It all began in the hustle and bustle of Shanghai, China. Then traveled to beautiful and scenic  Sydney, Australia. It passed by Katowice, Poland for food and lodging and it now rests in sunny, Santa Monica, California. The of the Overwatch World Cup 2017 has been a sight to behold and quite the event. Now that we’ve seen a glimpse of what the Overwatch league “could be like” and it is always a nice reminder to note the potential of what this game can really do with the right people behind it. With that being said, all of the tickets are all sold out for BlizzCon in  Anaheim, California, and we now know who will be competing on the main stage. With that in mind, here are 20 quick parting thoughts, ideas, and questions that neighbor the Overwatch World Cup’s Group Stages.

1.) Coming into Shanghai we knew that France had an amazing shot at making it out, regardless of what standing they made it out in. What we didn’t expect was China to come out swinging and take first in their group. They made a serious splash and set the tone for the entire event, “do not take any team lightly.”

2.) Sydney was a bit more interesting. We had suspicions that Sweden should be very strong, but the second place team was definitely more of a toss-up. However, no one could have expected Japan to do as well as they did. Taking Finland to game four and handily beating Spain are no small feats. This again cemented the notion that every team could cause an upset and no team should be dismissed.

3.) One of Japan’s stand out performers was Aktm, specifically on his McCree. He racks up the highest percentage of his teams kills, the most kills per ten minutes, the least amount of deaths per ten minutes, and the most ultimates charged per ten minutes all for McCree. When it comes to future World Cups, definitely keep your eye on this rising star and his six shooter.

4.) Katowice, Poland was a bit more predictable. Something that I found interesting was the matches between Canada and Russia. In the group stages, they battled and the game was decided on a tiebreaker that seated Canada in first and Russia in second. One of the more interesting matches, in a sea of 4-0’s.

5.) Korea dominated, as expected. Fl0w3r played a good amount of Junkrat and to a solid degree of success as well. A majority of the time, he scored some of the highest marks we’ve seen recorded on Winston’s Lab. A lot of players are within the top 5% of the most kills and least deaths per ten minutes!

6.) Now, someone who stood out for the South Korean national team was their DPS star, Saebyeolbe. who got 15.29 kills per ten minutes. Normally, a standard would be 1 per minute which comes out to be 10 every ten minutes. This isn’t just a case study. All throughout Season 2 of the OGN APEX League, he’s been average to above average on three different heroes (Roadhog, Tracer, Soldier 76)

7.) Beautiful and sunny Santa Monica... what an event. Both the US and the UK make it out, while both taking victories over favorite Chinese-Taipei. With such a large statement laid out before us, did the US and the UK play above their potential? Could they make a deep run come Blizzcon?

8.) That being said, another thing to question is, what does the victory over Flash Wolves mean for international Overwatch? If Flash Wolves were competing with APEX contenders, does that mean that we are not evaluating Western Overwatch enough or are we judging Eastern Overwatch too highly?

9.) The beginning of the group stages for a majority of the World Cup was a little rough to watch, I will be honest with you. It wasn’t Blizzard’s fault nor was it productions fault. It was more the fact that every game was so decisive. In the first 10-15 minutes, you knew exactly how the game would play out, to some extent. That being said, we did have some great increase in viewership during the last few weeks, which will hopefully trickle over to the Overwatch League, once it kicks off. Now, in respect to the matches themselves, the level of competition should evolve come BlizzCon. The games will hopefully be much more competitive come November.

10.) Conceptually speaking, how much of what we are seeing at the Overwatch World Cup is going to be used during the Overwatch League? Blizzard has been open in the past about using different tournaments and events being testing ground for their ideas and visions. Exactly what from the World Cup might make its way over to the Overwatch League? Even if you don’t subscribe to the idea that Blizzard has used other tournaments to test certain idea and concepts, what would you think about the idea that this year's World Cup could easily have some philosophies and concepts that could be tied to the Overwatch League?

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11.) The observing may have started off a bit shaky, but as time came for Santa Monic, it definitely got increasingly better. We all have to remind ourselves that the game is being figured out by professionals on and off the server. Give the people on the back end some time before we start to grab our pitchforks and torches.

12.) Has the perception around Overwatch World Cup changed at all? The World Cup was meant to be a celebration of culture and not always meant to be the pinnacle of Overwatch professional play. Yet, in the midst of the lack of tournament availability, viewers and players alike have attached themselves to the World Cup. Does this change once the Overwatch League begins will the World Cup always be somewhat serious?

13.) Now don’t get me wrong, I think Flame and Reinforce did a great job, but I would love for the desk segments to be a little more “segmented.” There are a time and space for narratives and storylines, but there needs to be a tiny bit more room for analysis. Give the experts a chance to actually break down the game and highlight some clutch or impressive plays. The later stages of the event definitely improved on that, especially Santa Monica, but I still think they need just a smidge more time.

14.) That being said, I personally have advocated for the use of a telestrator for analysis. This allows the host of these analysis segments to be able to use clips that he has chosen and recorded, on the fly to suit the point they are trying to make. It has been an amazing tool in CS: GO, Dota 2, and in League of Legends, I think Overwatch could easily be on that list as well.

15.) The more interviews the better. Whether you like Malik or not, will this be one of the changes rolled out with the launch and beginning of the Overwatch League? With more of the backstory and a chance for the viewers and fans to get to know these star players, the more that people tend to become fans or at least become emotionally invested.

16.) Please continue with the fan interactive press conferences that the Overwatch World Cup had Having the media ask questions and pick the brains of committee members, coaches, and players are great. I thought the interviews with the committee were good as pre-roll material, but I’d enjoy more content that talked about the players and their stories as well. More supplemental content is always good, it helps the desk forms and creates compelling stories!

17.) Do the mid-match player interviews “lift the veil” to a bit too much? I love pre and post-game interviews. They help viewers gauge the thoughts and the mindsets of competitors going into a match, but mid-set interviews are a little jarring. It’s nothing that I’d hate to see come back, but I’d be interested to hear community feedback on this idea.

18.) As I write down my thoughts, The International 7 is on another tab. Something that Blizzard and the production staff could add to the broadcast that could help newer players and newer viewers is little footnotes that Valve adds during the International broadcast. Some people might not realize the tiny nuances that Overwatch has and explaining to them mid-match in a way that is not intrusive could be hugely beneficial with converting casual fans to competitive fans.

19.) Something that isn’t specifically a thought about the World Cup, but while watching through the lens of the free cam I wonder if crowd control abilities would show a bit more prominent on the screen. For example, it is still a bit hard to tell who exactly Sombra hit with her ultimate ability; EMP. With something that has such a huge radius, could the free cam or somehow in the spectator mode be able to show that with more prominence?

20.) Something that a Redditor brought up that I thought was really valid was arranging the players based on their roles. This way with future World Cup’s the audience can more accurately tell who is who, and what their role is for the team. With teams coming from all around the world, viewers are not going to be super familiar with player’s handles and they may have troubles putting player handles to roles.

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel.

Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment and Robert Paul (@tempusrob).