Overwatch Competitive Mode will soon have a one hero per team limit

A big change is coming to Overwatch competitive play in the form of a one-hero-per team limit that will ensure players will no long end up facing off against squads loaded with multiple instances of the same character.

"The big thing for Competitive Play is we're going to turn on one-hero limit, so players will not be able to stack more than one of the same hero within a Competitive match,” Blizzard Principal Designer Scott Mercer told GameSpot. “It's not going to affect Quick Play at all, but it is something we're going to turn on for Competitive." 

That last point is important: The player limit will apply only to Competitive Play, so you can still throw up a wall of Mercy (or whoever) in Quick Play matches, if that's your thing. 

Mercer also touched on the coming end of Sudden Death in the second season of Overwatch, which will allow matches to end in ties. Blizzard is still looking for the "sweet spot" between giving players a proper sense of reward from matches that end in a stalemate, while at the same time avoiding “situations where players might collude and create some nasty situations.” 

Finally, he teased an upcoming patch, which will make balance changes to “quite a few of the heroes,” particularly Zenyatta, who's getting a shield boost and increased speed with his ultimate, and D.Va, whose defense field will no longer run on a simple timer, but be toggled on and off until depleted, if we're reading it right.

Blizzard revealed the new Overwatch hero Ana Amara earlier today, and even though she's not Sombra, she promises to be a very interesting addition to the game. Get a closer look at the talents she brings to the table right here.
 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.