The official Overwatch League website has announced the changes coming to the league for the 2019 season, which if you didn't know is expanding to 20 city-based teams, expanded from the 12 we saw in the first season.
The league will start on February 14 at the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles, and the Atlantic Division will see Atlanta, Paris, Toronto, and Washington DC join the action, while the Pacific Division welcomes Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Vancouver.
The format for Season 2 means that all 20 teams play 28 matches over four five-week stages, with seven matches each stage. There's also a more flexible schedule "to help players stay at the top of their game, as well as give teams more opportunities to visit their home cities during the season," meaning a team could have between zero and two matches a week, meaning more breaks (as Director of Franchises and Competition Jon Spector said was a priority when we spoke to him in July).
As for the Stage Finals, these are returning after the first, second, and third stages, seeing teh top eight teams battle it out in a seeded playoff bracket. Divisional winners will get the number one and two slots, followed by the next six teams in the league.
We'll also be seeing an All-Star Summer Vacation, with the All-Star break coming between Stages 2 and 3, having a longer break between them.
The postseason is "evolving" too, according to Blizzard. While in the first season the divisional champs and next four teams in the standings qualified, this year two more teams will make the playoffs based on the results of a play-in tournament after stage four, meaning the seventh to twelfth placed teams will face off against one another in a "win-or-go-home bracket".
More information on the season is coming soon, but for now that's already a lot to take in. Do you like these changes?