Overwatch has been described as a cross between League of Legends and CS:GO. It takes some MOBA elements and ports them over to the FPS genre. The largest aspect of that is the heroes and their unique abilities. Players become known, not only for the category of hero they play, but the specific hero. There are players who only play one hero, also known as one tricks, who will be the best in their world at that hero. Since Overwatch shares several characteristics with MOBA’s should it also steal one of the core concepts of MOBA tournaments? Hero (or whatever nomenclature you prefer) bans.
In this article we are going to discuss the pros and cons of adapting such a system for Overwatch. I think that this idea should be adopted, in a year or two. When we have more heroes in every category and more flexibility to choose a different hero without ruining a category. In the article I want to discuss why it wouldn’t be feasible to do it right now. Following that, we are going to go over why it should be implemented. Concluding with when it would be feasible for tournaments, or the Overwatch League, to implement a hero ban.
Bans Would Not Work Now
The biggest reason that a hero ban wouldn’t work in the Overwatch League, or Apex, is because there are too few heroes. There aren’t enough heroes to ban one and have another do a similar job. We have 2 heroes with shield, 1 with speed boost, 2 snipers (Ana isn’t a sniper), 2 dive heroes. Not enough in any category to allow for bans. For example, if you were to ban Lucio then the game would be super slow and not fun at all. This problem would only be exacerbated by the fact that you would have to allow each team an equal number of bans. In the beginning this would mean a minimum of 2 bans. You cannot ban 2 characters in Overwatch. The hero pool isn’t deep enough for that. But, in a year or 2 it could be.
Credit: http://cdn.gamer-network.net/2016/usgamer/Overwatch-Guide-Lucio-02.jpg
Hero Bans: Viable in the Future
Looking at League of Legends and you can see how important the pick/ban stage is during a game. Many casters say that the game was lost during the pick/ban stage. While, there is a difference between Overwatch and League, the pick/ban stage could be a pivotal moment in every match. It would be something that a coach would be able to work on with his players and would introduce another element of strategy to the game. This would be awesome for the game and would help develop metas.
Obviously in Overwatch that stage would just be a ban phase. It would work is that each team could choose 1 hero they want to ban so that neither team would be able to play that hero. The hero would become unplayable. This would allow teams to play around OTP (One Trick Ponies); banning a Genji would prevent the other teams Genji player from dominating the game. On top of preventing one tricks, it would also allow teams to determine whether a hero is overpowered and if they want to ban that hero.
When?
If Blizzard keeps to the schedule of hero releases that they have so far. That would be about 3 heroes a year which would mean in 2 years there would be 6 new heroes. A total of 30 heroes. Enough to allow for a ban of 2 heroes (1 per team); opening up the field for a lot of strategic interplay between teams.
There shouldn’t be a set amount of heroes out, or a set amount of time, before this move is made. It needs to be a decision based on whether another hero can be replaced with another. Obviously there should be a difference between the heroes but each need to complete the same role in the game. We need another Lucio, or a proper Reinhardt before we can ban heroes. Otherwise, you could get a team that bans Lucio and the game moves incredibly slowly making viewing, and playing, painful.
Credit: http://hotwink.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Overwatch-Beta-Review-Screenshot-3.jpg
This Would Not be Like League of Legends
The biggest difference between League of Legends and Overwatch would be the patch mindset of the 2 games. Blizzard wants Overwatch to become an even game where nearly every hero is viable whereas Riot likes to cycle metas. For some time there will be some champions that need to be played and others are utterly unviable. History shows that Blizzard does not want to go down this path. When they released Ana they made this mistake, while it took a long time to fix, they eventually fixed it and didn’t make any of the same mistakes with the next 2 hero releases. Sombra and Orisa both under performed at their release, but throughout time and after slight buffs, both heroes became viable in certain situations (Orisa is still trying to get to that point but give her time).
Showing that Blizzard is taking a different attitude towards the meta game and how they want the players to play their game. They don’t want it to be about who can adopt the new meta the fastest. But instead that teams can run what they are best at; with every strategy being slightly viable. The best evidence of this are the Korean teams who all run a plethora of comps for each situation.
Making the ban stage less about getting overpowered heroes out of the way, and more about banning out the other teams best heroes. Introducing another level of strategy, something I am always a fan of. The more mind games that the players play with each other, the better. It gives each team another weapon in their arsenal to tilt the scales in their favour.
Conclusion
Obviously this shouldn’t happen now. There aren’t enough heroes that can be played, and I am not saying it should happen at 30. We can’t choose a magic number of heroes because it depends on the roles. Each role has to have at least one substitute; meaning there has to be a viable substitute for Lucio, Reinhardt, and other unique role heroes.
Hero bans are something that should be considered in the future of Overwatch. Whether they be implemented sooner rather than later, they nevertheless should be implemented.
