Since BlizzCon 2019, the buzz aroundOverwatchhasn’t stopped. With the Overwatch League having restarted and some major changes on the horizon to make the game more fun and exciting to play, Blizzard is surely hoping to see long-time fans not disappointed when the game finally returns.
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In a recent developer update, Jeff Kaplan stated that a new system called “Hero Pools” would be introduced for Season 21 of competitive play. The Hero Pool changes on a weekly basis, and removes one tank hero, two damage heroes and one support hero from the game for that duration. Here are five reasons why this might actually be the saving graceOverwatchneeds and five why it could be the last straw for frustrated players.
10Helpful: No Oppressive Metas
As seen in the 2019 Overwatch League, the game has gone through some extremely long-standing and oppressive metas. Certain compositions were simply so powerful that playing any other heroes would mean a certain defeat at high levels of the game. This was, and still is, a major concern.
By introducing Hero Pools, Blizzard could actively prevent metas from lasting for such a long time. In fact, most metas would only last for about a week, allowing Blizzard to quickly ban key heroes that reinforce oppressive and boring metas that most players aren’t keen on.
9Unhelpful: Short Ban Times
So far, Jeff Kaplan has made it clear that Hero Pools will be in a testing phase. Things are bound to change, and the idea might even be reverted if it creates unwanted results. Because of this, the starting time for a Hero Pool is one week, meaning four heroes will be unavailable for seven days at a time.
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The danger with such a short time period is that it won’t be enough time for the developers to properly address the issues with certain heroes. By banning heroes, they can spend time balancing them before bringing them back in. However, a week is far too short to pinpoint where the issues might lie.
8Helpful: Keeps Things Fresh
While one week is indeed a pretty short time to try and balance some of the banned heroes, it does have its pros as well. By changing the nature of the game at such short periods, it will always feel just a tiny bit different every time when played at a competitive level.
Of course, modes like Arcade and Quick Play will continue to remain the same, with the entire roster available. However, in Competitive, there will be a fresh pool of heroes to choose from to make a nice variety of compositions every single week.
7Unhelpful: Not Enough Ban Slots
It’s still largely unclear whether or not the current amount of ban slots is going to be enough or even too much. Four heroes removed from the game for one week might either have a huge impact if those heroes are largely played or considered overpowered, or they might not change anything at all.
In order to come to clear conclusions, it’s safe to say there should probably be at least one additional slot for damage characters. This would put the total at five banned heroes, with one tank and one support banned, and three damage heroes banned.
6Helpful: Kills Overpowered Heroes
Of course, the main goal of the Hero Pool is to target heroes that are damaging to the balance of the game. The developers want to ensure every hero has a spot in just about any map or composition, and that no one shines above everyone else.
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By introducing Hero Pools, overly powerful heroes that dominate in ranked mode have the chance of being completely removed. This means that games won’t be decided on whether or not the team is playing a certain hero, but rather by skill and strategy, which is what the game was based on in the first place.
5Unhelpful: Inequality For Tanks And Healers
One of the biggest, glaring issues inOverwatchis the sheer lack of tank and support characters compared todamage characters. This essentially means that when one tank is banned, those specialized in the tank role will really feel the difference as there will be significantly less choice.
Supports are in a similar position. With such lack of choice and variety in these two roles, even just one hero ban makes a massive difference. This can turn players away from playing these roles in the first place, and instead favor the damage role which provides more options.
4Helpful: Weak Characters Get A Chance Too
Currently, there are some heroes that see almost no play at all due to other heroes dominating or countering them effectively. Heroes like Soldier 76 and Genji in particular have suffered in the last year or so due to compositions that make their jobs almost impossible.
With Hero Pools, less powerful heroes finally get a chance to shine for once. This is great news for players who specifically leftOverwatchfor not being able to play the heroes they liked the most, and will likely bring them back.
3Unhelpful: Players Can’t Play What They Want
There have been many arguments against the Hero Pool mechanic, even with all the promise it has. After all, like most games,Overwatchwants to empower its players with the choice of playing whicheverherothey prefer. With something available for each archetype, everyone is likely to have a favorite.
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It can be incredibly disappointing for a player to see their favorite hero banned from competitive play for a week. After buying the game and spending time and money on it, many feel entitled to being able to play what they want, as it’s the experience they invested in.
2Helpful: Punishes One Tricks
Anyone who has played even a bit of competitiveOverwatchwill have most likely run into so-called one-trick players. These players will only play a single character, no matter what map or team comp the rest of the team wants to play. Sometimes one-tricks are a devastating force, and sometimes they’re simply throwing the game.
In the case where one-tricks ruin the experience for other people, the Hero Pool is a great fix. Not only will one-tricks be forced to stay out of ranked for a week, they’ll also be motivated to flex to other heroes and perhaps learn something that will better serve their team — and ultimately win the game.
1Unhelpful: Less Strategic Prediction
For extreme fans of the game and those who love crafting theories and possible team compositions, or even just watching thepro players, the Hero Pool change might make things a bit more complicated. Predicting and building a theory around different team compositions is what hardcore fans enjoy doing, but it does require a degree of predictability.
With the Hero Pool change, compositions and gameplay will become more random and luck-based, even at higher levels. It will be even harder to say what pros are likely to play and which strategies prevail over others in the future. However, to avoid a full-on meta, it’s probably for the best, even if it’s a bit disappointing.
