Two new Diablo characters revealed for Heroes of the Storm, director talks matchmaking, meta
Blizzard has unveiled two new characters coming to Heroes of the Storm, both of which come from Diablo.
Li Ming and Xul are the latest characters to join the Heroes of the Storm roster. The first represents the Wizard from Diablo 3, while the latter is the Necromancer from Diablo 2.
Speaking to MetaBomb, game director Dustin Browder explained how adapting characters and skills from a game like Diablo into Heroes of the Storm is not an easy process.
"You can look at any one of the Diablo 3 characters and see the challenges we're dealing with there," he said. "We definitely look for iconic abilities. We really felt like [Li Ming's] Disintegrate was an iconic ability from Diablo 3."
Browder added these may not be the last characters we see make the jump from the world of Diablo to Heroes of the Storm, and that things like game-themed events will continue, but may not last as long as they used to.
On matchmaking, Browder said they're seeing encouraging feedback on the time it takes and quality of matches, using a system that favours match quality over matchmaking time.
"Right now we're definitely taking a little longer to make better matches and that's in line with our feedback from players saying 'Hey, I'd rather take another minute to make a match and have a good one, than have [a faster] one that's garbage,'" he said.
Solo players against full team is another issue Blizzard is working on, though some of it can be attributed to a perception issue rather than actual stats, according to Browder.
"The matchmaking team decided to tackle that problem. They went ahead and made a change, I think just last week.
"Does it have a negative impact, a positive impact? I'm not saying you'll never get a five-man team versus solos, but we've definitely favoured matching bigger groups versus bigger groups, while also trying to keep the skill level in line with one another."
The rest of the interview is full of details fans of Heroes of the Storm should know about, including talk of the game's "stun meta", as well as upcoming social and clan features.