Why do I keep hearing "overwatch 2 beta at blizzcon"

Seems a bit weird that they’d want/expect the game that just launched with 5 new heroes to be what the competitive teams who’ve been preparing for this to play to me, like…

“Hey guys, here’s a bunch of new stuff to learn, get out there and WIN!”

Not the best tactic IMO…

I have a very strong feeling that Pro Players (once the new rosters are finalized) will be getting to playtest the new heroes and systems, under a strict NDA of course.

I believe other Esports like LoL does this with hero reworks and new champions, letting pros test it way before it hits live. They usually post the pro’s reactions and opinions on Youtube after the Hero has launched.

But Jeff DID say he wants launch to be chaos and make the meta extremely confusing and unknown.

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Keep in mind OWL teams are 100% in Blizzard’s ecosystem with skin in the game so to speak as far as how well OWL and OW2 does. I would fully expect teams with tens of millions of dollars invested into the system to get early release testing sort of access to anything coming out. No one will talk about it, just like how no one talked about 222 or any other changes and heroes in the past.

and IMO OW2 must launch before OWL Season 4 or it’s a catastrophic level of failure given how many 100s of millions of dollars is in play. Even if that means you release what you have and back fill the rest with content updates a few months later.
I see no way OWL S4 starts unless it’s on a OW2 release.
It’s just too much money at risk.

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They’re making an educated guess. It’s complete clickbait until the devs confirm otherwise.

Last blizzcon they said “we’ll likely see more OW2 next blizzcon” and just based on what they had to show and how long its been in development, it seemed reasonabe to conclude the release would come sometime in 2021, which leaves late 2020 or early 2021 for a beta.

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The rumour is that OWL will be delayed to start in April because they will release beta of OW2 at Blizzcon then release the full game the next month. This will let Blizz make big changes without having to change OWL then when April and OWL starts they can be on the updated OW2

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Disclaimer: What I am about to say is public knowledge, and will be sourced appropriately.

Here are recent references to leaks and information about Overwatch 2.

The Overwatch League is sharing details with team owners about how they want to operate the 2021 season. While the planned season structure has very little to do with Overwatch 2 development, one key note is the fact that the season is expected to start much later than usual possibly starting in April 2021 (past three years started in January or February), which suggest the game may be updated to Overwatch 2 before the season begins, however this is just a public speculation and nothing confirmed. (Source) This was further emphasized by a notorious Twitter account that goes by the name of @metro_ow who has been known to acquire and leak information about upcoming content for Overwatch. (Source).

We do know that BlizzConLINE (the all-virtual Blizzard event) will be taking place on February 19th-20th. This suggests that between that event and the start of the Overwatch League season, Overwatch 2 may in fact be released. I am not finding concrete details if there is going to be any specific beta program for the game however.

So really, just a lot of hype going around, and nothing to stick in the glue. Again this is everything that I have seen publicly about Overwatch 2 as of late. All other information is now several months old which you can find here:

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Good post.

But personally i dont expect a full release at blizzcon. A beta would make a lot of sense though because they will probably want to make sure the engine changes and all are going smoothly on as many machines as possible (And possibly balance-test the 5+ launch heroes).

If there is indeed a beta in Feb, i think a full release at anniversary could make a lot of sense, as it would nicely celebrate OW’s release and allow newly arriving player from getting all past event skins around the release window.

i mean yes its speculation…but its based on some logic…it would not be out of left field for a beta to be released…especially if you thought game was going to release this year

but yes…it is just speculation

I don’t expect Overwatch to be fully playable at BlizzCon either. I am however hoping that full details about what the game will have including all-new heroes, all-new maps, any other new modes or features (we already know about PVE Story, PVE Hero Missions, and PVP Push), and details on a closed/open beta cycle if any, will be revealed at BlizzConLINE

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I’m pretty sure the “leak” is that OWL’s next season is getting pushed back to April instead of I believe February. That lead to people believing that it meant they pushed back OWL to make it coincide with the release of OW2 (for obvious reasons) making it like Blizzcon/February beta release and an actual release in April.

I think the Beta thing is talked about since I believe someone said they wanted to do a Beta so if they’d release it in April they’d need a beta before.

careful…people around here still think you work for them and will take that as gospel that that is what we’re getting

i can see it now…

“CONFIRMED!!!”

Heh… I haven’t had an incident since the Role Queue Beta Season fiasco… I should be good with implying my hopes.

I’m surprised they didn’t release OW2 already because Blizzard could have capitalised on the world being in lockdowns from the virus. Gaming has been booming since many are locked in their homes.

As someone who played the demo at BlizzCon 2019, I firmly believe it is safe to say that the game back then was no where near completion, only about 8 heroes had new skins, the UI felt a little bit in development (though I love the sexy new look of the UI), and many of the current features we see in Overwatch today was still intact (such as the Medal scoreboard system for gameplay, which is possibly changing with OW2). Remember it took a year and half from when Overwatch was announced before it was launched.

I don’t think it would go for a full release because of OWL. Especially since they are usually behind in patches and with all of the new heroes and such, they’d probably want to give players time to get used to them… Though, on the other hand… didnt overwatch get some sort of pro scene of sort during its beta? They might do pre-release exhibition matches or something but nothing serious if anything.

This, so much this. I often have to bring it up when people apparently expect a release in less than a year. And the big difference is that back then we had NOTHING to play with. While the wait for ow2 might feel like a drag we atleast have ow1 in the meantime, which is still updated and we still get events.

(Though they said they already have the next lunar new year ready, i worry about how things will go afterwards cause of covid)

Metro basically the top OW leaker who in the past has been very right and is credible said OW2 would be coming out this year but since blizzcon was moved the Feb he has speculated a beta or the full game to come out at Blizzconline. OWL has been leaked to have a delay until April which people have speculated the reason is OW2. The Devs also stated Echo is the last hero to come out this year which also provides speculation that OW2 beta or the game will come out in 2021. Although, we were also promised at least 1 new map before OW2 so that is still questionable as to why we haven’t gotten one if OW2 is coming soon.

Well, if Jeff wills it, I hereby dedicate myself to insta-locking each of the new heroes each match, rotating through them alphabetically.

I just hope we get atleast 6 new heroes at launch, because any less than that will make it a rush to not be the one stuck on a older hero :grimacing:

(I also hope they are smart enough to put no limit for an extended period of time around launch)

My guess is that OWL gets access to OW2 PVP before anybody else.

And watching OWL games gives OW2 PVP beta test access keys as drops.

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you only need 4, there could be 0 new dps heroes and it’d still be the longest queue