Heroes of the Storm welcoming Hanzo and Alexstrasza
Dragon double-bill
As if the hordes of Hanzo players swanning around Overwatch ignoring objectives like they're god's gift to murder were insufficient, the archer is coming to Heroes of the Storm too. Blizzard announced last night during BlizzCon that they're adding Hanzo to their free-to-play crossover MOBA along with World of Warcraft's dragonqueen Alexstrasza. He plings arrows, she heals people and blasts fire. A big ol' update reworking some of HotS's gameguts is in the works too, with changes including zooming the camera out a little further and improving matchmaking.
Hanzo is coming as an Assassin-type character and, unsurprisingly, has basically the same abilities as in Overwatch, complete with the agility to leap over obstacles. Check him out this-a-way.
Alexstrasza arrived in WoW after I'd stopped playing so she's new to me but seems pretty neat - and wears good camp fantasy villain outfits for some so heal-y. She can also shift into her dragon form to power up her abilities and generally murderise people. See her skills and skins over here.
As for Heroes of the Storm's gameguts, the '2018 Gameplay Update' will hit the public test servers on November 20th. The camera has a wider field of view to show a little more action, which means more awareness of big fights and incoming problems. The cloaked visual effect on stealth heroes is being made less stealthy, showing ghostly outlines rather than Predator-esque ripples, but stealth heroes will be buffed a little to compensate for this.
Blizzard are also reworking the early game, including removing the ammo system from turrets and adding true sight to Forts so they can see invisible units. "To better showcase individual skill in lane matchups, we're exploring ways to make the laning phase more meaningful without increasing overall game length," they explain.
More details on the update, the heroes, and new cosmetic bits are over here.
