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Heroes of the Storm reveals new Winter Veil, Altered Fate skins
Heroes of the Storm revealed another new set of character skins today: two Winter Veil skins, a Winter veil mount, and two new "Altered Fate" skins -- that is, skins that flip established lore on its head. The skins are Great-father Winter Rehgar, Winter Veil Jaina, Betrayer Malfurion, and Warden Tyrande. We're all big fans of Jaina Proudmoore here at WoW Insider, so it's likely no surprise that I personally find Winter Veil Jaina to be the best of the lot. These skins are not yet available for purchase in the in-game shop -- which doesn't matter all that much, given precious few people are currently in the beta. All of these skins, once made available, will remain available indefinitely, however. They'll be there when you get there.
Heroes of the Storm adds Hallow's End skins
Hallow's End has made its way into Heroes of the Storm with a handful of new Halloween-themed hero skins: Countess Kerrigan, Skelethur Abathur, and Infested Tychus. Technically Infested Tychus is not a Hallow's End skin, but rather Tychus's Legendary skin, but it's creepy nonetheless. If you aren't in the alpha, no sweat. The skins are a permanent addition to the game and you'll be able to buy/acquire them when the game goes public if you so desire. Countess Kerrigan is my favorite of the lot because it plays into one of the alternate universes presented by select alternate skins -- Vampire Slayer Valla's description specifically mentions the Countess. You can imagine Vampire Slayer Valla pursuing Countess Kerrigan in a Victorian Van Helsing-y landscape. Considering the characters are from two completely different games, it tickles the imagination. Throw in World of Warcraft's San'layn as a haughty aristocracy and the scenario could support a game unto itself.
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.
Heroes of the Storm: Heroes, gold, skins, mounts and more
Blizzard Community Manager Vaeflare has posted an excellent and highly informative blog over on the Heroes of the Storm official site, covering various aspects of the game from the player's angle. As ever, you can see the full blog after the break, but we're going to sum up a few of the key points here: Leveling up your account will give you access to new rewards, such as game modes, additional talents, hero quests, and more There will be a Free-to-play hero rotation of five heroes per week, updated every tuesday, increased to six when you hit level seven You can also try any hero at any time before buying it in a private map "try me" mode which allows you to fight minions, forts, and generally have a go with talents and abilities. Heroes will be purchased using gold, which you can earn in-game, starting from level five, or with real money. Levels are gained from XP, which is earned by playing and achieving things in-game, winning, playing with battle.net friends, completing daily and hero quests, and later, epic hero quests. You can also buy various skins. All skins come with two further tint slots. A hero's original tint is immediately available, and each of the two additional tints can be unlocked for individual heroes through Hero Quests. Every player will start with a basic Horse mount, all mounts but that one have the same tint system as with skins Skins and mounts are not purchasable with gold earned in-game, only with real money or via other means. Hit the break for the full post.
Heroes of the Storm skins, mounts and more
Our friends over at Adriacraft have been extremely busy datamining Blizzard's upcoming Hero Brawler Heroes of the Storm. As a result, we have a huge dump of information from them, including skins, mounts, Hero lore, and more. Digging through giant posts like these can be something of a daunting task, especially with the strings. The extensive pictures of heroes and skins are fantastic, I am a particular fan of the "Lurkablo"-Diablo and the "Diablo Kaijo" skins, and their flavor text: "The government of Neo-Tristram grew overconfident as their experiments yielded more and more nuclear energy. They thought the power of the atom was under their control. They were wrong." But why are we interested in the strings, the lines of code at the top? Well, they indicate that Heroes of the Storm is going the same way as Hearthstone, by working off a dual-currency system. The currency that allows you to buy skins, mounts and more could be your local currency, as suggested by the Select Currency, Tax and Real Money purchase strings. We can also see that heroes are sometimes free-to-play, and that you will get a reward for beta-testing the store. Not only that, but the various access unlocks suggest a secret shop!
