Overwatch's Hero Pools Removed Indefinitely From Competitive

Overwatch is removing Hero Pools from competitive play indefinitely, Blizzard announced. On the game's official forums community manager Molly Fender said that after listening to player feedback, "Hero Pools will be removed indefinitely from Competitive Play, with no tentative date for re-implementation."

The post credits more frequent hero balances and the Experimental Card, a mode where Blizzard tests large balance changes without affecting the main game, with keeping the game fresh enough that Hero Pools are no longer needed.

Hero Pools, a system that removed heroes from the game for an entire week, was implemented in order to deal with stagnant metas. The heroes with highest play rates were more likely to get the ban, but heroes wouldn't get banned for two weeks in a row.

As for the Overwatch League, Hero Pools will not be removed entirely but instead rotated in-and-out on a two week basis. The entire league will play with a single Hero Pool set for two weeks and the following two weeks will be played without a Hero Pool. Tournaments, like the upcoming Summer Showdown, will be played without Hero Pools.

The system was updated in April to always remove one Tank, one Support, and two Damage characters as well as be on the same rotation as the Overwatch League to avoid confusion.

Overwatch's Anniversary event is currently live and runs through tomorrow, June 9. The event adds new skins like Masquerade Reaper, Little Red Ashe, and Dragoon Mercy, and makes all items from previous events available during the Anniversary event. Seasonal arcade modes from previous events are also available to play, rotating on a daily basis.