It’s been five days since Activision-Blizzard made the announcement that the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) circuit would be discontinued and developers from the title moved to other, unannounced projects. Although “announcement” is too generous a word. Maybe “slap-in-the-face” is more appropriate considering the disingenuous manner the message was delivered, via an unfeeling press release. The content of the statement itself felt more corporate than personable. To many, it was insulting.
This cartoon is based on the sudden disbandment of the HGC (Heroes of the Storm Global Championship), and major concerns regarding esports being recognized as an official sport.On the 14th, the HGC wa
When Activision Blizzard announced on Thursday that they would no longer support competitive Heroes of the Storm at the amateur, collegiate or professional level going forward, a can of worms was opened. A decision based solely in the name of saving money and dedicating resources to more profitable ventures within the company, the backlash from the Blizzard community has been harsh, a feeling of betrayal and worry over the future of the title.
On Thursday afternoon, Blizzard Entertainment's new President, J. Allen Brack, made his first big move since the recent resignation of the long-time figurehead, Mike Morhaime. In an official statement, Brack announced that the company would no longer support the competitive Heroes of the Storm scene at the professional, collegiate or amateur level going forward.
SAN FRANCISCO – December 14, 2018 – Twitch, the leading service and community for multiplayer entertainment, today livestreamed the Twitch Holiday Spectacular, a special edition of Twitch
Last Tuesday, the “best Heroes of the Storm player in North America” abruptly announced his retirement from the competitive scene after spending the last four years making a name for himself. Fan “Fan” Yang, a member of the first Heroes of the Storm World Championship team for Cloud9 issued a statement through his current team, Tempo Storm, regarding his decision to step down. His full statement can be found here. When Fan was approached by InvenGlobal to talk about his decision to move on from competing in the Heroes Global Championship (HGC) in 2019, he opened up a bit more.
As Christmas approaches, those who work in and follow the competitive Heroes of the Storm professional circuit called the Heroes Global Championship (HGC) are hoping Santa comes early with some much-needed information. With the 2019 professional circuit yet to be announced, amid reports that Blizzard is experiencing budget cuts, imaginations are running wild that the game many call home will be without a competitive scene come the new year. Blizzard has yet to issue a public statement regarding the future of the HGC as well as notify players behind closed doors as to whether they will have a job in the upcoming months, according to sources. Prior to this past week, the majority of the players and talent have sat back and remained patient for an update. Over the weekend, something changed.
Jake “SolidJake” Kulinski’s involvement in the Heroes of the Storm scene pre-dates the release of the full game being available to the general public. Between masterminding what is arguably the most popular Heroes’ podcast, TownHall Heroes, to casting the amateur Open Division scene and launching a community funded tournament with a $10,000 prize pool, Bloodlust, SolidJake has seen and done it all. While the list of accolades continues further in Blizzard games and the fighting game community (FGC), SolidJake has accomplished all that he has despite failing to look out for ‘numero uno’...himself. As long as his wife and her family’s business is taken care of, as long as the Blizzard community is taken care of, as long as the players and talent around him are taken care of, Jake is fine operating at a loss and putting himself at risk. The consummate ‘fall guy’ as it were. That’s not to say he hasn’t had opportunities to put himself first and selfishly look to further his career in the entertainment business; it has to be on his terms after everyone else around him is first taken care of.
The abomination hero, Stitches, has been a frontline pest since the earlier Heroes of the Storm days back in 2014. Hooking opponents, spreading putrid bile and consuming opponents has been his signature tricks and when the development team felt his kit needed to be reworked, they opted not to remove what made him...him. When the dust settled after being tweaked, the new Stitches will be more than a "hook bot" who, in-between his Hook's cooldown, will have more to do on the battlefield.
When the task of reworking Stitches was handed to the development team and Crawford, they had a pretty good idea where to start and the issues he currently experienced. This was not the overhaul that Sylvannas recently experienced as his fundamental kit was made well enough back in the day that he just needed more things to do when waiting for his 16-second cooldown to expire on his Hook ability.
When the opportunity to rework one of Blizzard’s most famous or infamous characters (depending on who you’re asking), Sylvanas, was placed on the plate of Jackson, his mind immediately went to work. A high-level player himself, Jackson knew the task of turning a hero into an assassin was no easy task and the pressure was on. Unlike the rework Stitches recently received, this was not just tweaking a few abilities and having her play the same but have some quality of life adjustments. This was an overhaul and in preparation for this rework, changes were made back in April.
The Queen of the Forsaken, Sylvanas, who was introduced into Heroes of the Storm back in 2015 is next in line to receive a rework of her basic abilities and talents. Previously, the banshee relied on applying map pressure through the use of her trait which disables enemy fortifications and minions. But the development team wanted to take her kit in a different direction, one more focused on teamfighting.
As December approaches, professional Heroes of the Storm players are unsure if they will have a job in 2019. Since 2016, Blizzard Entertainment has run the Heroes Global Championship (HGC) circuit each year, pitting the best of the best from around the world against one another over the course of a calendar year with the finale being the World Championship event held at BlizzCon. With nearly $5 million awarded in prizes during the 2017 year and a lot of mouths to feed in the process, the survival of HGC, in its current format or otherwise, is paramount for those that rely on it for steady income. As it stands, HGC has not been announced to return in 2019 yet. No statements, press releases or announcements have been issued suggesting its existence going forward.
With BlizzCon safely in the rearview mirror, sights are set on the 2019 Heroes Global Championship (HGC) circuit, assuming Blizzard is interested in returning it, as nothing has been announced yet publicly. To fill the lull in the action, pro players and the Heroes of the Storm community spend the offseason partaking in a fun hobby: theorycrafting, or predicting what may transpire in the upcoming months. A topic presented to a few players for the sake of this story that sparked a conversation within the community as a result was: “What battlegrounds will we play on in 2019?”
One of the top teams in the North American Heroes of the Storm scene is going to look much different come 2019. According to sources, Tempo Storm is expected to part ways with Vi "ViN" Nguyen and Mike "Glaurung" Fisk as the team looks to reload for the upcoming season.
A promising North American Heroes of the Storm roster in 2018 may play under a different sponsor in 2019, according to sources. Currently represented by Team Freedom, the roster consisting of Merek "zugrug" Kangas, Phillipe "Nazmas" Laberge, Jérôme "KilluZiioN" Tanguay, Orie "YoDa" Gue and Vincent "Lutano" Alonso is in the process of fielding information regarding a new organization to call home for the upcoming Heroes Global Championship (HGC) season.
Heroes of the Storm caster Jake “SolidJake” Kulinski has a unique perspective that he is able to view the health of the competitive community from. One seldom seen and heard. As one of the casters of the amateur competitive scene, known as Open Division, SolidJake has experience seeing player’s careers blossom over time, the trails and tribulations they may endure along the way and understands the importance of having a strong bedrock to grow new talent in.
Being one of the strongest regions in the esports scene, Korea packs some of the strongest players for every esports game. A week has passed since the Finals. How have you been?Sake: I'm still trying
In the upcoming month, the Heroes of the Storm team will be putting into motion their initial round of gameplay changes that were announced at BlizzCon to, in their eyes, improve the overall state of the game. While many changes will not go live until 2019, such as showing a player’s visible Match-Making Rating (MMR) and changes to the Ranked player experience, what is being released in the near future may be more impactful long-term. How team experience is received via destroying enemy fortifications will be completely re-worked to prevent one team “snowballing” another based off early game pressure, according to Blizzard.
On the 12th (KST), global esports gaming team, Gen.G hosted a media day and introduced their ‘Gen.G Seoul HQ' gaming house to the Korean press. Gen.G has been covering numerous games such as LoL
