Big news just for Overwatch: If you’re into those crazy moments in Stadium, then you definitely want to hear this. The devs announced a MASSIVE update for Stadium in Seasons 17 and 18, including new heroes, unranked cross-play, and backfill options. These all kick off on June 24.
First of all, Season 17 brings in Stadium Forge tools, so I’m guessing it is software allowing the users to create really cool ways to beat the game (in a good sense). Then, the big thing is in Season 18: On Stadium, we’re getting huge updates in the form of Pharah, Winston, and Brigitte. So Pharah mains, it’s time to take reign in the arena! And unranked finally gets cross-play and backfill so hopefully no one will have staring at a wait screen forever now.
About reactions: The Overwatch community presumably right now is a bit split. Some are totally happy about it, like Jess (@xLovableLoser), who’s just hoping to stop all her match leavers (same, Jess, same). Rodrigo (@RodrigoFernety) is already lamenting Brigitte’s sudden demise in Stadium, calling her “doomed.” And Marsha (@marsha87470) is dreaming about the havoc Sombra would wreak and is impatient to “permahack everyone.” Those were the good old days.
The not-so-happy: Doofault (@doofault) openly inquired, “What the hell happened to Sojourn?”—which was in fact the proper question because she was originally rumored for Stadium but then swapped out for Pharah. Then there were @_shadowheartx who couldn’t believe Pharah was even picked and called that a questionable decision. Ouch.
The eternal question remains: When’s Ramattra coming? @Ramattra___ is out here begging for their main, and in all honesty, same here. Meanwhile, @Qzjaysss is just sick of their hero being banned every single ranked game and wants this system gone.
Let’s not forget those crazy and hilarious takes like @Dave19Brown83 wondering if we’re next to get “Overwatch ladies Ms Olympia style.” (Blizzard, pleeeeease.) Or @KOM_SHEPARD, who started an explosive rant in Polish asking Blizzard to fix their “garbage servers,” followed by pleas to clamp down on cheating. Roughly translated: They were annoyed.
For the new players, @CheeseheadTroy asked how long does a season last (about two months, Troy), while @46_birds was wondering if it’s even worth jumping into Stadium. Short answer: Yes, especially now with these updates.
Also, Blizzard reminds us all that the Stadium launch has been insane: 7.8 million hours played, 2.3 million matches. And it is not getting slowed down any time soon. So if you’re there for the chaos, for the memes, or just because you’re a long-time Pharah, June 24th will be a wild ride.
Tracer mains, @KidOrSquid2015 has just submitted a Stadium Trailer clip with zero context. So… brace yourselves.
In a nutshell: Stadium continues to be shaken up, and for better or for worse, Overwatch will not be going away anytime soon. So, anybody hyped to have Winston yeet people off maps?
