Releasing a video this week, the Overwatch League provided information about how the 2022 season will play out, provided dates for when games will begin, and live events!
- The 2022 season will still be on Overwatch 2 as announced previously and 5v5.
- Play begins on Thursday, May 5.
- The opening matches will be NYXL vs. the LA Gladiators in the West, and Shanghai Dragons vs. Philadelphia Fusion in the East.
- There will be 4 tournaments over the season, with the first and third being regional competitions and the second and fourth are global tournaments (midseason and finals).
- Drops are returning.
- The Shanghai Dragons championship skin is coming “soon.”
Live events are returning so long as teams feel they can do them safely. The first of such was announced by the Houston Outlaws will be The Battle for Texas between the Outlaws vs. Dallas Fuel on May 6 at 5 p.m. Central. No details about this live event other than date and time have been revealed as of this writing.
We also know is that Overwatch League teams still don’t know much more about Overwatch 2 than the rest of us, and they’re still playing on Overwatch 1. In fact the head coach for the Florida Mayhem shared to Twitter on Thursday that teams that scrimming are using this workshop code: 21147. You can see the patch notes on this Google Docs doc that include changes we know about and speculative changes.
You can read more about League Points and Playoff Qualifications on the OWL website.
On Wednesday a number of bugs fixes and balance changes were applied to the Experimental Card.
Much like the original notes, there are far too many for me to re-list here, but I do have a few highlights.
- Symmetra: Turrets no longer heal full targets and turret healing grants ultimate charge.
- The damage reduction for tanks has been changed from a 50% damage reduction to 25%.
- Roadhog: Chain Hook slows the target by 40% for 2 seconds.
- See the full patch notes for everyone else.
The Creator Cup begins this afternoon (Friday) and continues Saturday. You can watch on the OWL YouTube channel or Overwatch Twitch channel.
- JJoNak has parted ways with Seoul Dynasty, taking time away from professional play. (Dynasty Twitter)
- CNBC reports that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has two secret companies that in the 2020 US election cycle he used to contribute at least $600,000 (USD) to Republican causes. The practice is common so CEOs can contribute to political parties with fewer people knowing it’s them. (CNBC)