The Queue: Heroes of the Storm

In case you missed it, last week Blizzard finally confirmed that Heroes of the Storm would be entering maintenance mode. No new content would be created for it, and the only updates going forward would be to squash any technical issues.

This isn’t exactly shocking, Heroes had been on life support for a long time ever since the cancellation of the official esports scene. The latest hero they released was Hogger, and he came out nearly two years ago! Still, it’s a blow for the dedicated fans of the game.

I don’t know what it was about Heroes that really set it apart for me from all of the other Blizzard games. Maybe it was that I had moments of halfway competent play in it, maybe the smaller community always made it feel like an underdog to root for — maybe it was just that I really love Blizzard’s characters and seeing them get to interact with each other and try on each other’s universes for a moment was just really fun. Whatever the reason, I’m pretty bummed that there won’t be more — it was and will continue to be my absolute favorite Blizzard game.

That won’t stop me from still logging in and playing games though.

As long as Blizzard keeps those servers going I’ll still see you in the Nexus.

While I queue for another ARAM match, it’s time for — The Queue.

What is dead may never die.

It looks like Abathur wins! I loved when Heroes did weird things with characters. Cho’gall would’ve been up there higher if I could’ve convinced any of my friends to be a reliable Cho to my Gall.

I also have never swapped off the portrait I got for reaching max level during the Alpha testing.

In terms of event mechanics, I’d say the Winter Toy events. I loved the board game interface for a thing to shoot for between matches. I also might’ve loved it because it sped up how often you would get chests, and I love getting extra loot.

The toy skins were excellent, but my favorite event for new cosmetics was the Nexomania event. The luchador look is so great, and there were some genuinely high water mark skins out of there.

Also, the gangster event that gave us the Junkrat in a pinstripe suit with a roulette wheel instead of his rip-tire and Orphea’s shadow creature a tiny bowler hat!

Everything that they did was solid gold though. You could really tell that the Heroes team loved what they were doing and poured their hearts into it.

I’ve said this before, but where is the Blizzard go-cart racer?!?

It practically writes itself! You could do All sorts of wacky race tracks from across all of Blizzard’s franchises, they’ve obviously got a potential roster of racers that is at least 90 characters deep, and between the major franchises, there are more than enough methods of dealing destruction and mayhem to stock a variety of item boxes.

I want to see Diablo in a tiny go-cart launch a baneling at Denathrius!

Warcraft Arclight Rumble would also be an acceptable answer. However, that could just be me wanting to see everything Blizzard has given the cute miniature treatment.

Lately, I’ve really been enjoying Deathwing, Junkrat, and Gazlowe. Deathwing in particular just feels so great when you have a match where your team is clicking with you. I just love being that big dragon lad.

That being said, I am sad that there wasn’t a Deathwing map. It would’ve been really cool to see us fighting along grooves in his back plates, and then having to anchor ourselves to avoid barrel rolls or waves of fire. It could’ve been a really neat way to have the map actively work against you.

Yogg would’ve been the best Old God to get into the game. Especially if they ever considered a hero that would replace the Core. All of your minions could be replaced with Faceless Ones, while Yogg summoned a variety of tentacles wherever you had vision to have a map presence. Ultimate abilities could be a fear that radiates from Yogg and every summoned minion and tentacle or putting long debuffs on all of the enemy team that randomly stun them for a second.

Aside from Yogg?

I really liked the idea of Azshara after getting to spend some time with her in Battle for Azeroth. I also really liked the idea of Arcturus Mengsk as another Abathur-type hero that is physically weak themselves, but they can summon minions and buff allies to make up for that. I’d also like to have seen more multi-class heroes, like a Druid who could choose to go Feral/Guardian/Balance depending on what the match needed.

The list could go on forever honestly, there are too many great characters and more keep getting added with every expansion and game that Blizzard releases. Where is the Gnome with a cannon on her arm like from the Arclight Rumble trailer? What about a Diablo Druid to tie in with the release of Diablo 4?

Every time a new character made it into Heroes I always liked them a little more in their original game.

Ask Anna.

Today’s Anna Earworm™: Rainbow in the Dark

Have a great week everyone, make sure to leave Anna lots of questions for tomorrow, they could even be about Heroes of the Storm too! I know that I’m not the only Blizzard Watch writer who’s shedding a tear for it.