PROlane Profile Joined December 2015 United States 34 Posts Last Edited: 2017-11-01 20:36:32 #1

Heroes @ BlizzCon 2017 What Can We Expect? Written by: ChaosOS



BlizzCon is coming up soon with Heroes of the Storm on the docket list for big changes in 2018. This article examines the possibilities for what we might see at the “What’s Next” panel on Friday, November 3rd from 5:00 pm to 5:45 on the “Mythic Stage” in Hall D.





10) Group Finder Update

The Heroes of the Storm Group Finder is an anemic feature that has mostly been forgotten about since alpha. The group finder offers a very simple “Looking for Group” box to check and displays anyone that is in the same chat channel as you or on your friends list on the homepage. Given that social connections are an important part of player retention, some update here can be expected at some point in the future. Blizzard has not indicated any intent to upgrade this, but it’s something that is in need of attention.





9) Shop Changes

Complaints about the Heroes of the Storm shop post-2.0 are prolific. Blizzard recently improved





8) Improved Tutorials

One of the most consistent complaints about Heroes of the Storm is the lack of information about how to properly play the game. Improving the tutorials and adding more advanced ones would be a significant step towards properly educating the player base.





7) Stealth Rework (Or other gameplay update)

Stealth heroes in HotS are difficult to



A large gameplay update targeted at better defining warriors or supports is also possible, as the damage from big changes is severely lessened by the post-BlizzCon offseason.





6) Raynor/Kerrigan/Tyrael Reworks

These heroes are both some of the oldest in the game and need reworks. Given that all three are heavily featured in the





5) Hero Role Update

The Heroes of the Storm





4) Voice Comms

The Battle.net client has offered passable quality voice communication for some time now, and with the new push to Blizzard Social, it is increasingly likely that the technology will arrive. In-game voice comms a la Overwatch have the potential to significantly improve the quality of Hero League games. While harassment is a concern, the power to mute and report toxic individuals is a relevant check on harassment.





3) Hero Swaps

Hero (or draft position) swaps are an incredibly important step in improving the quality of Hero League games. Adding hero or draft position swaps would reduce the impact of draft position RNG.



For example, Rehgar is a very high priority compared to other supports right now. As a support main, if your team cannot secure Rehgar early on, then you would prefer to be among the last set of picks to counter my opponent’s composition. Adding hero swaps would let you pick another hero for your teammates and still grab whatever support makes the most sense.





2) Third Ban

A third ban seems almost inevitable at this point. The Heroes of the Storm roster has grown considerably since the initial introduction of bans, with every role significantly filling out in breadth and depth. Adding a new set of bans, either at the beginning or in the middle of the draft would maintain the ability to focus drafts and enable strategic drafting. Because bans are the main connection between Hero League, Team League, and pro play, any changes to these must happen during the offseason that starts after BlizzCon.





1) Official API

The plans for an official match data API were announced at the previous BlizzCon, with the API set to release in “the coming year”. The importance of an official API is hard to overstate. Improved data (and potential analytics) would help the community identify more optimal patterns of play both on a per-hero basis and a per-map basis. Currently, HotS Logs and





Joseph "ChaosOS" Meehan is an avid Heroes of the Storm enthusiast who just enjoys mathing things out. You can check out his blog on HeroesHearth for more in-depth patch analysis and follow him on Twitter. BlizzCon is coming up soon with Heroes of the Storm on the docket list for big changes in 2018. This article examines the possibilities for what we might see at the “What’s Next” panel on Friday, November 3rd from 5:00 pm to 5:45 on the “Mythic Stage” in Hall D.The Heroes of the Storm Group Finder is an anemic feature that has mostly been forgotten about since alpha. The group finder offers a very simple “Looking for Group” box to check and displays anyone that is in the same chat channel as you or on your friends list on the homepage. Given that social connections are an important part of player retention, some update here can be expected at some point in the future. Blizzard has not indicated any intent to upgrade this, but it’s something that is in need of attention.Complaints about the Heroes of the Storm shop post-2.0 are prolific. Blizzard recently improved loot chest sales by making purchased chests “rare” quality rather than common. Further updates may be possible, but it’s unlikely Blizzard would use BlizzCon for any shop change announcements short of a full redo.One of the most consistent complaints about Heroes of the Storm is the lack of information about how to properly play the game. Improving the tutorials and adding more advanced ones would be a significant step towards properly educating the player base.Stealth heroes in HotS are difficult to balance for all levels of play . As of this past summer, the live balance team has identified that stealth heroes do not meet the design goals for what stealth should do. This is a project that has been a long time coming, with discussions starting four to five months ago. Whether this will have finished by the time BlizzCon rolls around is unknown, especially if it got sidelined for other reworks due to the workload that a stealth rework would entail.A large gameplay update targeted at better defining warriors or supports is also possible, as the damage from big changes is severely lessened by the post-BlizzCon offseason.These heroes are both some of the oldest in the game and need reworks. Given that all three are heavily featured in the Heroes of the Storm cinematic trailer , it would make sense to give each of these heroes an update all at the same time. What these updates would entail is anyone’s guess, but both of these heroes are in desperate need of updates.The Heroes of the Storm role system is broken . Rumors of a role system update have circulated, and Blizzcon would be the perfect time to announce such a change.The Battle.net client has offered passable quality voice communication for some time now, and with the new push to Blizzard Social, it is increasingly likely that the technology will arrive. In-game voice comms a la Overwatch have the potential to significantly improve the quality of Hero League games. While harassment is a concern, the power to mute and report toxic individuals is a relevant check on harassment.Hero (or draft position) swaps are an incredibly important step in improving the quality of Hero League games. Adding hero or draft position swaps would reduce the impact of draft position RNG.For example, Rehgar is a very high priority compared to other supports right now. As a support main, if your team cannot secure Rehgar early on, then you would prefer to be among the last set of picks to counter my opponent’s composition. Adding hero swaps would let you pick another hero for your teammates and still grab whatever support makes the most sense.A third ban seems almost inevitable at this point. The Heroes of the Storm roster has grown considerably since the initial introduction of bans, with every role significantly filling out in breadth and depth. Adding a new set of bans, either at the beginning or in the middle of the draft would maintain the ability to focus drafts and enable strategic drafting. Because bans are the main connection between Hero League, Team League, and pro play, any changes to these must happen during the offseason that starts after BlizzCon.The plans for an official match data API were announced at the previous BlizzCon, with the API set to release in “the coming year”. The importance of an official API is hard to overstate. Improved data (and potential analytics) would help the community identify more optimal patterns of play both on a per-hero basis and a per-map basis. Currently, HotS Logs and Hotsapi.net both have serious sample size issues. Expanding their data sets from just user submitted replays to effectively all data would be a serious step forward for the Heroes of the Storm community.

Writer Editor-in-Chief - LiquidHeroes