I’ve been playing a lot of sombra lately, and she isn’t my main, however I play well with her. A lot of people have been reporting me, even if we win, and it has me worried if I’m going to be banned. I play to the best of my abilities and don’t throw, but some people will ask if I have gold damage and of course I usually don’t and they automatically assume I’m not doing my job even though I’m sweating. Do people actually get banned even if they’re trying on a hero other than their main?
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I am bad at tracer, but I am trying to play her in comp to get better. Usually I play for a bit, then swap after a minute or two. you could try the same.
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Blizzard has stated that it’s not ban worthy to play a certain hero, even if it is considered to be sub-optimal.
That said, if you lock in Sombra you should tell your team that if you’re not being effective that you’ll switch right away (and actually switch if you aren’t doing well in the first minute or two).
If you communicate in a positive fashion and try your best, while performing on par or above the rest of your team, then your team will be less inclined to report you and if they do, the reports should easily be able to be disputed with Blizzard if they stack enough for a ban.
Do note, you will get a warning message when you log in if you are being reported an excessive amount. I wouldn’t sweat it though, just give it your best and stay positive. Who knows, the people false reporting you could get flags on their accounts when you’re found to be innocent. 
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disable chat, voice and play
this game is toxic if you don’t pick OP hero
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its not an offense to play a hero you want as long as you are trying. i wouldnt worry about it unless you are throwing or trolling
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The Devs have already said you can play what you want as long as you are trying and playing.
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Are you getting notified of being reported? or are people just saying it in Chat to tilt you?
lol…it’s not a team game also…just do whatever amirite?
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sorry to tell, but eventually you will get banned. Once you break reports threshold - they just ban without any investigation. When you appeal - they just tell they can see punishment was justified.
Before you say - I don’t play off-meta and I was never banned or suspended for any reason whatsoever.
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People fail to realize that Sombra really isn’t a true DPS hero because her damage output is low. She’s a suppport hero akin to Symmetra, meant to be played in situations where your team wants control a megapack until she can EMP.
However, that’s soon to change with PTR updates! After new changes, she’ll be more of a backline harrassment hero like tracer with her translocator, hack speed, and gun buffs.
My main beef with Sombra mains is their lack of team coordination of EMPs and hacks. She’ll always be an offensive supportive hero in my opinion and support heros need to have the most team coordination and be able to dictate the flow of team fights.
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In my experience, yes. Doesn’t matter if you’re doing great, you’ll still get suspended if people mass report you
It’s not bannable for playing a particular hero as long as you’re trying to play the game. That being said, I think the report function does see some abuse in this manner. I think it’s most important to communicate with your team and explain your situation if they’re asking why you’re playing Sombra, and to switch if you’re not performing well. While it’s hard to get any good practice in Overwatch (I find doing deathmatch helps with a lot of characters), it’s also important to realize that the other people on your team didn’t enter competitive to watch you struggle on a hero. If you’re doing fine and you know you’re contributing to each push your team makes, the results will speak for themselves I think. Good luck, I know the struggle.
I’ve always felt that Blizzard needs to change things up and add an extra category of heroes and move a few heroes over. “Utility” class. Heroes that aren’t really supports, but aren’t really true dps and not really true offense or defense. The category would include Sombra, Symmetra, and Torbjorn for now.
Sadly, Blizzard appears to have an automatic ban system. Doesn’t matter why people are reporting, just the actual number of people making reports.
I’ve lost count of how many toxic people threatened me with reports just because I main Symmetra even though I have a 60~70% win rate with her. I have no clue exactly how many have actually reported me for it, but there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.
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Just saying it right now, but I’m sure they actually are.