Heroes of the Storm Will Test Ban Systems This Summer

Blizzard will use Heroes of the Storm esports events this summer to test possible ban systems for the newly released MOBA, according to director Dustin Browder.

In response to a question on Twitter about plans to add bans to Team League, the game's most competitive mode, Browder had an encouraging answer. Blizzard "will experiment with some ban ideas in some esport events this summer. Will explore which ban system works best for us."

Beyond that, he didn't offer any details on what those systems might look like, or how soon one might be implemented in the game.

Ban systems are commonplace in MOBAs, particularly in their more competitive modes, where they're considered essential. They allow teams to block certain characters from being used by the other team; this can be important for preventing certain strategies from being leveraged, or to simply stop someone from playing a character they're especially good with. But, like so many other MOBA conventions--last-hitting, buying items, individuals having their own experience--Heroes of the Storm doesn't offer characters to be banned, at least at this point.

Blizzard recently announced a major Heroes of the Storm event called the Eternal Conflict that will see the game's updates focused on new Diablo content. The Crusader class (known as Johanna in HotS) from Diablo III was added earlier this month, and the Butcher is coming soon along with a new Diablo-themed map.