The Overwatch League 2023 play-ins have concluded, and teams are now preparing for the playoffs in Toronto. However, a report suggests that their time in Toronto may be more challenging than expected. The OWL 2023 Grand Finals are set to take place on the Sept. 7 patch, which means teams will have limited time to practice on the new balance changes before the most important tournament of the year.
Leading up to the play-ins, it was already known that the Sept. 7 patch would pose a problem. The Overwatch League has strived to keep the competitive gameplay as close to ranked as possible, aligning OWL patches with those available to players at home. While not perfect, this approach has allowed for more diversity throughout the season, with each stage featuring different metas to adapt to.
In 2023, the meta shifts have been relatively minor compared to previous years but still significant enough to impact team performance. For instance, the release of Illari propelled the Toronto Defiant from a bottom-tier team to narrowly missing out on playing live in Toronto for the playoffs. On a larger scale, the Los Angeles Gladiators excelled in the Pro-Am meta but struggled when the regular season began.
As the play-ins began, questions arose regarding whether the Sept. 7 patch would be implemented in the playoffs. If the league adhered to its commitment of mirroring the game experience at home, the Zarya patch would go live. However, this would put teams who fought their way to Toronto at a disadvantage, as they would need to adapt their strategies that earned them a spot against teams who had more time to prepare. This could particularly impact teams like the London Spitfire, who heavily rely on Reinhardt and may struggle with the tank changes.
While this puts certain teams at a disadvantage, players could argue that it is the consequence of not performing well enough in the regular season to secure an automatic qualification to Toronto. Additionally, not all play-in teams will necessarily be worse off with the patch shift. The Dallas Fuel, for example, qualified through the play-ins and boast one of the world’s best Zarya players, Choi “Hanbin” Han-been. It is unlikely that a team would regress when they have a star tank player who can now excel on their best hero.
The controversy surrounding this patch does not stem from the number or magnitude of the changes themselves. Zarya will see increased playtime, but there are still maps where other tanks, such as Sigma on Circuit Royale, remain more viable.
The key concern is ensuring that teams traveling to Canada have sufficient practice time to truly determine the best Overwatch 2 team, rather than just the luckiest one. In the past, we have witnessed playoffs taking place on different patches than the regular season, as was the case in the inaugural season. It would be fitting for the potentially final OWL tournament to face a similar issue.
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Source: DOTESPORTS
