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OWL pros want more focus on heroes, consistency for Overwatch 2 era of league play

The 2022 season will debut the new game, and pro players need it to succeed.

Esports thrive when the game is fresh, and the Overwatch League is going to get a new take on its own competition here soon.

Overwatch 2 isn’t so out of reach, and that’s enough to take a look into the 2022 OWL season. The current season won’t be over until Sept. 25 -- and there will be an exclusive look at the game’s sequel during the grand finals weekend. More on that later.

The OWL needs the new game to be good. Great, even. The players want it to make their professional lives less bland, and they’ll get to play an early version of the game when next season kicks off in April 2022.

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Dallas Fuel star DPS player Kim “Sp9rk1e” Yeong-han said via interpreter that he wanted the game to be successful so all the players could possibly see more lucrative lives. His other wish was simpler.

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“I just want to have fun,” Kim said.

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While all of this is happening, Overwatch developer Activision Blizzard is still facing multiple workplace lawsuits, including an unfair labor practice lawsuit, as reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday.

Sponsorships like Cheez-It, Coca-Cola, Kellog, State Farm and T-Mobile pulled ads from the OWL YouTube stream. So, the pressure is heavy on Overwatch 2 as the game has been long awaited and the health of the league and interest in the esport needs it to be a hit.

All that being said, OWL players have a good idea of what they want.

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Indy “Space” Halpern of the Los Angeles Gladiators wanted consistency.

“Constant updates. A lot of new cosmetics with skins that can be updated every month,” Halpern said. “I just want the game to be kept fresh and new. I feel like that was really undervalued in the first game.”

The game has had anything but constant updates, at least in the past year or so. The hero balancing in Overwatch is currently solid, even if it’s a bit stale. Echo was the most recent hero introduced in April 2020. That means the esport will go two full years without a new hero.

San Francisco Shock tank player and two-time world champion Matthew “Super” DeLisi told The Dallas Morning News he wanted that to be accounted for.

“I want interest on the heroes,” DeLisi said. “Overwatch used to have new heroes every three to four months, so I think by the time Overwatch 2 releases I hope we get all those heroes we should have gotten in the time since we had a new one, but a couple new ones for the wait.”

The wish list doesn’t have to end there. The Overwatch League worked to keep gameplay entertaining by adding hero pools over the last two seasons, as well as midseason tournaments. That’s a reminder that things can change if they aren’t perfect.

The game will already upend the status quo of professional play with the swap from 6-vs-6 to 5-vs-5, removing a tank player from both teams. OWL organizations will have to face that dilemma head on as soon as the current season ends.

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Things can, and will, change.

For the early release of the game, developers will have notes from the grand finals weekend. Professional players will have an exhibition Sept. 25, the same day as the championship, and feedback from those maps could give developers a focus for the offseason.

OWL desk host Soe Gschwind was excited that the new game was on the horizon, but also wanted people to understand that a perfect game will always be a moving target.

“It’s a pre-taste of what is to come and that’s exciting,” Gschwind said. “I’m always worried because people are so passionate and have a lot of opinions. Some forget that things can always change. I personally haven’t seen anything yet and I’m going to experience for the first time with everyone else.”

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There may be tremendous pressure on Overwatch 2 to carry the esport, but the details involving the game’s release suggest the developers know that. Now it’s about executing.

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Find more esports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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