Tomb of the Spider Queen, Sylvanas Wind Runner, More Gold and Hero levels past 10 are just some of the exciting announcements to look forward to.
Straight from Boston, the Pax East Blizzard Panel has concluded, giving us plenty to talk about. As a rabid Sylvanas fan, it's hard for me to focus on anything else so lets cover her first.
From the looks of it, Sylvanas Windrunner looks like the most polished hero we have seen to date. Everything sounds cool, everything looks cool, and her abilities feel like they were designed by a team who has a firm understanding of the type of game HotS is shaping up to be. Some of the hero skins and abilities that are still rough around the edges stick out like a sore thumb when contrasted with Sylvanas's fluid animation and creative abilities. I am looking at you Diablo.
The video above does a great job of explaining her core abilities and even gives a nod to the lack of CC abilities currently in the game. I can't be the only one who felt immense satisfaction when Nazeebo was silenced so quickly. At the 34 second mark you can even see Sylvanas enter stealth after the use of Haunting Wave, despite not doing so at the 27 second mark. Looks like a potential talent upgrade!
Next up is Tomb of the Spider Queen. The premise of the map is simple: killing lane minions drop gems that, once turned in, spawn bigger minions to attack your enemies structure. Like other battlegrounds, the premise is simple but promises to create a unique play experience that may bring under utilized heroes into the limelight. This also appears to be one of the smallest battlegrounds, so whether or not gem collecting is ignored all together in favor of an all out blood bath is up to the players.
The rest of the announcements were all about quality of player life and UI improvements. One of the most vocally contested part of HotS has been its "talent gating" system, which will finally be removed for players who have reached player account 30. This change alone would be enough to make the majority of HotS fans happy, but Blizzard seems intent on matching every public demand. This includes more gold awards as players level up, new 11-20 hero levels with additional progression incentives, and even the ability to mute flaming allies.
Blizzard also seems interested in rewarding good social behavior stating they are exploring the possibility of a players rating other players at the end of a match and even a clan system! I hope that HotS might one day have a thriving in game social environment, and the throwback to Warcraft 3 style clans is certainly a step in the right direction.
You can read the official re-cap here where information on these changes are listed more in depth.
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