Now with explanatory voice over
One of Heroes of the Storm‘s most popular developers, Kevin “Cloaken” Michael Johnson, left the team after Blizzard announced that it was curbing the game’s production, and in April, left Blizzard altogether. Why am I telling you this? Well Cloaken was arguably the heart and soul of the game, providing the voice for “Hero Spotlights,” where Blizzard broke down new characters with aplomb. He was so popular that for years fans demanded that he become an official in-game announcer, and it happened.
Sadly, Blizzard has opted to not replace Cloaken’s voiceovers, leading to all sorts of confusion in the new spotlight for Qhira. Instead of providing helpful exposition her abilities just flash on-screen and the video kind of ends, leaving you to piece together the details. The community is fixing that, and decided to make their own spotlight with help from users Cold_Viking and NazeehTarsha. With a video that feels official if you just happened across it one day, the voiceover helps break down some of Qhira’s more complicated abilities to help new players acclimate.
Why am I sharing this seemingly innocuous thing? Well it’s kind of a big deal to the Heroes of the Storm community, and showcases their undying and indomitable love for the game. Even though Blizzard gutted its entire eSports program and slashed Heroes support, the community managed to muster up its own micro-leagues. If a trailer shows up without a classic voiceover, they create one.
I don’t know if this team will be making videos for all future heroes (including the “heavy hitters” in the pipeline), but I hope they do!
Fan creation:
Official:
