Over the course of Heroes of the Storm’s history, we’ve always enjoyed implementing different ways for players to show off their personal accomplishments, which is an idea that has manifested in a variety of forms over time. From more recent features, like MVP and commendations, the “on fire” system, and personalized stats, to mainstays like ranked play leagues and tiers, seasonal rewards, hero and master portraits, and master skins.

On Master Skins

When we originally added master skins to Heroes of the Storm, they were intended to help you flaunt your depth of experience and time investment with your favorite heroes. However, when we re-evaluated master skins, we realized that there were several places where we could make improvements.

Master skins created situations where players had to choose between unlocking a hero or unlocking a master skin, which was a battle that heroes won far more often. Additionally, once players purchased a master skin, they’d then have to choose whether to use it or another skin in-game. This meant they couldn’t visually display their prowess with a hero in-game if there was a non-master skin they liked better.

These issues combined resulted in far fewer players unlocking and using master skins in-game than we had expected. Most players who had access to master skins did not unlock them, and most players who did unlock them would not primarily use that skin during their matches.

In Heroes 2.0, we decided to move to a new system that highlights your prowess with your favorite heroes so that you don’t have to make those difficult decisions.

Introducing: Hero Mastery Taunts

With Heroes of the Storm 2.0 on the horizon, we’re excited to bring you a new method to flaunt your dedication to the Heroes you own: Hero Mastery Taunts!

Whenever you issue an in-game taunt using a hero who has reached level 15 or higher, which is equivalent to level 10 in the previous progression system, that hero will now display unique “mastery” visual effects overhead. The hero will also play their taunt animation, as well as the voice line you selected for their loadout. Mastery taunts won’t stop at hero level 15, either. Their visual effects will continue to evolve across several tiers, becoming more epic as your hero reaches new heights in the progression system!

Initially, only mastery taunts that unlock at hero level 15 will be available when Heroes 2.0 arrives to the live version of the game on April 25. However, we’re planning to implement additional mastery taunt tiers in future patches that unlock at Hero Levels 25, 50, 75, and 100. In addition to unlocking mastery taunts, players who already owned master skins prior to Heroes 2.0 will retain those skins, and permanently gain access to both of their skin variations after release day.

We’d like to apologize that we did not unveil hero mastery taunts with our initial communications around Heroes of the Storm 2.0. We missed including this feature in our announcement, and we hope that the above information will help clear up some of the confusion surrounding the removal of master skins as a progression-exclusive reward.

As a final note, we’d like to thank everyone who has shared their thoughts about Heroes 2.0 with us thus far. In particular, we’ve received quite a bit of feedback surrounding Loot Chest rewards for veteran players. We’re still actively discussing everything you’ve sent our way this week, and will have more information on this topic to share with you soon. We hope you’re having a blast with the Open Beta, and that you’ll continue to share constructive feedback about all things Heroes 2.0 with us on the official Heroes forums.