5 Things to Expect from Overwatch at BlizzCon
By Ryan Borja
BlizzCon 2019 is set to begin on the first day of November and is bound to have some exciting moments from all of our favorite Blizzard Entertainment titles from World of Warcraft to Hearthstone.
One game that's expected to be in the spotlight is Overwatch. From the Overwatch World Cup to the possibility of a new character reveal, here are five things to expect from Overwatch at BlizzCon.
1. Another Year, Another Win for South Korea
South Korea has been the dominant force behind the entirety of professional Overwatch, having produced some of the most talented players in the world. So its no wonder that the South Koreans have won all three Overwatch World Cups since it began in 2016, sometimes without even dropping a single game.
Fielding recent Overwatch League champions Minho “Architect” Park and Hyo-bin “ChoiHyoBin” Choi from the San Francisco Shock, alongside with second-place players Hyojong “Haksal” Kim and Hyeon-Woo “JJANU” Choi from the Vancouver Titans, South Korea remain the heavy favorites this year.
While it is definitely possible that an upset can happen this year, the only other team to field a roster where everyone has played in the Overwatch League is the United States. The US has the best shot of taking down South Korea this year, prominently featuring three players from the San-Francisco Shock, Jay “sinatraa” Won, Matthew “super” DeLisi, and Grant “moth” Espe. Other teams like China, Canada, and Russia have attempted to usurp the titans on South Korea in the past, but its hard to see them being too much of a challenge for South Korea this year.
2. Big Changes to Overwatch League 2020
First thing on the Saturday of BlizzCon is the Overwatch League 2020: Watchpoint Season Preview, which promises to showcase some major changes to the league for the upcoming season. The description of the event claims that "In 2020, the lives of OWL players and talent will change significantly with changes coming to the Overwatch League ecosystem" as well as promising to "unveil exclusive reveals".
While it's unclear what exactly will be changing for Overwatch League 2020 or what will be revealed during ht presentation, it has already been confirmed that more franchises will not be added to the league. Hopefully the preview includes a more extensive explanation of the home-away-formats to prepare fans for the upcoming season.
3. New Character Reveal
While Blizzard has already given the opportunity for players to play as Genji and Symmetra masquerading as Illidan and Tyrande to celebrate Blizzcon, we can still expect Blizzard to unveil the 32nd character to the ever-growing cast of characters in Overwatch.
Last BlizzCon, we saw the sassy cowboy Ashe and her lovable robot companion Bob join the DPS ranks, but this year it is expected that Blizzard would add another Support character to the game to balance out the character spread in the game. Maybe Blizzard will finally add the mysterious robot McCree saved during his run in with Ashe from last year?
4. Another Major Update
While we've already seen some big updates to Overwatch in the past few months including the addition of the new Tank hero Sigma and the Role Queue system, we can still expect another update lined up for an announcement at Blizzcon.C
With a slot for an Overwatch Update set for 1:15 p.m. PST, we can expect lead designer Jeff Kaplan to take the stage and explain the inner workings of the minds behind Overwatch. The Role Queue system has introduced unexpected issues that have been affected most of the player base stemming from the resulting long queue DPS. The main-stage at BlizzCon would be a good opportunity for the Overwatch team to address the problems currently plaguing the game and disclose how they plan to fix them.
5. Blizzard Revealing Development of Overwatch 2
If you've been keeping up with rumblings on social media, then you might have heard somebody talking about the fabled "Overwatch 2" that Blizzard has apparently secretly been working on. With Overwatch approaching its fourth anniversary this upcoming May, it is possible that Blizzard will unveil some sort of sequel to their beloved class-based shooter, but more humble fans may just be looking forward to a spin-off game based around the unique characters featured in the game.
On the official BlizzCon 2019 schedule, there are two slots on the second day of the event listed as "Coming Soon!", one of which is slotted before the Overwatch update, making it a prime time to drop a bombshell as big as a new game set in the Overwatch universe.
Photo Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment