Players of Blizzard’s MOBA Heroes of the Storm are a bit irritated because Blizzard is now introducing the fifth assassin character in a row from the Warcraft universe into the game. Blizzard has noticed this as well, and developer “Centaurik” provides a response.
When looking at the latest hero releases in Heroes of the Storm, two things stand out: Recently, there have only been assassins and only Warcraft heroes. The whole assassin fun began with the Orc sword master Samuro, then came the assassin-warrior hybrid Varian. Firelord Ragnaros was also an assassin and Troll Zul’jin anyway. And now with the assassin archetype Valeera, another assassin is ready to go. Isn’t it enough with the assassins, Blizzard?
This wasn’t planned!
The assassin inflation from Azeroth has also caught Blizzard’s attention. Therefore, developer Centaurik has spoken up on the Blizzard blog and provided a lengthy explanation regarding the flood of assassins. According to him, the many assassins resulted because certain heroes had been planned for a long time and other characters were reworked shortly before release.
Orc Samuro had already been firmly planned as a fast assassin for two years. Varian was developed into today’s available multi-class hero with strong assassin traits. Ragnaros, on the other hand, was actually intended to be a specialist who operates from the background. In the end, however, he became the frontline assassin hero that he is today.
When Ragnaros and Varian were almost finished, developers noticed that a new, consistent ranged hero was urgently needed. Thus, Zul’jin was created, also an assassin.
At this point, people at Blizzard also realized that they already had four Warcraft assassins in a row. Unfortunately, it was already too late to change the existing release plan, and thus the next Warcraft assassin Valeera had to follow. Because even there, the schedule was already too far along to change anything.
After the fourth in a row, Blizzard noticed, but it was too late
According to Centaurik, the developers focused too much on the gameplay aspects of the heroes and overlooked that now five times the same role from the same universe was coming into the game. For them, the five heroes were each entirely different versions of the rough assassin archetype.
For example, Samuro is a cloaked “shell-game assassin”, Varian is a multi-class frontline fighter and warrior, Ragnaros is a tactical frontline fighter, and Zul’jin completely deviates as a consistent ranged fighter. Valeera, meanwhile, functions as a carry-disabler, denying valuable DPS to enemies.
Thus, the five heroes, despite having the same role, are very different and play completely differently. Nevertheless, Centaurik admits that the release of so many assassins from Azeroth did not find great favor with many players. In the end, however, the developer still advocates giving Valeera a chance, as she is likely to offer a really great new gaming experience.
Moreover, he points to the many cool new features that Blizzard plans for Heroes of the Storm in 2017!
