The Verdict On Hero Pools - Féfé, Noukky, yeHHH, Barroi, And AVRL Comment
A year of dive and a year of GOATs weighed heavy on the soul of at least the vocal fanbase during the first and the second season of the Overwatch League. Something had to be done - we needed a novelty creating device. Hero bans had been talked about since the inception of the esport, as we looked around the industry and saw other character and role-based esports implement bans to great effect. A counter-argument that was frequently brought up was that the number of heroes that we had in the game wouldn’t lend itself to a dynamic ban system yet, and the fear of a stagnant ban meta developing within the Overwatch League was ever-present.
When the competitively minded steered towards stability and perceived monotony, letting them take the wheel seemed dangerous. In the same way that you wouldn’t let someone who has their life together host a party you want to be as wild as possible, agency had to be taken away from them. Standing in the colosseum ranks, the audience demanded the katanas be handed out, the lions to be let loose, the gravity to be turned up high in the arena, and the area of combat to be flooded.
“The best teams would adapt!” said the crowd - and they were right. The Philadelphia Fusion, the San Francisco Shock, and the Shanghai Dragons improvised, sometimes on a moment's notice, and prevailed through the challenges with nothing short of assembling the best players, coaches, and practice environments, investing a lot of resources in the process. Being thrown into the Hero Pools with cement shoes, they developed gills and fed on the teams that got stuck at the bottom.
Some competitors didn’t make it out and quit the league half-way through the season, including the league MVP of season 2 Jay “sinatraa” Won. Others made it through but came away wounded and in need of a break. With a lot of sacrifices made by a lot of people in the industry for our enjoyment, they deserve to have the matter examined, their voices heard and the feature to be discussed in detail. Moreover, we need to find out the exact pressure points to make sure we understand how to implement it next year when we can expect to travel more once again.
GGRecon asked experts from all kinds of different roles within the scene what their impressions of Hero Pools were, asking: Was Hero Pools a valuable addition to Overwatch League in season 3? Do Hero Pools need changes and if so, which?
Click to enlargeFélix "Féfé" Münch, former head coach of the Toronto Defiant
I wasn't a big fan of the Hero Pool when it was implemented at the beginning of the season. The fact that the Hero Pool was changing every week definitely impacted the way teams had to practice. It kind of made coaches focus more on finding the good comp than actually focus on helping players to become better, individually and collectively. I also think that this lack of stability was pretty stressful for some players.
Nevertheless, I would say that it forced teams to try new things and play different "patterns" of compositions and it kind of broke the "fear to switch" we noticed during Season 2 with Goats meta. Because of it, we now see a lot of different compositions and pattern switches even during one match, which is probably really enjoyable from a viewer perspective. I also think that making it a 2 weeks thing, instead of swapping bans every week, definitely helped and fixed a part of the problem. Making 3 weeks bans could be even better, as I know from experience that there are still changes every week and experimentations even if the patch/pool doesn't change. However, I would say the current format is a good compromise and that the thing that matters the most is having players enjoying it.
Ysabel "Noukky" Müller, manager, British Hurricane
I don't think Hero Pools had the wrong intent, but the frequency of the rotation produced a very heavy workload on coaching staff. If we keep Hero Pools in the League I would love to see the rotation less frequently, keeping them around for longer secures a better preparation for each team and more exciting matches cause everyone can have more well-rounded strategies.
Kevin "AVRL" Walker, colour commentator and analyst
Honestly, I'm doubling down on my initial assertion that Hero Pools are a bandaid solution to more fundamental issues with stagnation that could be resolved with more active patch cycles. I said that at the start of Hero Pools, and I still stick by it now.
The variety it brought to the meta was entirely artificial, and at times incredibly random. I want to see teams compete at the highest level, and that requires a length of practice and preparation to master any particular meta.
I'd rather the teams themselves dictate the bans (like the Lunatic Hai vs Runaway showmatch) than any method of applying bans that we've used officially so far.
But preferably in an ideal world there would be no bans, and instead we'd put our faith in the balance team to deliver.
Albert "yeHHH" Yeh, general manager, Florida Mayhem
I think that's a hard question to answer since we never got to see the alternative. If we had a first half of the season on 2-2-2 without Hero Pools and then the second half of the season on Hero Pools we would be able to compare. So my response will be based off of pure conjecture. I think it definitely made coaches and teams by extension more creative by pushing everyone out of their comfort zones.
As the advocate of 2-week Hero Pools, as opposed to the old one week model, I think the changes did exactly what I anticipated. First week everyone is experimenting and rewards teams that adapt quickly, second week is all about who refined their strats better based on the first week matches. Over a two week period you can really see which teams "mastered" that current meta. I think the main question I have moving forward is if we remove Hero Pools entirely, will teams still be stagnant or have they grown enough during a year of Hero Pools to continue to be creative with comps and tailor strats to the strengths of their personnel? In an ideal world I would like no Hero Pools with good balance and big patches every couple of months to keep the meta fresh. That's a big ask though, since historically the metas prior to Hero Pools have been stagnant. Most likely, Hero Pools is the only "surefire" way to enforce meta diversity.
Dennis "Barroi" Matz, assistant coach, Toronto Defiant
At the start of the season, I commented on Hero Pools in a neutral light: It adds excitement through randomness and it takes away from excitement through competition. So what did 2020 teach us? Excitement through randomness doesn't do anything for OW fans, viewership saw a general steady decline. We have a hardcore audience that doesn't really change depending on which team is playing, they care about the matchup and the circumstances. Excitement through competition is the only thing that boosted viewership in 2020, see the tournaments. A TOR vs PHI game in semifinals is sure to see more viewers than just a regular-season match. So in conclusion Hero Pools was a failure viewership wise, in my opinion. Was Hero Pools valuable for teams or other non-viewership perspectives? That's a big resounding NO. It completely undermined coaching, the team that has a better immediate grasp on a meta does better than one that steadily learns, has a lower starting but higher ending point in terms of skill. It just increased chaos, player fatigue, and necessary practice hours to get good fast. So all in all, Hero Pools was as much of a valuable addition to the Overwatch League as Ketchup is a valuable addition to steak.
It needs to be removed. If we live in a world where this is impossible then Hero Pools durations have to be increased - 2 weeks is a good start, 4 weeks is better. Additionally, there might be some value in coaches and teams choosing the bans, over random determination. A must-have, if Hero Pools is a must-have, is to make ranked sync up with Hero Pools. It is completely unacceptable that players have to play a hero in ranked that is unplayable in that meta, because it is the best option for the Hero Pools meta. It plays differently and ultimately ranked will make players adapt habits on that hero that might be disastrous for OWL and the Hero Pools meta. But the best solution would still, as has always been, to get rid of Hero Pools once and for all. We tried the experiment, I think it failed, and now we can continue our search to find a different way to create hype.
Images via Pikpng and Blizzard Entertainment
