Players can also utilize various mounts, such as animals, robots and clouds, to increase their movement speed, automatically dismounting when attacking, receiving damage or using any ability.
Development
As a part of the arcade feature for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a custom map called "Blizzard DOTA" was announced alongside several other mods of Blizzard Entertainment at BlizzCon 2010. At that time, the map was developed to showcase the modding abilities that were to be added to StarCraft II. In 2011, however, development of Blizzard DOTA was rebooted and demoed at BlizzCon 2011. In comparison to the previous iteration previewed at BlizzCon 2010, the gameplay was described as "fast" and "streamlined."
Following the announcement of Dota 2 by Valve Corporation, Rob Pardo, the executive vice president of Blizzard Entertainment, expressed concern at Valve using and trademarking a name that originated from within the Warcraft III community. Following a failed trademark injunction on the part of Riot Games, Blizzard acquired Riot's subsidiary, DotA-Allstars, LLC., the original company that represented the servicing of Defense of the Ancients. Subsequently, Blizzard filed an opposition against Valve for claiming the DotA trademark. On May 11, 2012, Blizzard and Valve announced that the dispute had been settled, with Valve retaining the commercial franchising rights to the term "Dota", while Blizzard would change the name of Blizzard DOTA to Blizzard All-Stars. Blizzard, however, will retain the right to use DOTA name non-commercially. This includes promoting DOTA-style maps made for Blizzard games by the community.
In June 2012, Dustin Browder, the director of StarCraft II, stated that Blizzard All-Stars did not have a release date, but that it would definitely be after the release of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. In an interview in January 2013, he noted that parts of the game were "starting to feel really good", with "a really tight multiplayer experience", but that there was no way to project a timeline on it, since it was not complete enough to run a company-wide internal alpha test. In February 2013, the Activision Blizzard fourth quarter 2012 earnings report listed Blizzard All-Stars as one of the areas of continued investment for Blizzard throughout 2013. Dustin Browder commented in March 2013 that a few artists had transitioned from the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm team, to work on Blizzard All-Stars for the time being along with the few designers on the team.
In August 2013, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime said that the game had reached a significant internal testing milestone, and was going into wider internal testing. Describing it as an "action real-time strategy" game, he said that Blizzard was looking to put their own spin on the genre and challenge some of the existing design paradigms. The Blizzard All-Stars team was expanded in May 2013, from some of the resources who were reallocated when Blizzard's Titan project was rebooted and the team downsized. On October 17, 2013, the name of the game was changed to Heroes of the Storm.
Heroes of the Storm entered a technical alpha testing phase on March 13, 2014, which went offline on September 22, 2014. The technical alpha went back online on October 7, 2014 for North America, Latin America, South East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The servers for Europe, Korea, China and Taiwan went online in the following weeks. The technical alpha continued until the beginning of the closed beta. Closed beta testing started on January 13, 2015. As of February 2015, over 9 million players had signed up for eligibility to receive an invite to beta testing. The open beta of the game began on May 19, 2015, and the full version of the game was released on June 2, 2015.
Reception
Critical response
Heroes of the Storm received generally favorable reviews upon release. Metacritic calculated an average score of 86 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 57 reviews.
GameSpot awarded it 9 out of 10, summarizing "A fantastic casual-competitive game that offers untold hours of enjoyment." Positive reviews praised its objective-based gameplay and greater accessibility than its competitors, with Destructoid's Chris Carter giving giving it a 9.5 out of 10 and calling it "A hallmark of excellence." In a review for PC Gamer, Chris Thursten focused on the game's accessibility, giving it a score of 84 out of 100 and concluding "The most any studio has done to open up a complex genre to a new audience. Inviting, entertaining, and deceptively deep."
The Escapist's CJ Miozzi stated that while its improved accessibility would make it interesting to players normally not interested in the genre, it could be less attractive to experienced players. Giving it 4 out of 5 stars, he summarized that "At the very least, it's a game that all gamers should try." Polygon's Arthur Gies approved of the title's accessibility but expressed worry that "sometimes something felt lost along the way," scoring it at 7.5 out of 10.
On release, IGN's Mitch Dyer gave the game a mixed review and concluded, "Heroes of the Storm is a flawed, varied MOBA with terrific team fighting and poor objectives," awarding it a 6.5 out of 10. This review prompted an initially negative reaction from the game's community that turned the score into an internet meme, eventually being recognized by Blizzard themselves in a humorous promotional video for an update to the game. IGN's re-review by Ian Nowakowski awarded it 8 out of 10 in March 2018, saying the game "packs a ton of variety and excellent characters. Some of this MOBA's modes work better than others, but it's a safe bet that it'll deliver a fun match."
The game was nominated for "Choice Video Game" at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards.
