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How do OWL players set up their stations on-stage?

Back in the day, we'd bring our own machines to LAN. Now they have the permanent setup there for them all the time, so I've been wondering how they cater for individual setups for each player?

On the one hand, the IT guy in me would love to see multiple blade servers holding images of each player's Windows install that can be used to boot the stage PCs remotely, but I don't think that would be fast enough. Is it as simple as each player gets a decently-fast SSD with a basic Win10 install, video drivers, LAN client etc and then they can add their own settings to it? When they're being subbed in they shut down that PC, switch over to their labeled SSD and reboot?

Could this be why they have the forced delays between each match?

Bill Warnecke

Posted 7 years, 10 months ago (Source)

I've noticed there is a rack with 6 PCs on each side, likely with long cables going to each station. There is a USB hub on each station for peripherals to be plugged into. As far as settings goes, Blizzard frequently snaps settings from the live client for each player and loads them on the tournament client, similar to PTR but much more frequently. It also appears each PC has a fairly locked down image on them that wipes all changes, as they automatically reboot when someone logs off (I noticed this when I saw a player being subbed out last week). This is probably to prevent from tampering. I deployed a very similar setup for customer-facing PCs when I did corporate IT for a large retail chain.

This is pretty accurate. We're using a special rack mount form factor for the Omen by HP computers. These have front facing pluggable drive bays, each player has their own stage harddrive that is stored and secured by IT staff. With regards to Overwatch settings the most important ones are stored on the server. The audio setup is a professional/commercial setup. It allows us to do things like have operations staff communicate with players, and coaches can as well in between matches (but not during a match).

Cheers.
Bill Warnecke

Posted 7 years, 10 months ago (Source)

This may be obvious to more experienced gamers, but I'm curious why coaches cannot communicate with the team during a match. In other sports, the coach stands on the sidelines yelling at the team what he wants them to do. I would have thought OW coaches would sit with the team on spectate mode making calls.

Coaches have an omniscient spectator view, which includes things like enemy ultimate charge percentage. Players do not have this information displayed to them. There may be other reasons as well but this is one of the easier examples.

Cheers.
Bill Warnecke

Posted 7 years, 10 months ago (Source)

I've always been curious, what happens with communications during a pause? Is it treated like the live match is still going on with communication only allowed between the team on stage, or can the coach pop in during this period?

Coaches are not able to communicate with their team during a pause.

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>I've noticed there is a rack with 6 PCs on each side, likely with long cables going to each station.  There is a USB hub on each station for peripherals to be plugged into.  As far as settings goes, Blizzard frequently snaps settings from the live client for each player and loads them on the tournament client, similar to PTR but much more frequently.  It also appears each PC has a fairly locked down image on them that wipes all changes, as they automatically reboot when someone logs off (I noticed this when I saw a player being subbed out last week).  This is probably to prevent from tampering.  I deployed a very similar setup for customer-facing PCs when I did corporate IT for a large retail chain.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>This is pretty accurate. We're using a special rack mount form factor for the Omen by HP computers. These have front facing pluggable drive bays, each player has their own stage harddrive that is stored and secured by IT staff. With regards to Overwatch settings the most important ones are stored on the server. The audio setup is a professional/commercial setup. It allows us to do things like have operations staff communicate with players, and coaches can as well in between matches (but not during a match).</p>

<p>Cheers.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/7t51es/how_do_owl_players_set_up_their_stations_onstage/dta02px">Bill Warnecke</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>This may be obvious to more experienced gamers, but I'm curious why coaches cannot communicate with the team during a match. In other sports, the coach stands on the sidelines yelling at the team what he wants them to do. I would have thought OW coaches would sit with the team on spectate mode making calls.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>Coaches have an omniscient spectator view, which includes things like enemy ultimate charge percentage. Players do not have this information displayed to them. There may be other reasons as well but this is one of the easier examples. </p>

<p>Cheers.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/7t51es/how_do_owl_players_set_up_their_stations_onstage/dtakgdw">Bill Warnecke</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>I've always been curious, what happens with communications during a pause? Is it treated like the live match is still going on with communication only allowed between the team on stage, or can the coach pop in during this period?</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>Coaches are not able to communicate with their team during a pause.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/7t51es/how_do_owl_players_set_up_their_stations_onstage/dtakhzc">Bill Warnecke</a>)
<hr/>

Tweet

<p><div class="md"><p>This is pretty accurate. We're using a special rack mount form factor for the Omen by HP computers. These have front facing pluggable drive bays, each player has their own stage harddrive that is stored and secured by IT staff. With regards to Overwatch settings the most important ones are stored on the server. The audio setup is a professional/commercial setup. It allows us to do things like have operations staff communicate with players, and coaches can as well in between matches (but not during a match).</p>

<p>Cheers.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/7t51es/how_do_owl_players_set_up_their_stations_onstage/dta02px">Source</a>)</p>

<p><div class="md"><p>Coaches have an omniscient spectator view, which includes things like enemy ultimate charge percentage. Players do not have this information displayed to them. There may be other reasons as well but this is one of the easier examples. </p>

<p>Cheers.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/7t51es/how_do_owl_players_set_up_their_stations_onstage/dtakgdw">Source</a>)</p>

<p><div class="md"><p>Coaches are not able to communicate with their team during a pause.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/7t51es/how_do_owl_players_set_up_their_stations_onstage/dtakhzc">Source</a>)</p>
    
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