Lee “Fearless” Euiseok hasn’t played much Overwatch 2 this season. He wanted to be honest about that.
Lee played all six maps for the Dallas Fuel over the weekend in two wins over the Florida Mayhem and Vancouver Titans, but felt his gameplay had fallen off since the 2021 season.
Mostly, there hasn’t been a way to maintain his skill.
“Given that there is no ranked in Overwatch 2, and given that Overwatch and Overwatch 2 are very different, I have to be honest,” Lee told The Dallas Morning News via interpreter, “I actually haven’t played a lot of games. But I was watching from the third-person perspective and I have kind of taught myself how to play if I were in those situations.”
The Overwatch 2 beta returned Tuesday, and it will be just as big of a deal for the Overwatch League players as it is for the casual who didn’t get a chance to try the sequel in April. This time it will have a competitive mode, kind of.
Dallas, which has a 3:30 p.m. match Sunday against the New York Excelsior, and the rest of the OWL teams still had access to the early version of Overwatch 2 during the month-long period of downtime for the beta.. That allowed them to scrimmage and put together pick-up matches between pros.
That was about it. And Atlanta Reign players were outspoken about the practice conditions during the Kickoff Clash tournament in Arlington.
“Your gameplay kind of deteriorates when you don’t have ranked or even quick play,” Reign tank player Xander “Hawk” Domecq told reporters in a post-match press conference. “Quick play was a good way to test things out, but there’s nothing.”
The beta’s second round should be more optimized for professionals. Quick play traditionally didn’t allow both teams to play offense and defense on escort and hybrid maps, but there will be a scaled-back version of Ovewratch’s competitive mode this time around. Even if the OWL pros aren’t competing against themselves, ranked was helpful to work on their mechanics against other high-ranking players in streamers.
In theory, the beta’s return should allow Overwatch League players, and casuals, to get a better idea of how they stack up against competition.
Fearless was among the best tank players in the Overwatch League in 2021, especially on heroes like Winston, Reinhardt and Wrecking Ball. The first meta on Overwatch 2 was better suited for his Fuel tank counterpart, Choi “Hanbin” Han-been, so Lee rarely played more than one map in a series.
Now Fearless’ time has come. Winston and Reinhardt are quite viable. The problem was Lee wasn’t able to practice the way he was used to, so he resorted to lots of video review.
“I feel like the only method to actually keep myself in the game and improve my play is to stimulate my brain,” Lee said. “That’s done by a good team review session or feedback sessions, where you are trying to read how the game is supposed to flow.”
Lee was just one example of how the Overwatch 2 beta’s return could impact the Overwatch League. Gameplay will be more stable, and the quality of competition should boon.
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