Hero Pool Information

General Discussion
1

A lot of confusion is already going around about Hero Pools so I wanted to help.

This is from the OWL website:

As announced in an Overwatch Developer Update today, Hero Pools will premiere in Overwatch Competitive Play during Season 21. The Hero Pool system will feature a weekly rotation of playable heroes intended to improve the quality of play, increased hero diversity, and strategy to matches. To reflect this overall change to the game, the Overwatch League is going to implement Hero Pools as well.

How Hero Pools Work

Starting March 7, the Overwatch League will make one tank , one support , and two damage heroes unavailable for selection during matches each weekend.

  • The heroes will be randomly selected from a group of eligible heroes based on play-rate data from the previous two weeks of Overwatch League matches—only heroes that are being played regularly can be pulled from the next hero pool.
  • No hero will be unavailable two weeks in a row.
  • Hero Pools will not be used for midseason tournaments, the play-in tournament, playoffs, or Grand Finals. All heroes will be available for those matches.
  • Teams will be informed of each week’s Hero Pool approximately one week in advance of matches.

Our expectation is that a rotating Hero Pool for Overwatch League matches will foster a wider range of team strategies and showcase more heroes in competition as players adapt and teams experiment with new compositions when some of the most-played heroes are no longer options.

Overwatch League Patching and Game Updates

In January, we’ve deployed several quick patch updates to the game—including, for the first time, balance updates to the live patch. We wanted to give Overwatch League fans some visibility into how future patch updates will be integrated into pro play:

  • Our overall goal is to move balance updates as quickly as we can from the live game service to Overwatch League matches.
  • Whenever the live game receives a new patch, the Overwatch League will begin playing on that patch two weekends later.
  • Any mid-patch updates to the game that go into effect during a match weekend will be deployed for Overwatch League matches the following weekend.

Please note that the Hero Pool and patching/update formats could be revised at any point during the season. We will listen closely to the fans and players, learn from our collective experiences, consider adjustments, and test new strategies along the way. We can’t wait for the 2020 season to get started and we look forward to hearing the community’s feedback.

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2 Likes
Anyone Else Think Hero Bans are a Terrible Idea?
2

I kinda called this, though I wish it was one week instead of two. Maybe they will do one week if people want it enough? if it’s reasonably possible anyway.

4

After 1600 hours, 800 hours on Soldier and 800hours on d.va.

I would like to say: DON’T DO THAT. NO HERO
ROTATION.
You recently added map rotation to competive play.
It does not improve map strategy at all. Players only have less map to play then before. ( I dont get it, playing the same map over and over is not fun )

I speak only for myself but it’s my favorite game and it would be a big bummer if i cannot play the hero i want to.

Dedicated player.
Thank you

1 Like
5

“Map Strategy?”

Are you referring to people picking Lucio only because its Ilios Well or what?

Also it is only a change for comp and on top of that the two heroes you stated aren’t the most played in their category so most of the time you will be fine.