- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Overwatch World Cup is always an exciting spectacle but is also quite different from watching league matches.
We missed out on having an Australian team in the League, so learning about all the teams without any bias was a big part of watching and enjoying the Overwatch League for me.
This time Australia is represented by quite a cracking lineup so you don’t need to get to know the teams in order to choose someone to barrack for, getting behind Australia is an absolute no-brainer.
I don’t think this is necessarily better or worse than my situation watching Overwatch League, just different. It was fantastic to see our boys make it to Blizzcon for a shot at winning it all. I’ve never really been someone to have any hometown (or country) pride when it comes to esports, but maybe that’s because I hadn’t been given much of a chance until now.
This touch of personal investment has added an element of excitement to the matches and although I’ll be sad when they probably get knocked out by South Korea I do feel proud of the team for making it this far, regardless of the ultimate outcome.
And no matter what happens, we know that what’s to come is going to be pure excellent Overwatch. Not only is the skill levels of these players absolutely out of this world but I think these are some of the most balanced games we’ve seen to date.
Esports are constantly evolving and changing. Overwatch does this by adding new maps and characters or making changes to the old ones. We see metas come and go with characters being favoured heavily.
Fans attend Overwatch League Grand Finals. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Blizzard Entertainment )
At the beginning of the year, you wouldn’t see a game without a Mercy because it was quite simply suicide, before that you’d only ever witness Zenyatta and Luicio combination healing. I knew we’d be seeing a bunch of the newest tank-healer-hybrid Brigitte as she’s a bit of a solution pick for sticky situations, but it’s been even better than that.
In the World Cup so far I’ve seen every support class characters played depending on the maps, composition, and player strengths and the games are better for it.
Without the ability to showcase all these heroes matches can get a little repetitive. Seeing the same group played every time just isn’t as fun for spectators, and with the way things are now, there’s so much variety that matches stay fresh and interesting – plus there’s the added bonus of tonnes of excellently timed sleep darts.
Support isn’t the only group of heroes to have such excellent representation but I’ll admit to noticing first in part due to the smaller pool, but also because they’re the characters I play most of the time. I’m pretty sure we’ve actually seen all the characters on the field at one point or another.
Overwatch World Cup Stage (Image: Blizzard Entertainment)
Even Symmetra, who’s recently been moved to the damage category after her recent rework, has had some actual play time. She wasn’t seen at all during the Overwatch League beyond a joke pick before matches to make the audience laugh.
Torbjorn, who has also recently had some work done but which hasn’t made it to the main game yet, has also been on the field. I don’t necessarily think we’ll be seeing much of him now the comp has gone to the nitty gritty but he was there, he may be short but we definitely saw him.
This level of balance is important for the longevity in a game like Overwatch. While it’s interesting to watch the metas shift this needs to fall within some level of reason. When all games are played the same teams stop surprising and challenging each other beyond pure technical skill. Strategy is just as much a part of Overwatch as shooting and it’s also equally fun to watch.
If we see the same characters time and time again that also means seeing the same people and subsequently the same plays. Spectators are vital to the success of an esport as without viewers there aren’t any advertising deals. I don’t know if Overwatch has ever been more interesting to watch and that’s a really good thing for the game moving forward.