Now that Open Beta testing has officially begun, we’re pleased to announce the addition of Global Play to Heroes of the Storm! Players in all regions outside of China are now able to access game servers around the world, with separate profile data for each region. Read on to pick up a few tips about how to use Global Play, and learn about what you may experience when logging in to regions other than your own.

Global Play Quick Tips: Players can freely switch between regions via the Battle.net application, the Main Menu (F10), and the Heroes of the Storm login screen.

Your Friends List, account progress, rewards, and any purchases you’ve made will not transfer across regions.

Your game language and user interface will not change when you change regions. However, you can manually change your text and speech language using the dropdown lists found on the Language Options tab in the Main Menu (F10).

Players using Global Play will be subject to the in-game policies of their selected play region.

When a region’s game servers are undergoing maintenance, you may be able to play in a different region that is not down for maintenance.

To learn more, take a look at our Global Play FAQ.

Global Play and Patch Day

When a region’s game servers are undergoing maintenance, you may use the Global Play feature to log in to a different region that is not down for maintenance. However, when doing this on patch days, it’s very important to keep in mind that different regions may be running different versions of the game -- which can lead to some confusion.

The time your Heroes client patches is determined by the region currently selected in the dropdown menu found above the blue Play button in your Battle.net App. Once your client downloads and installs the new patch, you will be locked out of any other regions that have not yet received that patch.

For example, let’s imagine that the Americas region of Battle.net has received a new Heroes patch, and you're a European player who swaps regions to the Americas. Your Heroes client will then be updated according to the Americas' schedule. Since you've patched with the Americas’ game servers, and the Europe region has not been updated yet, you will be locked out from playing in Europe until the European servers undergo maintenance and patch as well. This applies to all regions.

Profile Information and Purchases

As mentioned above, please keep in mind that when playing on another region, your friends list, account and hero progress, as well as any purchases you’ve made using real money or gold (including Heroes, Skins, Mounts, Bundles, and Stimpacks), will not carry over from your home region. Rest assured that all of your account information, purchases, and friends will still be waiting for you upon switching back to your home region.

What’s more, if you decide to make a real-money purchase while playing Heroes in regions other than your own, the experience should work just like it does on your home region. This means that you will use the same payment information, pay the same prices, and spend the same currency as you do when buying items in your home region. Once again, however, it’s important to remember that any items bought while using Global Play will be tied to the region in which you made the purchase.

We hope that many of you who have friends in Battle.net regions around the world will team up to dominate the Nexus together now that Global Play has come to Heroes of the Storm. Be sure to check out our Global Play FAQ if you’re looking for a few more tips on this feature, and if you encounter any issues while using Global Play, kindly stop by our Technical Support forums to let us know about your experience.

Until next time, we’ll see you in the Nexus!