A Message From Production Director Kaéo Milker

[ophion1990]

Edit: "Even new heroes", couldn't really think of a worse way to word that. I get that he was probably pretty down about the news, though, gotta suck to hear that something you've loved and worked on for years is getting semi-axed because of corporate fucks.

I'll basically reiterate what I said in the other thread. Blizzard artificially built an eSports scene for HotS when it's strength was in being a loose and fun MOBA. If they just treat it as such, it could be fine going forward, giving them more leeway to make more crazy heroes like Cho'Gall. I'm a casual player and think overall HotS is very good when played this way ~5 games a week, just having a good time.

For me this doesn't change much, but I do feel bad for the people who lost their jobs. Hopefully Blizzard can move a few to different projects instead of just cutting them loose.

There was an eSports scene for HotS long before HGC, though? I remember the good old days with Khaldor casting VoDs of pro matches on his youtube and stuff. Like it or not, eSports was something a lot of fans wanted for HotS and even with HGC gone, fans will likely continue to try and make an eSports scene happen, unless there's just absolutely no interest anymore (which I could see happening with no Blizzard backing).

Here is one last hope.. When Dustin Browder left HotS team, there were some others notable RTS veterans moving to another project. And more moved in recent years and now. Maybe...just Maybe, there is something new for us, RTS fans, cooking, which is not mobile game.

And maybe not.. and Blizzard, as we knew it, is just gone.

I'd be surprised if he wasn't working on the WC3 remaster. If he isn't, it seems pretty insane to me that Blizzard would be working on another RTS when they already have SC2 and a recently remastered Broodwar. Not to mention that RTS games aren't really killing it on the market these.. years, heck, this decade.

[Tenjen]

As a casual player I'm fine with this. It allows for more fun heroes if the game isn't as bothered about top-level balance.

I feel HoTs would have always done better if they focused on the game itself and its casual position and not as an esports (which in itself is not profit or growth generating for any of the invovled games these days, it does however "Sustain" what they have.)

I am extremely worried however that this is the first step to shutting the game down entirely.

[PPN]

After all, the game is really free to play. I have lvl 700 and while i didnt play to much lately, i always enjoyed the game (QM, HL, TL & Brawl). I never felt like im missing somwthing because i dont pay. Besides 5 heroes i bought them all with diong quests. Even if it sometimes feels unfair, i never really felt like its totally unbalanced (i had that feeling way more in WoW Arena & Hearthstone). There are a lot of cool heroes, we get frequent changes and patches and new game contents/rewards/heroes and so on. I grew up with Warcraft and Starcraft, games and books...so to play the heroes feels great.

To make such a game with so much care for it its only possibly for Blizzard, since its such a big company that makes a lot of money out of other projects. I always felt like HoTs is a side project, just like a BONUS for the fans.

So im not surprised they focus on the games where the money is made. I mean, people at Blizzard dont go to work just because they are good people and want every gamer to be happy but in the end of the day thay cant afford themselves a meal for the family

[Oneirophobia]

J Allen Brack a small dirty liar seriously.

J Allen “I’m going to Brack this fucking company” Brack.

J “lets go Allen on mobile” Brack.


His name is hard to make depressing puns with.

[ManiaCCC]

I'd be surprised if he wasn't working on the WC3 remaster. If he isn't, it seems pretty insane to me that Blizzard would be working on another RTS when they already have SC2 and a recently remastered Broodwar. Not to mention that RTS games aren't really killing it on the market these.. years, heck, this decade.

That's the thing.. as far as we know, he, nor any other notable RTS veteran previously working on HotS and SC2, is working on Reforge and that's weird. As you said, making new RTS doesn't make much sense with current market trends, but RTS developers are leaking to another project for years and their names didn't show up in any currently announced projects..

[Prokne]

I feel HoTs would have always done better if they focused on the game itself and its casual position and not as an esports (which in itself is not profit or growth generating for any of the invovled games these days, it does however "Sustain" what they have.)

I am extremely worried however that this is the first step to shutting the game down entirely.

Esports may provide advertising for the games, but it is probably really expensive advertising. Better would be to make a good, fun game and have people tell others to play it because it's awesome.

THey probably don't know yet, but when they do, they need to tell the fans what their plan and content schedule will be. People need something to look forward to instead of "We'll do stuff sometimes."

[caervek]

Meh.

Blizzard have spent the last four years moving anyone from the HotS team who has demonstrated standout performance to a "more important" IP, so nothing is really changing there apart from them being open about it now.

The only functional change I see here is them abandoning their attempt post "HotS 2.0" to turn HotS into an E-Sport, which is a very welcome change IMO as I never liked them trying to do this as it ran completely counter to the design goals and intents of HotS (fun/casual QM focused alternative to LoL/DOTA).

- - - Updated - - -

I feel HoTs would have always done better if they focused on the game itself and its casual position and not as an esports

That's how HotS was designed/positioned for the majority of its existence, it's only in recent years they have been trying to reposition it as an E-Sport.

[Deleted]

This is actually a good point. Obviously from Blizzard's point of view, it's understandable that they're interested in a large esports scene for most of their competitive games, but the strong points of HotS compared to DotA and LoL were the liabilities Blizzard took in creating different maps and very different heroes, like Abathur, Murky, Cho'Gall etc.

It feels like ever since they started doubling down on their esports focus, they've been streamlining the game to be more akin to other MOBAs, essentially watering down the very thing that in my opinion made it more fun than its competitors.

I'm glad someone said this, because that's exactly how I feel.

[teidden]

We are watching blizzard destroy itself like many of us said would happen eventually. No game will destroy Blizzard Blizzard is killing itself.

[sam86]

My assumption was correct! It was a last minute decision and Blizzard cancelled the plants of HotS team without alert! (the Blizzcon 18 promised HGC 2019 and updated user interface)

The tone of message is not "damage control". It sounds like sarcasm. It really worries me because it seems that another project needs urgent help....Diablo??? Otherwise, Blizzard needs to launch games like crazy or I dont know.

The cut in HotS is big. The phrases "even new heroes" "and "we need to reprioritize" are clear message that an important capacity was cut. The same happened with Diablo 3!

no they moving to making toilet paper, since everyone need to sh8t they making games for toilet papers
sarcasm aside, the most ugly reality truth is they are moving them for mobile games, since blizz stated after 'diablo immortal success' they plan to invest even more in mobile, and yes the game was 'success' because cost of production of a phone game is nearly nothing, so even if few hundreds play it still success, in fact mobile games spend most their budget on publicity, and blizz already can do that easier than most sh8t phone games

[serendipity11]

Capitalism kills games and other media. Because it's all about min/maxing profit rather then creating a game they're passionate about. Blizzard started out as a passion project but has slowly turned into a bottom line. They no longer care about anything but the $$$ next to the games. No passion, no heart, no soul. Short term capitalism can motivate innovation and passion. However it can also limit it. Eventually though it always leads here. Even if it started out of passion it'll inevitably become nothing but a cash cow. I can go enjoy warframe because it's still a passion project but I'm sure it too inevitably will fall into this depressing reality. Wildstar was a passion project, but never became profitable. Look what happened to it... If you ever want to know what I hate capitalism. This is one of the many reasons. It kills passion.

[teidden]

Capitalism kills games and other media. Because it's all about min/maxing profit rather then creating a game they're passionate about. Blizzard started out as a passion project but has slowly turned into a bottom line. They no longer care about anything but the $$$ next to the games. No passion, no heart, no soul. Short term capitalism can motivate innovation and passion. However it can also limit it. Eventually though it always leads here. Even if it started out of passion it'll inevitably become nothing but a cash cow. I can go enjoy warframe because it's still a passion project but I'm sure it too inevitably will fall into this depressing reality. Wildstar was a passion project, but never became profitable. Look what happened to it... If you ever want to know what I hate capitalism. This is one of the many reasons. It kills passion.

Hardily a capitalism issue. If anything captialism made the games what they were. Here in the real world you need money to make things. Not in your utopia. That being said I don't agree with what they done lately but it isnt capitialisms fault.