Heroes of the Storm

"Heroes of the Storm"
Details
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Release date(s)	June 2, 2015
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Genre(s)	Team Brawler

Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Storm is a Blizzard Entertainment "hero brawler" game, initially inspired by the Defense of the Ancients custom map for Warcraft III. The game features heroes from across the Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo and Overwatch franchises, as well as older Blizzard games, who are seized by an unknown force and brought together in a mysterious location known as the Nexus to do battle.

After a lengthy alpha test period, Heroes of the Storm entered closed beta on January 13, 2015, went into open beta on May 19, and was fully released on June 2, 2015.

Gameplay

Heroes of the Storm is a team-based competitive game in which each player controls a powerful hero with unique abilities, and works with his or her team to invade and destroy the enemy team's base.

Heroes of the Storm has a number of features which set it apart from other DOTA-style games:

• Experience is shared between all players on a team, so there is no benefit to last-hitting. When a team reaches a certain experience point threshold, every hero on that team levels up, acquiring slightly amplified powers. Every few levels, players may select a talent which offers a new ability, or augments an existing one. This leveling system emphasizes the importance of teamwork and planning, since a player's action can affect the whole team.
• There are no purchasable items, although characters can be customized by learning talents as they level up.
• All skills are unlocked at the beginning of a match, save for ultimate abilities, which are learned at level 10.
• Players can also mount different animals, such as horses, lizards, or unicorns, to increase their movement speed, automatically dismounting when dealing/receiving damage or using an ability.
• Games are intended to last for about 20 minutes each,
• Each battleground has unique objectives.

Heroes

Heroes that have been released since June 30, 2015 include:

• Diablo: Auriel, Azmodan, Cassia, Deckard, Diablo, Imperius, Johanna, Kharazim, Leoric, Li-Ming, Malthael, Mephisto, Nazeebo, Sonya, The Butcher, Tyrael, Valla, and Xul
• StarCraft: Abathur, Alarak, Artanis, Blaze, Dehaka, Fenix, Kerrigan, Lt. Morales, Nova, Probius, Raynor, Sgt. Hammer, Stukov, Tassadar, Tychus, Zagara, and Zeratul
• Warcraft: Alexstrasza, Anduin, Anub'arak, Arthas, Brightwing, Chen, Cho'gall, Chromie, E.T.C., Falstad, Garrosh, Gazlowe, Greymane, Gul'dan, Illidan, Jaina, Kael'thas, Kel'Thuzad, Li Li, Lunara, Maiev, Malfurion, Mal'Ganis, Medivh, Muradin, Murky, Ragnaros, Rehgar, Rexxar, Samuro, Stitches, Sylvanas, Thrall, Tyrande, Uther, Valeera, Varian, Whitemane, Yrel and Zul'jin
• Overwatch: Ana, D.Va, Genji, Hanzo, Junkrat, Lúcio, Tracer and Zarya
• The Lost Vikings: The Lost Vikings
• Heroes of the Storm: Orphea

Characters that have been seen in artwork, trailers, or other previews include:

• Warcraft: Mekkatorque

Other characters Blizzard was considering include Aggra, Aidan, Azshara, Belial, Blackthorne, Brann, Cenarius, Cydaea, Dagg'um Ty'gor, Deathwing, Dr. Boom, Druid, Gallywix, Ghom, Grom, Harth, Hogger, Hybrid Zerg, Kil'jaeden, Kronan, Leah, Mengsk, Moira, Overmind, Paladin, Sapper, SCV, Selendis, Snake, Sorceress, Tosh, Valerian, Varimathras, Vashj, Velen, Vol'jin, Warfield and Zurvan.

Future development

On December 13, 2018, Blizzard announced that some developers from Heroes of the Storm would be moving to other projects, and that the game would be transitioning to a long-term maintenance phase. Blizzard also announced the cancellation of their esports tournaments, Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm. Members of the esports community around Heroes stated they were caught off guard by the announcement and had been told as recently as BlizzCon 2018 that HGC would continue.

Notes

• The original name - Blizzard DOTA - was at the heart of a legal battle between Valve, who wanted to trademark "DOTA" for their own use, and Blizzard, who wanted to prevent the trademark so that it could be freely used by the gaming community. Ultimately, they decided that DOTA could be freely used non-commercially, while Valve retained exclusive rights to its commercial usage. As a result, Blizzard DOTA was renamed Blizzard All-Stars. Rob Pardo commented that the new title "ultimately better reflects the design of our game." On October 17, 2013, the game was renamed yet again to Heroes of the Storm.
• Blizzard does not use the terms "ARTS" or "MOBA", feeling that the game is more accurately described as a "hero brawler".

External links

• Heroes of the Storm Official Game Site
• Heroes of the Storm - Wikipedia