Significant changes coming to Heroes of The Storm in 2016

Yesterday Heroes of The Storm Game Director Justin Browder took to Twitter to answer player’s questions regarding the overall direction and implementations arriving in 2016. While some speak specifically to the immediate future of Heroes of The Storm, other improvements are in the early stages of development. Browder discussed key issues experienced by players, as well as answering important questions relating to the direction of Heroes of the Storm correlating with other Blizzard competitive games such as Hearthstone and Starcraft II.

Heroes of the Storm is still relatively new, only being fully released out of its beta phase early last year. Since then the game underwent various changes. The addition of a more competitive atmosphere for serious gamers was implemented, along with a team based platform to test your skill. Naturally there were questions regarding heroes, structure, discipline and UI, all which Browder aimed to address in his Twitter Q&A.

Below are some notable questions and answers which featured during the session on Twitter yesterday.

Priorities for HoTS

Matchmaker. Bans. Improved Draft. Season Roll. Grand Master. Death Recap. Rank Play update. https://t.co/vScKcqEnlO

— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 6, 2016

As I mentioned above disciplinary action was limited to reporting players for abuse, but other than that no real discipline was handed out, other than low priority matchmaking for the unruly few. The inclusion of bans for players who break the rules is a much needed addition to insure the validity of competitive matchmaking. The other priorities mentioned are features which exist in other Blizzard titles, specifically the season roll over and Grand Master. Death Recap could be a great feature which could accelerate the learning curve as you analyze what mistakes you made, and what your opponent/s did to defeat you.

Hero Bans and Nerfs

Naturally one of the most frequently asked questions in an MOBA relate to the heroes. Many feel certain heroes are overpowered, while others feel they are underpowered. I can imagine this is always a nightmare for developers trying to insure a balanced game is created in almost every instance, but nothing is perfect.

An interesting question arose regarding the current “stun-meta” which simply implies that heroes with long disable are preferable picks in a competitive environment.

Good feedback. Discussing this. Thank you. https://t.co/05zPPBrM1d
— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 6, 2016

Regarding patches as well, many people felt support heroes needed some buffs, with the exception of Tyrande who is already rather strong.

She’s a little extra good. But it’s also Tyrande-free-week so we are seeing a lot of her. https://t.co/48a6TddPI3

— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 6, 2016

This question related directly the support issue, and whether it will be addressed in an upcoming patch.

No ETA. Sorry. https://t.co/hhIJy0djPr

— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 6, 2016

Hero League, Team League and MMR

Yes. UI needs fixes. Also need bans. Feedback in this area is timely as team is working on it now. https://t.co/VieaO6wruB
— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 6, 2016

It seems the HoTS team is placing a bit more of an emphasis on Team League, as opposed to Hero League.

I think Team League is a more true test of skill than Hero League. https://t.co/vJbytM1tmp

— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 6, 2016

Of course a question which appears in almost every Q&A is how your Matchmaking Rating (MMR) is calculated, and the system which sustains it.

Based on his hidden MMR. If you guys play apart at all you will diverge. https://t.co/qxE4uXjuYu
— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 5, 2016

We do not currently have a decay system. We have this in SC2 and it works pretty well. Not sure when we will fix https://t.co/tx8eQqtqRI

— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 4, 2016

Matchmaker averages your MMR. I am not convinced our current math produces a good result often enough. https://t.co/vVdx7hS5gc
— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 4, 2016

Based on his hidden MMR. If you guys play apart at all you will diverge. https://t.co/qxE4uXjuYu

— Dustin Browder (@DustinBrowder) January 5, 2016

I have a strong feeling that Heroes of The Storm is going to one of the most prominent MOBA titles of the year, if not one of the overall best titles of the year. Many have mentioned the plateau of MOBAs in the past year, but with HoTS bringing something new to the genre I feel it will still hold a stead rise among all eSports titles. I’m extremely pleased with how accessible information is in this day and age, especially with the Game Director speaking directly to players and hearing their voiced concerns.

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Last Updated: January 7, 2016