Isn't that the whole point of having a roster of 12 though? if we expect everyone to be the best in the world on 5 different heroes then who will need more than 6 players? whole point of 12 is to specialize, so you can have an insane one trick you use on a certain map and so on.

And on the flipside if you can't counter every hero and/or comp can you be considered the best player in the world? just because you're the best player doesn't mean you can play every dps class, being the best footballer doesn't mean you can play every position nor does the same apply to any other sport, yet we expect people playing OW to be good at every hero because Blizzard want to introduce this gimmick bollocks?

Any game where you can ban something is ridiculous, these guys are the best in the world and whether it's OW, LoL or CS there's no excuses for this bullshit, do the teams even want this or is this Blizzards way of trying to make it more "entertaining"?

What kind of piss poor excuse is that? both EU and NA had 1 game on yesterday yet it wasn't streamed, this deal clearly has something to do with it.

If that isn't the case the viewership will take an even bigger hit, free shit is what brings in extra viewers.

Didn't even know there was a Scottish flag or do you mean you just added it? either way much appreciated mate!

Ok nevermind.

Blizzard are always atrocious when it comes to timing for any game they run tournaments for, they run European tournaments that start at 7pm CET and go on for like 5 hours, they start LAN events halfway into the day so they run late I mean I wonder who's in charge of it because they haven't got a fucking clue.

I'm against forcing teams to use certain comps or allowing them to ban maps/heroes in most games nowadays but if there was ever a game that needed such drastic action to be taken it was OW to get rid of the horrific goat bullshit that was going to be the death of the game.

Hopefully this is merely a bandage and they will solve the problem properly in the long run but either way I'm 100% glad to see the back of goats and will look forward to watching some OW.

People talk about "better ways", like what? personally for me tanks should always prevent damage and dps should always deal it yet in OW you had tanks doing both, give them more ways to tank damage and less ways to deal damage, I mean who doesn't want to see actual dps heroes being used to do damage?

Even though I'm sure that was sarcasm with the state of OW I'm half expecting that to happen.

Honestly still can't believe Blizzard haven't addressed this yet, how many stages do they expect people to watch goats for before losing interest? blows my mind.

Waste of time.

Ah yes, the head up your arse approach, as I have already said neither of us, which btw includes you, the almighty god, know fuck all, the majority of what we (also you) spread is "misinformation", to me it's called opinions but to a stuck up sad git like you it's called misinformation. Perhaps you should try and chill out instead of thinking everything you read on the internet is 100% serious.

It's a forum for people to discuss things and communicate, you look at it like an underground conspiracy theory forum where we are intentionaly trying to create drama and fake news, I mean honestly mate I really do wonder what your problem is.

I know you're perfect and everything you post is 100% fact but please, lighten up.

I mean to be fair, this is what a forum kind of is about, speculating and discussing what's going on, do we know the facts? no and we never will and I'm sure that applies to about 98% of the people involved in the OW scene so what else are we supposed to do? nobody claims to spit facts but all we can do is spill our opinions which is again, the purpose of a forum, sadly that seems to be lost either on this forum or in general nowadays.

I agree with your first point, what is considered a success and failure viewership wise, I mean 90k consitently for most games would be considered a success but when you look at the money involved you have to ask yourself, is it? these multi-millionaires who pumped millions into the OWL won't be happy with 90k on Twitch and 500 people in a small arena surely.

Blizzard needed to relax things from early on and let people host even smaller LAN events, how awesome was the TakeTV LANS back in the day? how many people get to watch a game live in the US or Korea especially? not many.

If Valve done to CS what Blizzard done to OW there is no way in a million years the game would be as big as it is now, it's about time Blizzard chill the fuck out and get rid of this dictatorship mentality and let the game breathe.

Free shit, remember when CS:GO had betting and how many viewers it would have for even average tournaments compared to when it banned betting? I mean the majority will still be true fans but don't kid yourself thinking people either ain't using multiple accounts or afking for free shit.

And Nate went out of his way to join a crappy e-sport after making OWL successful AF because he got paid so little by the league he needed a better option at the expense of a "mediocre e-sports" title? sounds legit.

I'm not really sure how people can say something is successful when it's not even running at full capacity yet, we don't even have home and away games yet but because 90k people tune in every stream that instantly makes it successful? even though the games are being played out in front of what, 500 people?

I hope it is successful to set a new benchmark for e-sports since I have followed it for 20 years (e-sports that is) but honestly, until we get home and away matches and they are able to fill out a lot more than 500 there is no way you, I or anyone can consider the OWL successful when you look at all the money that went into it.

Downvote away.

And them getting games on the Epic store is the same as hiring a guy to lead your e-sports division? I mean there's no way in a billion years he left because he thought the OWL was going to shit and wanted a better job right? it could only be for the money 100% because that's how the world works, no doubt.

I mean Fortnite is still mega popular and in the right hands can shit all over OW in terms of e-sports popularity, Epic Games have no issues with pumping money into e-sports whereas Blizzard have always been tight as fuck across every game they have released so honestly I'm very much looking forward to how this goes.

I'd also liked to see your sources where the only reason he took the job at Epic was because of the truck load of money.

He either didn't have the bottle for the fight ahead or predicted it will flop and jumped ship, as much as I'm not a fan of the way OW has been ran e-sports wise I am absolutely dying to see the home and away matches take place to see how it all fairs out and what it does for the future of the game.

Aye OW e-sports is in an amazing place full of good LAN events right? having a bunch of contenders regions doesn't make it a good e-sports title when there's fuck all money involved for the teams and only the Asia region has a LAN final I believe?

Teams are dropping left and right, players are retiring at a rate faster than any other "big" e-sports and now Nate Nanzer leaves and you think this bodes well? how much did the guy get to move to Fortnite since he only went for the truck load of money?

OW is mediocre still, the WorldCup is on LAN once a year and the OWL has been played at small events for the last 2 years and you honestly can't sit there and tell me you actually enjoy watching the same teams playing goats every few days. I mean there's nothing wrong with being mediocre really it's not like there's a bunch of better e-sports games out there but when people act like OW is big or the OWL has been a success I do wonder what they base that on.

And OW isn't mediocre? I mean outside of the OWL there's pretty much fuck all and even that is a Korean goastfest, how long do you honestly think that will last before people are done? this guy left a job this big clearly knowing the future of OW is bleak.

Still, I'd rather have competitive OW over Fortnite, I mean how the hell do you even make that game "competitive". One game has all the potential yet ruined by a dictatorship and the other has no potential.

Oh there goes the downvote :D love it, keep em coming.

The future is Korean.

I love the retarded conclusions people jump to based on one sentence, well done and yes I'll take that hug <3

Babble? it's Overwatch mate, people turn in to watch overwatch not be spammed with mothers day stuff and incase you're not aware, it wasn't mothers day in the UK at least, we celebrate mothers day well before Americans and I celebrate it then, I don't expect to celebrate it when I tune in to watch a game but hey, whatever floats your boat.

Think they went a bit overboard with the mothers day shit tbh, fuck sake.

Goats > mothers day overload > goats > mothers day overload. At least give me some ads instead of all this nonsense.

Watching OWL and asking for some variety, aye nae bother mate.

I get what you're saying but sometimes in life we bite off more than we can chew and be stubborn instead of admitting it's too much for us, if this is the real reason then I respect that because it's not easy to do that really so I'm all for people, whether it's staff or players to just accept it's not right for them at this time and step back.

What I'm not a fan of is this "blaze a trail for other LGBT women to follow me in this space" I mean, I'm all for women getting involved in anything and will always encourage it but are we breaking it down to sexual preferences now or what? saying blaze a trail for women is fine but why be specific and say LGBT women? does she only want LGBT women to follow her into e-sports or something?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but wasn't a fan of that statement.

Why is that? you convinced if OW was better supported outside the OWL players would still move on? I mean he's hardly moving to a better supported game really, people hyped Apex up but I'm not seeing it yet so he might be back.

I agree with what you're saying, it is good to have analsys do what they do best but there's only so much they can talk about in a meta like this, it is something you can shorten here and there and sure breaks are good but not after every round, again you can get rid of these useless breaks and add a 5 minute one after 2 maps, give the players a real break etc.

Anyway, we're going round in circles, let's see if this makes a difference if not I'm curious to see what they do next.

Lol complaining? I barely get a chance to watch it being from the EU but seriously man, they have themselves said the matches are taking longer than expected so what does common sense tell you? to cut back on whatever happens outside the match.

Can you get rid of ads? no, can you get rid of breaks? no, can you get rid of analysts? no, can you reduce the time all 3 take to make the matches run quicker and on time? yes.

Now please tell me how that is complaining, they themselves have acklowedged the problem and I'm here talking about the solution, isn't that what these websites are for, or am I only supposed to come here and be a sheep like the rest of you and agree with everyone else or I'm complaining?

since you haven't brought any additional value to this thread. >

Ok now it's your turn.

but it's not significant enough to explain just how over time they were.>

What is the answer then? since I've not brought any value to this thread do it for me and explain why the matches are running longer than they would like and how they can fix it, please.

I also mentioned the breaks, if you add up the ads and breaks for each match then it is significant, this is again putting 1+1 and getting 2.

I'm well aware ads are a big part of life nowadays but there are better ways to manage them, do you watch tv shows and get an ad every 5 minutes? no, it's every 15 minutes or so, why can't they pump out 2 minutes of ads BEFORE the match begins, then have another 30 seconds between maps?

Between ads, breaks and all the talking people do, it's no wonder the matches are running on a lot longer than they would like, I mean it's common sense to me really, considering every match is a goatfest you hardly need analysts talking about it for ages do you?

Ads, breaks and long talks from analysts and what are you rewarded with, goats vs goatd 99% of the time? I mean give people ads if the content is worth it but don't tell me all the downtime the OWL has is worth it when it's infested with goats.

Matches will now be scheduled for longer time blocks in response to matches repeatedly running over the scheduled time slot.>

Maybe because of this? you CAN run ads, just not after every single round of gameplay, as I said before you can run ads just make sure its better executed so matches don't run over the time slots, it makes sense right?

It's not complaining, it's putting 1+1 and getting 2.

Not everything free is infested with long ads and breaks in between each map, I mean they have even said the matches are running too long so what does that tell you? you can have ads before the match, have a 5 min break after 2 maps for more ads then some between that match and the next, you don't need them after every map, sometimes even after every round.

Free or not, there's a limit.

Are you implying people with the Contenders pass don't get ads?

Matches will now be scheduled for longer time blocks in response to matches repeatedly running over the scheduled time slot. The new time slots are visible on the Stage 2 schedule.>

Or just stop having ads and breaks all the fucking time, then again Americans like everything to drag on forever.

See this is the problem, people take something then label it with pointless shit, I mean I have no idea what MeeToo or Timesup have to do with this yet you mentioned it anyway, I said you can barely get away with blinking twice in general meaning no matter what you do, thanks to social media you are fucked regardless and you twisted that into this bullshit?

Nobody mentioned solicitation via entrapment because the guy got charged with hiring a prostitute, an offence so small nobody really gives a fuck about it and that exactly is what I commented on and said I hope he doesn't get punished for THAT offence yet again you post more bullshit about other stuff nobody mentioned nor anything he got arrested for just to push this pro female nonsense you seem to have going on.

Don't talk about the sex trade here as it's completely irellevant since he hasn't been charged with it, talk about the actual facts we have which is him using a prostitute and stop adding bollocks to the story just to make women seem the victim here.

I didn't need to think twice, I comment on fact not fiction maybe try doing the same, read what people post instead of twisting it to suit your own agenda, whatever the fuck that is.

I still think this law is a fucking disgrace and shouldn't exist so I hope the guy isn't punished for it but being rich and in the spotlight no doubt he will be, it's 2019 after all you can barely get away with blinking twice without causing outrage.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the 2018 pass come with all the skins? granted it was 30 USD but surely they could've added a 30 USD option that included the skins for the 2019 season? I barely play OW and can't watch much of OWL but still would've bought it for the skins yet not we get 200 tokens which means we can buy 2 skins out of a possible 1200 or some shit.

"Under the new Contenders ruleset, teams may not have anymore than three players from outside their region"

Does this apply to the actual match squad or just the roster as a whole? stupid question indeed but surely if it applies to the match squad having 3 New Yorkers playing with 3 South Koreans makes absolutely zero fucking sense, but hey this is OWL after all.

Well that's the case even for NA, flying from one side of the US to the other for one game? I mean the whole concept is a bit shit to be fair, what would've worked well was having a whole fixture list at each cities home that way it's essentially a tour where the OWL will be all over the world which would surely ramp up the popularity of it.

Honestly though I have zero idea how the home and away games work but if it ends up being like "real" sports then it's overkill.

I could think of a few in Europe that deserve a spot based on history of e-sports but it's Europe after all and it doesn't seem like Blizzard like us, in my opinion it will most likely be 4 more NA teams, 2 China and 2 Korean and no doubt Asian players will make up about 95% of those 8 teams.

If the OWL ends up full without Germany and Sweden getting a spot it will be a disgrace, at least Germany anyway.

Don't agree with SA getting a spot, call me ignorant but SA as a whole have provided very little to e-sports and you struggle to think of too many big events taking place in SA and there must be a reason for it.

Never understood the pussy shit about using older patches, these are the best players in the world they should be able to adapt, they get paid enough and have about 8 coaches per team to help, I can't think of another game that uses older patches for ages for whatever reason.

Dropping players for local talent to join a New York based team with a Korean academy and a full Korean team no NA player will ever get into, good luck trying to get "local talent" to join a team like that.

Korean scene? wasn't the Chinese and NA scenes a shit show as well? to be fair even EU had a bunch of 3-0's yet T1w only lost like 1 map the entire season of contenders didn't they?

The strength of depth outside the OWL is pretty dire which blows my mind why Blizzard don't support it even more, who are they going to get to fill more slots in the future? if you kill the scene outside of the OWL and end up with 4 new franchises where are those players coming from?

It's not like you have to pay these contenders guys a ton of money, even just giving them an average monthly pay is enough yet for all the millions flying around that's too much. All Blizzard had to do was follow the e-sport model properly and not try to turn OW into a mad dictatorship but fuck it.

Wants local talent so kicks a Canadian and two Americans and keeps two South Koreans, what in the actual fuck. Surely adding some New Yorkers to the mix of an already NA team would make sense right? honestly the mad obsession everyone in the OWL has with Koreans is shocking.

I know, truth hurts.

I only have to spend 5 minutes reading this shit on twitter to come to two conclusions, people need to grow the fuck up and develop thick skin and more importantly, why do people use twitter? it's cancer more often than not and it only takes "xd" to cause an absolute shitstorm.

People saying this will harm females, will it? I've been following e-sports for about 20 years and can't think of a legit female that can compete with men on any level in any sport excluding transgenders (for obvious reasons) yet now this will harm them getting into a sport they've never been into before? lol fuck sake.

Any excuse for the pro-feminist movement to feel sorry for themselves eh.

Indeed and what does OW have, a dictatorship that caters to the rich and ignores everyone else? this is how I'd expect Hitler to run e-sports not a company like Blizzard but hey ho.

Which isn't a good thing is it? it's incredibly naive to focus only on the main league in any sport, after all where are the players coming from to join the OWL? Blizzard are neglecting Overwatch outside the OWL yet will be expanding the league in the future, if everyone has fucked off because of the neglect where are Blizzard and the franchises going to get players from to join new teams?

It's not like they have to pump millions into Contenders and the likes do they? hell they don't even need to have LAN finals if it means players can have a sustainable income to keep them playing OW until the time comes they might end up in the OWL.

Indeed it is but surely if you're forking out $20m for a spot you should pick where it goes right? unless the guy who bought it picked Paris.

Which begs the question, why Paris? I have no clue how these things work but did he bid for a spot and pick Paris or was he always bidding for Paris? would love to know.