Blizzard could add dormant franchise characters to Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Storm will begin with 18 characters from the World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises, but with Blizzard's history dating back over 20 years, the studio is hinting that characters from long-dormant franchises could enter the fray, as well.

Ozzie Mejia

November 11, 2013 2:45 PM

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Heroes of the Storm will release with 18 characters, running the gamut from Blizzard's ongoing properties, like World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. Of course, that won't be the final number, as Blizzard is aiming to release more characters throughout the game's development. However, the studio also acknowledges that it has more than 20 years of history to pull from and hints at the possibility of characters from long-dormant franchises joining the fray, as well.

"It's all about Blizzard properties, right?" Blizzard art director Sam 'Samwise' Didier mused to Shacknews. "We've had properties all the way back to 1991, like Lost Vikings, Blackthorne, Rock n' Roll Racing. I've done concepts of Lost Vikings! Nothing to say that they're in there right now or designed yet, but that is one of my goals. I'd love to do that."

While many of Blizzard's classic characters will receive starring roles in Heroes of the Storm, Didier also hopes that the game will become a showcase for some of the games' more unsung characters, like Hogger from World of Warcraft. He also details one of the more obscure characters to join the roster: Elite Tauren Chieftan, a reference to the joke band that plays at every Blizzcon.

"He's a big Tauren warrior with giant guitars on his back, like the totems they have in Warcraft," Didier added. "And all of his abilities are power silde, stage dive, and mosh pit, like they're all music-related. He has a heroic ability called mosh pit and all the people around him start dancing and banging their heads. His other one is stage dive, where from anywhere on the map, he can jump and land with an area of effect."

Here are the 18 characters currently available for Heroes of the Storm (via The Daily Dot):

• Falstad (Warcraft)

• Illidan (Warcraft)

• Malfurion (Warcraft)

• Gazlowe (Warcraft)

• Stitches (Warcraft)

• Arthas (Warcraft)

• Uther (Warcraft)

• Diablo (Diablo)

• Tyrael (Diablo)

• Sonya (Diablo)

• Valla (Diablo)

• Naziba (Diablo)

• Kerrigan (StarCraft)

• Nova (StarCraft)

• Raynor (StarCraft)

• Tassadar (StarCraft)

• Abathur (StarCraft)

• Elite Tauren Chieftan

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?