106 - OWL Recap - Hero Pools and Fast Paced Balancing

Overwatch League Recap

This week @MelOverwatch and @Blazzin_Bob discuss the implications of introducing hero pools to the Overwatch League.

News:

• 5 days until OWL 2020 starts!
• Chinese homestands cancelled due to Coronavirus
  • Cancelled all Feb. and March Chinese homestands for now
  • Charge and Dragons announced relocation to South Korea for now
  • No word on Hangzhou Spark
  • Chengdu Hunters will stay in China for now
• Hero pools in OWL
  • Starting March 7
  • One tank, one support, and two damage heroes unavailable for selection
  • Randomly selected from a group of eligible heroes based on play-rate data from the previous two weeks of Overwatch League matches
  • No hero will be unavailable two weeks in a row
  • Not be used for midseason tournaments, the play-in tournament, playoffs, or Grand Finals
  • Teams will be informed of each week’s Hero Pool approximately one week in advance of matches
• Overwatch League Patching and Game Updates
  • Whenever the live game receives a new patch, the Overwatch League will begin playing on that patch two weekends later
  • Any mid-patch updates to the game that go into effect during a match weekend will be deployed for Overwatch League matches the following weekend

Casting:

• Reinforce added back to the analyst desk

Teams:

• Mickie moves to content creator for Dallas Fuel

OWL Recap is one of the first Overwatch League podcasts and one of the few to have a female host's perspective. We often have guests such as casters, coaches, journalists and more. The show is hosted by Mel (MelOverwatch) and Bobby (BlazzinBob).

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