Rumor has it that hero bans are coming to Blizzard’s hit game Overwatch in the near future (as reported by Dexerto.) The biggest question is what type of impact will this have on the game? Is this a logical step in making this game better? Guess we will need to wait to see what Jeff Kaplan has to say on the matter in the next Developer Update. In any case, I am against Overwatch Hero Banning.
I have played games like Super Smash Brothers where stage bans is a “thing” when playing competitively but no hero was ever off-limits. Maybe in some small circles, it would be agreed that a certain hero could not be played (Bayonetta) but in major tournaments, every hero was on the table. Maybe Blizzard could take a page from the Smash Brothers book and keep all stages on the table and allow teams to band stages instead.
Blizzard has a pool of stages they use for competitive play in the Overwatch League (OWL) and before each game teams “pick” which stages they will be playing for there respected matches. Instead of having a set pool for the season or stage, maybe leave all maps available and let the teams ban them instead. This is a better way to limit what characters are good at what stage. For instance, a Widow Maker player would much rather play on a more open stage like Junkertown (point 1) than something more enclosed like Volskaya.
By instituting hero bans, it’s no doubt that one trick players may need to start boning up on other characters in case there favorite (or main) character gets banned. While “one tricks” will decline, isn’t this a game? Aren’t games supposed to be fun? Isn’t the best part of fun being able to play your favorite character? Taking this away will no doubt cause even more fans to get upset that they can not always play who they want.
Lastly, what about countering? Wasn’t this game big on having characters that could counter other characters? By implementing the bans, this will no doubt cause a sway in direction for a team. A team could easily ban characters that counter their own. By doing this, we will most likely see an uprise in mirror matches.
Just some of my thoughts on the player banning, which I hope does not become a real thing. I like playing certain characters and tend to choose characters based on countering. If banning characters takes away from this strategy than Overwatch becomes a completely different game than I have come to love. What are your thoughts on hero banning? How do you think it will affect Overwatch? Let us know over on Facebook or Twitter.
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