The only way they can do so is by forcing sufficient imbalance for those practised and locked into a meta to notice the new one is actually better without too much investment.
2-2-2 actually made that harder for them, hero locks will be no different.
They create the meta by the changes they make
I don’t know if hero locks will lead to strict metas. It offers players the chance to break metas on the fly but whether it will be used to enforce strict metas or break them remains to be seen.
I’ve played this game almost every night since release. I think I’m perfectly dedicated enough. I may even cede comp mode to the toxic people, but I doubt others who want to try their best in a more serious mode need to be dictated to by control freaks either.
The rules in the NBA are different than high school basketball, or home games, but they are all still basketball. Not really any different than giving OWL different rules.
God if only … there was a Tool that allowed you to create a group with specific rules and NOT play X heroes could be in those rules … I wonder 
Something like “Create your Group” or something like that 
You really should stop using that dead meme, mostly because that decision was regarding the game balance. Allowing multiple copies of one heroes create 1 sided metas (2 winston, 2 lucios, 2 tracers) so yeah, it was a design/balance decision, not a “lets listen to the complainers” one.
It’s probable that there will only be one or two heroes that are typically banned as standard. Who gets banned will just be another choice in picking the meta of who gets picked.
We shall wait and see, it’s not like blizz aren’t open to experimentation with this stuff.
They only experiment internally, and when it’s experimental, the ‘fun of it’ will draw the trialists into ‘mixing it up’; it’s a very very different mindset to competitive play.
Once they release it in the wild, there are no take-backsies. 2-2-2 was never an experiment open to public experimentation after all.
More like stop listening to the whiny pros who get mad because Mercy knows how to jump better than they can. If a GM or Top 500 suggests something and has ever thrown a tantrum: DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM.
It’s like an entitled kid screaming for a candy bar in the middle of the store and you watching with a sad face as the mother shoves one in their mouth just to make them shut up.
The entitled child will never be satisfied. They will always just want more. It will never be enough unless you teach them proper manners. Do NOT instigate with or encourage the entitled child, Blizz.
Are you sure about that? It seems to me like that’s pretty much what it is right now. This is even reinforced by the 132 jeff post.
Whatever makes OWL more entertaining, I’m all for.
That said, competitive Overwatch outside of OWL is not an esport and it doesn’t need to be.
No one here on their couches or gaming chairs are ever going to amount to professional players so there’s no reason for our “casual” experience to mirror that of OWL’s. We don’t need bans at our level to make the game more competitive. At our level, more often than not, bans will no doubt just be a form of trolling… and as the OP has suggested, a form of “control” that some players force onto others.
Just my opinion though.
Especially since they already have the tools to make their matches 100% whatever they deem optimal - groups.
Or counter argument maybe this is teaching people to counter
There is a reason OWL is only for a very small minority of players. Most of us have actual jobs and play the game because its a game. Competing can be part of a game, but it cannot be its core element for the majority of people. That’s just absolutely unrealistic.
Paladins had a hero ban feature with 31 champions and Overwatch got 31 heroes so you know what that means right? 
So 2/2/2 and Hero Bans aren’t decisions regarding game balance?
I get that you don’t like 2/2/2, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is just as much a game balance decision as Hero Limit was.
Also the only dead meme here is you still trying to tell people that LFG would fix all their problems 
Paladins who ? I mean yeah … the more successful of the two does not have hero bans.
Paladin has cards that change how heroes play. You can create hero overlap in Paladins. For example right now you can run skye as healer and buck as frontline type heroes both are damage type heroes. In OW if i ban Lucio there is no way to cover the loss of a speed boost ability…
Well yeah that’s how ban works. Fortunately he won’t be touched much compared to other healers. Bans are crucial decisions though like if you ban the wrong hero it may be your teams downfall.
When it does grab your popcorn because we’re in for another storm of endless rain for sometime.