With a new season about to begin in Competitive Call of Duty, this means times of change are once against taking place amongst the pros. From roster changes, to callouts. You name it, it's changing. But the way the game is being played is also about to be changed. It's probably a fair prediction that the smarter player, not the player with raw talent, will shine in Black Ops 3. The scene is about to become more diverse and more robust.
One of the first changes is smaller to the fanbase but huge to competitors. Now Activision is leading the way for competitive Call of Duty. What this means is, that younger competitors like Huke, General, and Temp can't compete at events such as Champs, or any event run by Activision. But they could still compete at events run by MLG and UMG like always.
Also changing is the Pro League. MLG won't be hosting an league anymore. Acitivision will now be running a two tier league that will funnel straight into Champs.
platforms are also going to change. Some of the players contracts with MLG to on the MLG site are expiring, and those players are now transitioning back over to Twitch for more reliables. It's also quite noted that there are many more viewers on Twitch than on MLG, which with help with overall growth of the eSport itself.
Speaking of growth, there are two other plans to help growth out. One is with the switch from Xbox to Playstation. Unless you live under a rock, you know that Playstation is a brand created by the Japanese company Sony. This move will help Call of Duty as a whole expand into a more international series. Another help will be that casual players can now watch tournaments straight from Black Ops 3, to let the casual player see more of the competitive scene.
One major change that players must get adapted to is the Protect and Ban system. This allows each player to either ban a gun/attachment/score streak etc. from a game, or they can protect an item from being banned. This adds in smarts in the game and knowing what works well for your opponent and what works well against them, adding a dose of required information heading into the game. It also means players need to be more diverse and know what weapon combination will be good for every situation and every map.
Lastly, you can probably expect a lot of new players. Last year saw a large amount of new talent enter the scene such as Octane, Royalty, Remy, Aqua, just to name a few. You can definitely expect more new players to jump the ship. Especially due to new talent being found on the Playstation.
It's rumored there will be a good sized tournament this weekend. If that is true, we can see first hand how well the players have adapted to the all the things listed above so far. It will also be a good test to see if the dominant legacy of OpTic Gaming will enter a new year or if it will fade out to start off the season.
One more thing that will change, will now be full, year round coverage of Competitive Call of Duty, right here, on VAVEL USA