The lack of any information on upcoming heroes for most of 2020 is concerning.
I’m beginning to wonder if there are actually working plans to even release anther new hero at this stage.
Mind you, this question doesn’t suggest that we’ve heard in the past that are many heroes in various stages of development. It’s more a matter of weather or not the HotS team even has enough resources or enough ‘passion’ to get one of those heroes cleaned up, balanced and ready to release (or, even if the art is far enough done for that to be practical).
When development slows down to this level, one has to wonder if the steam and drive is just gone.
I still think 1 hero per year is very good for a maintenance mode game and shows they haven’t completely abandoned the project.
I’m ok with waiting to 2021 for the next hero if it means they hone and polish it to perfection, and it needs very little nerfs/buffs after release.
Deathwing release was very polished and fun, but it was still a bit rushed as he released at an obnoxious ~70% win ratio for weeks. He became okay after 4-5 nerfs.
7 Likes
I see nothing wrong with releasing one hero a year. In someway it is better as there is less overlap or potential powercreep. Which is bound to happen if we have too many heroes.
Also I feel we will get another hero this year, maybe even very soon.
1 Like
id imagine we will get one either before or after the christmas patch
We’ve been getting major content updates seasonally. We got Tassadar in the spring, Mei in the summer, D.Va/Gazlowe in the fall, and a fourth one coming in the winter. The devs have also said there will be a second hero this year. I would expect it to be a knockout, since it’s their Blizzcon-tier hero again.
This may also not be what will happen in future years. The devs said we’d be getting more heroes this year than last, but obviously that isn’t happening. However, they said that before COVID, so quarantine may have really slowed them down.
4 Likes
I’d love a new hero at some point.
Sad part is a lot of people like slower hero releases even IF the game was doing well like LoL kind of success. Apparently hero balance, defined metas, And getting used to each hero before the next hero comes out is better than the sheer volume of heroes in an (to me) appropriate one month intervals
At one point in one of the AMAs (I dont recall it was this year or last year) it was suggested (I don’t believe it was “promised”) that they would be striving for 1 hero a quarter.
In Heroes release prime, there were so many fantastic hero ideas being thrown around and what would make them different. There were also a lot of heroes tossed out outright intended to be “mirrors” of other heroes almost entire with the intent that they give the other team access to a very similar hero if the need called for it.
I’ve gathered that Tassadar’s rework was our “Q1 new hero” after a fashion.
With Covid19 being a thing and many businesses now struggling to figure out how to make design and development work under these new conditions, I largely anticipated greater then expected slowness in hero releases, but I ALSO expected some form of an prodding from the devs such as “its coming” or “wait till…” or “It’ll be ready when its ready”; ok, this is last one is really “old blizz”, but you guys get the point.
1 Like
I hope to see another hero before end of 2020. I hope for at least 3 new heroes for the new year.
That’d be more than one hero a month left. Sad sad. If 2021 they had a surprise where it was once a month, my faith in the game would be restored a little. More individual power in game would also make this the best game ever
1 Like
It’s not nice to talk about despair. I have always hoped and will be!!
I’d rather have a new map. If you play this game a lot, maps matter a lot more for having diversity in playing than a new hero that you see here and there or play some times.
I’d like to see two more ARAM maps and one new standard map to have something really fresh and new.
I totally agree. To be fair a hero like Deathwing is very difficult to balance considering all his unique aspects. Imperius, Mei, Anduin and Qhira were all a lot more balanced when they were released.
1 Like
The thing about it is this is game is often called “a love letter to our fans and franchises”.
It should be a game where you feel like you’re picking up a beloved hero from a game and playing them; but there are soooo many ‘dream heroes’ that aren’t ever going to be realized at this point.
I’m not necessarily advocating for a sever drop in quality just to pump out heroes, but I do think there are plenty of opportunities to throw some “mirror-like” heroes out that don’t require a ton of balancing.
The most direct example that springs to mind is Tassadar’s remake: we got a really nice upgrade that finally feels like the Tassadar many of us always wanted, but we left a perfectly viable kit on the cutting room floor. There was talks of making a hero based upon the Protoss Adept from SC2 and we KNOW the model is mostly if not completely done due to much earlier datamining, Taking that kit and transfering it with a little retooling would give us another hero. I suspect its a bit more work then a pallet swap, but it is something we can and should see happen.
Other heroes like Tyrande and Uther have road the line of “Not quiet the hero I want” for a very long time (there are others, these are just some that spring to mind). I would love to see their kits segreated into Pure Healer and Pure Bruiser/Tank/DPS taking the aspects of those builds that people loved. Uther’s remake always felt just shy of “complete”, in particular, it feels really good until level 13 when it feels like they never finished him. There are also PLENTY of Tyrande players out there that want DPS Tyrande back, especially now that Chromie doesn’t quiet work as a replace for “Dps Tyrande” anymore.
Other ideas to get some good heroes out quick that are “mirror-ish” is to get us a Shield and Board Tank based loosely on some of Varian’s talents. A more fleshed out Arms/Fury Warrior would also be highly welcomed.
I don’t mean this as a “drop ideas here” theread, I’m just citing examples of things I would have considered years ago in this game and places I would certainly be trying to get things going now.
1 Like