Overwatch 2 pros accidentally expose major problem with hero bans

In Overwatch 2, hero bans are now being implemented, first for professional play, and players have unintentionally found a significant issue with the new system.

The start of the Overwatch Champions Series featured qualifying rounds in North America and Europe, and for the first time, we saw hero bans in play during OWCS matches.

Each team is given the ability to veto one character on every map, meaning no team can utilize that character for the entire match. However, it appears some players tend to forget this rule.

Although Genji, Ana, Lucio, and Hazard often received bans, there seems to be a serious issue with the current hero ban system, as some players have exhibited a problem that could lead to dire consequences.

Overwatch pros use banned heroes by mistake

In the contest between Vision Esports and Incendia, two characters – Genji and Brigitte – were prohibited for use. Towards the closing stages of their Route 66 battle, however, the DPS player known as Slowdive switched from Sojourn to the role of the cyborg ninja.

To put it simply, it wasn’t until the final moments, when the player managed a kill using a character that was not allowed, in a game we were clearly going to lose, that anyone noticed anything out of the ordinary.

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In this scenario, Genji’s influence didn’t determine the match result, but if Slowdive had managed to secure a win, their team would have been compelled to concede the game instead.

On another occasion, Vision didn’t just break the rules by using a prohibited hero once; during their clash with Deimpero, Slowdive also opted for an unauthorized character, Tracer, but swiftly corrected his mistake before engaging in combat.

Since they spotted the error, the tournament administrators opted not to reschedule the match – yet if he had engaged with other competitors, the circumstances might have evolved differently.

The error occurred because the matches weren’t hosted in a personal playlist, and as of now, Blizzard hasn’t integrated a complete hero banning system directly into the main game.

Rulebook drama in match for last OWCS EMEA slot when a player swapped to banned hero in spawn.
byu/Ezraah inCompetitiveoverwatch

It seems the developers are strongly considering introducing hero bans as a feature in Overwatch 2 sometime in 2025, given their recent suggestions that this addition could offer increased tactical complexity.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Marvel Rivals implemented a hero ban mechanism effectively at the start, which raises the question of whether Blizzard might consider adopting similar strategies if they decide to establish such a system in the future, possibly learning from NetEase’s approach.

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2025-01-21 01:48