Overwatch 2 Season 17 is here and Blizzard has released patch notes that brings tons of new changes to the game. It includes a new map, Battle Pass, new D.Va and Reaper Mythic skins, new stadium maps and heroes, and more. But one of the new features added with Season 17 is in competitive matches. There is a new map ban system in Overwatch 2 to ban maps that you are not good in.
We got you covered with everything you need to know about Overwatch 2 Season 17 map voting feature and how to use it.
Overwatch 2 Season 17 Start Date
Overwatch 2 Season 17 is set to start on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 11 am. Pre-load will be going for the new update as well, before the update launches. The new season will run for eight weeks and a mid-season content update will be arriving at a later date.
Overwatch 2 Season 17 Map Voting
Overwatch 2 Season 17 brings the new map voting system and lets players choose their preferred maps to play on. Last season in Season 16, Blizzard introduced the Hero Ban system. Hero Ban system was crucial to competitive matches helping player vote to skip heroes accordingly. But now with new map voting system it complements the hero ban system perfectly. As players can choose hero bans and now vote for perfect maps to play without banned heroes.
How Overwatch 2 Map Voting Works
Map voting is one of the main highlighted features in Season 17 update, and it changes how competitive matches is played. At the start of a match, there is a Map Ban screen. You need to choose one map each from three maps. However, the maps that are not selected will be banned for that match. The maps each time you queue are random and generated by Overwatch 2 to keep the balance in rotation.
All players vote for the three maps pool, and you can see how many votes a map gets. And the final map remaining is choosing with a map rolling feature without banned maps. It’s like a roulette roll, but it’s very fun and keeps both Quick Play and competitive lobbies new.
The three maps that are selected to be part of the queue are rolled in a roulette style and wherever it stops becomes the map for the match. As an example, if King’s Row gets 1 vote, Suravasa gets 7 votes, and Blizzard World gets 2, the roulette will spin and linger longer on maps with more votes, boosting their chances of being selected. However, map ban feature is new, but Overwatch community has been asking for this feature for a very long time. Blizzard has finally done it with the new map banning system, and it’s simple to use and gives players the freedom to play the maps they want.
New Map in Overwatch 2
Season 17 brings a new Flashpoint map called Aatlis. There will be now three total Flashpoint maps in Overwatch 2. The new map is based on Morocco and shows off cultures. Moreover, other Flashpoints map Suravasa and New Junk City will receive reworks with new season. However, the reworks will arrive at mid-season patch.
Map Voting is a new addition to Overwatch, coming with Season 17. Map voting will work in competitive matchmaking, giving players option to choose what map they decide to play. Two Stadium maps are also coming Esperanca and Samoa. Stadium mode has been a hit with the addition last season. As it adds new ways to play the game and you need to use Tank heroes for better control.
That’s all you need to know about the Overwatch 2’s new Map voting system in Season 17 and how it works.