At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard has announced a ton of big news, from the long-awaited WoW Classic+ to Diablo 5 completely out of nowhere. However, for MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus, an old game, that many fans have long since written off, is his highlight.
No, it’s not about StarCraft, for which Blizzard has announced an open-world shooter. As much as I love strategy games, StarCraft has never particularly fascinated me. I simply preferred Warhammer.
I’m of course talking about Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard’s attempt to reclaim its own game and compete with LoL and Dota 2, with … moderate success. It simply came too late to the party.
In 2018, Blizzard cut most of the support, including e-sports and many developer positions that were supposed to work on the game. In 2022, the MOBA was put into maintenance mode entirely.
Like many others, I thought that Heroes of the Storm was dead. There were always small signs of life like sudden balance patches or the integration in Game Pass as well as promising words from Phil Spencer. Since yesterday, I know: Heroes of the Storm is alive again and damn, it’s awesome!
Blizzard gives a dead game love and I am thrilled
At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard announced a new hero for Heroes of the Storm at the beninning of the opening ceremony: Xal‘atath, the great opponent from World of Warcraft.
Xal’atath is a ranged assassin who throws around the Heart of Darkness, summons hordes of Void creatures, and teleports wildly – a real terror on the battlefield.
But that’s not all, Blizzard has also promised a second hero, although it has not yet said who it is. Two new characters for a dead game are a reason to celebrate – so much so that a friend wanted to start the download immediately after the announcement.
I feel the same way, because at least with Xal‘atath, certainly even earlier, I will disappear back into the Nexus and won’t be appearing from there any time soon. Sure, I’ll be playing other things on the side, like the promising WoW Forever, or the new season of Diablo 4.
But the majority of my time will be consumed by Heroes of the Storm because this game laid one of the cornerstones for my current work here at MeinMMO.
Heroes of the Storm has shown me how to earn money with gaming
Maybe it’s a bit hard to understand why I’m celebrating this seemingly small announcement so much. But Heroes of the Storm is more to me than just an alternative to League of Legends (which I also enjoyed playing and recently started playing more often).
In my late teens and early adult life, I earned money with Heroes of the Storm – not much, but it was, aside from mowing lawns and the meager salary as a chef apprentice, my first self-earned money. And that in e-sports, which at the time in Germany was not much more than a meme (similar to Bitcoin).
With my team and through official tournaments, I learned how e-sports works, how to play professionally and understood that gaming can be more than just a hobby. It can become a profession, with all the disadvantages that a profession brings. Heroes of the Storm has significantly contributed to my ability to write deep analyses today and that I have dealt with eSports on MeinMMO for a long time.
However, back then I was not concerned about the money at all. Because Heroes of the Storm was not mainly my entry into professional gaming, but a game that significantly differed from other MOBAs.
A game that does everything better than the competition
The gameplay of Heroes of the Storm is almost identical to that of Dota 2 and League of Legends – both of which are also based on “Defense of the Ancients,” a mod for Warcraft 3. Yes, the irony was almost understood by everyone, except apparently Blizzard.
Unlike LoL, Heroes of Newerth, and Co., there are no hyper carries in Heroes of the Storm. There isn’t that one player who leaves all the others behind by miles. Teams level together, the maps are not all identical, but have unique map mechanics.
These mechanics usually ensure that the flow of the game is interrupted and teams encounter each other. Teamplay is therefore necessary to win. One player alone doesn’t make a difference. Even if a team seems to dominate, a good fight from the opponents can still mean victory for them.
Additionally, there are no items in Heroes of the Storm. Heroes therefore do not have different builds that players must memorize to counter them. Skill and team synergies determine how effectively or in what way one comes against the opposing team.
Oh yes, and … of course Heroes of the Storm has something that no other MOBA can ever replicate: heroes from all Blizzard games, and that alone makes it such a beloved game.
Only two new heroes, for now … but there’s always hope
Whether Heroes of the Storm will really receive a full-fledged revival is still unknown. Currently, the excitement just makes me see that I will be playing again soon and probably to an unreasonable extent. But I don’t care, I want that!
For a real comeback, Heroes of the Storm would need more: balance patches, a regular map rotation for ranked games, tournaments. They don’t even have to be big, Blizzard just needs to show that the community still matters.
Because Heroes of the Storm is still actively played. No matter when I log in: matches can be found anytime, even quite quickly – at least in ARAM mode. Whether I will ever return to eSports, I doubt it, but the desire to participate in a tournament again comes up regularly. Maybe Blizzard will fulfill this wish for me …
Heroes of the Storm is currently even helping me digest one bitter message that I received at BlizzCon – and not even during a panel, but just through an interview from another website: Diablo 4 is already over and despite all the joy about Diablo 5, I could hardly be more disappointed
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!