Heroes of the Storm news » Heroes Closed Beta Patch Notes -- March 24, 2015

Update (April 8, 2015): We released a follow-up patch in order to fix a few bugs and add the ability to pause Custom Games. The April 8 updates have been added in red to the User Interface and Bug Fixes sections of the patch notes below.

We’ve brought Heroes of the Storm offline for a period of extended maintenance today in order to bring you a brand new Closed Beta patch! Maintenance is ongoing, but don't worry; we'll let you know just as soon as the Nexus is back online. In the meantime, you can check out the complete patch notes below.

General

Performance

All players’ default Graphic Settings will be re-detected and reset following today’s patch, which may help to address a few performance issues that some players have been experiencing.

Smaller physical memory caps have been introduced for both the 32-bit and 64-bit clients with today’s update, which should mitigate some memory-related issues and make the 64-bit client a more trusted option, even for PCs with less physical RAM.

The “Network Spikes” indicator has been removed from the performance overlay (Ctrl + Alt + F).

Network Spikes tracked a number of different metrics at once. While it could indicate performance issues, the number of spikes displayed could also be affected by issues with the local player’s computer, among other things.
In order to avoid further confusion, the Network Spikes indicator has been removed, and will be replaced by additional performance metrics in a future update, which should help players better identify more common performance issues.

For more information on some of these changes, please read the Performance section of our recent blog on Community Conversations.

New Battleground

Tomb of the Spider Queen, a brand new 3-lane Battleground, has been added to Heroes of the Storm and is now available for play in all game modes!

Spider Minions and enemy Heroes will drop magical Gems of Power upon death.
- Collect these Gems and turn them in to the Spider Queen’s Altars, which can be found in-between lanes at the center of the Battleground.
Once either team has relinquished enough Gems to the Spider Queen, her Webweavers will descend and travel down each lane to siege the opposing team on three fronts.
- Each team can summon Webweavers by turning in 50 Gems. The number of required Gems will increase by 5 for each subsequent wave.
- Be sure to turn in Gems promptly! Gems collected by a player will be dropped upon death, but can be picked up by allied Heroes.

New Hero

Sylvanas Windrunner has been added to Heroes of the Storm and is now available for play! Read on for a brief overview of her Abilities, and then check her out in Try Me Mode using the in-game Shop.

Basic Abilities
- Withering Fire (Q)
  - Shoot the closest enemy for 25 damage, preferring Heroes. Stores 5 charges.
- Shadow Dagger (W)
  - Deals 10 damage, and an additional 40 damage over 2 seconds, to target unit. This effect spreads to nearby units.
- Haunting Wave (E)
  - Send forth a wave of banshees, dealing 30 damage to all targets. Reactivate to teleport to the banshees’ location.
Trait
- Black Arrows
  - Basic Attacks and Abilities stun Minions, Mercenaries, and Towers.
Heroic Abilities
- Wailing Arrow (R)
  - Shoot an arrow that explodes for 200 damage and silences enemies for 2.5 seconds. Can be reactivated to detonate the arrow early.
- Possession (R)
  - Force an enemy Minion to fight for you. It gains 20% Attack Damage and Health.

User Interface

General

Significantly reduced the likelihood that players will receive the same Battleground multiple times in a row when playing in matchmaking game modes.
Requesting to join a party through a party member who is not the leader will now send a notification to that player. Additionally, the party leader will see which party member a join request was made through.

Progression System

Hero Progression
- The maximum Hero Level has been increased from 10 to 20.
- New rewards have been added:
  - 1250 Gold at Hero Level 15
  - 2500 Gold at Hero Level 20
Player Progression
- New rewards have been added:
  - 7 Day Stimpack at Player Level 10
  - 2,000 Gold at Player Levels 20, 25, 30, 35, 40
  - Team League unlocked at Player Level 40
  - Players who had already reached or surpassed the level requirement for these rewards prior to today’s patch will also receive them upon logging in to Heroes of the Storm.

Team League

Initial implementation for Team League, the second mode of Ranked play in Heroes of the Storm, has been added to the game! Read on for an overview of the most competitive game mode in Heroes of the Storm, and then check out our recent Team League blog post for a much more in-depth look at the feature.
- With Team League, players can create named teams with dedicated rosters in order to participate in ranked, competitive Heroes of the Storm matches as a group against other teams of similar skill.
- In order to participate in Team League, players must meet the following requirements:
  - Reach Level 40.
  - Own 10 or more Heroes (weekly free rotation Heroes do not count toward this requirement.)
  - Create or join a team that has at least five members logged in and ready to play in Team League.
Team Creation and Management
- Navigate to the Team League Play Screen, click an empty team slot, enter a team name, and pay 1,000 Gold to create a new team.
  - Players may participate in up to 3 teams at any given time.
- The Team League Screen will display all teams that a player is currently participating in, as well as each team’s current Rank, team name, and Win/Loss record.
  - Using the “Roster” button, a team owner may invite up to 8 other players to join the team’s roster.
  - In order to play Team League matches, five members from the same team must enter the queue together.
    - Use the “Invite” dropdown to invite other players from the roster to queue for Team League matches.
- A “Ranked Teams” section has been added to the Player Profile.
  - Click on any team to view additional stats for each player on the roster, such as wins, losses, highest rank achieved, and favorite hero.
  - The team owner can also use this screen to add or remove members, as well as disband the team.
Draft Mode
- Team League matches will use the “First Come, First Served” version of Draft Mode, rather than Hero League’s “Predetermined” Draft Mode.
  - With First Come, First Served Draft Mode, players on each team are free to select Heroes in any order when it is their team’s turn to pick.
  - A coin toss will still precede the draft phase, and teams will still alternate picking Heroes in 1-2-2-2-2-1 format.

Menu Navigation

General
- The menu navigation bar has been moved to the top of the screen.
- The Party Panel has been reworked and once again displays Player Portraits for all party members.
- Icons have been added next to the Party Panel, which more clearly indicate the current status of Stimpack and XP Bonuses.
- Players who receive penalties for leaving Hero League and Quick Match games will now see their flagged status indicated to them in the menu navigation bar at the top of the screen.
  - Additionally, party members will now be better notified when they are partied with someone who has been flagged to receive penalties for leaving games early.
Home Screen
- “Go to Shop” and “Try Hero” buttons have been added, which can be used to view information about the newest Hero or quickly start a game in Try Me Mode with that Hero directly from the Home Screen.
Shop Screen
- Shop navigation tabs have been moved to the top of the screen.
- A “Featured” tab has been added, which will display items that are new to the Shop, or are currently on sale.
Play Screen
- The “Change Mode” button has been removed.
- Game Mode buttons can now be found along the top edge of the Play Screen, and can be clicked to quickly switch among Game Modes.
- Hero League
  - Heroes are now displayed on the Hero League Screen based on most wins, rather than most games played with those Heroes.
    - Click any Hero listed on the Hero League Screen to view it in the Player Profile.
- Custom Games
  - Custom Games can now be paused by players or referees at any time by pressing the "Pause/Break" key.
  - The “Choose Map” button has been removed and Battlegrounds can now be selected directly from the Custom Games Screen.
  - A “Game Privacy” dropdown has been added to custom game lobbies. When a custom game is set to private, that game will not be recorded in players’ match histories.
End of Game Score Screens
- The Rank, Quests, and Rewards tabs have been removed and incorporated into the Summary tab.
- Summary
  - Player Level, Hero Level, and Rank progress bars have been visually reworked and reorganized on the Summary tab.
  - Daily Quest and progression rewards earned from the previous match are now displayed along the right edge of the Summary tab.
  - Hover the mouse over Daily Quest and progression rewards, as well as XP, Ranked Points, and Gold totals to display tooltips that indicate how each was earned during the previous match.
- Stats
  - The Stats tab now mirrors the in-game TAB Screen, and includes details for Siege Damage, Hero Damage, Healing, and overall XP contribution during the previous match.

Ranked Play and Draft Mode

Draft Mode Notification
- While tabbed out of Heroes of the Storm during a ranked queue, the player will be tabbed back into the client and a notification sound will play when a match is found.
- Additionally, players who tab out of the client after a draft begins will be notified and tabbed back in when it is their turn to pick a Hero.
Rank and Point Changes
- The number of points earned from a ranked match will now vary more broadly based on skill difference between teams.
- As mentioned in the Menu Navigation section above, ranks, rank changes, and ranked points earned during the previous match are now listed on the end of game Summary screen.

Hero Select

Click the currently selected Hero’s 3D model to bring up Hero Select.
- Filter buttons have been added which can be used to display Heroes by role and game universe.
- A search box has been added which can be used to filter Heroes by name, difficulty, and game universe.
- Icons have been added to indicate which game universe a Hero is from when mousing over that Hero’s portrait.
The Skins, Mounts, and Hero Info panes have been reworked.
- The Hero Info pane has been replaced by two new buttons: Abilities and Talents.
  - The Abilities pane now lists Basic Abilities, Trait, and Heroic Abilities on a single tab.
    - Tooltips have been added which will display more detailed information about a Hero’s Abilities on mouseover.
  - The Talents pane lists all of a Hero’s Talents, much as it did previously.
- The Skins and Mounts panes have received UI updates.
  - Each of these panes can now display many additional items.
  - Skin and Mount Variation buttons have been moved to the bottom of each pane.
- The Skins, Mounts, Abilities, and Talents buttons have received updated art.

Art

General

Many Hero Models have received minor animation and pose updates on Hero Select.

Battlegrounds

Various Battleground assets have received additional optimization to help improve performance.
The final Tutorial Battleground has received visual polish.

Heroes, Mounts, and Skins

Legendary Skins

Mecha Tassadar has received massive updates and has been re-released as a Legendary Skin!
- Mecha Tassadar will now, quite literally, transform into a fighter jet and fly across the battlefield while mounted.
- What’s more, all of Mecha Tassadar’s Basic and Heroic Abilities have received brand new art, updated models, and visual effects which much more closely match the Skin’s theme.

Skins

Commander Raynor has received a significant model update. Among many other things, holster logic has been addressed.

Wrath Sonya has donned the Helm of Wrath, and now also wields Quel'serrar and Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood.

Several Hero Skins have received new art for certain Abilities and Talents, which more closely match that Skin’s theme:

Betrayer Malfurion -- Vengeful Roots (Talent)

Crown Prince Arthas -- Death Coil (Q), Army of the Dead (R)

Crypt King Tassadar -- Plasma Shield (Q)

Festival Li Li -- Blinding Wind (E)

Grunty Murky -- Slime (Q), Pufferfish (W), Spawn Egg (D), March of the Murlocs (R)

Master Lost Vikings -- Basic Attack projectiles
Heroes
- Sonya’s Hero Select portrait has been updated.
- Tychus’ head model has received visual updates.
- Several Heroes and Skins have received improvements for their facial animations:
  - Diablo
  - Infested Tychus
  - Raynor
  - Tychus
Hero Abilities
- A portrait has been added that will display while The Lost Viking’s Longboat Raid (R) is active.
- Victory and taunt animations have been added to a number of summoned units.
- The following Heroes have received new Ability icon art:
  - Raynor
  - Tassadar
  - Valla
- The following Heroic Abilities will now apply an overlay to the affected player’s screen.
  - Anub’arak -- Web Blast (R)
  - Stitches -- Gorge (R)
- Several Hero Abilities have received updated art to make them more visually interesting, and more clearly indicate their area of effect radiuses:
  - Illidan – Metamorphosis (R)
  - Li Li -- Jug of 1,000 Cups (R), Water Dragon (R)
  - Raynor -- Hyperion (R)
- The following Hero Abilities and Talents have received updated visual effects:
  - Arthas – Summon Sindragosa (R)
  - Tassadar -- Dimensional Shift (E)
  - Rehgar -- Earthgrasp Totem (Talent)
  - Uther -- Boundless Conviction (Talent), Blessed Champion (Talent), Holy Shock (Talent), Redemption (Talent)
Mounts
- The Battle Beast has received additional animation polish.

Menu Screens

The Home Screen has received a facelift, and is now 3D animated.
The Hero Select screen has received completely new 3D art and visual effects!
Additionally, the Hero League Play Screen is now 3D animated!

Shop

Bundle Packs

The Ranger-General Sylvanas Bundle Pack has been added to the in-game Shop for a limited time.

Heroes

Sylvanas has been added to the in-game Shop!

Mounts

The Cyber Wolf and Dire Wolf Mounts have been temporarily removed, but will return to the Shop with a future update.
The Lunar Tiger and Magic Carpet Mounts have been added as individually purchasable items.

Price Changes

Anub’arak’s Real-money and Gold prices have been reduced to $6.49 USD and 4,000 Gold.

Skins

A Master Skin has been added for Sylvanas.
The Ranger-General Sylvanas Skin has been added to the in-game Shop.
Legendary Skins
- Mecha Tassadar has received massive Art and Sound updates and has been re-released as the second Legendary Skin in Heroes of the Storm!
- Head to the in-game Shop and start a Try Me Mode game with Mecha Tassadar to check out all of the changes he has received with today’s update.

Sound

Heroes and Skins

The Mecha Tassadar Skin has received entirely new voiceover and sound effects to match its transformation into a Legendary Skin!
The Flying Monkey Brightwing Skin has received an entirely new monkey-themed voiceover set.

Design and Gameplay

General

Several changes have been implemented which will prevent the cancellation of Ability casts when issuing Move commands, as well as when attempting to cast several Abilities in rapid succession.
- Additionally, these changes will result in heightened input responsiveness for most Ability casts.
In-game XP Changes
- The in-game leveling curve has been adjusted slightly to slow down the first 10 team levels, though the amount of XP required to reach level 20 remains the same.

Battlegrounds

Blackheart’s Bay

Doubloon Chest status bars are now segmented, and each segment represents when a Doubloon will spawn.

Haunted Mines

The power difference between Lane Golems has been reduced in situations where there is a large skull-count disparity.
High skull-count Lane Golem Health has been slightly reduced.
The first round of Lane Golems have had their Health reduced.

Garden of Terror

Movement Speed reduced to equal Hero Movement Speed
Overgrowth (W)
- Overgrowth Health increased by 25%
- Now receives additional Health bonuses past the 15 minute mark
- Now deals 70 (+7 per minute) damage each tick to Minions and Mercenaries instead of 20% of their Maximum Health. This is the same as the Structure damage.

Sky Temple

Temple damage reduced by 10%

Mercenaries

Mercenary initial and scaling XP has been reworked.
Mercenary Camp tooltips now indicate which Camps can be Bribed.

Structures

Gate, Tower, Town Hall, and Wall Health reduced by approximately 10%.

Talents

New Generic Talent: Arcane Power (Level 20)

Activate to gain 400 mana and 15% Ability Power for 5 seconds. 60 second cooldown.
Currently found only on Jaina

Blood for Blood

This Talent has received a visual update. It should now be much easier to identify both the target and caster of Blood for Blood.

Healing Ward

Duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds
Heal amount reduced from 3% to 2% of max Health per second

Ice Block

Cooldown reduced from 80 to 60 seconds
Now dims out affected Heroes’ status bars

Scouting Drone

Now has 2 charges
Duration reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
Cooldown reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
Placement range increased from 3 to 4
The number of hits required to destroy a Scouting Drone have been increased from 1 to 2.

Heroes

Assassin	Specialist	Support	Warrior
Falstad	Abathur	Li Li	Diablo
Jaina	Azmodan	Tassadar	E.T.C.
Kerrigan	Murky	Tyrande	Sonya
Raynor	Nazeebo	Uther	Stitches
Thrall	Sgt. Hammer
Tychus	The Lost Vikings
Valla
Zeratul

Return to Top

Abathur

Toxic Nest (W)
- Envenomed Nest (Talent)
  - Damage increased from 30% to 50%
- Prolific Dispersal (Talent)
  - Now also reduces the cooldown of Toxic Nest by 2 seconds
- Vile Nest (Talent)
  - Slow increased from 40% to 50%
Evolve Monstrosity (R)
- The Monstrosity now persists until it is killed.
Ultimate Evolution (R)
- Cooldown reduced from 80 to 70 seconds
- Duration reduced from 30 to 20 seconds
- Clones now gain 20% Ability Power, 20% Basic Attack Damage, and 10% Movement Speed.

Heroes of the Storm news » Heroes Closed Beta Patch Notes -- March 24, 2015

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General

New Battleground

New Hero

User Interface

Art

Shop

Sound

Design and Gameplay

Battlegrounds

Talents

Heroes

Abathur

Azmodan

Diablo

E.T.C.

Falstad

Jaina

Kerrigan

Li Li

Murky

Nazeebo

Raynor

Sgt. Hammer

Sonya

Stitches

Tassadar

The Lost Vikings

Thrall

Tychus

Tyrande

Uther

Valla

Zeratul

Bug Fixes

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