Overwatch 2 Beta’s Big Scoreboard Updates, Explained

Image: Blizzard

Overwatch had an untraditional approach to scoring. Typically, competitive shooters like Apex Legends and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds keep a running list of kills, points, and team standings on a shared dashboard. Overwatch, instead, used a less specific system that awarded individual gold, silver, and bronze medals based on objective kills, objective time, damage done, and healing done.

If you weren’t a fan of the medal system, you’ll be happy to hear that Blizzard has completely revamped the score ladder for Overwatch 2 beta testing (which, by the way, you can still access looking at the Overwatch League opening weekend) by implementing a more typical scoreboard. Let’s go over everything you need to know about the change so you never have to hunker down in a corner crying over how little you know about the Overwatch 2 dashboard. We’ve all been there.

What am I looking at here?

I hope you weren’t attached to the little personal trophies that flicker on your screen at the end of a match, because medals have been completely eliminated. They left. Goodbye, shiny medals visible only to me. While we commit murder, Overwatch’s fire system – a meter that would fill based on activity and reward your character by framing their icon in Gatorade blue flames – was also found dead on the street.

According to Blizzard patch notes released April 28, there’s no longer a need for shot and medal systems as the new dashboard features “real-time key stats for all players in the game, including kills and deaths”. The scoreboard also “intentionally mirrors other games and competitive sports”, which is even visible in its current design: it’s a tilting rectangular layout with sleek navy, pink and white categories all spilling out. details of your team’s performance and enemy team’s performance.

So I can’t die 4,500 times in peace anymore?

No you can not. The new dashboard allows everyone on both teams to see each other’s enemy kills, assists, deaths, damage and healing, although there is still some level of individualized breakdown that shows the your character’s weapon accuracy, defensive assists, and kill streaks.

Ultimately, according to these patch notes, Blizzard says the main goal of the change is to provide “a more accurate and easier to read view of data related to each player’s performance.” Notably, Blizzard also writes that it plans to “revisit the Fire system in the future”, and since we’re still very much in beta, you can probably expect changes to the finer details of the board.

Will my significant other leave me because now they can see that I’m a bad support player?

God, I hope not. In fact, I hope they will. Looks like you’re better off without them. Either way, this brings up an important conversation players are having about the scoreboard and the quality of their Overwatch 2 experience.

Again, since we’re still in beta, this is mostly hypothetical, but some players are worried that the very public dashboard will encourage aggression in chat. Of course, the current state of Overwatch’s voice chat wasn’t an idyllic gamer garden either.

Women know how frustrating and predatory chat rooms are may beand no matter who you are, online strangers will not hesitate to scold you in the ground. Competitive shooters like League of Legends are notorious to breed ill will even within your own team – a disappointing side effect of living in a world where people sometimes care more about winning than having fun.

Personally, I think it’s possible that the scoreboard could have a negative impact on Overwatch 2 chat rooms, although the existing hostility in competitive games tells me that the issue goes much deeper than whether the number of statistics is public or private. As a gameplay mechanic, however, the scoreboard is incredibly useful for players who want to more accurately gauge their performance. Most beta testers seemed to find the board a beneficial and welcome overhaul, but there’s still time for everyone to provide feedback to Blizzard.