Though Overwatch 2 has already been announced and has rumors floating around, Overwatch is still one of the most popular online first-person shooters. Part of that is due to the newest additions to the game, the Hero Pools that were added in March 2020 and the Map Pools that were introduced in late 2019.
Though these systems are still very new, Overwatch will already be making some important changes to these systems starting next week. The developers say they'll be basing these updates on feedback from fans and the community, similar to what got them started on fixing the Play of the Game issue.
Starting on April 13th, Overwatch will be implementing a unified Hero Pool. This will allow the Overwatch League, Contenders/Open Division, and Competitive Play to mirror each other as closely as possible and create a more consistent play experience. In order to determine a week's Hero Pool, the developers will compile hero play rates from high-level Competitive Play matches from the previous two weeks. Heroes with play rates above a certain threshold will be eligible to be removed, so popular heroes such as Moira and Doomfist could be the first ones removed from play.
So, the higher a Hero's play rate, the more likely they are to be removed. Based on that, one Tank, two Damage, and one Support character will be randomly removed from play. The developer did note, however, that a Hero will not be removed two weeks in a row. At the end of each Sunday's Overwatch League matches (assuming the pros don't get fined for doing something rude), they will announce the Hero Pool that will be used that upcoming week for live Competitive Play, Overwatch League, and Contenders/Open Division.
That pool will then go into effect the following Monday morning. This process will occur every week of the Overwatch League's regular season. During weeks when there are no Overwatch League matches, though, the process will still be used to determine the following week's Hero Pool.
As for the Map Pools, the developers will be retiring them based on community responses. To simplify the competitive experience, Overwatch will no longer have rotating Map Pools starting April 14th. Instead, Competitive Play will include all of the maps, with the exception of the controversial Paris and Horizon Lunar Colony. The developers mentioned that once they've made updates to these two maps to improve their playability, then they will be added back into the pool.
Overwatch is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. The changes to Hero Pools and retiring of Map Pools will come April 13th and 14th respectively.
