DBLTAP's Nathan Fusco had the opportunity to send questions to Scott "Custa" Kennedy about the offseason, the current meta in Overwatch and the upcoming Overwatch League Season.





The Overwatch League Season 2 will begin on Feb. 14. The Los Angeles Valiant will play its first match on Feb. 16 against the Hangzhou Spark.

“This is the greatest roster reveal of all time. - Michael Scott” -Valiant pic.twitter.com/kHQMKSdap4 — Los Angeles Valiant (@LAValiant) January 29, 2019

Fusco: So the first OWL offseason is about over. How was it structured for you and your team and what would you want differently for next season? Longer, shorter? Maybe another event sprinkled in between?





Custa: It’s been quite a good offseason for me. I’ve been able to do a lot of travelling back home to see family and friends while also competing in the World Cup and All-stars. In the future, I would prefer it to be shorter as I think for some players that didn’t participate in these extra Overwatch events it’s been a very long offseason





Fusco: Los Angeles Valiant went through some pretty significant changes for its first offseason. Some new faces. How would you describe the new roster compared to the 2018 one? What is the biggest strength this roster has that the 2018 one lacked?





Custa: There weren’t too many switches with our roster, just bolstering certain positions; yet, the same core from last season still exists in the team. I believe our team has a lot more diversity and strength between metas than we did last season.





Fusco: Overwatch has been in a “rut” when it comes to the meta as GOATs has dominated the professional and amateur scene. What would you do differently to change the landscape of Overwatch? Or are you content with the current scene?





Custa: I still believe that a hero bans system would keep the game fresh and avoid these ruts of a specific meta dominating the game and how it’s played. There are too many heroes to effectively balance the game to create a diversified meta, but hero bans would solve that problem.





Fusco: Some of the biggest changes in the most recent patch are the armor changes for many heroes. Do you think this was enough to negate the strength of tanks and how certain heroes interact against other heroes with high armor?





Custa: I don’t believe the armor nerfs are that large and won’t affect the value of GOATS. I believe armor was a little strong against some characters, and hopefully in the future when other characters are used you will see the effect of these changes, but for right now, I haven’t seen a significant difference.





Fusco: In your mind, what is one hero that desperately needs to be nerfed? What is one that needs to be buffed?





Custa: I would really like to see D.Va's matrix nerfed. As much as it has great potential and creates a high level of play, the character has been played exclusively in the off-tank role for almost two years now. If we could see some more characters within that role, I think it would be good for the game. I wouldn’t like to buff any characters, but rather see nerfs on current strong characters otherwise you have the problem of the average power of characters growing across the board.





Fusco: So we’ve seen the new schedule for the OWL Season 2 and the plans for a few “away” and “home” games. Are you happy with the changes for Season 2? Does Blizzard need to create more time for breaks for players?





Custa: I think it’s a really interesting concept as the league moves towards globalization. I’m looking forward to playing outside of LA and playing in front of fans that haven’t had the opportunity to see professional Overwatch played in their city. Also, I can’t wait for fans to see what LA Valiant has planned for Rivalry Weekend in August.





Fusco: Which of the new teams joining the league looks the most dangerous and why?





Custa: In my opinion, I think Spark is going to be the most interesting of the new teams. From what I’ve seen of that team so far, they have a pretty good understanding of the game and a very strong core to the team.





Interview quotes have been edited for clarity.

Cover photo courtesy of Robert Paul of Blizzard Entertainment