Heroes of the Storm Development Enters Long-Term Sustainability Mode

[cageymaru]

Blizzard Entertainment has begun winding down the development of its MOBA; Heroes of the Storm. Some of the developers that were dedicated to Heroes of the Storm are being shifted to other teams that are working on live and unannounced games. Esports competitions for Heroes of the Storm such as Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm have been canceled for 2019. Not all work is completed on the title as new heroes, events, and content is still being created; but at a slower cadence than before.

Despite the change, Heroes of the Storm remains our love letter to Blizzard's worlds and characters. We'll continue actively supporting the game with new heroes, themed events, and other content that our community loves, though the cadence will change. Ultimately, we're setting up the game for long-term sustainability. We're so grateful for the support the community has shown from the beginning, and the development team will continue to support Heroes with the same passion, dedication, and creativity that has made the game such a unique experience.

 

[ChoGGi]

They want more devs working on Diablo Immortal

 

[Shoganai]

They want more devs working on Diablo Immortal

Ew.

 

[cageymaru]

I don't see how they can sell the game to college kids with the marketing contained in the video. They even had a Heroes of the Dorm esports championship event so it is obvious that this game was meant for adults.. I think this is just the beginning of Blizzard Entertainment's great fall.

They have lost their way.

 

[Design1stcode2nd]

This is one of the main games my son and I play together, we were both really disappointed. All the players from HGC and amateurs trying to get in just left high and dry when they were told at Blizzcon that they were good for 2019.

 

[zehoo]

Heroes of the Storm mobile confirmed.

 

[maxius]

everyone is preparing for the economic downturn to come

 

[janas19]

I don't see how they can sell the game to college kids with the marketing contained in the video. They even had a Heroes of the Dorm esports championship event so it is obvious that this game was meant for adults.. I think this is just the beginning of Blizzard Entertainment's great fall.

They have lost their way.

You misspelled Activision. When they kicked Mike Morhaime out and installed an Activision CFO, the writing was on the wall. Blizzard is dead. Long live microtransactions.

 

[TheCommander]

I don't see how they can sell the game to college kids with the marketing contained in the video. They even had a Heroes of the Dorm esports championship event so it is obvious that this game was meant for adults.. I think this is just the beginning of Blizzard Entertainment's great fall.

They have lost their way.

Blizzard has been down for a while. They have never been the same since Activision took over.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

Imagine the e-sports people working with them and how fucked over they just got. These big developers have completely lost any sense of integrity they had since they became massive media conglomerates. They bum rush from fad to fad hoping they can cash in on the new hotness for their shareholders. Only the top one or two of each new fad excel, the rest gasp for life or fail catastrophically. They've collectively lost their marbles completely, there's no way to sustain yourselves in a (supposedly) creative industry when all you do is chew one another's tails.

 

[ronin4740]

I think I was in the middle of a Diablo playing binge when Heros of the Storm was announced - I remember pre-ordering it, installing it and playing it all of like twice before going back and playing Diablo. I've been playing games on my PC more often these days since the XBox One has moved to the computer room and I'm streaming gaming from it to my PC 100% of the time now so after a short session in D3 Season 15 I thought I'd try it again.

...can't say that the hour or so I spent with it warmed my heart to it... Maybe someone can explain what's so wonderful about a MOBA to me?

 

[NickJames]

I think I was in the middle of a Diablo playing binge when Heros of the Storm was announced - I remember pre-ordering it, installing it and playing it all of like twice before going back and playing Diablo. I've been playing games on my PC more often these days since the XBox One has moved to the computer room and I'm streaming gaming from it to my PC 100% of the time now so after a short session in D3 Season 15 I thought I'd try it again.

...can't say that the hour or so I spent with it warmed my heart to it... Maybe someone can explain what's so wonderful about a MOBA to me?

A good MOBA aka Dota 2 has a lot of strategy and depth behind it, it's like real time chess. There's item builds to counter other item and hero builds, there's a huge variety of heroes with varied abilities to pick from that all synergize together and the have an excellent esports casting team. HOTS has none of that and it's a very basic stripped down MOBA. My only issue with MOBA's is the games are too damn long which is why HOTS existed as a sort of middle ground by having quick 10-15 minute matches the problem is HOTS is just NOT fun to watch or play as it's very stagnant and there's almost no room for countering snowball builds. A Dota 2 match can go anywhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours. For me it's more of a spectator sport as I can't find the time to sit there and devote nearly an hour of my day to play 1 match.

 

[cageymaru]

Imagine the e-sports people working with them and how fucked over they just got. These big developers have completely lost any sense of integrity they had since they became massive media conglomerates. They bum rush from fad to fad hoping they can cash in on the new hotness for their shareholders. Only the top one or two of each new fad excel, the rest gasp for life or fail catastrophically. They've collectively lost their marbles completely, there's no way to sustain yourselves in a (supposedly) creative industry when all you do is chew one another's tails.

Blizzard Abruptly Kills Heroes of the Storm Esports, Leaving Players And Casters Fuming.
https://kotaku.com/blizzard-abruptly-kills-heroes-of-the-storm-esports-le-1831103023


Seems that Blizzard was paying the announcers $4,000 a month. You know the professional players competing were making more. They had Twitch streamers on their payroll. At least 200 personalities lost their jobs through a social media post. Blizzard didn't even have the heart to call them. This is not the Blizzard Entertainment that we rooted for back in the early 90's and well into the 2000's. This is Activision.

 

[KillerFry]

...can't say that the hour or so I spent with it warmed my heart to it... Maybe someone can explain what's so wonderful about a MOBA to me?

I never liked MOBAs, always found them either too toxic or too complex. I got in the HotS alpha but never tried it because it is a "MOBA"; but when a friend told me about Nova and Valla, I liked the idea of playing as different characters from the Blizzard universe, which were characters I liked. So I tried HotS. After that I tried LoL and Dota 2... and... nah, didn't like them. Something about playing characters I knew, and the somewhat simplicity/casualness, shorter matches, and the different map objectives made it more appealing to me. Also, Blizzard didn't label it a "MOBA" but a "Hero Brawler". Back then fights were... slower, than what they are today. There wasn't a "burst meta", so team fights tended to last longer and were a little more methodical than what they are now.

Also, the competitiveness of the game was something I liked. I'd never tried any serious PvP sort of game, much less a team based one; but I liked the idea. I brought my friends along, and even joined a few amateur teams over the years. A big difference in HotS when compared to LoL or Dota 2 is that it is very difficult to have a solo carry, or hyper carry (a single person who's so skilled, he can win the game singlehandedly for his team). HotS requires a lot more team work. As an old fart that doesn't have the reaction time and mechanical skills of some young'uns playing the game, it made it so I focused on the macro aspect of the game for the team and not fucking schitt up, while some of my more mechanically skilled teammates capitalized on the micro shotcalling.

... which also, over time and as the player base grew... made the game somewhat toxic... then again, everything that involves humans probably becomes toxic over time.

A good MOBA aka Dota 2 has a lot of strategy and depth behind it, it's like real time chess. There's item builds to counter other item and hero builds, there's a huge variety of heroes with varied abilities to pick from that all synergize together and the have an excellent esports casting team. HOTS has none of that and it's a very basic stripped down MOBA. My only issue with MOBA's is the games are too damn long which is why HOTS existed as a sort of middle ground by having quick 10-15 minute matches the problem is HOTS is just NOT fun to watch or play as it's very stagnant and there's almost no room for countering snowball builds. A Dota 2 match can go anywhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours. For me it's more of a spectator sport as I can't find the time to sit there and devote nearly an hour of my day to play 1 match.

Well I don't know how much you played HotS, but I disagree with some of what you say. Though yes, Blizzard did simplify the game and made it more casual and approachable (as Blizzard tends to do nowadays), there are some complexities and strategies at play when you play on a more coordinated environment. Do you fight the objective or give it but capitalize on soak? Do you take a camp? When and what for? There are no items, yes, and back in the day HotS had "artifacts", but then they became talents. You can create synergies and counter enemies with them. Heck, there were times were a talent - or even a hero! - were considered "trash" until someone figured out a synergy between that talent/hero with another hero and suddenly the game changed.

The game has changed a lot over the years. Last year they released a lot of new heroes, but this year they focused on reworking old heroes that had fallen of the game because their kits were too outdated. Back when the design team changed hands from Dusting Browder - the original game director for HotS - to Allan Dabiri, the design philosophy changed. So, it was an evolving game on its own.

Now, to each his own. Like I said, I can't get into LoL or Dota 2... and will continue to play HotS until it goes the way of D3 and becomes stagnant. But to be honest, I don't know if I would be willing to invest the time to another MOBA kind of game the way I did HotS...

... unless it's full of oversexualized female characters, of course.

 

[andrewaggb]

I like HOTS. It and Rainbox Six Siege are the only games I'm playing currently. Had a couple lan parties a few months ago and we all played HOTS and had a great time. I see several people who hadn't played it before still playing it now months later.

Biggest problem I have with HOTS is matchmaking is kinda slow sometimes.

 

[Lakados]

Ew.

Yeah but that game is gonna make serious bank in China.

 

[Lakados]

I don't see how they can sell the game to college kids with the marketing contained in the video. They even had a Heroes of the Dorm esports championship event so it is obvious that this game was meant for adults.. I think this is just the beginning of Blizzard Entertainment's great fall.

They have lost their way.

Blizz was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy before WoW... They are doing well but they need D4 and some new IP.

 

[Lakados]

I never liked MOBAs, always found them either too toxic or too complex. I got in the HotS alpha but never tried it because it is a "MOBA"; but when a friend told me about Nova and Valla, I liked the idea of playing as different characters from the Blizzard universe, which were characters I liked. So I tried HotS. After that I tried LoL and Dota 2... and... nah, didn't like them. Something about playing characters I knew, and the somewhat simplicity/casualness, shorter matches, and the different map objectives made it more appealing to me. Also, Blizzard didn't label it a "MOBA" but a "Hero Brawler". Back then fights were... slower, than what they are today. There wasn't a "burst meta", so team fights tended to last longer and were a little more methodical than what they are now.

Also, the competitiveness of the game was something I liked. I'd never tried any serious PvP sort of game, much less a team based one; but I liked the idea. I brought my friends along, and even joined a few amateur teams over the years. A big difference in HotS when compared to LoL or Dota 2 is that it is very difficult to have a solo carry, or hyper carry (a single person who's so skilled, he can win the game singlehandedly for his team). HotS requires a lot more team work. As an old fart that doesn't have the reaction time and mechanical skills of some young'uns playing the game, it made it so I focused on the macro aspect of the game for the team and not fucking schitt up, while some of my more mechanically skilled teammates capitalized on the micro shotcalling.

... which also, over time and as the player base grew... made the game somewhat toxic... then again, everything that involves humans probably becomes toxic over time.



Well I don't know how much you played HotS, but I disagree with some of what you say. Though yes, Blizzard did simplify the game and made it more casual and approachable (as Blizzard tends to do nowadays), there are some complexities and strategies at play when you play on a more coordinated environment. Do you fight the objective or give it but capitalize on soak? Do you take a camp? When and what for? There are no items, yes, and back in the day HotS had "artifacts", but then they became talents. You can create synergies and counter enemies with them. Heck, there were times were a talent - or even a hero! - were considered "trash" until someone figured out a synergy between that talent/hero with another hero and suddenly the game changed.

The game has changed a lot over the years. Last year they released a lot of new heroes, but this year they focused on reworking old heroes that had fallen of the game because their kits were too outdated. Back when the design team changed hands from Dusting Browder - the original game director for HotS - to Allan Dabiri, the design philosophy changed. So, it was an evolving game on its own.

Now, to each his own. Like I said, I can't get into LoL or Dota 2... and will continue to play HotS until it goes the way of D3 and becomes stagnant. But to be honest, I don't know if I would be willing to invest the time to another MOBA kind of game the way I did HotS...

... unless it's full of oversexualized female characters, of course.

I liked HotS, I can casually play it and not be super terrible. That being said I have never felt the need to really spend money in the game so from that stand point it is kind of a failure.

 

[kinjo]

The Blizzard that made diablo 2 and Wow through Frozen throne is dead. Now it is only a shell run by corporate overlords focused solely on the Asian market where the worthless human filth that inhabit China will eat up whatever garbage you shovel as long as they can pay to cheat. Blizzard no longer makes high quality titles for western audiences they just peddle crap to shitholes in Asia.

 

[RobCalleg]

Blizzard abandoned the League of Legends monetization and went with the Overwatch lootboxes monetization. RIP

Meanwhile LoL is still a top 5 most streamed game on Twitch at almost any given point.

 

[Edgar]

This sucks. This was really the only game I played. Seems this already affected queue times. And I’m low tiered. I’ll still play. But for how long before I get frustrated with the even longer queue times.