Hazard’s Overwatch 2 stats show how useful a trial gameplay period can be for balancing

A new Director’s Take blog for Overwatch 2 today bids goodbye to 2024 while looking ahead to 2025 and focusing on the game’s newest tank hero, Hazard.

Hazard launched alongside OW2’s season 14 a few weeks after a weekend trial that allowed players to try him out, give feedback, and allow Blizzard Entertainment to gain info. And a lot of that info was crucial in helping shape him, game director Aaron Keller said.

“During Hazard’s trial period, we were blown away by how excited the community was to play him,” Keller said. “Based on your feedback and some of the things we saw during the trial, his effectiveness was originally not quite where we wanted him to be.”

Hazard hovered around a 50-percent win rate across all ranks and 47 percent at Masters and higher on PC during the test, according to Keller. But a balancing patch that went live with season 14 helped bring him up to snuff. In the seasonal patch, Blizzard improved his Bonespur primary attack, Spike Guard ability, and his Vault passive ability that allows him to climb small obstacles, while also “reducing some of the less-fun aspects of fighting an enemy Hazard.”

In light of the changes, Hazard’s win rate climbed quite a bit to 55 percent at all ranks and 56 percent at Masters and higher on PC. Even with a bit of a nerf to his ultimate charge in a hotfix earlier this week, Keller said “most of these broader changes positively improved his lethality, while leaving his survivability roughly intact, despite the recent buff to the DPS passive.”

Elsewhere in the blog, Keller teased another new six-vs-six experiment coming in the new year, but also expressed gratitude for OW2 players.

“There are a lot of amazing games out there, and I’d like to personally thank you for spending your valuable time in ours,” he said. “Thank you for your involvement, feedback and passion for our game – it means so much to us. I’d also like to include a huge thank you to the rest of the Overwatch team. Your support for each other and dedication to the game (and to your craft), bring new and wonderful parts of this universe to life every day.”