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Overwatch 2 (Source - Blizzard)
The Overwatch 2 esports scene seems to be taking a turn with the announcement of the Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS). The game is also one of the 19 games set to be featured at the upcoming Esports World Cup in Riyadh which will reportedly feature over $1 million in prize pool.
Amidst all this, another huge decision for the competitive Overwatch 2 is being considered by FACEIT as per ggrecon. The change in talk here is the hero ban system, which is set to be implemented soon in the FACEIT League and the Esports World Cup. Although, there hasn’t been an official announcement yet.
In their report, ggrecon says that FACEIT has been in touch with professional teams to collect feedback on the matter. If passed, the system would likely be implemented in the upcoming Esports World Cup and FACEIT’s own tournament League that will also allow a team to qualify for the Esports World Cup.
A spokesperson from FACEIT also spoke to ggrecon saying, “Open discussions with teams and the Overwatch community are essential when considering new features. The Hero Ban is in the exploratory phase, and we have no immediate plans to introduce it on FACEIT”.
How does the Hero ban affect esports?
Map bans are common in every arena shooter in esports tournaments. However, the hero ban will be even more interesting as one theme can force their opponent to shift from their strongest play. It will also help in keeping the game interesting.
When Overwatch first came out, it saw massive success. However, with time, the game fell off in the esports scene while still being popular for casual play. The biggest reason was the hero combo meta got pretty old and boring.
Fans were watching every team running the same heroes, with the fight dragging on and on. Every game essentially felt the same, regardless of team. With Overwatch 2, the system was changed from 6v6 to 5v5. The game recently added small self-heal to the entire team.
As per the report, teams will be able to ban one hero per map in the tournament. Both teams can ban any hero they want, including the same one for each team. This will help a lot in countering meta-heroes.