During BlizzCon 2017, Blizzard announced that a major update is coming to “Heroes of the storm” later this year. The team is focusing on making the game better by concentrating on other aspects of the game outside of the all-out brawl gameplay. They plan on improving existing mechanics, balance tuning, and adding new features.They also announced two new heroes from "Overwatch" and "World of Warcraft," Hanzo and Alexstrasza.
New Characters
It hasn't been revealed how the new characters will be implemented but fans have been speculating. Hanzo is a ranged assassin with two basic abilities.
He can shoot arrows and make them split, bouncing off walls and dealing a lot of damage to anyone in an enclosed space. He can also give arrows a sonar-like pulse which reveals the location of nearby enemies. Alexstrasza is damage dealing support, at the cost of her life she can heal and support allied heroes. She has a special trait called the Dragon Queen that allows her to transform into a dragon and deal heavy damage.
Performance-based matching, voice chat, and more
According to Polygon, this update is going to bring some major changes to “Heroes of the Storm.” In other games like “Dota” or “League of Legends,” it’s very important to spend time growing powerful before fighting the enemy but in “Heroes of the Storm,” it has been a secondary objective.
The changes coming at the end of this year aim to extend the laning phase, adding more time in 1v1 or 2v2 scenarios.
The update will also include performance-based matchmaking, a new camera, stealth rework, and improved battleground mechanics, voice chat. Blizzard is calling their new voice chat feature, “Blizzard Voice” and it’s going to be integrated with the “Heroes of the Storm” client.
Blizzard is rethinking its traditional win/loss system and is taking players performance stats into account. Blizzard's website goes into great detail over the updates. It states that the new camera perspective is slightly increasing the in-game field view to help improve overall visibility and clarity during gameplay. The improved stealth rework will make it easier to spot stealthed heroes and help with overall balance between casual and high-end play.
Mercenary Updates
Blizzard is also adding Mercenary updates to create more choices regarding how, when, and which Mercenary Camps to capture. A new update to the Siege Giant Camps allow players to dodge Neutral Siege Giant attacks. The Caster Mercenary in a Knight Camp will generate an aura that provides increased Armor for units inside the affected area. Hellbats are going to be able to debuff armor when they attack a hero. All other mercenaries will get various balance tuning.
In an interview with Polygon Alan Dabiri, game director for “Heroes of the Storm,” stated that with these changes they were entirely focused on trying to make core gameplay improvements in areas they thought needed improvement. He stated that they are trying to push the genre and make their game better for the community they have cultivated.
