Game split worry

Ok, i am about to embark on a journey of creating a Hero Selection System which does not involve extensive map load time.

However, there is just one thing i need to make sure of.

An unfavourable answer to this question can potentially render all my effort useless.

The question is:

When the map is already a minute or two in progress

Can creating 10 heroes, each with 3 seven-level abilities, one four-level ability and one single-level ability, with all of their graphics and animations being loaded for the very first time, cause a game split?

If it can - is there anything i can do to avoid it?

It theoretically could, I suppose, if a person's using a slow computer and it takes them so much longer to load that the game decides to move along without them, but that's not so much a split as it is a player drop.

What's wrong with loading the heroes during map init, if you're worried?

Actual game splits generally only occur when different players start receiving different data about the map, like when GetLocalPlayer() is used improperly. It doesn't sound like you've done anything to be worried about that.

I want to remove hero load from map initialisation, because without it a widgetised map loads in less than 10 seconds ^^