Today, Blizzard announced the upcoming arrival of Heroes of the Storm 2.0 — which will bring a boatload of new game content and changes. The beta for this update began today, so players who want to test it out before it hits full release can do so.
The 2.0 update brings a new battleground, an overhauled player progression and rewards system, along with loot chests packed with new types of rewards (like announcer packs, voice lines, and more).
Blizzard will be doling out more information throughout April regarding the new map and heroes — including Cassia, who is based on the Amazon from Diablo II. The developer has earmarked May 4th as the day for more details. While a precise date for the 2.0 update is not yet available, details for a launch event will be released April 18th.
So what’s coming in the HotS 2.0 Update?
New Progression Systems
One of the biggest changes players will see is more rewarding out-of-game leveling for both the player and individual heroes. Player level will be the sum of accumulated hero levels, both of which are no longer capped. Each hero level will add one to your overall player level — allowing for bigger rewards every time you level up.
The rate of this experience gain has also been significantly adjusted to make progression more meaningful at lower levels, and less of a grind at higher levels. The requirements for the latter have been reduced by approximately 75 to 80 percent. So that master skin you’ve been chasing is suddenly way closer.
More and Better Loot
Master skins and portraits won’t be the only thing players will have to look forward to when climbing the experience curve. Aside from those two things, rewards were decidedly lackluster prior to this update. With the arrival of 2.0, though, all content in the game can potentially be unlocked through experience gain — including heroes skins, mounts, and more.
Banners, loot chests, and in-game currency will also be made available as player rewards. Banners are special animations you can activate when completing an objective in game — taking a mercenary camp, destroying a fort/keep, or ruining an enemy’s core.
Overwatch players will recognize the loot chests awarded at certain milestones, which contain some familiar content like voiceover additions and sprays. But these chests will also contain some items unique to the Nexus. On top of that, gems and shards (used for crafting) will begin appearing in loot chests as well.
To join the beta, access the Heroes of the Storm tab in your Blizzard launcher and select/install “Heroes 2.0” in the region selector.
What do you think of the update? Is it as “game-defining” as Blizzard claims? Comment and let us know!
