That’s right, the Call of Duty League is back as online dates have finally been fixed and the community is unanimously screaming with enthusiasm for the return of the inaugural franchised league.
Following the success the exhibition matches had, which were clear trials which many found more entertaining than usual due to the predicament of the casters, Activision announced replacement online dates for the former Homestands through a heart-warming return video:
The following are the new dates for the online Call of Duty League: everything has basically shifted roughly one to two weeks:
- Dallas Empire Homestand – April 10-12th
- Chicago Hunstmen Homestand – April 24-26th
- Florida Mutineers Homestand – May 8-10th
- Seattle Surge Homestand – May 22-24th
- Minnesota Rokkr Homestand – June 5-7th
- Paris Legion Homestand – June 19-21st
- New York Subliners Homestand – July 10-12th
- Royal Ravens Homestand – July 17-19th
- Toronta Ultra Homestand- July 24-26th
Regardless of the delay, the community is absolutely relieved that the season is on and not cancelled. The match schedule for each homestand will remain identical, though networking and technical issues may make gameday last somewhat longer. Of course, the lack of a live crowd will certainly be missed and it’s doubtful as to whether Listen-Ins will be possible once again.
Competitively, many could argue that this change shifts the landscape in favour of teams with a better network; such as the Dallas Empire, also nicknamed the ‘Dallas Onliners’ in the past.
Teams such as Chicago Hunstmen with Formal and Optic Gaming LA with Dashy – both players being separated from the rest of the squad to Los Angeles and Canada respectively, could result in forced uses of substitutes due to connection issues. The tick rate of Call of Duty servers has shown to be concerning to the competitive fanbase, bearing in mind the potential advantage of potentially hosting a series.
Despite this, the exhibition matches have shown us that casters are able to manipulate transitional effects and other technicalities independently – coordinating their efforts with a replacement ‘desk’ for post-game analysis will certainly take some networking skill. Bearing in mind the first event of the franchise, Minnesota, and its audio problems with delay and quality, everybody has their fingers crossed for the Dallas Homestand this weekend.
We’ll be keeping a watchful eye on each event, especially the Dallas Homestand this weekend on April 10th which should set the ball rolling. What is comforting is the fact that a date for playoffs is not yet listed as Activision are still betting on the restoration of LAN events by then (so are we) which is a glimmer of hope to end the season on!
