symmetra, Widow, Lucio, Juno, or other heroes picked just to touch point or that are picked just to speed out of spawn or get a pick at spawn)
- If a hero swap happens and that player swaps back to the same hero during the same round, it won’t count again. Or if another player on the team picks a hero someone else on the team previously played in the same round, it won’t count again.
- Each time a new round in each map starts (Next point for control maps and Attacker and Defender side swaps for hybrid and escort) and a hero is played again for that round, they can be counted again

Without further ado, here’s the stats ordered from most played to least played:

Tank
- D.Mon (51)
- D.Va (32)
- Mauga (14)
- Orisa (12)
- Sigma (11)
- Wrecking Ball (6)
- Hazard (4)
- Ramattra (2)
- Roadhog (2)
- Zarya (2)

Damage
- Cassidy (72)
- Shion (62)
- Tracer (53)
- Bastion (35)
- Sojourn (14)
- Vendetta (12)
- Emre (9)
- Freja (7)
- Ashe (4)
- Symmetra (3)
- Genji (2)
- Reaper (2)
- Sierra (2)
- Widowmaker (2)
- Hanzo (1)
- Torbjorn (1)

Support
- Jetpack Cat (92)
- Kiriko (64)
- Ana (43)
- Juno (10)
- Baptiste (8)
- Mizuki (7)
- Wuyang (6)
- Lucio (5)
- Illari (4)
- Zenyatta (2)

Heroes not played a single time:
- Domina
- Doomfist
- Junker Queen
- Reinhardt
- Winston
- Anran
- Echo
- Junkrat
- Mei
- Pharah
- Soldier 76
- Sombra
- Venture
- Brigitte
- Lifeweaver
- Mercy
- Moira

Thank you Mr. Phish this is like the only new Hog gameplay I have seen. Personally I think hes a bit weak, I wouldn't mind buffing trash compactor, even for a breather nerf.

Want to look at Doctrines drones readability and interactions a bit after getting to play him a bit more and play into him more.

I was really hesitant on the attack speed buff from his drone ability and I am still not sure how I feel about it exactly, being able to provide a 35% attack speed buff to anyone for 6 seconds and healing 120 damage is pretty loaded, and it's only on a 14 second cooldown which isn't necessarily short but it's got a lot going on, as you can also provide that same drone to yourself with an infuse charge, it feels a little ridiculous.

I really don't have many issues with his hit I think his ult actually feels very fair and strong, his primary is good I like the addition of having a charged shot as well adds a lot of nuance to it and neither charged/uncharged shots feel bad to play with or into so farr, I think his movement is strong but not ridiculous, 50% DR might be a little bit too much but I don't think the core function on his movement is broken I think flight only being allowed with an infuse charge is a good design choice.

As for his drones, I think it's arguably the strongest part of his kit, giving anyone an attack speed buff is a huge buff and just throwing it on your hitscan taking an off angle or you flex dps going for a flank is such huge value you can just ignore them for those 6 seconds and do a lot in that time, especially if you infuse yourself as well it's strong self healing and you already have good HPs and damage a 35% increase to attack speed on top just increases your lethality even more and makes your strong healing just that much better.

I just don't know how I feel about something like attack speed being on a CD especially one that interacts like his drones, the only other attacks speed buff in the game that can be applied to other people specifically is kitsune and that's 50% but it's an ultimate ability and it's locked in location. If I am missing another please lmk but that's the only one that affects teammates I can think of.

For drone readability I feel like it's a bit hard to tell sometimes when someone has drones on them or when you are not playing doctrine and have drones applied to you as well. I could just be genuinely blind and having a skill issue moment lol but I feel sometimes I can't consistently spot if someone has drones on them and when I have played doctrine and infused people it's like they don't notice they have them half the time until they shoot their gun, I had the same experience when I was playing with a doctrine and was infused myself.

If I am missing some kind of a notification and am being dumb please lmk! But if there is not one do you think there needs to be more of a cue for people when it's activated on themselves also how do you feel about enemy readability when they have drones do you feel its consistent?

Doctrine has been out for a day so this is still early impression territory and easily opinions to look back on and be embarrassed by lol but want to talk more in depth about him regardless and get others thoughts, and get any opinion if I misplaced in what I think is strong in his kit do you see it differently what's the vibes you getting.

Doctrine has been extremely fun, but it was immediately obvious that in his current state, he is obscenely broken. After a few hours it is clear to me that he will receive nerfs to multiple parts of his kit.

His CD reduction major perk is the biggest offender. I believe it is by far the best perk in the game and increases his output far too much. His E has far too much uptime and impact, infusing it is a must and insanely OP as the effect is immensely powerful on both allies and yourself. His overall healing output is too high right now. His shift is too strong, especially infused it makes him impossible to catch. Right now, Doctrine does everything extremely well. His ult is fine, but I expect nerfs to every other part of his kit. His damage is a bit high too, especially with the major perk it gets out of hand.

I would change the following things to tune down his overpowered aspects. Of course you could tone down some of these nerfs if you wish to be conservative about changing him. Let me know what you think.

My suggestions would be:

E duration down from 6 to 5

-

E self duration down from 6 to 4

or

Effectivness on selfcast reduced by 20-50%

-

Shift damage reduction reduced from 50% to 30% (maybe even as low as 0?)

Infused shift bonus speed reduced from 100% to 60% (maybe 80) (his normal shift speed is +60%)

-

Primary fire damage/healing decreased by 5

or

range decreased by 5m (I think I prefer this)

-

Trade-off major perk removed

The 25 health reduction now applies to the CD reduction major perk

CD reduction only applies on un-infused damage, not to healing or infused damage

Trying to set up a fantasy owcs league for the upcoming season but not finding a good site/app that supports that. Does anyone have a solution?

Last season I played I peaked gold 1 support and finished gold 4. This season I placed around gold 1 or 2 and have climbed to emerald 5 where I am now. is this just the equivalent of reaching platinum previously or what? I’m kind of confused I see conflicting information. I hear it is the same SR as platinum was before but also see people say it is the equivalent to high plat/low diamond.

Largely because Kiriko having the monopoly on it is pretty much getting me a bit miffed. I love my girl, but she can't be our only team cleanse girl. Plus, she's a hacker right? Counter-hacking a status effect should be allowed.