The grand Beta Review

how to interpret these data:

There has been some confusion to what the Data actually means, so I’m going to start off with an example: McCree. The formula I use to determine Hero Pick Rate is "Number of Times X Hero has appeared divided by Number of Sides Played". Sides refer to Offense or Defense halves, with each Map having two Sides played for each. If I see two McCrees appear on a Team’s Lineup during one Side, they get counted twice, so this ratio can exceed 1.

But wait, doesn’t this mean you’re not calculating a direct percentage of Hero Picks?

Correct! This is why I’m referring to my formula as "Hero Pick Rate" instead of "Hero Pick Percentage". Consider McCree’s Offensive Rate: 107.3%. What this number means is this: “Over the course of an Offensive Side, you can expect to see 1.073 McCrees appear on a Team’s Lineup”. I convert these Rates to Percentages for cosmetic reasons only -- percentages just look better on Infographics and on paper.

Hang on -- what about King of the Hill??

Another good question! King of the Hill matches essentially function as an Offensive and Defensive Side played simultaneously, as both Teams are Attacking and Defending the Point throughout the game. King of the Hill matches therefore have no Offense or Defense delineation and both Team’s picks are counted simultaneously. King of the Hill data *IS* included as an element of the Overall Summary for each Hero, so each of these Maps still have two Sides -- just like non-King of the Hill Maps.

Going back to McCree, how do we interpret his Data? If I were explaining McCree’s standing as the DPS King of the Beta this is how I’d do it:

“Looking at the Overall Hero Standings, McCree is the Top Ranked DPS by a long shot. In any single Side played in Overwatch -- Offense, Defense, or King of the Hill -- you can expect see 1.05 McCrees appear over the course of the Side played on Average. This is primarily due to his use on Defense: McCree’s usage rate is 123.6% on Defense (1.236 McCrees per Lineup per Side), compared to 107.3% on Offense and a measly 68.37% on King of the Hill.”

My own analysis

Where did all of the "A's" go?

Two things stood out to me after compiling this Data: two Heroes reached a greater than 100% Pick Rate (S Tier), while no other Heroes exceeded 80% Pick Rate (A Tier). I’ve generally considered the B Tier (which ranges from 40% to 80% usage) to be populated by Heroes that range from specialist to core inclusions in a Hero lineup, with A Tier designating absolute core Heroes and S Tier illuminating which Heroes are truly overpowered. The lack of A Tier Heroes in an Overall sense is actually explained by the inclusion of King of the Hill Data into the full summary. Looking at Offense and Defense splits, both Mercy and Reinhardt reach core status -- it’s simply their lack of utility on King of the Hill Maps (which, by design, are much more Offensively Oriented) which drive their numbers down.