A year in with hero bans, and the ranked Overwatch 2 experience has materially changed. Lobbies pick from a ban-pool of eight heroes each match, and the draft rhythm that follows — ban the Mauga, protect the Ana — is the most chess-like competitive OW has ever been.
What works
Hero diversity in Masters+ went from "four picks on every map" to actual rotations. Tanks aren't locked into two choices. Support mains are dusting off Brig and Moira. Every match has a micro-phase before the fight where you're actually thinking.
Tilt is lower. You know why? Because when your team can't counter-pick the Widowmaker, banning her feels agentic. Bans give you something to do before you lose.
What doesn't
Low ranks — Bronze to Plat — don't really feel the benefit. Hero pools at those levels are already narrow because players one-trick. Ban phase can brick your team comp when your carry only plays Ashe and Ashe gets banned twice in a row.
And the queue times spiked for tank players in the first six weeks. Most of that smoothed out, but some nights it's still rough.
Verdict
Good feature, shipped too late, worth it. If you stopped caring about OW2 during the Season 5 engagement-farming era, bans are the reason to come back. Dust off your Ball.