heroes Heroes of the Storm Panel at PAX East 2018

[Stan 5,240]

A summary of the Heroes of the Storm panel from PAX East 2018.

Panelists

• Jeff Cannata [Moderator]
• Matt Villers [Lead Hero Designer]
• Kevin Johnson [Creative Content Lead]
• Kaeo Milker [Production Director]

Deckard Can Hero Reveal

• Deckard Cain was unveiled as the next Hero to join the Nexus. The Hero will be available on PTR in a few weeks.
• Enemies can see the location of his Healing Elixirs, but they cannot be destroyed.

Lore in Heroes of the Storm

• The team plans to introduce more lore to Heroes of the Storm and the Nexus.
• There are multiple Nexus realms (maps) that fall under the control of realm lords (paragons of power).
• Realms contain power and it is controlled through conquest. Whoever controls a realm, receives their demigod status.
• Lady of Thorns (Dragon Shire announcer) is the realm lord of King's Crest.
• Raven Lord is the realm lord of the Cursed Hollow.
• Towers of Doom represents a conflict between The Grave Keeper and the Raven Lord over a realm.
• Singularity is the energy that's fought over in the Nexus.

Concept Art of the Nexus

Concept Art of Neo-Stormwind, the home of Mecha-Tyrael.

Concept Art of the Raven Tower

Blizzard plans to introduce a linear narrative to the game starting April with the release of Rise of the Raven Lord comic.

Q/A

• Kevin is ready to record an announcer pack.
• Blizzard is bringing ARAM in more frequently, no idea if they add it as a standalone game mode though.
• They want to update older Hero interactions (e.g. Fenix / Raynor), but it's a complex task.

[Laragon 269]

Anyone else wondering why the hell mecha-stormwind is able to explain Tyrael?

This all feels so fake its frustrating. Like the towers of doom was true, we all knew that was a fight between the two, but making up realms for random skins and everything else goes "we need to justify making cool things"

[mada7 29]

6 minutes ago, Laragon said:

Anyone else wondering why the hell mecha-stormwind is able to explain Tyrael?

This all feels so fake its frustrating. Like the towers of doom was true, we all knew that was a fight between the two, but making up realms for random skins and everything else goes "we need to justify making cool things"

Yeah... this all seems like a bunch of superfluous tat. I kinda like just using the rule of cool or because itd be funny explanation for why certain skins exist

[SteveFrost 97]

2 hours ago, Laragon said:

Anyone else wondering why the hell mecha-stormwind is able to explain Tyrael?

This all feels so fake its frustrating. Like the towers of doom was true, we all knew that was a fight between the two, but making up realms for random skins and everything else goes "we need to justify making cool things"

It all comes to AU (Alternate Universe) stories; since they want to give HotS more deep lore than "Nexus draws people from everywhere, anytime and they fight, the end". Though there were tidbits of AU lore already if you browsed the various skins in the shop.

[Laragon 269]

1 hour ago, SteveFrost said:

It all comes to AU (Alternate Universe) stories; since they want to give HotS more deep lore than "Nexus draws people from everywhere, anytime and they fight, the end". Though there were tidbits of AU lore already if you browsed the various skins in the shop.

I get that they are making an AU angle... but Mecha Tyrael from not just an alternate mecha universe, but also an alternate game universe. At that point, you just wanted a gundam tyrael. Which is fine, it's a sick skin. But not every skin needs a story.

[Valhalen 1,484]

9 minutes ago, Laragon said:

I get that they are making an AU angle... but Mecha Tyrael from not just an alternate mecha universe, but also an alternate game universe. At that point, you just wanted a gundam tyrael. Which is fine, it's a sick skin. But not every skin needs a story.

Why not? Giving each skin a story, even if small, helps expanding the lore of the game. It's not a bad thing and doesn't affect gameplay whatsoever.

[mada7 29]

2 hours ago, Valhalen said:

Why not? Giving each skin a story, even if small, helps expanding the lore of the game. It's not a bad thing and doesn't affect gameplay whatsoever.

It's harmless but using the panel to expound on lore for a game where lore isn't remotely important feels like a waste of a panel

[Valhalen 1,484]

31 minutes ago, mada7 said:

It's harmless but using the panel to expound on lore for a game where lore isn't remotely important feels like a waste of a panel

Maybe this is a hint for a future event or even a map?

[CyberDVonaven 82]

1 hour ago, Valhalen said:

Maybe this is a hint for a future event or even a map?

Yeah, like the fact that there is no current map named 'King's Crest' that is mentioned along side references to other maps.

*googles 'warcraft kings crest' just to make sure it's not something in that. Finds it links in a HOTS wiki site*

Ahh, I see. It's what makes up the kingdom that was in the original HOTS concept explanation of where Blackheart's Bay and Dragon Shire were suppose to be part of and taking place in.  Interesting. :)

I think in a way it's kinda cool that they wanna put in more lore and such behind things in HOTS. From looking at LoL's site they have tons of lore for there game world(s), characters, and variations of them. As long as they don't take it TOO serious and cause them to restrict themselves from making cool new skins and other stuff because of 'lore' behind things it's fine. ;) And more lore will only make us feel more connected to the game and it's heroes and skins like we do with their other games I would think :D

[Orshova 31]

8 hours ago, CyberDVonaven said:

Yeah, like the fact that there is no current map named 'King's Crest' that is mentioned along side references to other maps.

*googles 'warcraft kings crest' just to make sure it's not something in that. Finds it links in a HOTS wiki site*

Ahh, I see. It's what makes up the kingdom that was in the original HOTS concept explanation of where Blackheart's Bay and Dragon Shire were suppose to be part of and taking place in.  Interesting. :)

I think in a way it's kinda cool that they wanna put in more lore and such behind things in HOTS. From looking at LoL's site they have tons of lore for there game world(s), characters, and variations of them. As long as they don't take it TOO serious and cause them to restrict themselves from making cool new skins and other stuff because of 'lore' behind things it's fine. ;) And more lore will only make us feel more connected to the game and it's heroes and skins like we do with their other games I would think :D

LoL had to create lore for their characters and world or they wouldn't have lore at all. One of the big appeals of HotS is that the characters already have lore.  They exist in other worlds, we already know and love them. I love lore, but this just seems too random. They have characters,  races,  locations,  events,  and everything else to draw from.  Seems unnecessary to add on more made up stuff just to justify skins and splash arts. 

[Valhalen 1,484]

9 hours ago, CyberDVonaven said:

Yeah, like the fact that there is no current map named 'King's Crest' that is mentioned along side references to other maps.

*googles 'warcraft kings crest' just to make sure it's not something in that. Finds it links in a HOTS wiki site*

Ahh, I see. It's what makes up the kingdom that was in the original HOTS concept explanation of where Blackheart's Bay and Dragon Shire were suppose to be part of and taking place in.  Interesting. :)

I think in a way it's kinda cool that they wanna put in more lore and such behind things in HOTS. From looking at LoL's site they have tons of lore for there game world(s), characters, and variations of them. As long as they don't take it TOO serious and cause them to restrict themselves from making cool new skins and other stuff because of 'lore' behind things it's fine. ;) And more lore will only make us feel more connected to the game and it's heroes and skins like we do with their other games I would think :D

The Nexus worlds all have their own lore, which is pretty neat. And certain skins share their own story in those universes. Such as the Count Arthas and Countess Kerrigan, for example, that are part of the Raven Court and are hunted by Vampire Hunter Valeera and Valla.

[Warper 12]

Blizzard likes to make expansive universes. While HOTS itself doesn’t require much lore, I don’t see how this could be considered a bad thing. This will help open up new ideas for maps, events and such. 

I’ve seen many people talk about wanting an actual Overwatch movie or single player. It would not surprise me to see something happening with that... 10 years from now. Besides that, the Warcraft movie is another move by them to expand. I see this as a long term goal to establish hots’ beyond a single game. Honestly it makes me think of Nintendo’s attempt with super smash bros having a plot. Hopefully better though.

[CyberDVonaven 82]

I was watching a Nubkeks video talking about this on YT. One thing he said linking with this is that he's always disliked that there aren't any Warcraft themed maps in HOTS. O_O!? I don't really play WoW, so I didn't know this was the case. I had always thought that Dragon Shire, Blackheart's Bay, Cursed Hollow, Garden of Terror, & Towers of Doom were WoW themed maps. Turns out those are all 'Nexus' themed maps. That's was news to me. Did anyone else think this was the case as well or am I just that out of the loop?

So seeing as how that is the case. Blizzard, what are you yeah doing? Your biggest game franchise and you got no maps for it in your mixed franchises game??!! That seems totally ridiculous! (Hence how I thought otherwise.) Anyhow, get on that Blizzard! Do it!

Edited April 6, 2018 by CyberDVonaven

[Valhalen 1,484]

2 hours ago, CyberDVonaven said:

I was watching a Nubkeks video talking about this on YT. One thing he said linking with this is that he's always disliked that there aren't any Warcraft themed maps in HOTS. O_O!? I don't really play WoW, so I didn't know this was the case. I had always thought that Dragon Shire, Blackheart's Bay, Cursed Hollow, Garden of Terror, & Towers of Doom were WoW themed maps. Turns out those are all 'Nexus' themed maps. That's was news to me. Did anyone else think this was the case as well or am I just that out of the loop?

So seeing as how that is the case. Blizzard, what are you yeah doing? Your biggest game franchise and you got no maps for it in your mixed franchises game??!! That seems totally ridiculous! (Hence how I thought otherwise.) Anyhow, get on that Blizzard! Do it!

The closest to a "WoW" themed map is Dragon Shire, specially since the Dragon Knight looks strikingly similar to the Dragonkin seen in WoW. But I never really thought of them as WoW maps, since none of the locations exist in WoW, even though they have similar thematics.

It is indeed very surprising that we haven't got a single Warcraft map yet. Maybe they're working on something big with the release of BfA? Maybe we'll get a whole WoW-related event in HotS similarly to "The Eternal Conflict" and "Machines at War"?

[SteveFrost 97]

Indeed, Blizz had the advantage of their characters already having established and rich lore, all they needed was an "excuse" why all from different universes are fighting. God only knows what they have in store; they could be planning something like a crossover (in game(s), lore entries, comics, cinematics etc). The "worlds collide" theme often provides plenty opportunities for good story-telling and not only that. As a lore freak, I certainly welcome these intentions to expand and enrich HotS lore.

About events, I've kinda lost faith tbh- earlier on, when it was a particular game's celebration/anniversary/release/something, they'd do Hero releases from that universe (many, not just one that is the norm now), themed Battleground, event quests/missions (now it's just spray/portraits/mounts) and more.

On 6/4/2018 at 12:54 AM, Laragon said:

I get that they are making an AU angle... but Mecha Tyrael from not just an alternate mecha universe, but also an alternate game universe. At that point, you just wanted a gundam tyrael. Which is fine, it's a sick skin. But not every skin needs a story.

Well, the particular one also happens to be a legendary- and as the majority agrees, a really great one, so I believe it deserves the extra love. They may not need to do this for every single skin (which is difficult and headache-inducing) but it's nice imho. Now, if you don't want to think too deep into it for explanations, no problemo.