Heroes of the Storm at BlizzCon: Detailed Look at Towers of Doom and Arena

After introducing the new heroes that were announced at Blizzcon 2015, it is now time to take a closer look at the new map, Towers of Doom, with a never-before-seen mechanic and the new game mode Arena!

Towers of Doom

"The Raven Lord and the Grave Keeper have risen over a dark and mysterious city, each seeking to annex it into the territories they inhabit within the Nexus. Now locked in a struggle for dominance over the little gothic burg, these mythic beings demand that heroes contribute their might to this endeavor. Whether born from necessity, or merely for sport, their true intentions may never become clear, but one thing is certain: the battle for the Towers of Doom must be won!"

The first thing that caught my attention while watching Towers of Doom introduction video was Headless Horsemen. Many people were hoping for him to be a playable hero in the Nexus; however, Towers of Doom makes it decided one and for all that we will never get to see Headless Horsemen as a hero but rather as a map objective. I also really enjoyed the Gilnean themed architecture and map. The visuals really are stunning in Towers of Doom!

What makes Towers of Doom so unique in mechanic is the way to approach its map objective. Each core is being protected by a barrier that can not be destroyed by heroes. The map will have Altars and each team must capture these Altars to activate one of the 6 bell towers guarding the map. Once an altar is captured, one of these bell towers will directly attack the enemy core, destroying its barrier and ultimately the core itself. Destroying enemy towers will increase the damage of these bell towers, giving you a significant advantage. 

The Arena

Arena is a brand new game mode that is being introduced to Heroes of the Storm. It will be a hectic and endless battle between two teams of 5 players in a best of 3 format. At the beginning of the Arena, each player will receive a random of 3 heroes to select. They will also see the options of their teammates and pick a hero accordingly. The teams can also pick the same hero if they desire so. As soon you enter the Arena you will be able to choose your heroic ability and jump straight into action. Once a core is destroyed, the two teams will jump into the next arena map until one team destroys two cores and is deemed the winner.

If you think one Thrall isn't enough!

Before the start of the opening ceremony I spammed my social media accounts begging Blizzard to give me some "Illidans". I don't know but I'm starting to think that I was being watched because Blizzard gave me 10 ILLIDANS in the Arena preview video!! I am one happy Illidan fangirl for sure!

I can't have enough Illidans in my life! Give me more!!

Arena sounds like such a fun feature. Can you imagine 10 Abathurs in one map, each Abathur choosing Ultimate Evolution as their heroic and copying another Abathur from their team to get extra 20% bonus damage :P I have to see 5v5 Abathurs just slapping each other. Sorry but I really must see this happen!!! Hell, I even want to participate in it!!! My life will feel incomplete until I experience this moment!

I am such a happy Heroes of the Storm player at the moment. I am glad Blizzard is adding all these amazing and fun contents to this wonderful team brawler game and managing to keep it as fresh as possible. Hats off to their development team for their hard work and paying close attention to community feedback!