Blizzard has officially released in newest patch for Heroes of the Storm which brings major changes to the game.
A big change is that players can no longer use gems to buy loot chests. While rare loot chests can still be purchased, they are now available for 3000 Gold each. What this means is that to buy loot chests, players need to actually play the game in order to get gold.
For those not familiar, gems are in-game currency that players can obtain by using real-world money. Since the rewards in loot boxes are random, some have considered this to be a form of gambling. Some countries have been looking into the practice and even the American Federal Trade Commission is looking to see if this business practice is acceptable. The way the change is made, buying loot chests using gold is not technically gambling since real money was not used.
The patch also increased the cap on negative armor to -75 from -25, given that various Armor effects no longer stack. According to the developers, "the negative Armor cap was originally instituted as a safety precaution so that stacking long term negative Armor effects wouldn’t lead to degenerate gameplay."
The patch also expands the roles of heroes, with Blizzard saying that they hope to "give both new and existing players a clearer idea of what kind of kit to expect during hero select" and that the Hero Roles were expanded in order to have "new descriptions and replace those that were less clear in the past."
The new roles are Melee Assassin, Ranged Assassin, Bruiser, Tank, Healer, and Support.
Melee Assassin heroes need to get close to enemies and deliver high damage. These are Alarak, Butcher, Gazlowe, Illidan, Kerrigan, Maiev, Murky, Samuro, Valeera, and Zeratul.
Ranged Assassin heroes are considered as fragile damage dealers, and need to be at a certan distance for safety. Heroes in this new role are Azmodan, Cassia, Chromie, Falstad, Fenix, Gall, Genji, Greymane, Gul'dan, Hanzo, Jaina, Junkrat, Kael'thas, Kel'thuzad, Li-Ming, Lunara, Mephisto, Nazeebo, Nova, Orphea, Probius, Raynor, Sgt. Hammer, Sylvanas, Tracer, Tychus, Valla, Zagara, and Zul'jin
Bruiser heroes are strong fighters that can also dish out damage. Bruiser heroes include Artanis, Chen, D.va, Dehaka, Imperius, Leoric, Malthael, Ragnaros, Rexxar, Sonya, Thrall, Varian,Xul, and Yrel.
Tank heroes, meanwhile, can protect their team while taking in a lot of damage. Tank heroes include Anub'arak, Arthas, Blaze, Cho, Diablo, ETC, Garrosh, Johanna, Mal'ganis, Muradin, Stitches, and Tyrael.
Healer heroes are those that focus on direct healing and preventing damage. For Healers, players can pick Alexstrasza, Ana, Auriel, Brightwing, Deckard, Kharazim, Li Li, Malfurion, Lt. Morales, Lúcio, Rehgar, Stukov, Uther, Whitemane, and Tyrande.
Finally there are the Support heroes, who give boosts and other benefits to their allies. Players who want to pick this character type can go for Abathur, Lost Vikings, Medivh, Tassadar, and Zarya.
The patch also introduced reworks on three heroes, Lucio, Chromie, and Lunara. Details of the rework can be viewed here.
