Heroes of the Storm's Next Update Focuses on Progression

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Heroes of the Storm's Next Update Focuses on Progression

Hello, loot chests.

The next big update for Blizzard's brawler Heroes of the Storm is set to hit on April 25 (it entered beta yesterday), and the update will focus largely on the game's progression system.

First, Blizzard takes a page out of Overwatch's book with the addition of loot chests, which will contain items already available in the game, along with sprays, banners, emojis, and announcers.

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/BlizzHeroes/status/847127987656941568]

Another big change is the removal of the Player Level cap, which will now be reflected as the sum of all of the Hero levels you've gained. Blizzard says this was done in order to "make progression more straightforward" and in order to make sure that "your ability to continue progressing is near limitless."

"As a result, the XP you'll earn by completing games will now only affect your Hero progression. Whenever you gain a new Hero level, your overall Player Level will increase as well," the post reads. "Uncapping progression helps us accomplish our goals to make progression more frequent and more meaningful. It also gives us enough flexibility to reward you with some sweet in-game loot every time you level up one of your Heroes!"

You can read up on all of the changes coming to Heroes of the Storm here [http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/heroes20/progression/].



Permalink

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Considering you can barely get any of those neat things in-game right now, I'm on board with this (even though I rarely play the game).

And being able to set your own announcer is a neat thing. I want more starcraft in my HOTS, so I'd really enjoy having pre-infestation kerrigan or Jim or whoever as my announcer. XD

Sprays are kinda freakin' dumb to have in a MOBA, though.

 

[RJ 17]

They'd better NOT pull an Overwatch by letting you get stuff you've already unlocked...considering that anything you unlocked (with the exclusion of Master Skins and special event stuff) was bought with real money. The moment I open a loot box and find a skin that I already bought is the moment I demand a refund for ALL of the money I've pissed away into this game over the course of numerous nights of inebriation.

 

[laggyteabag]

They'd better NOT pull an Overwatch by letting you get stuff you've already unlocked...considering that anything you unlocked (with the exclusion of Master Skins and special event stuff) was bought with real money. The moment I open a loot box and find a skin that I already bought is the moment I demand a refund for ALL of the money I've pissed away into this game over the course of numerous nights of inebriation.

Yep, unfortunately duplicates are a thing. If you get a duplicate of an item, it is converted into a currency called shards, which can then be spent on other items. Thankfully, the rate of earning shards seems to be pretty okay. Getting a duplicate epic skin will convert into 100 shards, which will allow you to craft a rare skin, for example. It seems like the exchange rate is pretty much exactly as it is in Hearthstone.

OT: Another thing that is worth mentioning is the way people will earn the crates retroactively. Your player level will now become your combined hero level, so when the update goes live, you will earn:
1 Common Loot Chest per every 10 levels (Up to a maximum of 35)
1 Rare Loot Chest per every 25 levels (Up to a maximum of 20)
1 Epic Loot Chest per every 100 levels (Up to a maximum of 10)
+5 Common Loot Chests if you have completed at least 1 game of Heroes of the Storm

This means that when the update goes live, every player can earn only a maximum of 70 chests, regardless of what your Hero level will be. Feel free to feel a bit bummed out.

And before you open HotS and start to calculate the amount of crates that you will be getting when 2.0 come out, Blizzard is also changing the amount of XP required to gain Hero levels. This means that your Heroes existing level will scale accordingly. For example, if your Hero is level 10, they will now become level 15, and if your Hero is level 20, they will become level 55.

Then, once the update goes live, it will change to:
1 Common Loot Chest per level (Unless you earn a Rare or Epic loot chest)
1 Rare Loot Chest per every 5 levels
1 Epic Loot Chest per every 25 levels
1 Hero Specific Loot Chest per every 10 levels (with that Hero, I presume)

And finally, when 2.0 releases, there are around 70+ new skins, and colour variations. Such as Artanis as he appears during Legacy of the Void, and a D3 Female Diablo.

 

[RJ 17]

They'd better NOT pull an Overwatch by letting you get stuff you've already unlocked...considering that anything you unlocked (with the exclusion of Master Skins and special event stuff) was bought with real money. The moment I open a loot box and find a skin that I already bought is the moment I demand a refund for ALL of the money I've pissed away into this game over the course of numerous nights of inebriation.

Yep, unfortunately duplicates are a thing. If you get a duplicate of an item, it is converted into a currency called shards, which can then be spent on other items. Thankfully, the rate of earning shards seems to be pretty okay. Getting a duplicate epic skin will convert into 100 shards, which will allow you to craft a rare skin, for example. It seems like the exchange rate is pretty much exactly as it is in Hearthstone.

Then yeah, I'm going to demand a refund...because that's straight up horse shit.

 

[InflatableHippo]

Once again another game has devolved with RNG loot boxes and 'Grind to win' rewards. I mean was the Diablo reward system THAT great that it was implemented to other games?

 

[loa]

Why with the gambling tho? Can we not? Can we please stop with that?

 

[Tiamattt]

Why with the gambling tho? Can we not? Can we please stop with that?

Sadly I've seen the $$$ effect it has on Overwatch's loot boxes, which is pretty scary considering it starts off as a $40 game. Like the amount of money my friends seemed perfectly happy to throw at it....well lets just say I'm not surprised to see this game go in the same direction.

Personally I hope my sis and I don't get too caught in the spending. I've been mostly going F2P and well, I have a rather large surplus of gold thanks to only buying heroes/skins/mounts I absolutely really want and I'm happy for the chance to earn more than just gold through gameplay.

 

[Dr. Thrax]

I only ever play vs. AI because I play casually, and honestly, I'm cautiously optimistic.
I hate the current model that everything cosmetic is cash only, and at ridiculous prices. Being able to get these things for playtime, albeit at the mercy of the RNG, is a great way to attract newer players, but also alleviate the gripes people have with the current system. We'll see just how this all goes once the update drops.

 

[loa]

Why with the gambling tho? Can we not? Can we please stop with that?

Please stop misusing the term "gambling".

You lay down money.
You play a game of chance.
For money or other stakes.

It's gambling. Stop enabling abusive business strategies.

 

[Newage]

Unknown:
-We haven't been told if the 70 crate limit prioritizes the most valuable crates first

Ah, this cap was determined by the numbers of each type of crate we would get.
This is the list of loot crates you get retro actively :

Completed at least 1 Heroes match--------5 Common Loot Chests
Every 10 Account Levels-----------------+1 Common Loot Chest (35 Maximum)
Every 25 Account Levels-----------------+1 Rare Loot Chest (20 Maximum)
Every 100 Account Levels----------------+1 Epic Loot Chest (10 Maximum)

 

[loa]

You lay down money.
You play a game of chance.
For money or other stakes.

You hand them $2 for $2 or more worth of items.

So not only do you think skins are tangible things now whose worth can be precisely calculated, you also think if you go to mc donalds and hand them 2 bucks, they spin the wheel and it lands on cheeseburger but could also land on 2 big macs because that is how transactions work and has no overtones from an industry so predatory, it had to be regulated.
Ok.

 

[loa]

So not only do you think skins are tangible things now whose worth can be precisely calculated, you also think if you go to mc donalds and hand them 2 bucks, they spin the wheel and it lands on cheeseburger but could also land on 2 big macs because that is how transactions work and has no overtones from an industry so predatory, it had to be regulated.
Ok.

Because everyone knows the way game development work is that the devs just stand in a circle, imagine the asset, and then chant until it appears on the monitor.

Tangibility isn't relevant. Makes sense that the foundational concepts of value, labour and development costs is lost on the one who misuses the word "gambling".

And your analogy is irrelevant. X company is advertising "$2 for $2 worth of product". There's no deceit involved. No chance of loss. And to anyone's knowledge, nothing is being stripped away. So that literally just makes it a progression system, with optional microtransactions, for purely cosmetic rewards. The optional is keyword here. Having options like this is the definition of pro-consumer.

Now stop pretending to be outraged and move on with your life.

Deceit? Removal of content?
None of your arbitrary criteria have anything to do with gambling.
What you're saying is, a game of chance isn't gambling if you are guaranteed something. I disagree.

As for that "worth" argument, I don't feel like having an aneurism right now so whatever.
The world already drank the kool aid on that when price parity with brick and mortar stores was enforced.

 

[Newage]

There's also character specific chests rewarded every 10 character levels. Which aren't in that formula.

Yes. Those are not mentioned anywhere for retroactive rewards. Seems like they won't be given to us, which is kinda dumb, considering you'd get them for heroes you enjoy (if you played them that much), it almost feels like the game is punishing you for liking some heroes over others.