So I joined a game, just picked my hero and the map hadn’t even loaded up yet. First message i see in chat is about how voice lines can be distraction and I am banned for 2 seconds…
As I said I barely picked a hero, didn’t even load up the screen yet. Obviously hadn’t touched a single voice line and yet I got a ban? Pretty much the first time I ever saw this message.
It doesn’t mean anything anyway. It’s not really a “ban.” It’s just a cooldown to keep you from spamming too much. Basically their latest idea to coddle the crybabies whining about voice line spam without making the voice lines completely worthless like they did a while back.
Out of curiosity why do you need to spam voice lines relentlessly?
Curious what it accomplishes
I personally never understood it is all
If you actually read the post you would notice I mentioned how I got the ban before I even loaded up the game… it was an instant ban from the second the match start. I hadn’t even touched a voice line, and I don’t generally even use them let alone spam them.
Nono I’m not questioning the ban itself I was wondering why the people that actually do it…do it.
Plus I wasn’t responding to your post it was the person under you if you check
they did it, because trolls over-use it.
"GROUP UP WITH ME " x 10,000,000
“I need healing” x 500,000
“Hello!” x 125,000
"Bring me another "
if they really did bring back the "you are sending too many messages at once’ message. Thank you devs. 
Im going to bet that you over-used a voiceline or some voicelines and that you received spamming reports from your previous team.
In a game where communication can win matches and even small sound queues can save lives… and a game that has limited audio channels to begin with— spamming voice lines is a problem.
What purpose does it serve? None. Its passive trolling- and it can legit cost people games.
Especially if your teammates are visually impaired (like myself).
I have no issue with voice lines in general-- but spamming them serves no purpose other than to make the spammer laugh- and it can cost matches.
I dunno why OP got the ban-- especially right in the start of a match- id have to assume it was reported in the previous match?
but in general- spamming is trolling and im happy to hear (pun inteneded) theyre doing something about it.
Side note— if ppl dont know-- the “squelch chat” option mutes that teammates voice lines. I actually didnt know that for a while after starting ow- so figured id let ppl know.
Lol no… in fact i honestly don’t touch the little wheel. I am rather bored with all the voice lines tbh.
Bans and suspensions aren’t always instant. It probably was triggered from reports on a prior match.
Lol as I have said many many times I don’t really use voice lines. If I used it more than 3 times in an entire match I’d be surprised. Unless it was just a false report that got processed there is zero reason it was because of a previous match.
Not to mention what the heck is the point of a 2 second ban from a previous matches voice line use?
I don’t spam them relentlessly, but the first two methods of reducing the spam worked well enough. They only didn’t stop the ones that were ridiculously long. It was never that big of an issue. It especially isn’t nowadays.
Realistically, they won’t cost you games. The important sound cues and voice lines are designed to play louder than the purchased voice lines. Even footsteps are louder. The few in a million scenarios where a voice line might be genuinely obstructive are not worth the drama that often surrounds them from a niche set of players that blame their performance on a voice line. They’re never a reason a player loses a game or is underperforming. They’re just one of many scapegoats.
Try being legally blind and claiming that.
They ABSOLUTELY drown out footsteps. Not all-- but the quieter ones? Yep. Especially if theres a lot of other action happening. Or people talking on comms.
Not to mention they can be just generally distracting.
Like some Lil kid askin “why?.. why?..why?.. why?..” constantly.
It can cause a complete shift in focus.
AND as i previously mentioned—
Theres also the fact that this game only has limited number of audio channels.
You ever not here an enemy ult sound queue???
It happens regularly because multiple sound queues happen simultainously and the game cant play them all at once.
This means— in the most hectic moments— spamming can absolutely stomp out important queues. Because there isnt a channel for to them to play on.
Doesnt matter how loud a queue should be or is— if there isnt an availble audio channel for it to play on— it CANT be heard.
Youre just trying to justify your spamming.
is there a bit of cryptic in what you say, isn’t what you read ewra just a suggestion in game? Did the message appear in the chat or loading screen?
because in that case I think you got banned for some other reason, not for voiceline spam