Hero bans have officially made their debut in Overwatch 2 competitive play, but players quickly stumbled upon a significant flaw within the newly implemented system—an oversight that could have critical implications for professional matches.
As the Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) kicked off with qualifiers across North America and Europe, players had their first exposure to the hero ban mechanism. In this setup, each team is allowed to exclude one hero per map, prohibiting either side from utilizing that character during the game. Yet, it appears that some players may have momentarily overlooked these restrictions.
Unintentional Use of Banned Heroes by Pro Players
In a notable incident during a match between Vision Esports and Incendia, both Genji and Brigitte were banned. However, as the game neared its conclusion on Route 66, the DPS player known as Slowdive switched from Sojourn to the prohibited Genji character without anyone noticing until the match ended.
This lapse in attention was highlighted when Slowdive secured a kill using a banned hero, raising questions about the integrity of the ban system. For those interested in witnessing this moment, it can be found in the footage available at the following timestamp: at 1:12:00 and 4:50:20.Had Slowdive been pivotal in turning the match in favor of his team, the repercussions could have been severe, forcing them to forfeit due to the use of a banned hero. This wasn’t an isolated incident for Vision; during a subsequent match against Deimpero, Slowdive momentarily switched to Tracer, who was similarly banned, before correcting his mistake.
Fortunately for the teams involved, after recognizing these blunders, tournament officials decided against replaying the matches. However, had gameplay progressed further without recognition of the errors, the consequences could have altered the tournament’s outcome.
The oversight occurred because the matches were not conducted within a dedicated custom lobby. Furthermore, Blizzard has yet to fully realize the hero ban feature in the base game, leading to these consequential slip-ups.
Rulebook drama in match for last OWCS EMEA slot when a player swapped to banned hero in spawn. by u/Ezraah in Competitiveoverwatch
Looking ahead, the implementation of hero bans might see enhancements as developers aim to introduce them officially by 2025, demonstrating their intention to deepen the strategic gameplay of Overwatch 2. Interestingly, another game, Marvel Rivals, has successfully integrated a hero ban feature without issues in its early stages. It remains to be seen if Blizzard will draw inspiration from NetEase’s implementation as they refine their own system.
Leave a Reply ▼