Volamel
2020-04-27 05:37:27
And for all intents and purposes, and I can’t be the only one to have this as a big take away, the “May Madness” tournament is just an improved stage playoffs—which is great!
Now the league has added stakes to the “stage playoffs” which are directly tied to wins in the regular season. With the tournament champion taking away three added wins and the second-place team taking two extra wins while the third and fourth place team taking home one added win means there are playoff implications, but more importantly this opens up teams who are not equipped to deal with the chaos of Hero Pools to have an avenue to make a playoff berth.
A few things need to happen before we perfect this. We need to add an “s” to the word “tournament” and feature more events like this in the coming months, perhaps adding more tournaments to the schedule before playoffs are set to begin. However, we also need to review the fundamental Hero Pool system. I will continue beating this drum; it is not healthy for the game to have a one-week turnaround before drastically changing again.
Similar to Role Lock and the safety for a player’s career, one-week Hero Pools is not healthy for the game and the league needs to meet the fans in the middle. I’ve always held the league accountable for their actions, both positive and negative, and while the work isn’t finished, this very well could be the harbinger of very positive change for the Overwatch League.
Having a single-elimination tournament for such an important reward is something I would like to see changed in the future, but I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Adding wins to a team’s regular-season record is a very big deal and I’d like to see teams that perform the best overall receive those rewards. We don’t need a world where the 2019 Shock loses to Atlanta in the upper bracket and then are unable to make such an amazing run to the grand finals and be rewarded for it.
That said, the introduction of the “May Madness” tournament is a welcome and needed addition to the 2020 Overwatch League. I’d say this is the best thing to happen to the esports scene since the role lock in 2019. Not only does it give players something extra to compete for, but this also is a large improvement over the former Stage model, and this counteracts some of the problems with the Hero Pool model affecting the broadcast and how that relates to fans.
Hope is not lost, Overwatch.
While the tunnel is long and winding, there is some light shining through.