The long-awaited second season begins on April 14, 2026, and the location selection system in OW2 will seem slightly real and democratic to you. The card with the most votes will now be selected automatically — the random final between the three options is canceled. Blizzard has finally heard the main pain of the community: it makes sense to vote when the result really depends on you.
Associate game director Alec Dawson explained the team’s logic as follows: it is important to respect the choice of the majority in each lobby, but without completely destroying the element of chance. That is why the “Random map” option has been added to the system — for those who are tired of the same “Royal Galleries”.
The backend has also been rewritten — now the preferences of the players live under the hood.
Blizzard has delved deep into the algorithms that form the top three voting cards. Previously, the system chose them… without being tied in any way to your previous choices. Now everything is different: the algorithm will start to pull up those locations that you have already voted for, and ignore those that you have always missed.
What about runked? The main fear of newbies has finally been removed
The most interesting point is the competitive mode. For fresh or recently redesigned maps, Blizzard is relaxing the penalty for defeat: the rating will not drop as much as before. This is a direct response to a collective phobia — no one wants to vote for an unknown card and then lose hundreds of points. With the new rules, fear disappears.
As a result, classics like the King’s Row will appear even more often if the lobby really wants it. The system will finally stop arguing with the players.
