Blizzard Entertainment’s team-based shooterOverwatchis four years old, and has beencelebrating with an event providing special skinsto various characters that is set to end tomorrow. The game’s sequel is in production, but even as major updates wind down with the addition ofOverwatch’s last new character, Echo, adjustments are still being made to its competitive scene.
Today community manager Molly Fender announced that Hero Pools are “removed indefinitely” fromOverwatchcompetitive play on the Blizzard Forums, and at this point, there are no plans to re-implemented them. These pools have effectively been bans of characters meant to “address issues with stagnating metas” according to Fender, but thanks to balance updates and the introduction of Experimental Cards, the team feels there is no longer a need to disable certain heroes.
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The prevalence of Hero Pools has been waning, as Blizzard decided toremove them for Competitive tiers below Master and Grandmasterin May. Players who enjoy using characters that may have otherwise been limited due to a perceived meta prevalence should be excited to jump into the game playing whoever they want now thatOverwatchhas all the major content it is going to receive beforeOverwatch 2is released.
While competitive play is officially free from Hero Pools, the esportOverwatch League(OWL) still has one in limited circumstances. Starting June 13 the OWL will “utilize a single Hero Pool for the first two weeks of each tournament cycle” according to Fender’s post, including qualifier matches and “a tournament weekend featuring bracket play.” However, they will not appear the week before tournaments or during tournament bracket play.
As these changes are being made toOverwatch’s competitive side, the game is also seeing a resurgence thanks to a broader support for modding communities. TheOverwatchWorkshop has seen all manner of mods in recent weeks, from huge game changers like aWarioWare-style mini-game collection to more silly character-based adjustments likegiving Widowmaker creepy spider legsshe can use to climb up walls.
At the same time, Blizzard has been branching out its popular shooter with more pieces of media in the lead-up toOverwatch 2. AnofficialOverwatchnovelbecame available on June 2, for example, which may help long-time fans stay invested in the title as they jump into competitive matches with no hero restrictions.
Overwatchis available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
