Alright, so I wanted to mess around with some Overwatch data, specifically looking at map win rates and stuff. I’ve heard people talk about “meta” comps and how they change depending on the map, so I figured I’d try to see if I could find anything interesting myself. I’m calling this little project “overwatch meta map,” just to give it a name.
Getting Started
First thing I needed was, well, data. I poked around online, but most of the sites just show overall stats, not really broken down by map. I couldn’t find any easy-to-grab datasets. I Needed something that has map by map stats. So, plan A (finding a nice, pre-made dataset) was a bust.
Plan B: DIY Data Collection
Since I couldn’t find the data, I figured I’d have to make it. The only real way to do this was to watch a bunch of Overwatch League matches, and literally just write down who won, what map they were on, and what heroes both teams were using. Yeah, it sounds tedious, because it totally is. I put on some streams, grabbed a notebook and pen, and got to work.
- Step 1: Find Matches. I used past broadcasts to see matches.
- Step 2: Note the Map. First thing I wrote down was the map name. Pretty straightforward.
- Step 3: Record the Teams. Who was playing who? Gotta keep track of that.
- Step 4: Painstakingly Note Comps. This was the killer. Every time the hero select screen popped up, I’d quickly jot down the heroes for each team. It’s a lot of pausing and rewinding.
- Step 5: Mark the Winner. Once the map was over, I put a big W next to the winning team.
I did this for, I don’t know, maybe 20 or 30 matches. I can’t say that number for * felt like forever. My hand started to cramp, and my eyes were definitely glazing over. It’s not a huge dataset, but it’s enough to at least play around with.
Organizing the Mess
Now I had a notebook full of scribbled notes. Not exactly useful. So, I opened up a spreadsheet. Nothing fancy, just a basic one.
I made columns for:
- Map
- Team 1
- Team 2
- Team 1 Comp (listing each hero)
- Team 2 Comp
- Winner
Then, I went through my notes, line by line, and typed everything into the spreadsheet. More tedious work, but at least it was a little less frantic than watching the matches.
Simple Analysis (For Now)
Okay, so with the data finally in a usable format, I could start doing some simple stuff. I added a column to show the meta. I can’t make an exact calculation of the rate, it’s just a simple preliminary data.
And that’s about where I’m at right now. It’s a start, anyway. It’s not perfect, and it’s definitely not statistically significant, but it’s something. It was a good way to spend a few afternoons, even if it was a bit of a grind.
