My guess?
They reveal it at February Blizzcon, showing off most of the new heroes and their kits, as well as going over most of the competitive changes
Then the OWL teams have time to practice on the OW2 client from March tup until OWL starts in late April. About 2 months of time seems reasonable ?
The launch of Overwatch was massive though despite the game being in open beta for months beforehand
I think that’s probably their aim, though whether or not we’ll be getting the OW2 in it’s actual entirety is going to be anyone’s guess. My estimation is that between all the firings, strikes, covid and other problems, we’re going to be getting a somewhat hollowed out version of OW2 - a glass veneer if you will, that they will want to either fill in later or make seem like there’s more content than their actually is.
That’s kind of an Activision classic, and Activision is taking over quite a lot lately. They’re very good at putting up a front of having a lot of content, charging an arm and a leg for it, and then not actually making that much content. Just look at what they did to the Sims franchise.
Launching a new game to the public is not nearly the same thing as launching an add on or sequel to a dwindling game that’s been out for four years, though. That’s something you could say for virtually any game. An open beta isn’t the same as what we’re talking about, either, they’re rarely ‘secrets’. With OW2 being announced so long ago and being such a cornerstone of what Blizzard has been hyping for soooo long, it’s going to mess them up if a couple of nobody streamers post video clips of the new game and screenshots here and there, launching the community into angry speculation and uncertainty as it always seems to do.
Official announcements have enough information and positive spin on them that they’re overall beneficial to the net social perception of the game. When it’s just some rando guy they might be super negative and it could snowball everyone’s idea of a thing until the entire community hates it.
You answered your own question with “Clickbait circle”. Also, there is no Blizzcon this year. there will be a BlizzcOnline in Feb, I think it was, at least.
I could totally see them doing this and it’d be awful
It’s pretty likely. Check OWL 2021’s schedule and you’ll see what I mean.
As far as I can tell there isn’t an official schedule other than articles claiming that “sources” indicate it will start in April
If Blizzcon was this year I’d say they would not have a beta but they’d have a decent release window outlined for next year, but since Blizzcon is also next year, it’s very possible.
Say what now?
Imagine if OW2 will be released at the same time OWL starts. The complete mayhem Stage 1 would be.
I don’t think that it’s the case anymore(if it eas the case in the past, idk).
A LoL dev has gone out and said that nowadays they launch op characters so people will (buy) play them more, since a good chunk on what makes the game fun is winning.
As for sources i think owl season getting delayed to April, make it seem like ow2 would release in April, and a beta just before that. There’s also that, Since there won’t be any betas on blizzcon because there will be no public, it may make sense to release an online beta
Nah I’ve still seen them release the Youtube videos of the Pros reacting to the new heros before they are revealed to the public, and the Pros often DO call them OP but Riot just doesn’t balance them. Bc like you said $$$ > Balance for them
Riot is so shameless man, I have up valorant after a few hours for the same reason, had to grind for hours to unlock essential charcters, and each new one they added was more and more powerful. Plus the game had scummy monetization overall, with rotating shops and battlepass in addition to pay 2 win characters