Ah, Blizzard Entertainment, always stirring the Overwatch 2 pot with something new. So, here’s the deal — they’ve introduced this hero ban thing in April, right? If you’ve dabbled in any competitive games during season 16, you’d probably spot the usual suspects getting the axe. You know, Sombra, Zarya, Symmetra, Ana, Mercy — the ones everyone loves to hate. Blizzard spilled some beans, confirming this trend with some caveats. Apparently, all these bans could lead to some hero shake-ups. Characters might get a bit of a remix or a full-on makeover. Seems like their regular absence is catching up with them.
Okay, get this — Blizzard says, “On PC, Sombra’s at the top with an 85% ban rate. Zarya trails at 59%, and Doomfist’s hanging on at 43%.” But here’s the kicker: Sombra’s hitting a whopping 93% ban on consoles. Zarya’s banned 57% of the time, and Symmetra’s at 23%. Those numbers are just… wild.
Now, flip over to Gavin Winter, a bigwig systems designer at Blizzard, and he’s all about using the hero ban data to keep Overwatch 2 balanced. And he goes, “Some ultra-specific or map-focused heroes might need broadening if they’re forever banned where they’re killer.” Like, no specific tweaks are happening right now, but he also says, “Hero Ban data alone ain’t the boss of balance.”
What does that spell for Zarya and Symmetra? Well, nobody knows yet. But, if Sombra’s sitting out in 85% of comp games ’cause she’s just that hated, it’s like, why even bother mastering her? She’s benched half the time… or more.
But wait, despite all the quirky ban logic, Blizzard seems cool with it. Winter mentions, “We’re digging how it’s panning out so far,” and there’s some buzz about how bans will grow, plus they’ll drop more intel on hero win and pick rates soon. More charts to analyze, yay?
Season 17’s gonna jazz things up… late June-ish. They’re throwing us a bone with this map-voting thing, leading to even more chaos — or control? — in how matches play out. And with that, my brain’s spinning… or did I just confuse myself? Anyway, maybe this is their way of keeping us on our toes, who knows.
