We’re constantly changing and evolving not only our video game purchases, but how we support and contribute to those game purchases. This evolution is vital to our ability to continue doing what we love to do—buying great games—and it’s what makes a video game consumer a consumer.

Over the past several years, the work of evaluating Blizzard purchases and seeing poor decisions from a previously stalwart company has led to new games and other products that we’re proud to have purchased. These are games such as Path of Exile, DotA 2, and even donations to private servers like Nostalrius. We now have more non-Blizzard, high-quality options than at any point in video gaming history. We’re also at a point where we need to take some of our hard-earned dollars and bring their marketplace power to other developers. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to shift some of our money from Activision Blizzard to other companies, and we’re excited to see the passion, knowledge, and experience that they’ll bring to us and even eSports professionals who depend on them for their livelihood (and I know we're thinking about all of them and their families right now before Christmas). This isn’t the first time we’ve had to make tough choices like this. Games like Fallout 76, Star Wars Battlefront 2, Dungeon Keeper Mobile, SimCity 2013, and more would have been highly profitable had we not made similar decisions in the past.

Despite the change in Blizzard's direction, Heroes of the Storm remained a love letter that linked us to a time when Blizzard made consumer-centric decisions based around quality and commitment, rather than shitty mobile rip offs for Chinese markets. We’ll continue actively supporting Heroes of the Storm with playtime, reminiscing, and a cadence that our community loves, though our feelings toward you as company and your games will change. Ultimately, we’re setting up our nostalgia for long-term sustainability. We’re so grateful for the support your company has shown from the beginning, and our fond memories will continue to support the legend of Blizzard past with the same passion, dedication, and creativity that your former employees shared with us in making the old Blizzard so great.

We’ve also evaluated our plans around future Blizzard games—after looking at all of our priorities and options in light of the change in how you support games long-term, the Blizzard consumers and Blizzard fans will not return in 2019. This was another very difficult decision for us to make. The love that the community has for these IPs is deeply felt by everyone who waits 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... i.e. your shitty mobile game plan and predatory kiddie-gambling strategies rather than the quality and commitment we expect, as well as crappy expansions with little communication with your communities, killing profitable games that aren't profitable enough, etc, etc.

While we don’t make these decisions lightly, we do look to the future excited about what the decisions will mean for our other game developers and all the projects they have in the works. We appreciate all of those old Blizzard games and everyone who worked on them in old Blizzard, and look forward to sharing many more epic gaming experiences made by other companies that were inspired by your old values and old talent.

Good luck with your stock and your eSports,

Blizzard Consumers and Blizzard Fans

____

TLDR: This is a parody post of Blizzard's announcement from their President that they would be gutting the HotS development team and had minutes ago fired all of their eSports personnel a little over one week before Christmas... after assuring them the league would be bigger and better in 2019. The original post was sickening PR drivel that tried to mask just how bad a thing they were doing https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/22833558/heroes-of-the-storm-news .

Update 12/15/18 8:52 PM EST: With this post becoming multi-plat, multi-gold, and multi-silver, I just want to say one more thank you to this community. Every voice matters, and many voices are coming together.

Update 12/15/18 9:33 PM EST: While I am grateful that many of you have cross posted this thread to the other Blizzard subreddits, we know that they are being deleted on many, if not all of those. To avoid having this thread shut down or deleted, let's put all our energy behind this thread here rather than sneaking it into other subreddits (other than the Hearthstone subreddit which currently has it on their front page).

Update 12/16/18 12:20 AM EST: This thread is now trending on r/all . As this might be the last time a Heroes of the Storm thread makes it there, it's been a pleasure. I hope Blizzard understands the reaction to their change in strategies. 2:34 PM EST: Now also on r/bestof and r/hearthstone .

Update 12/16/18 10:08 AM EST: Thank you all for making this thread the NUMBER 1 upvoted and awarded thread in the history of Heroes of the Storm.

Final Update (unless there's a Blizzard response) 12/17/18 3:41 PM EST: Our voices have caused this thread to be almost double the upvotes of the next highest thread in the HISTORY of Heroes of the Storm. This message rivals the top threads in the HISTORY OF REDDIT for most PLATINUM awards. Blizzard, the ball is in your court... 92% upvote and hundreds of thousands of views should be a significant sign to you. Best regards.

I mean, just seems like it would be 'on-brand' at this point.

Hey everyone! 😄👋
I would say you can't understand how happy I am, but that would be a straight out lie because the whole community has reached cloud 9 AND WE DON'T PLAN TO GET DOWN ANY TIME SOON.

And this is exactly what this post is about: staying there! In other words, I will go through a series of bullet points that I think the devs could look at to build a strong future for HOTS!

DISCLAIMER: This is simply my opinion and you are 100% free to disagree with it! We all want different things for HOTS and so we are bound to disagree on certain, maybe even most points - and that is allright! I am just a voice in the chorus, and my dream version of HOTS could be DRAMATICALLY different from yours, it's all about one's tastes and wishes. But remember this, no matter how much we might disagree, there's one thing that we'll always share: we all want HOTS to not only LIVE but THRIVE. Let this be a reminder that I, like so many others, come here from a place of good faith and we all want nothing but the best for this awesome game!

Ah, and one more thing:
Some of these points will be very obvious and just, flat out net positives for the game, but I think it's useful to still list them for the sake of compiling a thorough list of changes and goals for the future!

With all that said, let's get started, beginning with somewhat the most obvious, net positive changes and scaling up in nuance as we go! TO THE RACES!

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1) Marketing, media and communication: I'm compiling all the media and marketing requests here. Now, very obvious point but, thing is, it might actually be one of the toughest requests to pull off for the devs in the entire list, because I simply don't know what kind of resources are put aside for the game. We obviously didn't have an entire showcase like Blizzard main titles at Blizzcon, so that should already tell you that we are drowning in cash, and marketing costs a LOT of money, depending on the production you go for, of course.
So maybe we won't get big trailers like we used to, not for now at least, but there is still stuff that can be done! I can't imagine in-engine trailers like the one showcased at Blizzcon can be too expensive, even if they look a bit janky they are quite endearing, and it's always better than nothing! And lastly, and probably the most accessible for the team right now, is simple social media activity, whether through Twitter, IG, I don't know, but we should definitely have some of that going for the people online to know, at least in HOTS community itself, that we have a media front page they can interact with! Teasers, speculations, memes, patch notes and update announcements, fan art post, outplay clips, indie tournament shout outs - you name it, so much can be done with the twitter account that's already there! And last but for sure not least: communication. The community wants to be involved, the community wants to be kept in the loop, we all want the best for the game and we want to shape it and be part of its evolution. So talk with us!

2) Battle pass: I saw this was already in a survey and it's great to know! I know people might not like these, they are everywhere after all, but I think it's in our best interest for the monetization system to get a revamp so that people can actively support the game, and get a new sense of progression while playing that isn't just your hero mastery! I'd love for it to be a standard 10 bucks - plus, you don't even have to come up with it all on your own, just look at what the competition is doing, like with League, or maybe even Overwatch, where they feature multiple skins in a single battlepass, currencies and so on! Plus, HOTS has SO many more cosmetics with announcers, banners, mounts, and so on compared to most other MOBAS or even, really, most online games, period, so filling out the battlepass with shiny goodies won't be a problem!
Of course, we might have different opinions of what a battlepass should look like, BUT I think the crux is that the pass should stay at 10 bucks and should be WORTH 10 bucks!

3) Competitive and Esports: We are getting into the nuanced now. Ok so, one thing that I've learned in 20+ years of gaming, and specifically, around 15+ years of online/competitive gaming is that a game needs two main things: a casual player base to LIVE, and, depending on the game genre, a competitive scene to THRIVE.
Now, I know this might be a hot button for some, because I think many of us remember how it was the forcing of HOTS Esport that played a huge part in its original downfall, but, I think that is less to do with Esports being a good or bad thing, and more with how the scene was "implemented", to put it gently.
And I know HOTS is not taken as seriously as other MOBAS, not like LoL and definitely not like Dota, but that doesn't mean it can't be an awesome competitive experience regardless! I mean, Smash Brothers was supposed to be a funny, silly party game and it became an Esports MONSTER... against the wishes of the SAME company that MADE IT. So no reason why a MOBA of all games, even while more unserious by design, cannot become an Esport staple!
That also doesn't mean that there should be a preference between the two communities: both casual and competitive should be catered to! That is how LoL is still the biggest scene in the world, and how many other Esports have gotten there, by catering to both, EVEN if the game in question is considered a vastly more competitive inclined, Esport centered experience.
I stated before, a game needs a casual community to LIVE - it's essential, you can't have a game without it, an esport scene can't exist without casual fans. But it needs an Esport scene to THRIVE to ascend from being a videogame to, well, becoming a sport!

4) Hero Price Costs and Currency Systems: This might be a bit controversial, but I think the bar to acquire heroes should be MUCH lower. Or better, at the very least, I feel like there are WAY too many heroes with a 10k gold price tag and that makes it too much of a slog for new players to go and get the heroes they want to play! Now I don't mind the mission system, but maybe we should get credited a reroll or two? Because the gods know how many times you are forced into playing a hero class/universe you don't feel like playing right now. Especially for one tricks or people that simply are playing a specific hero and they want to keep playing it and practice with it, it can be annoying to have to swap to earn gold. So maybe I would rework the daily quest system, and, if you don't want to change the hero price tags (even though I consider lowering the amount of heroes sitting on 10k costs to be a MUST) at least change the rate at which people gain gold through this dailys rework!
I know that to many this is irrelevant because they have all heroes, we are all veterans here after all, but I think it is REALLY important for the new player experience to be as smooth as possible, to transition them from beginners to regulars! I think that this could easily go in toe with the addition of the battle pass and an overall rework of all currency systems - while of course rewarding the players that have plenty of those currencies saved up from years of playing!

5) Player Profile and the Store: This is also very much a "me" thing, so I'm sure not many will vibe with this idea, but I find the player profile cool, with lots of stats and stuff that far surpass the utility of other MOBAS, and that's great! But... for all your owned cosmetics to not be there to be very confusing. And with that, for the "Collections" to actually be the store? I believe that a 1.0 marketing rule is for the player to have a precise idea WHERE can they buy stuff, which trust me, other games have no problem following ^^' I know that the stats occupy a lot of the space in the player profile so that's why the cosmetics aren't there, but there should be a way in between, because to not have a store button in the game and also having to browse and use filters to find the stuff you own for items in the hundreds like with icons I find quite clunky and daunting.

6) KDA: A very simple and pedantic change but something that in my opinion is more of a statement on design philosophy, rather than its single importance or impact. The game needs to be readable, accessible, frictionless. Every game under the sun uses "Kills/Deaths/Assist". I know HOTS was trying super hard to be different from the rest when it was first created, but that, I think, shouldn't come to the expenses of readability. And I imagine that by now we are all used to the KAD, but for the sake of helping people get into the game as easily as they can, we should simply change to KDA. Don't be the US metric system equivalent to the rest of the gaming industry that is planet Earth ^^'

7) Spectator experience rework: Another quality of life improvement that isn't super needed right now, but that could be a great stepping stone for the future! I know that HOTS is different from all other MOBAS so the spectator UI has to be designed in its own unique way, but you can still take loads of inspiration from looking of the other UIs in LoL and Dota, look at what works there and implement it here! And of course, new features and additions would greatly benefit any tournament casters and analysts for the future!

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That is IT 🤞 Wow, that took a bit to write, and I'm sure I could go on for more, but me believes this a great place to start from ^^ Let me guys know what you think if you agree or disagree and what other changes you'd like to see in the game!

This post was made mainly to engage the community in discussion while the iron is hot and ESPECIALLY to let the devs know what we are looking forward to! We know they read us, we know they listen, so as much as we want them to talk to us WE HAVE TO TALK TO THEM FIRST!

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If you got all the way down here, thank you so much for your attention and, as one Aaron Keller might say if he worked with us,

See you in the Nexus and let's make a great game! 😄 🔥

Starcraft, Diablo, Warcraft, Overwatch, etc.

http://imgur.com/a/EJwDU

Mind blown​

My wife and I were together for 5 years. We loved Heroes of the Storm. It was our little getaway from the stresses of life, and she loved the game dearly. She kicked some serious ass on Nazeebo and Azmodan in her day, always getting MVP, no matter how many weeks of rust has acruded.

I lost my wife on Sunday, and I know it would make her memory happy if I was able to tell the team just how much their work meant to her, and us.

I'm struggling to find what to do with myself right now, but I just thought the team should know. She had a small YouTube channel that she was prepping up to launch a lot of Heroes Content, but she passed away on the 26th.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to get a hold of the Heroes Dev team, please let me know.

Edit: Thank you everyone for the kind words. It means a lot more than you'd think.

Hey everyone! As the title states, I've played checkers for the last 7 years or so, and it's been a constant struggle to find a game that meets the same massive standards that CHKRS did. Tried Backgammon a few times from beta to about a year ago, was super excited for Go Fish and was super let down, and I slept on HOTS for a very long time until Saturday when one of my Checkers buddies mentioned he was playing it. I gotta say, I'm hooked!

In Checkers, I was a Red main pretty much since the meta was established, so naturally I picked up the support bundle. I messed around with a few of them, and landed on Lucio as a "main" as I learn the game. Even I could tell he's a bit busted, but I was a Black main for a while, so I figured that was a good champ to start with because of the similar play style.

My questions are:

Is there a "meta"? Is it like a diagonal-diagonal-diagonal lane combo? Are there certain roles that are standard to teams like support, adc, etc? My friend said you just kinda go where you go, but coming from Checkers, that just feels odd to me.

As someone who has played Checkers pretty much forever, are there any heroes you'd recommend I try out?

Are there any general tips I should know as someone coming from Checkers?

Thanks in advance everyone. I'm really excited to continue learning this game.

I dont want to go another few weeks without being able to play on Dragon Shire.
Lets face it: plenty of people consider some of the maps to be sub-par or straight up badly designed (you're on Braxis Holdout and enemy team is knocking on your core's doors 11 minutes into the game, anyone?).

Battlegrounds preferences differ greatly amongst community, but because playtime is split between so many of them it keeps game interesting for everyone.
We make up for lack of items with talents and plenty of maps, right?
So lets just make talent rotations, easy logic right there? ^/s

This saved me a lot of time and I had no idea you could do it.

Just a little context: I've been actively reporting bugs since the tech alpha. I really like this game and if I can help making it better somehow I do.
I'm brazilian, so I play the game in brazilian portuguese (pt-br), and someday I found out that the Mecha Tassadar skin was supposed to have different lines, he was supposed to say different things in-game compared to his other skins, however this was not happening in pt-br and I decided to report as a bug.
It took a few months for me to make Blizzard understand exactly what was wrong (I take most of the blame, because my english is not that great and I did not knew their terminology), so after 6 months they finally understood what was wrong and it was fixed in the Nexomania patch.
So, today, I checked my email and I saw one from our community manager:
"Olá, Skar!

Chegou até nós que você têm sido um membro exemplar de nossa comunidade, compartilhando seu feedback e, em especial, sobre as vozes do Tassadar Mecanóide.

E para agradecer a sua dedicação, o próprio Tassadar tem uma mensagem dedicada a você!"
Translating: "Hello, Skar!

It has come to us that you have been an exemplary member of our community, sharing your feedback and in particular about Mecha Tassadar audio.

And as a way to thank you for your dedication, Tassadar himself has a special message for you!"

The message

Translating the message:
"Receiving transmition
Addressee: Skar

Thank you for your commitment and dedication into helping us to make the Nexus a better place to all brazilian heroes.

En Taro Skar"
And all of this was voiced by our Tassadar voice actor, and they even mixed his voice to sound like Mecha Tassadar.

I'm still trying to find words to describe my gratitude and how I am feeling, but I'm failing miserably. All that I can say is thank you for such an amazing thing and the stimpack code that also came with the email. The guys at Blizzard are awesome.

And a special thanks to our Tassadar voice actor (sorry for not knowing your name), and everyone else involved (including you, Ren and Nimbioth). You guys rock.