HomeNewsOverwatch
Overwatch ditches hero pools in competitive play for goodThey’ll still have them in the Overwatch League, though
They’ll still have them in the Overwatch League, though
Blizzard are changing upOverwatch’s hero pool system again, except this time around they’re just straight up removing it from regular competitive play. The system, which involves banning several characters each week, was originally implemented to stop the meta from turning stale, and it’s seen a few changes already in its short life. Just last monthI reported that they’d ditched hero pools for lower rank players, and now they’ve gone as far as to get rid of them for everyone. Except theOverwatchLeague, that is, which, let’s be honest, is pretty much the only reason hero pools were invented in the first place.
“We’ve found that the introduction of Experimental Card and increased hero balance updates has helped us work towards a healthy, changing meta in competitive play without needing to disable heroes,“Blizzard say.
For those that don’t know, the Experimental Card is a kind of test server that sits amongst the game’s arcade modes. It’s a way for the devs to test out certain changes to heroes that they themselves aren’t too sure about, and it’s more accessible to players who aren’t able to use the test servers.
Despite these balance updates, hero pools are still sticking around for the Overwatch League, however, albeit with a few changes. From June 13th, hero pools will last for two weeks before rotating, then the two weeks after that will take a break from the pools, allowing League players to pick whoever they want during tournament brackets.
It’ll also be nice to see some OWL matches with the hero pool restrictions completely lifted - perhaps the teams will just fall back into the typical meta, but it also opens it up for a bit more experimentation, and that’s always fun to watch.
If you’re into the Overwatch League, the next tournament, the Summer Showdown, kicks off this Saturday. All 20 OWL teams will take part in qualifiers over the last three weeks of June, with two final regional tournaments taking place at the beginning of July (the North American bracket and the Asian bracket). Check out the scheduleon their website.
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
