Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Storm (formerly titled Blizzard DotA, and Blizzard All-Stars) is a hero brawler. It is free-to-play and the game was released digitally. Formerly a mod for StarCraft II, it has since become an independent product.

The game launched June 2nd, 2015.

Overview
"In a tiny, trans-dimensional pocket universe sit two dark and terrible gods. One red. One blue. To amuse themselves, they kidnap great heroes from across time and space! And those heroes come from one company: BLIZZARD! These heroes are forced to fight to the death in an endless battle with no purpose... other than ladder points. This is Blizzard DOTA! Coming soon(ish)™. Seriously!"

- Original mod summary

Heroes of the Storm made its first appearance at BlizzCon 2010. The idea at the time was to used it as a showcase for the abilities of the Galaxy Map Editor, as with Wings of Liberty having just shipped, Blizzard would have nothing new to show on the StarCraft front of the event. In this build, heroes could use currency earned in battle to purchase upgrades in shops. They then fought alongside allied creeps for maximum efficiency and crush enemy towers and their bases. Two factions existed in the game&mdash;the Guardium and the Scourge. Each hero had a "good" (Guardium) and "evil" (Scourge) version. The evil incarnation usually wore some zerg armor.

As of July, 2011, the game had entered playtesting. By August of the same year, the game has undergone a complete reboot, the original version "flattened." According to Frank Pearce, the original version bore too much resemblance to its Warcraft III counterpart, where novice players were at a disadvantage. Blizzard seeks to redesign the game to make it "easy to learn, difficult to master. After another positive showing at BlizzCon 2011, the game had more passion inside Blizzard, and they began to discuss what they could do with the MOBA (or "hero brawler" as it was called internally) genre. It was decided to make the game easy to get into with a focus on team gameplay.

The game was originally expected to launch concurrently with Heart of the Swarm but has since been delayed, and will be released separately.

During development, a number of employees who had worked on Blizzard's Project Titan were shifted to work on All-Stars. As of August 2013, the game's development has reached "a significant internal milestone," and has entered wider internal playtesting. Blizzard will have more information on the game later in the year.

Blizzard DotA (as it was originally called) was the subject of some controversy, in light of Valve's Dota 2. Blizzard has taken steps to prevent any trademarking of "DotA" or any other acronymn of "Defense of the Ancients," maintaining that it should remain with the Warcraft modding community, from which the concept sprung. In May of 2012, both Valve and Blizzard reached an agreement&mdash;Valve would be able to use the term "DotA" commercially while Blizzard could use it in a non-commercial sense. The name of the Blizzard version was changed to "Blizzard All-Stars," which Rob Pardo stated "ultimately better reflects the design of our game." It was later changed to "Heroes of the Storm."

StarCraft Elements
The following StarCraft elements exist in the game:

Heroes
The following StarCraft heroes are/will be playable:
 * List of StarCraft Heroes


 * Abathur
 * Alarak
 * Artanis
 * Dehaka
 * Tychus Findlay (includes an infested terran skin)
 * Sarah Kerrigan (as the primal Queen of Blades)
 * Bama Kowalski (siege tank pilot, original character, referred to as Sgt. Hammer)
 * Rosa Morales (medic, original character, referred to as Lt. Morales)
 * Probius (probe, original character)
 * Jim Raynor
 * Tassadar
 * Nova Terra (includes a Kerrigan color variant for her time as a ghost)
 * Zagara
 * Zeratul

Proposed and Data-only
The following StarCraft heroes have been proposed for the game or data exists for the following StarCraft heroes in the game:


 * Fenix
 * Firebat
 * Hybrid reaver
 * Arcturus Mengsk
 * Overmind
 * SCV
 * Selendis
 * Alexei Stukov
 * Gabriel Tosh
 * Valerian Mengsk
 * Horace Warfield
 * Zurvan

Battlegrounds

 * Braxis Holdout
 * Warhead Junction

Skins
The following skins make reference to the StarCraft franchise. Note these do not include master skins for StarCraft characters.


 * Purifier Artanis
 * The Butcherlisk (ultralisk skin)
 * Spectre Illidan
 * Queen of Ghosts Kerrigan
 * Grunty Murky
 * Spectre Nova
 * Terran Probius
 * Commander Raynor (suitless Raynor)
 * Raider Rexxar
 * Spectre Tracer
 * Infested Tychus
 * Prisoner Tychus (Tychus from The Deal cinematic)
 * Maraudin' Muradin
 * Medic Uther
 * High Templar Zeratul
 * Zerg Hunter Zeratul

Mounts

 * Cyber ram
 * Cyber wolf (Regular, golden and obsidian)
 * Ghost speeder
 * Phantom
 * Vulture
 * Void speeder

Hero Based

 * Archon (temporary transformation by Tassadar)
 * Baneling (summoned by Zagara and Infested Tychus)
 * Banshee (summoned by Raynor)
 * Biomass (collected by The Butcherlisk)
 * Bunker (Used as the egg for Grunty Murky)
 * Dusk Wings (summoned by Raynor)
 * Drakken laser drill (summoned by Tychus)
 * Hunter Killer (summoned by Zagara)
 * Holo decoy (summoned by Nova)
 * Hyperion (summoned by Raynor)
 * Larva (wielded by Grunty Murky)
 * Locust (summoned by Abathur)
 * Medivac dropship (summoned by Morales)
 * Minerals (collected by Probius)
 * MULE (summoned by various heroes)
 * Mutalisk (summoned by Zagara)
 * Nuclear missile (fired from Tychus's Odin)
 * Odin (summoned and piloted by Tychus, though uses the Blackhammer model)
 * Nydus worm (summoned by Zagara)
 * Photon cannon (summoned by Probius)
 * Purifier beam (summoned by Artanis)
 * Pylon (summoned by Probius)
 * Raven (mercenary)
 * Roachling (summoned by Zagara)
 * Sac (summoned by Zagara)
 * Scourge (summoned by Infested Tychus's Odin)
 * Spider mine (summoned by Sgt. Hammer)
 * Spine crawler (summoned by The Butcherlisk)
 * Stim drone (summoned by Morales)
 * Symbiote (summoned by Abathur)
 * Torrasque (summoned by Kerrigan)
 * Toxic nest (summoned by Abathur)
 * Twilight archon (temporary transformation by Tassadar)
 * Ultralisk (summoned by Kerrigan)

Map and Event Based

 * Adjutant (map adviser)
 * Archangel (boss mercenary)
 * Baneling (neutral creep)
 * Bunker (StarCraft themed fort)
 * Creep tumor (summoned by Zagara)
 * Creeper (summoned by swarm host boss)
 * Cyclone (as a minion)
 * Dr. Cook (map adviser, original character)
 * Factory (background detail)
 * Ghost (as a minion)
 * Ghost academy (background detail)
 * Goliath (mercenary)
 * Guardian (neutral creep)
 * Hellbat (mercenary)
 * Hydralisk (neutral creep)
 * Keystone (special event)
 * Marine (as a minion)
 * Marauder (as a minion)
 * Medivac dropship (part of a special event quest)
 * Minerals (background detail)
 * Missile turret (StarCraft-themed turret)
 * Nuclear missile (collected on Warhead Junction)
 * Planetary Fortress (StarCraft-themed core)
 * SCV (background unit, also part of a special event quest)
 * Seeker missile (attack from ravens)
 * Swarm host (boss mercenary)
 * Ultralisk (neutral creep)
 * Zergling (neutral creep)

Other

 * Stimpack (usable item)

Removed
The following StarCraft elements were present in early builds but have since been removed/altered:

Heroes

 * Edmund Duke (replaced by Kowalski)
 * Grunty (originally a hero, has since become a skin for Murky)
 * Horace Warfield (replaced by Kowalski)
 * L80ETC (replaced by Elite Tauren Chieftain)
 * Leon (absent from current builds)
 * Sarah Kerrigan (as a ghost, became a color variant for Nova)
 * Ultimaton (absent from current builds)
 * Vaevictis (absent from current builds)

Structures

 * Barracks
 * Combat shop (modified merc compound)
 * Command center
 * Warp gate

Units

 * Drone (spawned by Zagara)
 * Infested marine
 * Stalker
 * Thor
 * Zealot
 * Zergling (summoned by Kerrigan)

Other

 * Khaydarin amulet (equipable item)