Fake players with usernames ******9 in comp?

[KevinEssence]

Noticed this in quite a few of my games now, then all of a sudden they have names halfway through the game. Could these be the bots I keep seeing in grandmaster and below and the system is having a flaw?

[Sharkula]

Devs mentioned adding a feature to hide names at the start of games to prevent targeted hero bans. Might be that?

[KevinEssence]

Ah!

[reevestone]

Those aren't bots. Those are people using the new Diamond+ system to hide their identity. They're anonymized during the pre-game and the first minute or two of a game, then they have their identity revealed. The purpose as far as we can determine is to avoid targeted hero bans or other forms of information-mining from either side before the match starts properly.

[KevinEssence]

Thank you guys that makes sense now!