Enable & Pacman explain why LAN won’t be OpTic’s saving grace
Activision/YouTube: Dexerto Call of Duty
The Call of Duty League returns to LAN for the first time in over a year for the Stage 4 Major, which is slated to take place on the week of June 14. Fans believe this could help save OpTic’s season — but it might not be quite that simple.
LAN has always been the peak of competition in esports, with no online issues holding players back (or giving them an unfair advantage).
Throw in a strong, loud crowd, and the LAN environment is a completely different beast to just playing at home in your bedroom.
Throughout much of the last couple of seasons, fans have debated whether certain teams would perform better or worse if matches had been played on LAN. This season, many are convinced that OpTic are being held back by online play.
MLGThe topic of returning to LAN came up on the Reverse Sweep CDL preview show, with Katie, Enable and Pacman discussing how it’ll affect teams and general gameplay. While OpTic showed clear progress at the Stage 3 Major, the Reverse Sweep crew think it’s more complicated than that.
“Those teams are just at a higher stage than OpTic are right now,” said Pacman, referencing the team’s chances against the likes of Atlanta FaZe, Toronto Ultra, and New York Subliners. “I do think they can do really well on LAN, but to win, it’s just tough.”
Enable adds: “If they keep improving, I think they could potentially win. But I don’t think LAN’s going to make a difference … The top teams online are, a majority of the time, the top teams on LAN. When OpTic were winning anything, they were the best team online as well.”
They went on to express that a loud crowd could be somewhat of a difference-maker, alluding to the pressure that comes with having a large arena of people cheering for you or your opponents.
That said, when it comes to just pure gameplay, Enable and Pacman don’t expect it to change things too much for OpTic or their biggest competition in the CDL. That doesn’t make it any less exciting, though.