Overwatch League Stage 4 will be played on patch 1.22 thanks to a potential bug

Over the last few weeks, the Overwatch competitive community has been pretty vocal about the fact that they wanted to see Stage 4 of the Overwatch League’s first season played on patch 1.23. More importantly than that, with games just a day a way, professional players simply needed to know what to prepare for, but Blizzard has been tight-lipped on the subject until today.

In a tweet, Overwatch League commissioner, Nate Nanzer confirmed, “Stage 4 will be played on patch 1.22.” There was a potential bug present in patch 1.23 that could inhibit the production team’s “ability to accurately resume play on an escort map should a pause or disconnect occur,” Nanzer said. “The developers have been working hard to find a fix, in time for the Overwatch League players to prepare, but thus far they have been unable able to do so, to the degree of certainty that we require for the league.”

The most important thing in this tweet is that we finally have confirmation as to exactly what patch Stage 4 will be played on — with a little over 24 hours before the first game starts. Unfortunately, a bug and lack of practice time aren’t explanations that are likely to make the community feel much better about Stage 4 being a patch behind where most people thought it should be.

There are several reasons that players and viewers were hoping for the newer patch would make it the Overwatch League, but the biggest reasons were Hanzo’s rework, which won’t be in the patch at all, as well as a few significant Brigitte nerfs. This will be the first time Brigitte is available in Overwatch League play, so the hope was that she could be played in more balanced state. However, since the stage will be played on patch 1.22 it’s very likely that the next several weeks of play will be dominated by how teams use the game’s newest hero.

Stage 4 of the Overwatch League’s first season will begin on Wednesday May 16 and will end on Sunday, June 17, the last day of the Overwatch League regular season.