Blizzard needs to understand that the true power of Overwatch lies in its heroes—and how players connect with them. The game thrives on its rich characters, their stories, and the emotional attachment players develop over time. Overwatch needs more lore, background stories, and cinematics—not hero bans.
This is exactly why Jeff Kaplan was always against hero bans. You’re not just picking a hero like an action figure—you’re supposed to be the hero. Removing that choice undermines one of the game’s core appeals.
For many players, losing access to their hero means losing interest in the match altogether. If my hero gets banned—and my teammate picks the only other one I play—I’m not going to stick around for a match that’s already stacked against me. I’ll just leave and save myself the frustration of a guaranteed loss. And I won’t be the only one. Hero bans will inevitably lead to more players quitting mid-match, trolling, or simply walking away from the game entirely.
And for those who think bans will improve the game, let’s be clear:
There’s a difference between broken heroes and perceived broken heroes.
What the community thinks is OP often has one of the worst win rates in reality.
If anything, a ban system will cause players to lose rank. For example, heroes like Widowmaker, Ana, and Cassidy (often labeled as OP) actually have negative win rates. Banning them just pushes players toward statistically stronger picks **stacking the winrate further against them **.
Hero bans won’t create better balance—they’ll just make matches more frustrating, limit player choice, and alienate people who love specific heroes.
And before anyone says, “This is only for Competitive, you can just play Quick Play,”—that completely misses the point. I enjoy both modes, and I don’t want to feel like I’m playing a “cheaper version” of the game just because I prefer to avoid hero bans. Part of what makes Overwatch great is that Quick Play feels like Competitive—just without the pressure of ranking. Taking that away creates an unnecessary divide in the experience.
Blizzard needs to stop caving to the vocal minority. If you look at their biggest mistakes in the past, they all trace back to listening too much to the loudest voices rather than making decisions that are best for the entire player base. Most players aren’t the ones flooding the forums, demanding changes just to tilt the game in their favor. The majority just want a balanced, fun, and consistent experience.
And for the love of all things, stop copying games that originally copied Overwatch! This game set the standard for hero shooters for a reason—it’s polished, fun, and has always found a way to appeal to both casual and competitive players alike. Hero bans go against everything that makes Overwatch special.
If hero bans must exist, keep them in Esports only. That’s where they make sense, as teams at that level can strategize around them. The general community, however, doesn’t have the same level of coordination and knowledge. Most players won’t even know the optimal bans, and instead, we’ll see heroes like Ana getting banned every single game—reducing the banning team’s own chances of winning, since the enemy will just pick a support with a higher win rate. At the same time, Ana mains (and other players who rely on niche heroes) will be completely locked out of the game mode they want to play.
Nobody wins.
Hero bans aren’t a solution—they’re just going to alienate players, create unnecessary frustration, and ruin the identity of what makes Overwatch the best hero shooter out there. Blizzard needs to trust in their own game instead of blindly following trends that don’t belong here.
