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Blizzard Confirms No Overwatch Hero Bans In Next Update
Rumors and leaks of Overwatch hero bans in the next update were proven false based on a post from game director Jeff Kaplan on the official Blizzard forums. Recently, a prominent Overwatch 2 leaker said that a massive new update would bring hero bans to the table. While this doesn't seem to be happening, he is likely correct that discussions have at least taken place internally based on the context of the post.
Metro, who leaked numerous reliable bits of information regarding Diablo 4, Blizzcon 2019, and even the advent of shotgunner hero Ashe, recently announced that a major new Overwatch update was coming. Warning that the information should be taken with a grain of salt because the source was new, he said that the update would likely include hero bans, or the ability for teams to vote on a hero or heroes to exclude from a match. Metro said that he didn't know if the update would include hero bans, but that Blizzard is "working on" them. Hero bans are traditionally used to empower players to fix perceived balance issues by removing characters they don't like from the equation altogether.
Kaplan, who functions as game director for Overwatch and Vice President of Blizzard Entertainment, posted a massive response to the discussion of hero bans to the Blizzard forums on Wednesday. In the post, he says in no uncertain terms that the next Overwatch patch will not include a hero ban feature. Kaplan adds that not many on the Overwatch team have argued for hero bans, and many are apprehensive about adding them. While they can shake up the meta by removing any hero at any time, he says, a "ban meta" often develops. This leads to specific characters becoming must-ban picks and toxicity when someone votes to ban an off-meta character. Ultimately, the same problems persist even with a hero ban option. They are right for games that use them like League of Legends but perhaps not for Overwatch, he adds.
Instead, Kaplan says that Blizzard plans to better address balance issues with more frequent balance updates, promising an update soon. "So we agree that there are balance issues. We agree balancing needs to happen more frequently," he says. "We disagree that hero bans are a good solution to balance problems." Hero bans would also interfere with some things Kaplan and his team are trying to do with Overwatch like shorten match times and that developing a ban phase feature would take development time away from other areas of the game.
Despite Kaplan's claim that ban phases are ineffective, they have been used to much success in other games, including League of Legends, Dota 2, and the now-defunct Battleborn. Kaplan mentions in his post that most players don't see the true meta, and he's right, but lower ranks are inundated with predictable and often terrible picks. A hero ban system would allow teams to decide that they don't want to play alongside Widowmaker, for instance, and actually do something about it. While the next Overwatch update won't include hero bans, rumors that discussions have happened internally seem to be correct based on Kaplan's post, meaning they could appear in the future.
Overwatch is available on the PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
