I mean Aero did state that they were bringing in more Korean players QED, OWL is becoming KOWL.

You do realize it's meant for PVE right?

Congratulations and it only took you quarter of time to break that promise at the tail end of last year to now it not even matter. A lot of "Oh it's coming soon(tm)", whether it was a fault or covid or not, they it said earlier when they made the transition to YouTube, again the said this before but at the worst time and frankly I doubt it's going to worth it watching if no substantial things came be bought (like the last two OWL team skins+mercy/lucio one) and earlier one, we never got our tokens.

So the time investment in watching won't be the same as going to Twitch and watching someone play Valorant, way better than watching KoreanWatch.

OMG, didn't they go down this road already? Remember when they went 80% Korean, this is pretty sad to see OWL go full Korean Bot -- they'll probably pull a "We aren't going full Korean" then suddenly Luusish, Ellivote are gone. I give it 1 week max.

Good work, boys.

ValAgents.gg?

Not really, they are still going by the standard of the Pacific Division versus the Atlantic Division teams, like last season. Just in this case, online NA West versus NA East; there's also the fact that none of these teams left NA unlike most of the KR ones + China.

I don't personally think it matters its just semantics until corona goes away we gotta deal with these problems moving forward.

West Coast connection 20-40ms to East Coast connection 75-80ms ^^, they are both in NA.

Valorant is showing more promise and people are interested in that, OverWatch is frankly a unsupported game across the board: Tier 2/3 payment has been downplayed for a while {outcry on twitter suggest heavily the case} as well as financial management + transition from Tier 2/3 to Tier 1 with all the team coaches/players, dozens of folks who were in OWL like Taimou never got the play time he wanted and even when they did; it wasn't much. It's a shame because Act/Blizz doesn't seen the problem with this and come forward (they won't anyway) and would prefer their glorified OW2 not expansion to save the main game instead. Even now I still don't agree with this decision on the premise that pve stuff could still be garbage and change nothing. This months out even a year later more than likely with corona halting the gaming industry most of the companies have to serious delay games due to not having home equipment/timezone differences and no means to finance the outcome of this passing (personally I'm hoping OW2 is delayed so it teaches either Act/Blizzard or both a lesson that they can't depend on OWL viewership to appease the 99% player base especially with the fact that Echo came out in the worst time possible and Blizzard realized this feedback, its really been negative to say the least. I should note that as a DPS player I honestly did not want Echo, I didn't want to see her nor be released, they just aren't listening and it's why the game user base has a huge disconnect versus the developers. The game is polarizing when it happens and why the forums, reddit, and everywhere else there is so much outcry/hatred to me, its justified due to the tract record think back at the times when they could patch stuff faster or refocus the ranked ladder, not much reason and them saying "well genji and soldier are great in GM" missing the point that the regular user base ISN'T IN GM and it's also undermines the fact that people are seeing these decisions you are making for your game, we are playing you're game, we paid for and you are saying stuff like that? and you wonder why folks are leaving. They are fed up with this.

Plus it seems Valorant wants to support people from the forefront who weren't able to enjoy OW or play it to the fullest of their potential from the get go day 1; young to old and anyone in between. It's really sad because prior to these e-sports "leagues", 2nd/3rd party tournaments were a regular norm w/o destroying the integrity of low ends of professional play but it seems that with going forward with massive gaming leagues that it doesn't seem its worth the sacrifice as orgs are either dropping out or moving on. Sugarfree wouldn't likely get into OWL no matter what, he's 15 now even still; it's 2+ years out and OWL may not even be the same anymore by that point.

Minor aside: I'm sure that with any new game there is a likely hood it could succeed and fail but for so far this is what I'm seeing currently.

No other reason for this than "well OW was a fun but frustrating ride" yeah imagine being OG Misfits to get replaced by all Korean Bots (who didn't do any better honestly). It's a shame all the OG monthly Melee orgs like NRG/Misfits/NiP/Defiant Academy, etc are either shifting away from OW or to Valorant which is on the rise since OW isn't functional for Tier 2/3. At least NiP/Rogue/Renegades is doing fine in Paladins Minor League and Mid Season Invitational/PPL or even R6 Siege but not for OW.

Tviq was really a master of none player, unsuccessful in OWL sure as it was his last chance to get that Tier 1 recognition, it doesn't surprise me though as he went from taking a break to do streaming to retire out. To me, when they say "oh im looking forward to the future" basically means you are moving to Valorant, every time this comes up Valorant is also in the equation. Dunno we'll see when Summer actually arrives.

It's unfortunate more folks are leaving but at the same time, they probably weren't earning enough to care about OW professionally, complain, get told they should take a break, etc etc then retire.

Leave+Jinmu and Molly+Yvetal is an interesting bunch, looking forward to this!

snickers

I know but it's strange for them to say that twice over; wouldn't it have been better to just halt off homestands and do it all online since here we are? Not really reassuring/semantics.

"They hope to return to live events before the 2020 season concludes." They said this before didn't they? Guess its to be expected, not really worth the risk of reopening homestands.

Jesus all these reverse sweeps.

Man they got rolled so badly, even though they swapped Edison for Sharp, I still think Edison was better than Sharp; I get they wanna bring in a new guy to test out the waters but Edison man... refrags on the backline and aggressive picks near spawn doors. So fucking awesome!

Also the support and tank line almost like the GLAD.

It isn't uncommon for pro players to change roles remember; sinatraa did play off-tank last season, Kuki oddly enough was actually a support player at one point in his career. Kungdo Panthera's DDing was a DVa player at one point, even Bumper can play Hanzo which is baffling. The reason you won't see them on this is because it isn't a role they'd play on in OWL permanently. If they do it can raise concerns.

I honestly don't know why they thought they could just play like it was Stage 1-3 Season 2, they aren't dealing with Dallas Fuel instead Dallas Fuel OGE w/ Gigantti Supports + Birdring who isn't inconsistent anymore(?) and Mirror ooof watch the Widow duel. TRUST!

Oh man these were fun games to watch, imagine using meta comp.... Chengdu... come again? lol. I just love OWL now because there is more upsets now then ever like with GLAD.

That's rough, almost like nam-flashbacks, except this would be OWL S2 flashbacks. rofl

:)

Nice to know they are keeping more in line with OWL notices. Before it used to be the case that Contenders/Apex was playing on a patch 1 month prior to current, then OWL was playing 1 month behind current... which was pretty much separately live from OWL from Contenders from Apex. Good that things will be more unified now.

crossing fingers that these matches aren't getting cancelled.

:(

Well after watching the Watchpoint update video, it was confirmed that the Chinese teams are working on getting themselves matches at a later date as the VP of OWL does want to have homestands return again they were successful as much as news is confirmed so hopefully whoever is doing the smarts with corona later in the year. The VP or OWL did also state that the 28 matches will go throughout the end of april, great!

I am a bit sadden but as the CEO of OWL said, they couldn't find another way for the mid-season; I personally would've liked to see the team standings by that point. I didn't realize soul got back to NA so good on them but I would like to see the other Chinese matches since I always liked Chengdu versus Titans last year.

Oh dang no mid-season, go agane next year I suppose. :/

Obviously as far as we know, they are giving refunds, or refunds to go to another homestand, they just cancelled another in Paris. I mean I'd be fine with the old format but run it online. So much for OWL 2020 international. All it took was just either one person not doing anything sanitary and here we are.

OWWC may be like this as well and that is usually after July correct? My cousin said this before to me; they should've just halted off homestands especially when it launched in the mist of a virus. Though to fair, all other E-Sport specific games like CSGO/R6 Siege even Paladins which also has LAN tournaments across country, this also affects them too.

tldr; all international lans or lans that take a big audience/multiple teams are at risk. That's the word on twitter rn.

They originally stated the China teams would move to SK for those games but it got worse so now SK games are cancelled at the SK homestands, prolly just host the matches online and do a West v. East in NA for all teams?

We do know that Gladiators rushed back to NA from SK they were going to stay the full month for their matches and are back in the states. Guess they either do LA only from last years format not the homestand, the stadium one I'm referring too.

Online would be a nightmare because the pings are not good but they should at least consider something.

For you maybe but uh... we aren't even going to talk about the abandoned T2/T3?

As an aside: there are other technical problems with the larger YTers have pointed out like the mobile games ads or crunch time running through the desk show, some screen tearing/freezes, and the last fact being; we have no word on how to farm OWL points anymore (beyond some event in-game that are timed). Seems some stuff wasn't thought out before taking OWL international (not that it matters anyway due to corona-virus). IMO that should've been halted off a bit so it can be more fleshed out but I don't expect that from Activision/Blizzard in this day and age with MTX in everything. But that's my opinion so, I just don't like it.

What I'm saying is that since OWL is Activision's money maker, they have to use this not gonna bring in new players for the game. Beyond COD League, since Black Ops 4 was suppose to be that "hero shooter" but it got bad reception with their BR Game Mode Blackout so they just moved on from it. To be honestly it's likely would've been a sooner Destiny 3 if Bungie stayed instead of the current expansions that are on Steam now, though likely the case would've been we most definitely wouldn't have to worry about that totes-not-glorified-sequel-not-sequel game OW2 but hey Activision wants to rush it out the door. IMO I do not think a glorified sequel/not sequel will save the series it's a PVE format, non-comp players wouldn't likely to care so IDK maybe it matters for people who can't play OW at all or like the concept but not the online game.

So this is where we are; abandoned Tier 2/3 scene, management issues with Act/Blizzard across the board (current standing games), slow balance changes, no new heroes since July last year, features which were suppose to be in the game 4 months in as opposed to 4 years later (track record speaks for itself, most games should have replays from the get go even COD Black Ops 1, Crossfire, Battlefield 5/BF1 and BF4 had this at launch, even match tracking too), no progress with the story though to me that is a non-issue as all of these hero-shooters/team-shooters have this problem even Paladins had lore which was retcon in beta then again at live... it's too inconsistent + the fact that the game has legacy bugs like OverWatch and we got the lovely Valorant which maybe soon? Viewership may hit because of the last point but imo Valorant's competition is Crossfire which currently has 660 million people playing it, other wouldn't know because its an '07 game but then again its like "wikiapage says its made 10.8 billion dollars which is on-par with Fortnite, Dungeon Fighter Online, Pokemon Go and LoL" basically top 5 games with gross $ value.

Crossfire, CS and LoL are all dated yes but they aren't hero shooter replacements, Paladins is like following OW's shadow, Valorant is closer to Crossfire and then CSGO but we still have no real information on a beta launch date so until then, OW and Paladins are the only types.

Who knows though? Viewership taking a hit depends on format, casting, outside knowledge on the game as well as inside, advertisement, other forms of drama if that also affect both pro-non-pro perception, if people still play OW or don't, etc.

Oof tfw Ranked Strats work in OWL. laughs in korean

Naw its too soon, at least in comparison to Mayhem which is slowly trying to get better; the Dragon still are the ones with the 0-40 record nobody will forget. Assuming we don't see more upsets/reverse sweeps though a lot of teams trying to pull back.

Okay is this the reverse sweep year? o3o

Reverse Sweeped almost like the Spitfire did against the Justice huh guys? lol

I know it wasn't really even close but.... still.

yuuup.

Jesus... Halt+DMG Field into Firestrike. Highlight reeel!

Also that Anubis game: Sym versus Torb MADLAD BATTLES! Fucking awesome.

Bepis! :D

Must be from the news last week... that's not good but at the same time, could've cancelling all of OWL helped? Like where else in the world can these teams go even if the outbreak reaches else where, it's like you said 1 person not following the wash your hands, covering your mouth when you cough, etc ruins things for everyone else not just OWL teams but the whole world.

For now it's been 79k cases, 2,600 dead. SK, NK, Iran, Italy, and China. NA has locked down the ones already with the virus + more from the news I got from this morning :/

Holy shizzle, map 2, those sleep darts! Back to back from both sides.

Man all the hype at the start and then this... yikes!

Wow wtf was that? 4.31 meters, just one pick off alone and it fell apart completely. That is the fastest game start and game over on Dorado I've ever seen (was there ever one this close/over pre-GOATs/post?). More placements in the record books boys. They wasted no time, sure the highlight reels with Corey on Widow on Blizzard World was nice but they couldn't even cap the point.... sigh and this is kind of my problem with bottom feeder teams running meta comps.

Even if the bottom feeder teams run meta comp, they still manage to lose even against the teams in their bracket because of this, I don't think they should do that against more well fleshed out team rosters either. It's nice they got a solid victory out of the 0-2 buuut eeeh not a great start for either Spitfire, they failed to beat Paris then lost against NYXL. Well we'll see if they can replace the Season 1 champs or end up only looking good on the surface and end up as the Mayhem 2.0 (remains to be seen so far)

As for Justice, looks like it might be some time to reconsider their actions from today's games, also did anyone else notice how much focus fire there was onto Roar? Ana-nuke/freeze/ice wall trapping, some foreshadowing occurred to me but they were really trying to get rid of Roar asap, especially at the end. I won't disagree that Corey was really greedy with his kill attempts, I understand that Glister and Schwi are a problem but Clestyn and Highly though!!! From their perspective, they seem to be making a lot of good positional queues and pointing out the flaws of movement to cover/out of it that was being made especially with the supports of Justice.

Well hey complain to Blizzard and maybe they'll change it? I do recall that they used to do a single KOTH map tiebreaker and that was it but as I said they kept changing it over the course of CompOW and IDK what the playerbase that watches OWL/etc would prefer.

Uh the best of 7 is a thing for a while. It's even Contender as long as its like one team has 2 points, other team also has 2 points but the 6th map they tie, they have to play a 7th. I know before it was tie breaker was a KOTH mid match i.e. you'd play two playload map, KOTH, then 2cp, then payload map again. They kind keep changing this format since competitive OW was a thing, hopefully it doesn't change again.

We finally got to see semi-traditional dive for once not this mei-cree + bap/lucio and Rein/Dva snooze... and Genji!!!! It's almost like that security check pocket that Vancouver did when 2-2-2 came to Pro play i.e. Ana Nano boost + Orisa Bongo + Mercy Valk with Genji Dragon Blade, that was soooo sick to see, it absolutely is a guaranteed one shot.

They picked up Meko and Jecse this should be an improvement. Too bad Hooreg it was too little too late, I saw it was only for staff/coaching reasons. :/ I would've love to see him on McCree oh well.

Edit: Well looks like that didn't make much of a difference at all. Losing to the worst team in the League even though you are pretty bad yourself.

I will say that advantage now is that we won't have to see 1-2 teams attempt to fully master a single patch throughout Stages 1-4. For Semis and Finals yes but it won't be as double barrier crazy or GOATs influenced.

That really sucks, news was saying that it was majority for those in Wuhan but it's better this way as to not take any chances and that's a smart move. Would this be a total of +6 matches for each of the China teams correct?