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[Helios]

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/22833558/heroes-of-the-storm-news

Over the past several years, the work of evaluating our development processes and making hard decisions has led to new games and other products that we’re proud of. We now have more live games and unannounced projects than at any point in the company’s history. We’re also at a point where we need to take some of our talented developers and bring their skills to other projects. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to shift some developers from Heroes of the Storm to other teams, and we’re excited to see the passion, knowledge, and experience that they’ll bring to those projects.
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.

We’ve also evaluated our plans around Heroes esports—after looking at all of our priorities and options in light of the change with the game, the Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm will not return in 2019. This was another very difficult decision for us to make. The love that the community has for these programs is deeply felt by everyone who works on them, but we ultimately feel this is the right decision versus moving forward in a way that would not meet the standards that players and fans have come to expect.

 

[Lanrutcon]

"It's not making that League cash, so we're moving the talent to mobile projects ."

 

[InterMusketeer]

I wonder what it means for the future of the game. They say updates will still come but at a slower pace, but how much life does a game like this have when there's no championships?

 

[EviLore]

Bummer, was finally giving it a chance too. Seems fun for casual social play, lots of variety with the genre mashup heroes.

Surely there's no reason to go out of your way to announce the lack of future support for your game like this. Along with the Diablo Mobile Blizzcon shitshow, Blizzard seems to want to lose all its audience good will lately.

 

[LordRaptor]

I'm surprised they even tried to make it an esport in the first place. Its like the Mario Party of MOBAs - lots of wacky map events mean more to your chances of winning a game than things like skill teamfighting

 

[Horsemama1956]

I'm surprised they even tried to make it an esport in the first place. Its like the Mario Party of MOBAs - lots of wacky map events mean more to your chances of winning a game than things like skill teamfighting

Blizzard has been out of touch for years now.

 

[Shouta]

This is a bit unfortunate. HOTS was by far the MOBA I enjoyed the most because of the map variety. It really made it interesting when combined with the huge roster.

I hope this just means they're keeping it quiet until the other projects are out or further along.

 

[-MD-]

I honestly liked HOTS when I played it, it cut out all the boring moba shit and let you get to the fun stuff (pvp) quicker.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Not an encouraging turn, but is it better to allow it to slowly fade away or go the Epic route and just purge the game from existence (ala Paragon)?

 

[Threeshotgamer]

Hopefully this isn't more evidence of a shift to mobile gaming by Blizzard

 

[ThatStupidLion]

im guessing its to put the other diablo projects into overdrive to try to make amends with the public

 

[Sakura Doritos]

I like how they say with pride that they have more unannounced games than ever as if the current, enjoyed by fans game is less important than things the fans know nothing about. Dat arrogance.

 

[llien]

Hopefully this isn't more evidence of a shift to mobile gaming by Blizzard

Half of A-B's revenue came from mobile gaming.
So Candy Crush and Co beat World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Call of Duty and co.

 

[Threeshotgamer]

Half of A-B's revenue came from mobile gaming.
So Candy Crush and Co beat World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Call of Duty and co.

Doesn't mean the fans of their IP's shouldn't be concerned that they are apparently just going to netease all of their favorite PC and Console games. I've got no problem with them making mobile games I just have a problem with them sacrificing established PC/Console franchises to do it.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

"It's not making that League cash, so we're moving the talent to mobile projects ."

Spoiler

I'm surprised they even tried to make it an esport in the first place. Its like the Mario Party of MOBAs - lots of wacky map events mean more to your chances of winning a game than things like skill teamfighting

I'mma Dan Ryckert this one

Yeah on the surface it does allow you to hop right in with a group of friends/people and joke around and have a good time; it does have some deeper mechanics.

The wacky map events are part of knowing the game and making you play in different play styles and comps. They're not so much "You landed on this space, here's a random box hidden box above your head, oh hey you get a star," sort of RNG maps, more "Every 3m 45s this event starts and you get this buff/you need to do this to win"

 

[llien]

Threeshotgamer
I don't say that we should not be worried, on the opposite, mean that there are good reasons to think AB will invest more into mobile gaming.

 

[Threeshotgamer]

Threeshotgamer
I don't say that we should not be worried, on the opposite, mean that there are good reasons to think AB will invest more into mobile gaming.

Apologies, I should finish my coffee before posting lol I misread that as defending the move to mobile games at the expense of their established IP's.

 

[LordRaptor]

I'mma Dan Ryckert this one

Yeah on the surface it does allow you to hop right in with a group of friends/people and joke around and have a good time; it does have some deeper mechanics.

The wacky map events are part of knowing the game and making you play in different play styles and comps. They're not so much "You landed on this space, here's a random box hidden box above your head, oh hey you get a star," sort of RNG maps, more "Every 3m 45s this event starts and you get this buff/you need to do this to win"

The wacky map events are the equivalent of mario kart blue shells - they hugely change the status of the game to the extent that all prior progress is effectively rendered meaningless up to that point, so the traditional MOBA mechanics of the laning phase are rendered irrelevant.

It would be like if Star Craft 2 had an invincible star spawn every 5 minutes somewhere randomly on the map that rendered all of one teams units and buildings invulnerable for 30 seconds - fuck base building and resource management, grab the star and make a push with zero penalty.

 

[Griffon]

Bummer, was finally giving it a chance too. Seems fun for casual social play, lots of variety with the genre mashup heroes.

Surely there's no reason to go out of your way to announce the lack of future support for your game like this. Along with the Diablo Mobile Blizzcon shitshow, Blizzard seems to want to lose all its audience good will lately.

Indeed... why broadcast so widely that the game's future is compromised.
They could've just not say anything or said some of those things individually and in a less depressing manner.


It's a real shame because I find it to be the finest team multiplayer game I ever played so far. The game format and hero selection are genuinely excellent. With the game design hitting a balance of game-feel/strategy/lower-frustration-level that many comparable games totally fail to do.

 

[InterMusketeer]

The wacky map events are the equivalent of mario kart blue shells - they hugely change the status of the game to the extent that all prior progress is effectively rendered meaningless up to that point, so the traditional MOBA mechanics of the laning phase are rendered irrelevant.

Not really. The objectives force teams to fight to win the objective. The winner of the fight(s) is then rewarded with powerful push opportunities. You're more likely to win a fight if you have a level advantage, which you could've gotten by playing the laning phase well. Objectives are in no way a "blue shell" that you get just for running behind. There's other strategies as well, such as ignoring the objective to get camps or a boss and push that way instead. Often times you can get a powerful push going in other lanes with camps and bosses, and still contest for the objective.

HotS is simplified in many ways, but it's not the Mario Party of MOBA.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

The wacky map events are the equivalent of mario kart blue shells - they hugely change the status of the game to the extent that all prior progress is effectively rendered meaningless up to that point, so the traditional MOBA mechanics of the laning phase are rendered irrelevant.

How would you compare that to say, Roshan? Can you explain with facts/numbers/statistics how it makes it completely irrelevant?

It would be like if Star Craft 2 had an invincible star spawn every 5 minutes somewhere randomly on the map that rendered all of one teams units and buildings invulnerable for 30 seconds - fuck base building and resource management, grab the star and make a push with zero penalty.

That's vastly different and so grossly exaggerated I'm starting to wonder if you're just trolling lol

Not trying to be confrontational, but you can not like the game and it's not the game's fault, just not your cup of tea.

 

[dorkimoe]

Its a fun game. Easy to pickup and play and don't need a lot of time to invest. Its really noob friendly, would love to see them remake it down the road as a true moba

 

[LordRaptor]

Not really. The objectives force teams to fight to win the objective. The winner of the fight(s) is then rewarded with powerful push opportunities. You're more likely to win a fight if you have a level advantage, which you could've gotten by playing the laning phase well. Objectives are in no way a "blue shell" that you get just for running behind. There's other strategies as well, such as ignoring the objective to get camps or a boss and push that way instead. Often times you can get a powerful push going in other lanes with camps and bosses, and still contest for the objective.

HotS is simplified in many ways, but it's not the Mario Party of MOBA.

Map events are a blue shell because they have no counterplay. They're actually worse than Blue Shells, (which do have a very limited amount of counterplay) in that they often put a losing team further on a slippery slope.

How would you compare that to say, Roshan? Can you explain with facts/numbers/statistics how it makes it completely irrelevant?


That's vastly different and so grossly exaggerated I'm starting to wonder if you're just trolling lol

Not trying to be confrontational, but you can not like the game and it's not the game's fault, just not your cup of tea.

its not a question of not liking the game - its a fun game, so is mario party, so is mario kart.
Its not suited for high level competitive play as an esport, which the numbers back up and so does the creators abandoning of that goal.

Roshan (or Baron in LOL) don't provide such an advantage to taking that map objective that not taking (or fighting for) that objective is never a strategic option.
Map events in HOTS are things like off-map artillery that will destroy all buildings in a lane, or a giant wave of super creeps that will destroy everything in a lane, or making all of your creeps one hit kills and disabling all of your towers.
You can't skip the objective to - for example - split push, because not taking the objective is so punishing .
Theres no counterplay to a lost objective other than "don't lose it" and there's no strategic value in not taking the objective, because any gains you might make by skipping it are more than offset by the losses you will incur if you don't.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Orphea was the best thing the game released in a long while. Was super hyped and played nearly 100 hours since she released, only to find out that Blizzard decided to basically kill the game. God damnit, Blizz.

I love BFA, I tolerate Overwatch, but the way you treated StarCraft, Diablo, and now Heroes? Ugh.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

Map events are a blue shell because they have no counterplay. They're actually worse than Blue Shells, (which do have a very limited amount of counterplay) in that they often put a losing team further on a slippery slope.



its not a question of not liking the game - its a fun game, so is mario party, so is mario kart.
Its not suited for high level competitive play as an esport, which the numbers back up and so does the creators abandoning of that goal.

Roshan (or Baron in LOL) don't provide such an advantage to taking that map objective that not taking (or fighting for) that objective is never a strategic option.
Map events in HOTS are things like off-map artillery that will destroy all buildings in a lane, or a giant wave of super creeps that will destroy everything in a lane, or making all of your creeps one hit kills and disabling all of your towers.
You can't skip the objective to - for example - split push, because not taking the objective is so punishing .
Theres no counterplay to a lost objective other than "don't lose it" and there's no strategic value in not taking the objective, because any gains you might make by skipping it are more than offset by the losses you will incur if you don't.

To be honest it sounds like you were playing the earlier versions of the game; way back when it was more like that. These days they have the maps balanced a fair amount better. Not so much of an abandonment of core values, but adjusted due to negative feedback of having to focus on the map objective versus choice.

I got in at second wave alpha; the game has evolved a fair deal.

I think this more has to do with the money generation that the league was making. They can still have the game with micro transactions and it'll make it's money until it's end, like any other game. It seems as though at the time they threw whatever they could at the wall to build an eSports franchise, found what they wanted to go with, and are diverting funds to support and grow that instead of ones that weren't as lucrative.

Overtwatch's Owl
Diablo 3 Ladders
Starcraft 2 in general
HotS Dorm and Champ
WoW arenas
WoW raid time trials
WoW mythic+ time trials
Hearthstone
If there's a few others I'm missing, feel free to smack me around for it!

 

[kbear]

This game had some of the most creative character designs of any MOBA, like then Ogre controlled by two players. Damn shame.

 

[dirthead]

Blizzard creating a MOBA in the first place was like watching a white grandma try to rap.

 

[JimmyJones]

I played HOTS once and couldn't get into it. I could never get into DOTA or LoL either, I guess MOBAs aren't for me. Overwatch on the other hand is fantastic and one of my most played games over the past 2 years.

 

[Xyphie]

It's been pretty clear the game has been on borrowed time for sometime. While the game had solid player base it wasn't comparable to the other games they have in active development. Too bad, being the underdog meant they actually had to try to entice players and I felt it was actually their best supported game.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Blizzard creating a MOBA in the first place was like watching a white grandma try to rap.

G'ma be flexin' on dat ass!

 

[Fuz]

It's actually a more than decent game. Dunno why it didn't have success.

 

[Iggzy]

That merging with activision was a great decision wasn't it?

 

[iconmaster]

I'm surprised they even tried to make it an esport in the first place. Its like the Mario Party of MOBAs

I have to take exception to this.

I would love to see Mario Party as an eSport.

 

[Whitephantomzx]

It begins activson is has been slowly transforming blizzard into another corporate by the numbers make more profit for muh shareholders dev as more and more creative people are leaving.

 

[Gander]

HOS was a kinda of too little too late to begin with.

 

[Dargor]

Yeah, its just sad when one of the giants become a cash grab type of business. They even did a 360 days exp boost sale before announcing this, for maximum burn your clients points.

 

[TheSadRanger]

Orphea was the best thing the game released in a long while. Was super hyped and played nearly 100 hours since she released, only to find out that Blizzard decided to basically kill the game. God damnit, Blizz.

I love BFA, I tolerate Overwatch, but the way you treated StarCraft, Diablo, and now Heroes? Ugh.

What's shitty is they just announced not too long ago all the stuff they were gonna rework on HotS at blizzcon, almost doing a HotS 3.0 style update. WTF...

 

[Helios]

https://www.polygon.com/platform/am...&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
Heroes of the Storm pros vent sadness, anger after Blizzard kills game’s esports future

People who made a living based on Heroes of the Storm, including players, streamers, team owners and commentators, say they feel blindsided and betrayed by the announcement. Some said that Blizzard told them just a few weeks ago that the 2019 Heroes Global Championship was still happening.

YouTube content creator Kala, who has coached teams and created Heroes of the Storm content for years, said in a reaction video that his whole life has been built around the game, which he now sees as irrelevant.
“There’s so many teams and players that have put their heart and soul into this game and have developed livelihoods around this game, myself included,” Kala said in the emotional video, “and now everything gets pulled out from underneath them. It’s absolutely insane and I’m so fucking tilted about it. Holy crap. I’m so upset. So yeah, I don’t know what to do now. Coach of a game without a competitive scene …
“I was straight-up told by Blizzard employees at BlizzCon … that the HGC was going to be the same. Funding equal or greater for next year.”

Pro players expressed both anger and disappointment at the cancellation of Heroes of the Storm’s esports plans, including Liam O’Malley, an aspiring player who was set to join the team Endemic next year.
“For the past [three years] I’ve committed 8-10 hours a day into [Heroes of the Storm] to improve to make it into the HGC one day,” O’Malley tweeted. “I even dropped out of college to pursue my dream. Finally I did it and was going to be playing for [Endemic] as offlane in 2019. Now I’m told it’s canceled. I’m so sad.”
The captain of Simplicity’s Heroes of the Storm team, Justing, tweeted angrily about the situation, indicating that he was left in the dark as well.
“Good thing I was a team owner and asked repeatedly for information, even signed on for an apartment and I was given zero information regarding my job in 2019,” he wrote. “LOL what a joke.”
Meanwhile, some prominent Heroes of the Storm streamers have already moved on, shifting to competing MOBAs League of Legends and Dota 2.

How many times do people need to be told to not drop out of college for an esports career?

 

[5secondrulesucks]

heroes of the storm isnt a bad game at all and is fun. it just sucks a game has to be the number 1 financial success or else its pure trash. blizzard is pretty bad at this moment and no one trusts them and this is another reason why. they deserve all the shit they are getting

 

[newtypepilot]

not surprised they canceled it since the business model was unsustainable and HotS wasn't designed to be esports to begin with. More shocked at how they announced it without any prior warning.

 

[woigemok]

The most stupid shit they've done this generation was the failures to recognize Dota 2 popularity

 

[Kenpachii]

The most stupid shit they've done this generation was the failures to recognize Dota 2 popularity

Things always amazed me about blizzard:

1) Completely ignored PVP side of world of warcraft and even actively going against it. ( its even in the name ) which is basically what pushes every game this day.
2) Did absolutely nothing with prices for PVP related stuff, which everybody was screaming for already for ages
3) Completely ignored DOTA or WC counterstrike MOD which ended up being DOTA / League / Overwatch at the end
4) Lack of Esport gaming, they should have been the ones starting it.

They are completely incapable of seeing trends and even actively ignoring them until they are far too late.

 

[God Enel]

It’s kinda sad because this is my go to game to play with friends. After dota I needed something more casual that didn’t feel like ‘work’ and where the community wasn’t so toxic and now they’re telling me that.. yeah I don’t know what’s going to happen with the game..

 

[ZywyPL]

Extremely wasted potential - they have all the known and beloved characters from all their universes put together, but there's just something seriously lacking in the gameplay. As some already mentioned, due to Acti acquisition, Blizz focuses on making money instead of making good games, that would still make them lots of money at the end of the day.

 

[kraspkibble]

that sucks. i just uninstalled LoL and was gonna get back into HOTS but why should i even bother if Blizzard don't care?

Blizzard are going way downhill. The only game of theirs I enjoy somewhat now is Overwatch. Diablo, HOTS, Hearthstone, and WoW are so bad now.

 

[LordRaptor]

“For the past [three years] I’ve committed 8-10 hours a day into [Heroes of the Storm] to improve to make it into the HGC one day,” O’Malley tweeted. “I even dropped out of college to pursue my dream.

that sucks. i just uninstalled LoL and was gonna get back into HOTS but why should i even bother if Blizzard don't care?

Uhhhhhhh... for fun?

 

[Silvawuff]

It's kinda poignant as DotA itself (which created the MOBA genre) was originally based on a Warcraft map mod iirc. HotS is pretty fun and I've enjoyed my time with it. It's a shame that the metric for what constitutes a "success" to a company is so huge that it can kill even a good game that's pulling its weight.

 

[Lucumo]

It's kinda poignant as DotA itself (which created the MOBA genre) was originally based on a Warcraft map mod iirc.

DotA didn't create the genre. And DotA was based on something else as well. AoS (map) -> DotA (map) -> League of Legends/HoN/DotA 2 etc.

 

[STI]

Good call on blizzard.
Hots want doing so hot, and MOBA is dying in general.

 

[UgriWC3]

tough break for all HGC casters

this news was not expected