Massive changes are on the way to Blizzard’s free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena title Heroes of the Storm. Due to enter beta later this week, Update 2.0, as it’s called, represents a near-total restructuring of the MOBA’s underlying progression systems and gameplay elements, bringing with it not just new content that longtime players will be familiar with, such as new heroes, but elements that players of Blizzard’s other titles likely recognize right off the bat – chiefly, Loot Chests.
Having proven to be an extremely popular component of Overwatch, Heroes‘ own goodie-filled containers will be bursting at the seams with all kinds of items, including sprays, banners, announcers and even emojis to help players add that extra layer of customization to their profile and favorite hero. Speaking of which, 2.0 also kicks off with new hero Cassia, an assassin-class character that hails from Blizzard’s classic dungeon crawler Diablo 2.
Adding to that already impressive list, Heroes of the Storm 2.0 also boasts a “massive overhaul” of the game’s levelling and progression systems. As a means of making both a more straightforward affair for new and existing players, Blizzard is removing the existing character level cap, allowing each hero to go beyond the current level 20 ceiling, with a separate tracker combining the levels gained with all heroes into a single number. Other improvements include making adjustments to how much experience is required for each hero level as well as an “innovative new battleground”.
There’s much, much more to come too, by the looks of it. A cursory glance over the update’s official page shows several locked panels pertaining to additional new heroes and events, which you can see for yourselves here.
