How do we make complete mirror matches unlikely?
How do we add complexity to the game?
How do we make listening to the desk a valuable experience while creating narratives that are relevant to the game?
These are all questions that Ow esports has never really had long term solutions for, until now. The answer to all of that is tied directly to the new map pick system introduced by WDG. Hero pick ban systems have been discussed religiously and while this meta was incredibly open I feel pretty strongly that the pick system has a significantly bigger effect on creating closer games and meta variety than any hero pick/ban system would do with close to none of the drawbacks.
Of course, some could argue that there were a ton of 3-0’s at this event and that’s true. However, a good chunk of those 3-0’s had incredibly competitive maps that EU and NA teams could have actually won.
And when you take into account the fact that Ence didn’t have Chase and Twisted Minds roster exploded I think it’s fair to say that with less roster issues EU could present a significantly bigger challenge to Korea in the future (I will not speak on NA). There are clear stats that show Korea became a more competitive region after the changes.
But across all the games we had a plethora of play style and comp flexibility that the map pick system only helped. And, arguably more importantly, in all the series on Day 3 you had genuinely interesting strategic questions that were being raised on the desk and discussed.
Unlike previous season where even with great personalities such as Bren/Sideshow/Reinforce/Jake/Custa/etc there has been a real issue with making the desk something that fans wouldn’t just tune out. It was to the point that in late seasons of OWL they tried to minimize the actual time on the desk. And it’s not because the desk didn’t have intelligent, well spoken analyst . It’s because for the most part the desk best moments talking about the game was all micro.
All the best analysis was tied to individual team fights for a game in OW that has an insane amount of teamfights in a small amount of time compared to games like League where single games can take 30+ minutes and still be in the mid phase with less than 5 huge team fights happening
This isn’t to say the micro based content surrounding positioning and ultimate cycles isn’t valuable but you need macro talking points to support the micro which this event had in spades.
Now, at this event you come back from the game, the desk highlights specific moments from the game and then we go to the macro of what map type should be next, how they should prioritize this map type to lock another team out of their preferred comp, or whether to just pick your best map.
OW2 is a more counter pick heavy game inherently which has led to more variety overall but the map pick system gives the desk a real direction and a way to build narratives around teams preferences, around coaches and their draft strategies, etc.
It also accentuates one of the thinks that makes OW such a unique game. I don’t believe any other esport has the type of map pool that can affect a characters power level as drastically as Overwatch. It does so much for the broadcast team, for the talent, for the viewers, etc.
I think this event proved this is how OW esports is meant to be played. Hopefully NA/EMA adapt this pick system for the group stages and main events going forward (open qualifiers having maps selected before the first game is fine considering the logistics of it).
TLDR: The map pick system where you choose the map type and specific map fixes a lot of OW’s problems as an esport and is the future of this game.