Another packed weekend coming up as both League of Legends and all of Blizzard's games close in on their respective World Championships. That's not all, however: there's also top-level Dota 2 in China, loads of CS:GO in Europe, the culmination of the Smite season, the first big event of this season of Rocket League, and Capcom Pro Tour stops all over the world. Enjoy!

League of Legends: Worlds 2016

After a dramatic start to the group stage, this is becoming the most competitive Worlds to date. There's loads more group stage play taking place this weekend, with games starting this evening and continuing through until Monday. Catch games starting at 13:00 PDT/22:00 CEST every day. As ever, your best resource for team info and the livestream is LoLesports.

Hearthstone: Europe/Asia-Pacific Last Call Invitational

These Last Call invitationals offer one last chance for top Hearthstone players to qualify for the World Championship at Blizzcon. This weekend, the tournaments will take place in Europe on Saturday beginning at 14:00 CEST/05:00 PDT and in Asia-Pacific on Sunday starting at 21:00 PDT, which is 06:00 Monday morning in CEST. Find the livestreams for both here.

World of Warcraft: Americas Regionals

Although not given the prominance afforded to Blizzard's other esports, WoW Arena still has many fans. This weekend, the best players in the Americas will fight for the chance to represent their region at the World Championship at Blizzcon. Play begins on both days at 12:00 PDT/21:00 CEST. Here's the stream.

StarCraft II: WESG 2016 Europe & CIS Qualifier

After a run of dramatic recent upsets, now is a great time to start watching top-level StarCraft II. This weekend, players in Europe and CIS will fight for a spot at the WESG 2016 main event, with a $27,000 prize on the line. Play begins at 10:00 CEST/01:00 PDT on Saturday and 16:00 CEST/07:00 PDT on Sunday. Here's the stream.

Dota 2: Shanghai Dota 2 Open

The best Dota 2 teams in China (with a few exceptions, like TI6 champions Wings) are about to reach the end of this $90,000 tournament. There's only the lower bracket final and grand final left to play, with only four teams left in contention Newbee, CDEC, and the winner of LGD.FY vs. EHOME, which is ongoing at the time of writing. BeyondTheSummit have the English language livestream.

CSGO: The World Championships 2016

There's $100,000 to be won in this contest between national CS:GO teams. The final eight qualified nations France, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Singapore, Tunisia, Canada and Argentina will do battle in the Kombank Arena in Belgrade. Play begins at 10:00 CEST/01:00 PDT on both Saturday and Sunday and you can find the stream on Azubu.

CSGO: World Electronic Sports Games 2016

Meanwhile, in Kiev, loads more European CS:GO talent is going to war. There's about $75,000 on the line, and an unusual spread of teams that includes traditional powerhouses like Virtus.pro and EnVyUs alongside newly-qualified hopefuls and national teams for the Ukraine, Russia, and Norway. Games run throughout the weekend. Here's the stream.

Rocket League: Mid-Season Classic

There's $10,000 on the line as Rocket League Season 2 reaches its midway point. There's no specific start time listed, but the tournament is due to run over Saturday and Sunday. Find out more information about Rocket League's esports scene here and catch the livestream on Twitch.

Capcom Pro Tour: South East Asia Major 2016 and more

The latest CPT Premier event takes place in Singapore this weekend, joined by three Ranking events running concurrently in Dubai, Barcelona, and Raleigh, NC. In Singapore, expect top tier Guilty Gear, Street Fighter, King of Fighters and more running from 10:00 SGT, which is 04:00 CEST or 19:00 PDT the previous night. The final stages of the Street Fighter tournament are scheduled for Sunday at 10:00 CEST/01:00 PDT. Check out the Street Fighter V section on Twitch for streams of both the amateur and pro aspects of the event.

Smite: SPL Fall Group A

Qualification begins for next month's Smite Super Regionals, a vital step along the road to the Smite World Championship in January. This weekend, two teams will survive the battle for Group A a clash between Team eLevate, Sanguine Esports, Dignitas, and OrbitGG. Games started today and continue throughout the weekend starting at 17:00 CEST/08:00 PDT. Check out the livestream here.

Dota 2's latest Battle Pass has arrived, reintroducing daily and weekly challenges, weekend Battle Cups, match wagering, new cosmetics, particle effects and terrain. If that all sounds rather similar to the International Battle Pass, which concluded in late August, then, well it is. Except it's green.

This is Valve's least experimental Battle Pass to date, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. After years of tinkering with different ways to make an event out of the game's annual esports circuit, the sticker-book guessing game that was the old Compendium has transformed into a multi-faceted enhancement of the game's basic features. During Battle Pass months Dota is flat-out better: there's more to do, more ways to compete with your friends, and more rewards to earn. That $7.99/ 5.99 entry fee is starting to look more and more like a seasonal subscription to the 'full' game.

The biggest change this time around is rather subtle, and will only affect a tiny minority of players. Top-tier Dota teams that win Battle Cup events will gain access to an exclusive Champions Cup at the end of the season. Winning this will, in turn, grant them access to the Spring Major Battle Cup Qualifiers, and then they'll get to go to the Spring Major Regional Qualifiers. It's a long road, but hey you've now got the opportunity to qualify for a $3m Dota 2 tournament through the game client.

The Fall 2016 Battle Pass has an autumnal theme which is reflected in some truly lovely new terrain and, well, a whole load of green stuff. The new upgradable courier is a happy rabbit-dog thing called Wibbley and one of the new questlines unlocks a set for Razor that makes him look like his DotA All-Stars counterpart (don't tell Blizzard.)

Accompanying the Battle Pass is an overhaul of Dota 2's new player experience, folding the existing tutorials into a seamless experience accessed through the 'Learn' tag. There's also a new 'Items' page that allows you to browse every item in the game with expanded descriptions of stats and effects. This is really good stuff, explicating a lot of things that many players rely on word-of-mouth to learn for example, the invulnerability window granted by Manta Style.

Many items have also been updated with flavour text, with a few standout gags. The Enchanted Mango is, we're told, 'irresistible to amphibians' mysterious Dota designer Icefrog is reportedly fond of the fruit. Town Portal Scrolls are now described as 'what a hero truly needs' answering a question raised in Dota 2's very first trailer.

What does a hero truly need? A Town Portal Scroll. Buy a Town Portal Scroll. Why don't you have a Town Portal Scroll?

Finally, the minimap has been updated with icons helping new players locate the Side Shops and Secret Shops. As part of the game's broader push towards accessibility, this is very welcome but.... hang on a second. Take a closer look at that Secret Shop icon.

Computer, enhance!

Okay. Interesting. Computer, flip it.

Activate overlay.

M...my god.

The first event in Valve's freshly-restructured series of $3m Dota 2 tournaments has been announced. This year's Fall Major will take place in Boston, USA, from the 7th to the 10th of December. This is a big shift in both timing and geography from last year's Fall Major, which took place in Frankfurt in November.

It's being run by PGL, who coordinated the well-received Manila Major earlier this year. The unusually-punishing format is likely to raise eyebrows, however: after two days of group stages, sixteen teams will enter a single-elimination bracket with each match played best of three. This is likely necessary in order to fit the Major into three days the International lasts almost a full week, with the same number of teams. But it does mean no second chances for teams that fall short, so we won't see a repeat of OG's incredible tear through the lower bracket in Frankfurt last year.

The chosen venue, Boston's Wang Theatre, won't support the 360-degree staging that has become a staple part of official Dota 2 events over the last year. That's not necessarily a bad thing: it's a comparable space to Benaroya Hall, the comfortable and intimate venue for the International in 2012 and 2013.

Questions are raised by the decision to move the Fall Major from Europe to the USA, given that North America already hosts the International. There will only be two Majors this year compared to last year's three, so holding multiple events in the same continent potentially deprives many fans of a chance to attend an official event near them one of the original aims of the Major system.

This suggests a few different possibilities for the rest of the year. One is that the Spring Major moves to Europe, which would at least ensure that the western half of the scene was catered for. Another suggestion is that the International itself moves, perhaps to Europe, Russia, or South East Asia (China seems unlikely given the problems encountered at the Shanghai Major.) While many fans would welcome this move, the International's home in Seattle is convenient for the Bellevue-based Valve, and the company traditionally takes a very hands-on approach to its flagship event.

So here's my guess: Boston in December, Russia, Europe or South East Asia in Spring, and back to the USA for the International 2017.

Tickets for the Boston Major go on sale starting Friday October 14th.