During Blizzard’s Gamescon live stream on August 7th, game developer Dustin Browder addressed the issue of map selection in Heroes of the Storm. According to Browder, Heroes of the Storm is facing some issues with map selection because the game has nine battlegrounds with the addition of Infernal Shrines, and that number will grow as new expansions are released.
Unlike other MOBAs, Heroes of the Storm provides players with a number of different maps to play on. Each map has a unique set of objectives to fight over and different lane layouts. This poses a problem for new players because they have to learn strategies for each battleground. Browder states during the live stream, “We have heard some feedback from a lot of players now that our game has become too complicated and too difficult for them to really master, that there are simply too many battlegrounds in play at one moment.” Blizzard fears that too many battlegrounds might overwhelm new players.
So what is Blizzard’s solution?
One idea is making a map rotation. The rotation would limit how many battlegrounds players have access to during matchmaking. Map rotations would be broken up, “So we might have a season, or a month, or a couple weeks [with only select maps available],” says Browder.
I dislike this the idea of map rotations because while each battleground is unique, many of them have similar overlapping strategies, which only take a couple games to learn. Plus, map variety is one of Heroes of the Storm’s biggest advantages over other MOBAs so I would hate to see that taken away.