The ‘Brack letter’ (that term didn’t age well!) is nearly three years old
[Update: The new Heroes of the Storm patch is live, with very minor tweaks to a few elements. You can find those in orange here.]
Three years ago on December 13, Blizzard posted that very ominous letter detailing the fate of Heroes of the Storm. In short, it was being put on the backburner, with official eSports support coming to a complete close. It was a devastating blow for the game. But that was three years ago. It’s still around! And we’re getting a Heroes of the Storm patch this week.
The big focus this time is Rehgar, a hero who has been reworked and reconfigured in the past, but not so much lately…until now. The little orc healer is getting an increase in attack damage (with a decrease in attack speed), with a buff all around to lightning shield, earthbind totem, and a purge trait, which is a straight-up cleanse on 30 seconds (that cannot be used on himself). As a long-term Rehgar fan that’s lapsed on the character in the past few years, I’m anxious to try him out: he even has extra skin tints now.
Auriel, Brightwing, Dehaka, Falstad, Imperius, Jaina, Johanna, Junkrat, Lunara, Probius, Raynor, Stukov, Tyrande, and Zarya were also touched in this patch. Dehaka is one of the standout choices, as he’s been dominating some levels of play in recent weeks. Another general patch focus is a change in health values for structures. Healing Wells are “now invulnerable,” and will be destroyed when their accompanying fort or keep is destroyed, which is a huge change that will outright eliminate the “well sniping” strategies from certain levels of play (where an enemy team would dive a well, blow it up, then escape intact). Forts and keeps also had their health values increased across the board and have “absorbed the health of the nearby healing wells.”
Sadly, there’s no content in this Heroes of the Storm patch, just existing reworks and balance changes. So there’s no new hero to play during the upcoming winter break. Maybe next time? You can find the structure changes below, and the full patch notes here. The PTR will be in operation until December 6, at which point the patch will be pushed live shortly after as long as everything is in order.
General November 30, 2021 Patch Notes
Building Changes
- Healing Wells
- Additional Functionality: Healing Wells are now invulnerable, and are destroyed when their nearby Fort or Keep are destroyed.
- Forts
- Health increased from 12900 to 15450.
- Keeps
- Health increased from 17000 to 20050.
Developer Comment: We’re happy with how Healing Wells function in our ARAM game mode, so we’re giving it a try everywhere. Additionally, Forts and Keeps now have additional health as they’ve absorbed the health of their nearby Healing Wells.
