Does Overwatch Need Hero Bans Or Will It Ruin The Game?

With the current state of the competitive Overwatch meta favoring a 3-3 composition on select maps despite repeated nerfs to various characters such as Brigitte and a global armor functionality adjustment, the community is in a tense state. As discontent with Blizzard's balance team mounts, the idea of implementing a hero ban system was brought up once again during the OWL off-season with several key members of the community ranging from analysts to professional players weighing in on the matter.

In this video, we explore the concept of having hero bans in Overwatch and the pros and cons that come with such a system given the current state of the game, taking into account factors such as hero pool diversity and looking at other competitive titles as reference points for this case study.

References

Voice & Script: Ronald "Renanthera" Ly

Chapters

0:00 The case for hero bans

0:43 How bans work in esports

2:04 Potential benefits for OW

4:17 The risks of hero bans

7:31 Balancing design philosophy