Every two months in Overwatch, the debate about hero bans resurfaces. This time, a panel of Overwatch League experts comprised of coaches, team staff, and broadcast talent led the charge, some of whom say the time is right to introduce the change even though it comes with a twist.
Recommended system by Overwatch League Desk analyst Jack “JackLeon’s goal is to create a more diverse meta at higher levels.
He argued that his system would only be used in esports competitions, leaving the normal ranked experience untouched, and therefore bringing the casual and pro player experience closer together.
How Hero Banning Can Work
Click to enlarge.Not all hero ban systems are created equal. As the panel argued, the specific regime chosen for the hero ban is crucial to the debate – the full term hero ban inadequately describes the scope of the proposal.
The hero ban system can vary the number of heroes banned, when those bans are chosen and declared, if they last across the map, and more.
After only explaining what a hero ban system might look like, the panel argued that its merits could be debated. “I think a lot of people are disappointed with Hero’s ban,” shared Albert, president of esports at Florida Mayhem.Yes“Yes, although it depended on the implementation.
Competition director and former head coach of the Houston Outlaws, Choi “Junk bookJe-won cautioned against too many sweeping changes. “There are too many random variables in hero binding,” he said and provided an opposing position during the panel.
Jack explains his system.
Jack, a former professional player and coach, presented his proposal for a ban system that seemed to be a less heavy-handed hero ban system and was discussed later by the panel.
Jack’s suggestion
- Limit one hero per team per map. The ban must be submitted with the roster.
- This is done blindly without the knowledge of the other team. This means that both teams can theoretically ban the same hero and only one is banned for the said map.
- A team can only ban a hero once per match.
- This system is already technically possible through the lobby setting system, which requires no additional adjustments from the developer and can be implemented without administrator support.
As Jack points out, the goals the system seeks to accomplish are twofold. In his mind, the valuable skill in Overwatch isn’t mastering a single hero and composition, but playing the game’s breadth of characters.
Throughout Overwatch’s competitive history, the gambling side of teams has revolved around a meta comp in which their team is most suited, resulting in dominance, especially in playoff scenarios, the season 4 grand finale 4-0 between Gator’s Atlanta Regan and The. These metastats may be less present in Jack’s hero ban system.
Secondly, the rules need to be changed in order to get closer to the experience that viewers can have in their average Overwatch game. While in other esports, the competitive meta leaves the impression of ranked play at various levels, this has rarely been the case for Overwatch.
According to Jake, their system forces teams to choose what type of heroes they want to ban for each map in the context of the team they’re playing against. Also, it doesn’t completely silence star players’ ability to shine on their signature hero.
Jake cites MOBAs like League of Legends and Dota 2 in which the hero is banned from working.
Junk book counters
Click to enlarge.The MOBA angle allowed Junkbuck to compete on similar grounds. He argued that maps and map types added another dimension to the balance debate. Thus, certain heroes or meta-archetypes were already limited in their viability based on the area in which they could operate.
Furthermore, competitively viable MOBAs in esports already had a cast of hundreds of characters that functioned in roughly the same way, so banning one hero didn’t silence the entire playstyle as other champions were interchangeable.
Junkbuck was concerned about this randomness because these Overwatch compositions work in harmony. They argued that banning a hero would not only remove said hero from the game, but the ban would make other heroes unplayable as they are only playable due to synergy with the other.
Suffice it to say, the debate is far from over. As the panel argued, further field tests of these proposed hero ban regimes would be needed to arrive at principles that would facilitate a healthy and attractive competitive environment.