Overwatch May Ban Competitive Players Who Pick the Same Hero Every Time

Overwatch players might want to start diversifying their hero picks for competitive play or else they could run the risk of being banned for one-tricking their favorite character.

Being proficient with a hero to the point that you can pick them into any enemy team is one thing, but the issues apparently lies in how it affects the rest of your team. A situation surfaced on Reddit involving a one-trick player who simply refused to play because they didn't get their Torbjorn trick, an action that resulted in a ban for the player that was first thought to be related to one-tricking a hero. It was found that the situation was more about holding your teammates hostage and being inflexible with your hero picks when your main is taken, an offense that an Overwatch community manager said they're discussing internally.

"I just wanted to chime in and make sure that everyone knows that we're currently digging into the reports, investigating this ban, and thinking about how this type of situation affects specialized players and their teammates," said Josh Engen, community manager.

"We take both sides of the issue very seriously. We believe that players should be able to choose their favorite heroes, but playing as a team (which includes building an effective team composition) is a core part of the Overwatch experience. It's a delicate balance, and we're still working on getting it right (and probably always will be)."

Engen then expanded on his statement by referencing Blizzard's stance on playing fair and nice while overcoming obstacles both in-game and within your team.

"If you've been playing Blizzard games for a while, you've probably heard us use the phrase "Play nice; play fair," he continued. "It's like a mantra around the Blizzard campus, and it's a big part of the way that we approach situations like this. People tend to focus on the 'playing fair' part, but they forget about 'playing nice.' Sometimes that means switching off at your teammates' request, and sometimes that means working around your teammate's specialization."

At the moment, it doesn't look like simply one-tricking a hero will get you banned on its own, but doing that in a way that negatively affects your team may not end the same way. Overwatch's report system has come under fire in the past for being abusable, so your teammates may push for a ban anyway if you odn't play by the "Play nice; play fair" mantra of Blizzard's games.