Overwatch League Megathread

[Gandrake]

I'm sure Seagull calling xQc "a fucking moron" on stream is just because of this Muma thing and nothing else, especially not internally, that's why his own team gave him a bigger suspension than Blizzard themselves, all because he's being targeted by Soros and his sjw army.

Oh and I'm sure a couple of Korean players who are usually pretty timid and polite having a known distaste for xQc is for absolutely no reason either, he's just getting bullied by sjw's on reddit, he's the puching bag!!

his sponsors can do whatever they want because they have a right to protect their brand and the only bit of that I'll ever contest is the bit that is being influenced by this outrage.

The guy fucked up and he tried to make things right before things snowballed but it had virtually no effect. even back when iddqd and dafran got caught in deep shit they didn't get close to this much attention. these people are acting like the guy shot their family and raped their dog and it's kind of ridiculous.

i have never seen this many people line up to just hate someone. it's crazy.

but like i've said; my issue is with the community

He is just as responsible for his teams failures as anyone on that team if not one of the biggest reasons

i'm not saying that he isn't - i'm just stating the possibility

[Amirila]

My issues with the thing, from the PoV of a casual viewer:

1+2) The division into divisions and a small number of teams overall. It's really annoying that we won't see NYXL vs Seoul until playoffs. I would have honestly preferred a point system rather than a playoff system. The number of teams would probably actually be perfect if it wasn't for divisions. It also means that I can't see Shangai Dragons play vs a weaker team.
3) Lack of national diversity. There are just way too many Korean players. I'm not hating on them, obviously they are the best at OW (*cough* I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that OW is a dead game in EU at least). But I would like to see more "relatable" faces, there are few Europeans or Americans.
4) Even though I realize EU probably isn't prime target audience (I wouldn't be surprised if 80%+ viewers were from South Korea only), it would be nice to get some more matches in a more acceptable timeslot. Currently, there are 2 matches per week in a somewhat good timeslot.
5) Small audience in the on-set arena (I think the capacity is like 450?). It just doesn't feel very ... crowd-fanny? Hard to explain, see crowds at conventional sports.
6) Some fundamental balance problems have already been exposed. I'd like Blizzard to be more reactive in tuning.

1+2) Good news is that we will see Dynasty-NYXL this week on Friday!
3) While we do have a lot of Koreans, they are not a majority, so there is a lot of (North) Americans and Europeans
4) Agreed with the EU times, but Korea have their own stream
5) Hard to start up with a 20k arena or so, wouldn't be filled, and with how any games are so close to work for people as well
6) Death to Mercywatch D:<

[Cracked]

1+2) Good news is that we will see Dynasty-NYXL this week on Friday!

Oh, nice, didn't think it would feature cross divisional matches, cause.. whats the point of divisions then?

Anyway I don't think OWL has a long future. Blizzard themselves said not to expect profit in first 3 seasons at least, but idk. I don't see it becoming mainstream. I was hyped when I saw almost 500k viewers on the opening day, but now it hovers around 120k, with less interesting matches already dipping sub 100k.

[Woobels]

My issues with the thing, from the PoV of a casual viewer:

1+2) The division into divisions and a small number of teams overall. It's really annoying that we won't see NYXL vs Seoul until playoffs. I would have honestly preferred a point system rather than a playoff system. The number of teams would probably actually be perfect if it wasn't for divisions. It also means that I can't see Shangai Dragons play vs a weaker team.
3) Lack of national diversity. There are just way too many Korean players. I'm not hating on them, obviously they are the best at OW (*cough* I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that OW is a dead game in EU at least). But I would like to see more "relatable" faces, there are few Europeans or Americans.
4) Even though I realize EU probably isn't prime target audience (I wouldn't be surprised if 80%+ viewers were from South Korea only), it would be nice to get some more matches in a more acceptable timeslot. Currently, there are 2 matches per week in a somewhat good timeslot.
5) Small audience in the on-set arena (I think the capacity is like 450?). It just doesn't feel very ... crowd-fanny? Hard to explain, see crowds at conventional sports.
6) Some fundamental balance problems have already been exposed. I'd like Blizzard to be more reactive in tuning.

Now things that I do like:
1) Casters have a pretty good level of knowledge about the game. I honestly didn't expect this after watching WoW esports actions for years.
2) I like the level of in-game commitment with skins (it makes it so much easier to follow what's happening)
3) The idea of representing cities is really nice, but would prefer a wider range (I'm aware of the financial situation)
4) Players really look like they are enjoying it. Emotions are understandable. It has a nice positive energy.

Overwatch isn't as big as in South Korea as you probably think it is, though OWL might actually bump the interest in the game up there again.

[Amirila]

Oh, nice, didn't think it would feature cross divisional matches, cause.. whats the point of divisions then?

Anyway I don't think OWL has a long future. Blizzard themselves said not to expect profit in first 3 seasons at least, but idk. I don't see it becoming mainstream. I was hyped when I saw almost 500k viewers on the opening day, but now it hovers around 120k, with less interesting matches already dipping sub 100k.

I think this whole week was cross-division, so I have no idea. And the owner of the Glads said that OWL would be a success if they get more than 60k viewers

[Kelimbror]

I think this whole week was cross-division, so I have no idea. And the owner of the Glads said that OWL would be a success if they get more than 60k viewers

I don't think I've seen a match have less than 100k so far to be honest. But even I've lost interest in most of the matches other than watching my team, but that's how normal sports works. The thing with this is they need people to tune in for every match each time, but I just can't do it b/c it's like watching mini tournaments for 6+ hours a day, 4 days a week. I don't have time to watch that much of any TV unless I'm multitasking.

So yeah, I can leave it running in the background but I'm not actively watching most of the time.

[Amirila]

I don't think I've seen a match have less than 100k so far to be honest. But even I've lost interest in most of the matches other than watching my team, but that's how normal sports works. The thing with this is they need people to tune in for every match each time, but I just can't do it b/c it's like watching mini tournaments for 6+ hours a day, 4 days a week. I don't have time to watch that much of any TV unless I'm multitasking.

So yeah, I can leave it running in the background but I'm not actively watching most of the time.

Nah, no match have dipped below 100k yet, but we're still early in the season with all the hype, and even worse to watch 6h 4 times a week in the middle of the night

[Woobels]

Pretty excited to see a Korean vs Korean game actually, hope it's not a stomp.

[Enfilade]

If Philly can come out of this week 3-3 I'd consider it a success. The NYXL matchup is going to be brutal.

[Kelimbror]

Nah, no match have dipped below 100k yet, but we're still early in the season with all the hype, and even worse to watch 6h 4 times a week in the middle of the night

Yeah, this is true. It's weird for sure. Only way to handle live sports though, unfortunately.

Hopefully Dallas can get 2 wins this week against midrange teams. Without xQc attention on them, maybe they can focus on being a team and getting some wins.

[Amirila]

Viewing times for the games are incredibly dissapointing, I think I've caught 2 streams since it began.

Sadly it's not really catered towards us Europeans. Though they've tried to place the London games in as good time slots as possible, since they represent London

[Kelimbror]

Ok, less than 100k viewers in the initial match up tonight. I think OWL fatigue is setting in. Not looking good atm, but hopefully more people pick up as it gets later.

[Cracked]

Ok, less than 100k viewers in the initial match up tonight. I think OWL fatigue is setting in. Not looking good atm, but hopefully more people pick up as it gets later.

Yeah I enjoy watching it, but it looks to me that it's mostly more of the same. You can only see a sick Widow snipe so many times before it becomes normal. Only gonna watch Seoul vs NY this week.

[Woobels]

Ok, less than 100k viewers in the initial match up tonight. I think OWL fatigue is setting in. Not looking good atm, but hopefully more people pick up as it gets later.

Eh. 85k~ is a pretty high number still, and this is a pretty weak match since it's likely to be a stomp.

I think it's fine as long as it doesn't really tank.

Personally only watching the KR vs KR match this week.

[Amirila]

Ok, less than 100k viewers in the initial match up tonight. I think OWL fatigue is setting in. Not looking good atm, but hopefully more people pick up as it gets later.

Turns out that the website and client redirects to MLG rather than Twitch, so a few numbers are lost form that as well

[Kelimbror]

Turns out that the website and client redirects to MLG rather than Twitch, so a few numbers are lost form that as well

Well after I went back it was at like 125k, so that's good it's still peaking. And yeah, lots of other sources of views in other countries we can't see readily.

- - - Updated - - -

This LA matchup is fun. I shouldn't be awake but now it's tied up so I have to see the end. Some really clutch ults for both teams.

[Amirila]

This LA matchup is fun. I shouldn't be awake but now it's tied up so I have to see the end. Some really clutch ults for both teams.

The ending of the Dynasty-Dragons match was fun too!

[Woobels]

Balanced btw.

God we need a patch lmao.

[Gandrake]

Well Mercy is about to get nerfed and all support representation will go up and so is junkrat, so genji's representation will go up.

The only buff Reaper needs is to his shadowstep; he is weak because he is supposed to be a short range tank destroyer and the one ability in his kit to help him overcome that weakness is cripplingly flawed by an exemplary display of absolutely retarded but typical blizzard design philosophy. And despite being fine, there is so much screeching about how weak Moira is even though she has been used more than Reaper and has a Junkrat level of mindless no skill spam in Biotic Orb.

If you ask the community what needs to change, they will say that Tracer needs to be nerfed because she is reponsible for dive meta even though there was no dive meta until DVA was buffed.

I mean, at some point you really have to sit down and ask yourself to what end you are balancing a game. What does "balance" look like? Every hero being good in every situation? Does anyone really want to watch Torbjorn's turret kill an entire team while Taimou runs away stepping on armor packs? How many people think that Reinhardt isn't really that good right now?

[xskarma]

Boston Uprising starting off well this game. Going to be interesting if they can get an upset of the more highly rated Spitfire.