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Heroes of the Storm hero rotation for April 8 - April 14
As occurs every week, the rotation of free-to-play characters in Heroes of the Storm has been updated. This week's heroes include: Raynor Gazlowe Tyrael Falstad Uther Abathur This rotation mirrors that of the week beginning March 14, which means we've made a full rotation through all currently available heroes. Unless the options are randomized, next week will likely include Arthas, E.T.C., Muradin, Tassadar, the Witch Doctor, and Zeratul. Four new heroes will be announced at PAX East according to Heroes community manager Katie Simpson. Depending on when those heroes will appear in-game, a wrench may be thrown into the rotation fairly soon.
Breakfast Topic: Help us help you with Heroes of the Storm
While we're waiting for Warlords of Draenor, Heroes of the Storm is the new hotness. For a great number of you, anyway! I'm going to use today's Breakfast Topic as an opportunity to ask all of you what you want to know about Heroes. What's your level of knowledge with games of its genre? What do you know? What would you like to know? So far, we've covered some of the basics with our Heroes of the Storm glossary and gone a little more in-depth with our series of hero guides which will be kept updated for the game's launch. We know we can do more, though. Tell us what you want. Tell us what you need. We're listening. You World of Warcraft diehards out there, don't be afraid -- when Warlords of Draenor arrives on our doorstep, we'll be full steam ahead on that.
Heroes of the Storm hero rotation and Haunted Mines changes
It's a new week, which means a new rotation of free-to-play heroes in Heroes of the Storm's technical alpha. This week's heroes are as follows: Barbarian (Sonya) Illidan Malfurion Sgt. Hammer Demon Hunter (Valla) Tassadar We've previously written a guide to playing Tassadar, and if you're interested in guides or previews for any of the above heroes, please let us know and we'll make it a priority! With this hero rotation, there were also balance changes to the Grave Golems of the Haunted Mines map announced. You can find those changes below.
Breakfast Topic: Does Hearthstone still have you in its grasp?
Quite a few of you were playing Hearthstone upon its launch -- many were playing even earlier, in Hearthstone's beta. Some played out of genuine interest, others to get their hands on the Hearthsteed. The game officially released nearly three weeks ago and I'm curious how many of you are still playing. Personally, I love Hearthstone, but I can't find the time to fit it into my schedule. It's no secret I'm in the Heroes of the Storm technical alpha, then there's World of Warcraft and the newly released Reaper of Souls thrown into the mix. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to play every Blizzard title. Despite my love for Hearthstone, it has a low position on the totem pole. Are you still playing? Did you never play to begin with? Did you only intend to earn your Hearthsteed, but the siren call of card draws lured you in for good? If you stopped playing, why?
WRUP: Impressions on the Heroes of the Storm
It's time for another weekend, and the news is still dry as a desert. Unfortunately, we've already made up fake news. We've made up haikus. But not all is lost: we're seeing news and experiences from Heroes of the Storm. So while it's a tiny diversion from WoW, we asked your intrepid WoW Insider staff about their feelings on HotS at this point. It's looking pretty sexy and I can't wait to play it for reals. What about you, dear reader? Are the heroes keeping you afloat while we all wait patiently for WoD?
Heroes of the Storm: Stitches
At the end of our look at the Support hero Tassadar, I said we would likely look at Muradin next. I lied. Stitches came up in the Heroes of the Storm free-to-play rotation and I learned the meaning of true love. Stitches is a beefy member of the Warrior class, heroes that are typically low damage, high survivability. In many cases, the threat a Warrior poses is not in his or her ability to kill you -- but the fact that they're a nuisance, unkillable things that make a slow push into your territory and you must struggle to stop them. While Stitches does have those qualities, I also like to think of him as something of an offensive Support character. Where most Support characters help your Heroes survive a battle, Stitches helps his allies murder the other team. He picks your enemies apart and holds them still while your assassins go to work.
Heroes of the Storm: Senior Designer talks Tyrael
Tyrael, Archangel of Justice, is under the spotlight for Heroes of the Storm this week. Senior Game Designer Richard Khoo sat down with Community Manager Trikslyr to discuss this Hero's not-so-angelic leanings. It's a great interview, touching on the importance of using the Heroes game world and mechanics to create a hero that fits with the traits and feel of well-known lore figures. Tyrael, as the Archangel, is a hybrid between a warrior and a support class, meaning he can charge in and flatten his foes, but also assist his allies with powerful shields, even sacrificing his own health to help them. The designers felt this was fitting with his righteous, angelic qualities in the Diablo universe. He also caters to the angelic "speed of light" idea with his teleportation abilities that base themselves off his sword. They also comment on the post-mortem gameplay that Tyrael, along with a couple of other heroes, features. Hit the break for the full interview!
Heroes of the Storm shows off Tyrael
You remember Tyrael, right? Tall guy? He was in your class in high school? Glowing wings coming out of his back, divine embodiment of justice, enjoyed smiting evil? He was in Diablo III, remember? Anyway, he's got a new gig; he's showing up in Heroes of the Storm now. Yeah, still doing what he loves, slicing up demons. You do what you're good at, right? The trailer showing off Tyrael doesn't offer a picture of how he'll play but does serve as a nifty little glimpse into how the game will both look and feel. You can check the trailer out just past the cut if you haven't gotten enough Diablo III action already with the expansion release.
Heroes of the Storm Balance Updates and Hero Rotation
This week, in celebration of the launch of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, two new skins have been added -- demonic Tyrael and Angelic Valla. What's more, the free-to-play hero rotation has some of the most exciting heroes available for free to players, including the recently added Tychus. The rest of the heroes are as follows: Week of Tuesday, Mar. 25 – April 1, 2014: Tyrande Stitches Diablo Tychus Kerrigan Nova Along with the latest free-to-play hero rotation, we're getting some balance changes to certain heroes. There aren't a huge number of changes but many are significant, including a lot of nerfs to Uther! Hit the break for all the changes.
Heroes of the Storm: Tassadar
So far in this series we've looked at an Assassin and a Specialist, Falstad and Abathur respectively. Today we look at a member of the Support class, StarCraft's high templar Tassadar. The Support class is, effectively, Heroes of the Storm's equivalent of a healer. In Tassadar's case, you could draw a comparison to the Discipline Priest. Rather than directly healing his allies, he places protective bubbles on them to absorb damage. Other varieties of bubbles exert some control over the flow of battle. Tassadar is a character that doesn't perform well on his own. He shines when attached to an ally. When partnered up with a beefy tank character, he can make his lane partner nigh unkillable.
Heroes of the Storm: Abathur
If Falstad is one of the easier characters to master in Heroes of the Storm, Abathur is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Playing Abathur well is quite difficult and he's unlike any other hero in the game. He relies on knowledge of the maps themselves as well as every other hero in the game. Abathur's personal presence on the battlefield is minimal. He stays as far away from the fight as possible. He fights through your allies, empowering them and protecting them with his Symbiote ability and maintaining control of the map through laying Toxic Nests (landmines) from a distance. Abathur falls into the category of "Specialist." The Specialist designation is given to those characters that aren't easily categorized. They aren't nimble, deadly Assassins. They aren't beefy, tanky warriors. Support is closer to what Abathur does, but support characters tend to have a physical battlefield presence. In short, Specialists are weird.
Heroes of the Storm dev Q&A
The latest Heroes of the Storm dev Q&A is here, and you can watch it above when it goes live at 11am Pacific. This week, as the Tech Alpha runs on, the developers are talking about the talent system. Joining Kevin Johnson this time, we will have Dustin Browder, Game Director, Richard Khoo, Senior Game Designer, and Matt Cooper, Game Designer. As the talent system is a key part of the game that separates it from the Item Shop methodology of other MOBAs, it will be interesting to see the insights and design challenges that the developers have faced. You can send in your questions to the developers on Twitter at @BlizzHeroes by using the hashtag #HeroesQA. Following the dev Q&A, there'll be a live match, shoutcasted by Dustin Browder and Kevin Knocke.
The Queue: Titles, Heroes, Hearths, and pancakes
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. While there are World of Warcraft and general Blizzard questions in today's Queue, I feel this first question is the most important one of the lot. @Grizz_Face asked: How can i get my pancakes to that perfect golden colour?
Blizzard is going on a PAX East road trip
Blizzard is refueling the company RV and making a mix tape of John Denver and Megadeth for its upcoming cross-country trip to PAX East. The studio announced today that it will have a presence at the convention to show off Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor. Blizzard will be at booth #848 from April 11th through the 13th. Hearthstone will be available to play not only on demo stations but on the iPad as well. Fans can also check out a hands-on demos of Warlords of Draenor, Diablo III for PS4, and Heroes of the Storm with new heroes. The studio won't just be confined to its booth for the duration of the weekend, as it's planning a presentation on April 11th at 10:30 a.m. EDT about Heroes of the Storm. This presentation will be livestreamed for those who can't make it.
Heroes of the Storm: Falstad
Editor's Note: Heroes of the Storm is currently in a technical alpha phase. All information contained within is subject to change. My experience playing games in Heroes of the Storm's genre is limited. I've played a few rounds of League of Legends. That's it. When I opened Heroes for the first time, I relied on my knowledge that ranged classes tend to be a safer choice for the inexperienced. In the opening week of the Heroes alpha, the ranged options available for free were Raynor, Gazlowe, and Falstad. The tutorial gave me a taste for Raynor, so I gave Falstad a shot -- a choice I do not regret. I've since tried all of the free characters and Falstad remains my favorite. Falstad is labeled a Ranged Assassin. He isn't built to tank. He's built to get his licks in and keep moving.
The Queue: Heroing up a storm
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. I got into the Heroes of the Storm technical alpha over the weekend. As you might expect, I spent most of the weekend playing it. I dig it. Dana asked: I am between subs at the moment. I earned the Hearthstone Steed the other night. Do I have to resub by a certain time to claim it before I loose it or will it just be waiting until I resub later? Thanks!
Breakfast Topic: Do you have any MOBA experience?
For those unfamiliar, Heroes of the Storm belongs to the genre that's been referred to as MOBA -- Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. Valve calls its Dota 2 an ARTS, an Action Real Time Strategy, but since they're the only game that uses ARTS, let's stick with MOBA. I don't have much history with this genre of games and for good reason: I'm not a very competitive person. When I try to be competitive, I turn into a raging maniac and I'm not fan of being that guy. Unfortunately for me, MOBAs are an extremely competitive genre. I played two rounds in League of Legends a couple years back and decided to never touch it again. Heroes of the Storm's technical alpha has pulled me in due to its co-op mode, allowing you to play with a team of human players against a team of AI players. Having a strong co-op mode available might make me rage less when I take my chances at PVP. I'm curious how many of you have tried a MOBA before, whether it be League of Legends, Dota 2, the original Defense of the Ancients mode in Warcraft III, or something else in the genre. Are you a MOBA veteran? Never touched one? Touched one but didn't like it? Whichever camp you fall in, are you going to try Heroes of the Storm when you get the chance?
Breakfast Topic: Which WoW characters belong in Heroes of the Storm?
As you might have heard, Heroes of the Storm has landed in technical alpha. So go over to your Battle.net account page and make sure you're flagged for the Heroes beta if you're interested -- once you've signed in, click on Beta Profile Settings on the summary page -- because this definitely means we'll be seeing more of Heroes sooner rather than later. Once you've done that, come back here and we'll talk. Okay, set for getting into the beta when it arrives? Good. Now let's talk about the Warcraft heroes that grace Heroes of the Storm. Warcraft has an entire world's worth of characters begging to be added -- which begs the question of which ones ought to find their way into Heroes. So tell us, readers: which Warcraft heroes do you most want to see in HotS? And which characters will you play when you jump into the game?
Latest Heroes of the Storm blog post details heroes, mounts, and more
Want more information on Blizzard's upcoming MOBA Heroes of the Storm while waiting for your technical alpha invite? The latest blog post dishes details on the availability of heroes, a try-before-you-buy feature, leveling, earning in-game currency, acquiring new skins, and mounts. Every player starts with a basic horse mount. For the free-to-play crowd, five heroes will be available to play each week, with the list rotating every Tuesday. Players can buy other heroes at any time using cash or with in-game gold that is earned after reaching level 5. Various skins with tint slots can also be bought. For more info or to apply for alpha, check out the official site. We've got the video first look of the alpha after the break.
Heroes of the Storm tech alpha walkthrough
The tech alpha must be close to starting, as we've seen talk of emails being received, and now a new video has appeared on the Heroes of the Storm YouTube channel. The video shows Senior Community Manager Kevin "Cloaken" Johnson running the would-be player through the various elements of the game. While a lot of what we're seeing is replicated in the article created by Vaeflare, but there is some new information. For starters, we can see the Try Me mode in action. It looks great, as buying a hero without ever getting to give it a go is not something you want to do, and waiting for your hero to appear in the free rotation could be really tiresome. Another interesting thing to note is the real-money cost of some items. While they say it may well change, there's a $7.49 or 5,500 gold price tag on Diablo, which seems alright for a hero, although more expensive than a lower-end League of Legends hero bought for RP. However, $14.99 seems a bit pricey for a Tassadar skin. There's also huge differences in the gold costs of the heroes, varying from 2,000 to 10,000 gold. Again, they do clarify that these prices may change. We also see the talents tab, the leveling systems, and more explanation of the tints, quests, and much more! We can't wait for the Tech Alpha to get started.
