Heroes of the Storm - To Ban or not to Ban

Now that Heroes of the Storm beta has a ranked mode, most seasoned MOBA players will find that it isn’t quite what they’re used to. The majority of MOBAs have bans in the hero selection phase, however, this is not included in Heroes of the Storm. There are mixed opinions about this. On the one hand it is a positive because it means you always have the opportunity to pick your hero of choice without it being exiled to the ban jail. On the other hand this means that heroes which are considered "OP" by many players can be picked by either team. Some people consider this unfair whereas others feel that it gives players the chance to play to their full potential.
Firstly, if bans were implemented it would mean that there would have to be a minimum number of owned heroes required to play. For example in League of Legends a minimum number of 16 champions must be owned by a player (not including ones in the free rotation) to be able to enter ranked; this avoids the possibility that all of a players champions could either be banned or picked by the other team. This has some positives and negatives. On the positive side it encourages players to become more experienced in a wider range of different champions/heroes to better prepare them for their venture into ranked. On the negative side it can take a lot of time and/or money to possess a large number of champions/heroes as well as the time it takes to practise with them.

Furthermore, the number of bans would have to be considered. In League of Legends each team gets three bans which are chosen at the beginning of the selection process. However, Heroes of the Storm (as of March 2015) has only 35 heroes which isn’t that large of a selection so it could be argued that by having 6 bans, teams would be too limited in their picks. One ban for each team could work, allowing each team to get rid of that one hero they just can’t deal with or which counters your picks especially well. But then the question remains is whether it would be worth it? Would one ban really make the difference to the game? Unfortunately that is a question which can only be answered by each individual player or team.
Bans give the potential to each team to prevent the other team from possessing a certain composition, certain counter-picks or simply a hero who they just can’t deal with. Without bans players are forced to deal with the possibility that these heroes could be picked. This can help players develop their skill as they have to deal with their counters. With Heroes of the Storm still being in its beta stages it is uncertain as to whether bans will be implemented when there is a larger hero pool, or whether players will still have the freedom to pick whoever they wish to in ranked.

If banning is implemented there is still the question of what kind of system it will be. Will it be straight forward ban(s) at the beginning of the selection like League of Legends; or will it be more like DotA2 where bans are selected in between the picks, allowing the other team to see your selection and potentially predict the team composition you are going for in order to ban out one of your picks; or will they continue on their trend of trying to do things differently and have a totally different ban process? At this moment in time we can only speculate. Each option has its positives and negatives. If the bans are all picked at the beginning of the selection it means your team can easily ban out the champions/heroes which counter their team’s picks, or if you know the players on the other team and recognise that they are particularly good with certain picks then you have the opportunity to ban those. Obviously this can work both ways and there is risk to your own picks, too. Alternatively picking and banning in turns allows for more discussion with the team as to who would be the best ban. Do you ban someone who counters your carry? Or do you ban someone who could result in an amazing wombo-combo for the enemy team?

It is without doubt that bans are something we are used to in MOBAs but it is up to personal opinion as to whether they are necessary or not. Even with bans you could still go into a game and finish it thinking "I wish I had banned that hero" or you may be thinking "If only they hadn’t banned this hero". There are both benefits and drawbacks to having bans in ranked play, they can make or break a team and the game. All we can do is wait and see what Blizzard decides to do.

Katy Simpson