If loot box legislation get enacted, will Blizzard simply shut down HotS to avoid non-compliance to any new laws rather than put the development time into removing it from the game?
I donât think it will shut down HotS, but it may make the executives consider it strongly.
It still wont make gem sales illegal though which will still allow monetization of the game.
Some countries have already banned loot boxes under gambling legislation, and you simply canât buy lootboxes in those countries.
I donât know how well lootboxes sell in HotS compared to cosmetics and heroes, but I do think it will increase the risk the game gets shut down if the entirety of the EU and USA were to enact such laws.
Best scenario, the maintenance team simply removes lootboxes and sales of other items like gems continue as usual. Worst scenario, keeping the game online is no longer profitable and the plug is pulled (unlikely, I hope).
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How easy would it be for the maintenance team to remove the ability to purchase loot boxes is the question then?
Only Blizzard (or some insiders like Spazzo965 who supply the dev team with known bugs), I suppose) knows that.
In my cautious opinion, I donât think the Classic maintenance team knows anything about programming HotS. So far the only things theyâve done is number tuning to heroes which are just text editing. They have not touched a single backlogged bug so far.
There was a balance patch 9 months ago but that was number tuning as well.
To remove or add features to the game they probably need to consult people who worked on HotS to supply code changes, and that could take ages.
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I think thatâs where youâre confusing HotS with other games. HotS doesnât have the option to purchase lootboxes, does it? You can buy rare xx chest with gold, but you canât buy gold with money, so thatâs a non-factor. I always question myself, is there something I didnât know? But Iâm sure thatâs pretty much it.
It was the other way around in fact from what Iâve heard. HotS 2.0 was supposed to be lootbox selling monetization. This was scrapped when country like Belgium passed the lootbox - gambling law thing. It became what we have now, and some people consider that as one of the failure of HotS (scrapped monetization when 2.0 lootbox, system was based on that, leading to less revenue).
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If we look at the patch notes after Classic team took over, there is no indication they are game developers at all. They are more like curators that make sure the game stays online.
They have not touched any bugs or made any balance changes in SC2 for two years, they did upload the Katowice Champion 2022 avatar portrait in June though. They do not touch Diablo 2 at all or address any bugs. Warcraft 3 (Frozen Throne) did not get a single change after 2019.
They have not made changes to HotS in over a year. When they did, they were ability corrections (like Devouring Maw correctly showing the number of heroes inside it) rather than true bug fixes.
I do not believe that they have the knowledge, resources of capability to make game changes like the original developers did. Itâs likely they are not programmers at all.
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At first I thought this is a necroed thread, because⌠it wonât be HotSâ doom. It already was.
2.0 put everything on Lootboxes, which was money-only. Gambling laws happened, Lootboxes became free. The game became too free. No big moneys which meant that when the company had a big crisis, focusing on anything but the biggest hits was a âluxoryâ.
I blame Lootboxes.
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considering that overwatch went to â2â to remove those lootboxes and that the last dev announcement or the game was particular about things not getting added to the shop, HotS is probably going to need some sort of overhaul to the monetization model for the game.
People talk about âshutting it downâ, but the issue isnât the money they game could make, but a lack of staff at blizzard to be able to make adjustments to the game. If blizz is going to make changes to HotS, then itâll need to be a shop overhaul as well as some mode adjustments so players have more incentive to keep playing the game.
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The âDoomâ is more that Heroes of the Storm stops receiving regular content updates. Which sadly already happenedâŚ
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I donât know about you but I can still log on and play the game. I donât really care if there are regular content updates. I still remember a time when regular content updates werenât even a thing and still managed to have fun playing video games.
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I miss new content patches if only for the reason that new heroes and reworked or tweaked heroes could shake up a stagnant meta. New content also helps with player retention in the MOBA genre.
Like you I am pragmatic and not really bothered that Hots isnât being updated as there is a huge roster to play and the game is basically âcompleted.â There will come a time though, where there wonât be enough players to give fast queue and provide passable matchmaking in all modes. That (or if the servers are shut down first) is when Hots will truly die.