A scandal surrounded the Overwatch League yesterday prior to the league restarting matches. One of the players from the Boston Uprising, Walid "Mouffin" Bassal, had sexual allegations towards minors.
Amidst all the news surrounding COVID-19 in esports, fans of the Overwatch League are not going to be thrilled about the news with one of the top teams in the league. New York Excelsior, who is one of the best franchises in the league since the inaugural season, announced they are temporarily stepping back from playing matches in OWL.
It is that time again this week where Overwatch players see another round of hero pools released. This means a whole new meta being introduced. The catch is that the Overwatch team heavily banned a significant part of DPS heroes, four to be exact. Other bans include 1 tank and 1 support.
The Overwatch League is well into its third season, but Blizzard Entertainment revealed a treat throwing back to the climax of Season 2: a legendary Doomfist skin. It commemorates the dominant 4-0 victory of the San Francisco Shock over the Vancouver Titans last year.
After the Homestands for March and April are canceled in the Overwatch League, the league announced they will move to online matches during those months. League officials just put out an official statement following California's statewide "Stay at home" order to postpone this weekend's games.
The newest hero in Overwatch is here. Echo, who was introduced this morning via Twitter, is the game's 32nd hero.
The Overwatch League announced they'd be playing the rest of their matches online, with a new schedule that both "eliminates the need for travel while maintaining a level playing field for the teams." Read more on the story here:
The Overwatch League has announced that they will be moving all matches online after canceling all homestand events for the months of March and April, as well as canceling the Midseason Tournament and moving All-Stars.
In the wake of COVID-19 - AKA the coronavirus - Zénith Paris has canceled all scheduled events through April 15th, including the Paris Eternal Homestand. Paris Eternal was set to host their Homestand event on April 11th and 12th, but must now either reschedule or cancel their event. Read more here:
The Overwatch League stepped outside the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California this season. It also marked the first time a professional esports league took their games to different cities each week. This move not only exposes fans to OWL in different cities, but it also expands esports outside California. In the long term, this progression in esports is going to have a net positive.
To most people's surprise, there is another update to Overwatch. In this update, it features an entirely new event, and a new mode "Experimental Mode". This update is available on PC and consoles. These are the highlights in the next update.
The Seoul Dynasty Homestand set to take place in early March has been canceled to help protect the health and safety of Overwatch League players and staff, as well as fans who hoped to attend the event. Read the story here:
Four wins and two losses. That is the record so far for teams hosting their homestands this season. There is a small sample size among homestand crowds affecting matches. Players comment on how home crowds affected their level of play.
Gen.G and Seoul Dynasty recently announced a donation campaign on their Twitter, helping victims of the coronavirus. The org will be donating 100% of the proceeds from their Seoul Homestand in Week 5, as well as merch and skin sales. Read more here:
Since the new season of the Overwatch League started, people cannot help to see noticeable issues with the broadcast. There is blame towards the league for switching streaming platforms from Twitch to YouTube. These are a few of the issues plaguing OWL so far.
Two weeks surpassed in the Overwatch League. While the meta still needs to be ironed out, these players stood out to be the best for the past two weeks. Carpe, SADO, and Architect are among that group. Read more to find out who else is included.
The second annual PA (Pennsylvania) Cup saw host Harrisburg University sweep to championships in both League of Legends and Overwatch.
After cancelling the homestands set for Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou in late January, Blizzard has announced the games will now be played in Seoul, both in studio and as potential extra games for the Seoul Dynasty homestand in Week 5. read more here:
A huge announcement broke the internet last Thursday. Jeff Kaplan, the lead designer of Overwatch, announced several changes to Overwatch. One of those changes is rotating hero pools. Think of it like map pools rotating each season in competitive, except it is on a weekly basis with heroes. Not only are map pools rotating in competitive, but also heroes. As soon as the developer update released, Overwatch League released a blog detailing how hero pools are going to work for the league.
Last weekend was the start of a new season of the Overwatch League. Unlike past seasons, however, this season is a little different. The Blizzard Arena is a relic of the past as it is time to move on to bigger things. Instead of games taking place at the venue located in Burbank, California, the Overwatch League is on the road every week this season. What’s good is that every fan gets to see Overwatch League and esports come to their respective cities. What’s worse is that teams, players, and the media will have to travel as well. After going to New York for the New York Excelsior Homestand last week, the environment of the arena, the atmosphere of the crowd, and the exciting matches are unlike the previous two seasons.
