The Stage 2 of the Overwatch League resumes this April 4. To spice things up, Blizzard announced several new features.

Baptiste’s arrival on the competitive stage

The 30th hero of Overwatch will be very present during this second stage. His unique abilities should allow us to see new things in play and the meta could evolve. It remains to be seen how the professional players will exploit it on the professional landscape.

Patch 1.34 in the competition

The last update (1.34) does not only concern Baptiste. Indeed, but it will also change the abilities of several heroes including Lúcio, Moira, Orisa, Sombra, Fatale, and Bulldozer. This may affect the game strategies of some teams. In addition, the patch will allow teams to compete on the new map of the game, Paris.

The order of the maps changes

The Assault and hybrid maps will be reversed to reduce the likelihood of having to face a tie. Therefore, the new order will be control, assault, hybrid, escort, with a tie-break on a control map if necessary.

A change of time slots

Blizzard noted, following this Stage 1, that the average duration of a match had increased from 90 minutes to 105 minutes. They decided to broaden the time slots during which matches will take place. This will make it easier for everyone to follow their favorite team.

Introduction of Tiebreakers

The league suddenly had to revise its rule following the two ties of the end of Stage 1 between Philadelphia Fusion and Toronto Defiant, and between San Francisco Shock and Seoul Dynasty. In order to avoid this kind of unforeseen matchup, Blizzard said that they will add tie-breakers not only during the stages but also during the final stages. Blizzard will announce the details on this subject in the days to come.

The second leg of this second season of the Overwatch League begins Thursday, April 4 with an opening match between Philadelphia Fusion and New York Excelsior.

Vancouver Titans new home ground

The champions of this first Stage of the Overwatch League have unveiled the name of their arena for future home games.

After the revelation of the Fusion Arena a few days ago, it is the turn of Vancouver Titans to announce the name of the arena in which they will play their home games scheduled for 2020. Indeed, earlier this month, Nate Nanzer, the commissioner of the Overwatch League, confirmed that the various franchises will hold matches in their respective cities. The competition will be a tour that will last several months, during which each team will play at least once at home.

Francesco Aquilini, the owner of the Titans, revealed something exciting on his Twitter. The Rogers Arena in Vancouver becomes their official arena for the next season of the Overwatch League.

The venue is known for hosting the Vancouver Canucks hockey team as well as other sporting and cultural events such as concerts. In all, it has 18,000 seats, enough to delight the fans of the great champions of Stage 1.

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