The newly introduced competitive ban system for heroes in the team-based shooter game Overwatch has received mixed criticism from fans at all levels of play. Some call the hero bans unneeded, and claim they unbalance the game especially at lower levels of play, while others hail the variety that the bans can introduce into stale metas.
As such, the team at Blizzard has toyed around with several different methods for deciding which heroes are banned each week, with the newest being a system that takes into account playtime for heroes for each category in both the Overwatch League and top tier competitive play.
Fans are concerned that this system is not working as intended, however, as the very recently introduced hero Echo has already been banned for this week of play. This is quite the shock as she was only being introduced to the game on April 14th.
Naturally, her introduction into the game led to a huge boom in players wanting to try her out in the competitive queue, which led to her being flagged by the ban system. Apparently, this playtime was so significant that despite her having absolutely no playtime in the Overwatch League, that she was still hit with the ban hammer. Other heroes banned for this week include Orisa, Tracer, and Moira.
The jury is still out on how players feel about Echo as a character. Some believe she is extremely overpowered, due to her utility and mobility combined with exceptional burst DPS. In addition to this, her ultimate ability, in essence, gives her three lives, which can stall a point or payload with great efficiency. This could lead to certain players enjoying the next week of Echo-free competitive play.
Others are frustrated with this turn of events, as Echo is extremely fun to play character. Her previously mentioned mobility and utility make her satisfying to maneuver around the battlefield. In addition, she is a hero with a high skill ceiling, so those wishing to master her will have to stick to practicing in other game modes for the time being.
The good news (or bad news depending on how you look at it) is that Blizzard has plenty of time to consider changes to this system for newly introduced characters, as it was announced that Echo will be the last hero released before Overwatch 2 comes out. The bans only last for a week, however, so in the long run, it doesn’t change very much for players of the game.
Despite this, some fans are calling for the newly introduced characters to be exempt from hero bans in the upcoming title. It does somewhat diminish the hype for these recent introductions if players have to take a break from trying them out so quickly. Time will tell whether the company will actually act on this player feedback before the new game releases.
