Heroes of the Storm Competition Clarification

A concern has been raised regarding the Phase 1 Heroes of the Storm competition. Specifically, the competition requires members to use a particular character, Muradin, who some do not have immediately available. Those who do not have Muradin available were faced with two options: either grind the in-game gold to unlock him on their existing account or create a new battle.net account and choose Muradin as a granted starter character.

My philosophy has always been to be as wide as possible with participation credit but try to preserve the competition for the placement. To that end, I have made the following clarification to the competition:

Clarification

1. Members may use a substitute another character they have available and receive participation credit only provided they follow the rest of the competition guidelines.

2. Members must use Muradin and comply with the other requirements of the competition in order to be eligible for placement

It may be helpful to explain my reasoning with this competition. In years past Hots brackets and other Hots competitions have felt like less than a level playing field, at least to me. It's hard with a game like Hots to eliminate the "I've unlocked more stuff" advantage. This year I was trying to do something different with a tightly controlled scenario to bring it as much down to player skill as possible. Game developers put challenge scenarios where you have to use a particular character on a particular level all the time. Trying something new is always a risk and I'll look at the feedback we get in the survey to adjust for future competitions. As a gamer I get that restrictions or not being able to use your main can be frustrating and if the competition was unfun or overly restrictive, please let me know in the survey. But the controlled scenario is the point of the competition, love it or hate it, and allowing the use of other characters for placement as some have suggested, would be a fundamental re-writing of the competition as opposed to granting an allowance on the outskirts for participation credit.

I chose Muradin because he is one of the starter characters made available immediately after completing the tutorial. I wish it was like the old days when everyone was granted Raynor but I made sure to test with a fresh account to see what someone would have if they fired up the game for the first time. I honestly didn't anticipate members not having access to Muradin being a widespread issue. Again, trying new things is a risk. I ask members to capture feedback and put in the survey because when designing the competitions for the next vendetta we pull up previous years' surveys. What's said in a report comment or discord discussion might get lost or forgotten but surveys are sure to influence the next set of competitions.

Closing

Remember, all competition questions must be sent via email to the competition organizer with Atra and Bubba CC'd.

Rajhin Cindertail aka Turel

Fist of the Brotherhood