Ah BlizzCon, here we are again.

Last year, Heroes of the Storm entered BlizzCon as a fledgling game still in development. There were no particular strategies, and the esports scene as we know it had not yet emerged. The competition held at BlizzCon was merely an exhibition tournament between the four most stable teams at the time -- Team Liquid, Fnatic, Cloud9, and Evil Geniuses -- and none of the team rosters even remotely resemble the teams we know today. Ten Heroes hadn’t even been conceived yet, including now-staple picks like Johanna, Jaina, and Kael’Thas. The future of Heroes of the Storm was unclear and uncertain, but we trusted Blizzard to produce a fantastic game, stuck with it, and ultimately, we’ve been rewarded.

Over the past year, there’s been slow but steady growth in Heroes of the Storm both in terms of players and viewership as Blizzard has continually added more features like Hero League and Try Mode as well as supported the professional esports scene directly with a few major tournaments. Blizzard even launched an official Heroes esports Twitter earlier this year in anticipation of the growing competitive scene.

Even in the casual department, Blizzard has released tons of new, interesting skins and mounts for players to buy and has continually worked to make sure playing on a team is pleasurable for all. They’ve done an excellent job of releasing ten new Heroes and four new Battlegrounds since last year, all with widely differing mechanics that offer a variety of gameplay to all players. The latest patch even drastically improved the UI with changes like adding the ability to watch replays with others, an updated in-game interface, and brand new loading screens. Dustin Browder, the Game Director, has been patient with our complaints and responded quickly and adeptly to our concerns via Twitter, showing us that the designers really do care about making the game fun for everyone. There’s been tremendous progress.

But we’re not at the end of the road yet. There are still plenty of issues that need to be addressed, several Heroes and Battlegrounds yet to be released, and the potential of esports is still largely untapped. BlizzCon is a time for the designers to level with us -- get right in front of us and show us what the future looks like -- so let’s take a look into the future and see what Blizzard has to offer.

Panels

Aside from the Heroes World Championship, the largest Heroes tournament of the year as well as the largest one to date, a big focus of BlizzCon will be three panels talking about new Heroes, Battlegrounds, and the future of the game. Only online viewers with a virtual ticket will be able to watch the panels live, but information will be gathered and updated here as the event progresses.

Based on the upcoming Warcraft movie by Legendary Pictures and the WoW expansion, Legion, it’s very likely that Heroes of the Storm will take a turn into the Warcraft universe for a while to promote Blizzard’s other franchise, much like the Eternal Conflict event a few months ago. Likewise, with the launch of Legacy of the Void at BlizzCon, some StarCraft-related features may also be revealed in the course of the weekend.

For now, here is a preview of the panels and what they likely hold in store.

Heroes Deep Dive

Join the Heroes of the Storm development team to take a closer look at all the new Heroes coming to the Nexus.

Heroes of the Storm Deep Dive panel is scheduled to begin at 2:15 PM PST on the main stage. There, the developers of the game will reveal upcoming Heroes that will soon join the Nexus and talk about them in detail.

The list of candidates is endless, and any Hero could be added to the game. That being said, there are a couple of candidates more likely to show up than others. In fact, there have been several hints at character models hiding all along.

First of all we have Cho’Gall, a powerful two-headed Ogre from the WarCraft franchise. We first saw his model when Blizzard announced Heroes of the Storm at BlizzCon 2013, but so far there has been no further info about him. As an apprentice of Gul’Dan, we expect Cho’Gall to be a powerful spellcaster focused on using dark magic.

Then there’s Zul’Jin, chieftain of the Amani Troll tribe. This fearsome Troll was determined to restore the glory of the Trolls and destroy the Blood Elves who had took their lands from them. We have seen Zul’Jin’s model in the BlizzCon 2014 features video, cheering alongside other heroes that also were unannounced at the time, such as King Leoric, Rexxar, and The Butcher.

Kel’Thuzad, once a mage of the Kirin Tor, is now a servant of the Lich King and a powerful necromancer. It is known that Blizzard the intention to add him since 2011, but apart from an early model, not much is known about this Hero.

Our last speculation comes from the newly released Overwatch beta. It’s only natural that the development of introducing heroes from that game into the Nexus has already begun. The obvious first pick is Tracer, the cheerful British girl that everyone seems to love. With the recent leaks, it’s basically confirmed that Tracer is going to be the first Overwatch hero to be released, and we’re willing to bet she will be showcased in this panel.

Bonus:
Even though it is unlikely, some heroes we would love to see are Fenix from StarCraft and Malthael from Diablo 3. We know Fenix is one of the heroes that people ask for the most and that Blizzard developers have been toying with the idea of bringing Malthael into the Nexus for a while. Taking into account the amazing back story and support these two characters, we know everyone would be eager to try them. The release of Grom Hellscream, Maiev Shadowsong, and Emperor Mengsk have also been in question and have been widely accepted as potential good additions to the game.

State of the Game

The Heroes of the Storm development team discusses how the game’s evolved and where it’s going next, including upcoming changes for Heroes, Battlegrounds, and talents.

Arguably the most important Heroes of the Storm panel, State of the Game is scheduled to take place on Saturday at 11:30 AM PST.

Expect to hear a lot of info about upcoming balance changes and talent re-works to make the game more fair and fun to play, but let's not forget about the upcoming changes for hero scaling and snowballing prevention Blizzard has been talking about which are currently being tested in the PTR.

Apart from that, a major topic of the panel will likely be improving the matchmaking and everything that surrounds it, such as leagues and ladders. The matchmaking in both Quick Match and Hero League has been a major point of discussion in the community for a while now, and Dustin Browder has teased about some of the changes they are planning to make, so expect to hear more in detail this Saturday. There will probably be more info about ranked seasons and how the long-promised Grand Master League will work in the game.

Even though it is less likely, topics such as bans in Team League as well as a redesign of the ranking system are not entirely out of the question since they are two of the most popular discussion topics in the community. For a relatively new game like Heroes of the Storm, we can be sure Blizzard will still have a couple of surprises in store for us.

Battlegrounds

Journey into the Battlegrounds of the Nexus with an in-depth look at the new locations and objectives you’ll conquer in Heroes of the Storm.

The final panel for Heroes of the Storm will be held Saturday at 4:00 PM PST on the Main Stage to talk about upcoming Battlegrounds.

One of the defining characteristics of Heroes of the Storm in the team brawler genre has always been its unique maps with widely ranging objectives that change and affect in-game strategies. The Battlegrounds discussion will open our eyes to two new Battlegrounds with brand new objectives. They will be most likely Warcraft themed, but the community has been wanting a Starcraft specific map for a long time, so there is still a chance for that, especially with the launch of Legacy of the Void at BlizzCon.

With the newest additions, there is potential that, in combination with more regular ladder seasons, Blizzard may start doing Battleground rotations in order to accommodate the larger map pool and keep the maps fresh, so keep an eye out for any mention.

Heroes World Championship

Day 2 - Elimination Matches

In addition to multiple panels discussing the future of the game, The Heroes of the Storm World Championship continues this weekend at BlizzCon with eight of the best teams in the world. Last week, we saw the first few matches of the group stage take place at the ESL studios in Burbank, California.

Group A, consisting of giants like Cloud9 and Dignitas matched against relatively unknown teams, Logi GIA from Taiwan and Team YL from China, played out mostly as expected. Cloud9 was able to win convincingly against both Team GIA and Dignitas, securing the first place of the group and a spot in the playoffs. Group B, however, was much more interesting and procured one of the best Heroes of the Storm professional matches to date. Na’Vi, representing Europe, created a huge upset by beating Team DK from Korea, the favorite to win the whole tournament, and securing first place in the group.

The rest of the group results are still in the air though. The last six matches from the group stage will take place today at 4:00 PST and will be a fight for tournament survival.

The first match of the day will feature Team YL vs Team GIA. The winner will go on to face Dignitas to compete for a spot in the playoffs, but whoever loses will be the first to be eliminated from the tournament. The matches will be close, but based on everything we’ve seen so far, expect a clash between Team YL and Dignitas, with Dignitas barely coming out on top.

Following Group A, we will see Tempo Storm fight for their tournament life against Brave Heart. Even though Tempo Storm’s spirit might be broken, let's not forget who they are. Everyone on the team is an outstanding player, and they dominated the North American scene for several months without any trouble. On the other hand, Brave Heart is has had lukewarm results, and due to visa issues, they aren’t even bringing their full roster. Tempo Storm should come out on top and face Team DK in the deciding match, where they will be tested yet again.

Group A:
Logi GIA < Team YL
Dignitas > Team YL

Group B:
Tempo Storm > Braveheart
Team DK > Tempo Storm

Dignitas and DK advance to the semifinals

Day 3 - Final Bracket

Going into the semifinals, things will get interesting, as Cloud9 will most likely be playing against Team DK. Even though haven’t looked as dominant as MVP Black back at the MGA, Team DK is still a team that could easily win the whole championship. Cloud9 is having a strong showing so far only losing one game against Dignitas before qualifying to the semifinals, but this good run could very well be cut short by the Koreans. Cloud9 players pride themselves in knowing they are some of the most mechanically skilled players in North America, but how their mechanics -- and most importantly, their decision making -- will stack up against the Koreans is yet to be seen.

On the other side of the bracket, a European Championship Finals rematch between Dignitas and Na`Vi is the most likely scenario. In their last encounter, Na`Vi stomped Dignitas 3-0 in the finals, so it wouldn’t be wise to bet against them. This time around, though, it will be a much closer series of games, as the teams have had more time to prepare new strategies. With a 500k prize pool, there is much more on the line. Prediction: we believe the non-Koreans have a real chance of winning BlizzCon. Maybe the only real chance they will have.

Cloud9 > Team DK
Na`Vi > Dignitas

Cloud9 < Na`Vi

Na`Vi are your BlizzCon 2015 champions