Heroes of the Storm – Hot(S) NEWS Weekly Recap

       Tournament round up by HeroesEvo

If you’ve missed any tournament or were wondering were to watch them and want to know more about professional scene in Hots then this round up is just for you.
This quick coverage will let you know the latest results of the matches. It will introduce you to tournament scene and provide link to streams, tournament sites. There you can discover current standings as well as more info about tournaments and upcoming matches, if its league or ongoing tournament, or next edition of the cup, if its weekly based event.
http://www.heroesevo.com/tournament-round-up-18-24-may/

       New player live stream!

Whether you’re coming from other MOBA or you are new to genre – doesn’t matter!
These educational series will let you understand all the basics needed to dive into Heroes of the Storm world and be on par with other players. Two episodes, I’m talking about, are aimed to explain existing hero roles, their differences, strength and weaknesses as well as provide some insights and live gameplay footage. They offer even more – you can chat with the host and ask some questions that are bothering you.
First and second episodes are based around specialists/assassins and warriors/supports, both can be found here – http://www.twitch.tv/khaldor and hosted by @Khaldor
More info on the event can be found by the links below
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19326705/new-player-live-stream-saturday-may-22-23-05-2015
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19216877/new-player-live-stream-monday-may-25-25-05-2015

      Team Liquid takes #1 spot!

With the overwhelming victory in latest edition of Zotac cup finals TL is looking strong as never before.
This overview by @Dorazion will guide you through the latest achievements of the top teams according to GosuGamers rankings and will predict some changes based on the upcoming events. Article also provides some insights on the potential rivals to the top#1 spot.
However in my opinion it’s too early to make global rankings – professional scene has different number of tournaments and teams in different regions. Also as of now there are no cross regional events at all. I wouldn’t prefer regional rankings until we’ll have major cross region events or many professional teams start participating in tournaments outside of their home region. Having such situation seems vague perspective – it takes a lot to have playable accounts in different regions and participating in regional events won’t happen due to latency issues.
http://www.gosugamers.net/heroesofthestorm/news/31121-heroes-gosuranking-report-team-liquid-overtakes-cloud-9-maelstrom

       Winners and loser(s) of the Kael’thas patch

Why we see Anub’arak in every game ?
And why Raynor isn’t played at all ?
Read what GG editor crew have to say about the changes recent patch brought.
I want to add to the opinions expressed below that I think the winners of this patch are also the players that play warrior role. In previous patch you would rarely see warriors other than E.T.C.\Diablo and sometimes Muradin\Tyrael. Now the games are swarmed with warriors. Professional teams play double and sometimes even triple warrior comps and that  is good achievement by developers and with the upcoming release bringing Johanna and potentially other changes the warrior pool will be even bigger.
http://www.gosugamers.net/heroesofthestorm/features/4239-the-winners-and-losers-of-the-kael-thas-patch

       Third episode of Heroes Academy

Oh man! I’m amazed by these educational series. In two minutes time they manage to provide all the essential info on the topic as well as do it in funny, engaging and very memorable way.
Explaining the basics has never been so cool.
This episode will tell us about Towers and Forts in Heroes of the Storm.
We will get to know the difference these structures have compared to other MOBAs and will receive useful information on why we have to destroy them and what benefits we will get.
Video also provides info about the mechanics of the mentioned structures.

With the upcoming Heroes of the Storm launch event Blizzard and DeviantArt announced and epic fan art contest with prize pool of 6000$. Contest started on 19.05.15 and will last for more than a month. The central idea is – you have to illustrate characters from two or more Blizzard universes engaged in battle.
Check the link below to see more info on the rules, prizing and other important info.
http://madizzlee.deviantart.com/journal/Heroes-of-the-Storm-Ultimate-Fan-Art-Contest-532531336

      #NexusCalling contest has finished! 

Developers were swarmed with tons of awesome submissions, no wonder – the prize was trip to London. Contest was divided in two parts – Facebook cover photo contest and video contest regarding Heroes of the Storm launch event – Enter the Nexus.
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19234325/nexus-calling-contest-winners-19-05-2015

      Super Sonya and Mad Martian Gazlowe are now available in the shop! 

With this offer heroes get awesome looking models and
Sonya – themed abilities that have comic-like pop-ups when are used.
Gazlowe – funny voiceover, like he’s taking from submarine and new models and animations for his abilities.

      Open Beta has begun! 

That’s right! If you weren’t lucky enough to participate in Technical Alpha or Closed Beta this is an awesome opportunity to try Hots before the launch. Right now you can simply go to the Heroes of the Storm site and download the game. The only thing required is Battle.net account. It’s not a problem if don’t have one – you can create it on the official site.

Oh man! It’s Crusader of Zakarum! Look at her – she’s fantastic!
Few weeks ago, before the Kael’thas patch, “HeroesNexus” data-mined her talents and abilities, you can check them by the link below.
Johanna abilities, talents and stats – http://www.heroesnexus.com/heroes/49-johanna

With Open Beta release Blizzard published Open Beta trailer – “Enter the Nexus”. While the trailer itself is a work of art, what catches an eye is the glimpse of the new skins, at the end of the video.

      New player live streams!

With the launch date approaching fast, developers announced set of the live events that will guide new players through the game and will allow them to increase their game awareness.
Event stream can be found here and is hosted by @ZP_TV.
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19216877/open-beta-new-player-live-streams-21-05-2015

      Weekly sale (18-26.05.15)!

Blizzard announced sale for Jaina as well as awesome Crypt King Tassadar skin and hilarious E.T.C.skin!
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19162231/weekly-sale-may-18-26-18-05-2015

      Hero Creator by “HeroesFire”

“HeroesFire” recently introduced new tool on their site. It allows you to design hero abilities, talents and lore in a simple and efficient way. Doesn’t matter whether you want to win a contest described below or have some cool hero concepts, this tool will provide you with everything you need. Also check out some awesome hero concepts here!
http://www.heroesfire.com

      “Blog of the Storm” just announced “Design a Hero” contest!

The idea is to design a hero from Blizzard universes and send it to [email protected], winners get a 20$ Battle.net card.
http://blogofthestorm.com/design-a-hero-win-a-20-battle-net-card/

      “Twas Two Weeks Before Release”

Awesome community creation – Open Beta poem narrated by @SchAmToo, enjoy!
http://blogofthestorm.com

      New Hero tier list!

G2Nicker – Hots progamer from Poland posted his tier list for this patch.
Check it out for some insights on the professional meta-game.
http://www.gamers2.com

      Heroes “Hottest top5” plays of the week!

Mighty “Slap’athur” in the 30^th edition of the amazing weekly series – “Hottest top5” by HeroesForecast.

Bots can’t play good they said, can’t properly fight they said. Well this E.T.C. bot just proves it wrong. Watch the cool recap of the two bo3 series between professional North American teams.

Brilliant, superb and unexpected – these are some words that can describe this epic match. Ending is amazing.

If you are looking for easy way to ramp up your ranking and is good with supports, then I have overwhelming news – in the last patch Jay Wilson developers “just doubled” heal amount that comes from Brightwing’s trait. However, bug does not apply to gust of healing.
http://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/36p74d/bug_alert_brightwing/

      “Global play” has arrived to Heroes of the Storm!

“Global play” allows you to play in any region. Regions can be switched in Battle.net launcher, Hots main menu or login screen. Please note that the progress from home region won’t be transferred. However items that you bought will and you’ll also have home region pricing.
For example if you have home region in Europe and you have bought carpet mount and switched to other region, you’ll have that mount available to you in other region as well.
More info –
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19162954/global-play-has-arrived-to-heroes-of-the-storm-21-05-2015
Global play support –
https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/global-play

      New player live stream – Friday may 22

Blizzard continues new player learning curve with the introduction of the Battlegrounds topic in today edition of “New player live stream”.
This interactive starter guide is hosted by @Qelric and will start at 21:00 CET on http://www.twitch.tv/Qelric.
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19216877/new-player-live-stream-friday-may-22-22-05-2015

      Starter guide by BlizzMythics

Good in-depth guide for new players. It will explain basics like hero roles, battlegrounds, talents and much more. Has nice content table that will allow you to quickly navigate through the whole article and find whatever you need. Guide also features nice interface explanation with pictures and advices to new players. If you’re new to Heroes of the Storm or MOBA’s in general that’s a thing to start with!
http://www.blizzmythics.com/heroes-of-the-storm-starter-guide/

      McDonalds Hots promotion in China

In China you can buy a chicken set and get a special card, if you collect 3 you can unlock a golden tiger mount for free! Each store only has a few cards though. It appears that chicken sets and Heroes have so much in common 🙂
http://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/36th4l/mcdonalds_hots_promotion_in_china/

Tempo Storm signs E.T.C. bot as their fifth member 🙂

Recently @Zoia(manager of TS Hots squad) talked about past events and removal of the @Glaurung(previously shot-caller and member of TS Hots team), you can find this video here.
Guys at Blog of the Storm have had an exclusive opportunity to make an interview with newly signed player – http://blogofthestorm.com/tempo-storm-signs-etc-bot/
And if you’ve missed the game that is mentioned it the interview – here it is.

      Video guide about the map awareness

Nicely done, practical guide on the map awareness topic by FocusFire. In this video narrator will show you many in-game situations and will explain the thought process behind every decision. Decision making, in general and based on the map awareness, in particular, is very strong and vital part of good gameplay. If you’re looking for a ways to improve your skill and game knowledge this guide is for you.

Guest of this episode is @MadTimmy from team Zeveron. The topic of the show varies from Town Hall Heroes Invitational tournament to the upcoming hero and Promote talent. As always show is hosted by @SolidJakeGG, @SchAmToo, @Cooby and @Zoia.

30^th edition of Epic plays of the week will teach you how to kill core with Pyroblast, how to get rich on Blackheart’s Bay and finally how to win a fight 1×4. Oh almost forgot to mention – it will also explain what Grim Patron has to do with Hots.

      Hots Logs won’t wipe MMR!

Explanation has been posted on Reddit by Ben Barret(HL creator) on the topic of the MMR data wipe.
Ben says that after long consideration he decided not to wipe MMR.
Instead the replay parsing speed was increased, in addition to this all the replays that are more than 2 month old from the last HL update won’t be calculated.
If you haven’t tried this awesome statistic tool yet, now is the perfect time.
You can download Hots Logs replay uploader as well as get more info on the topic by the links below.
HL replay uploader – https://www.hotslogs.com/Account/Upload 
http://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/36ym6t/hots_logs_mmr_calculation_update_no_wipe/
https://www.hotslogs.com/News

      Leave Britney Tychus alone!

Reddit drama revolved around Tychus cigar disappearance with recent Hots update.
Users where unsatisfied with the change to his in game 3d portrait and demanded the return of cigar.
Developers stated that the issue is more complicated that it seems at first glance. Problem lies in Heroes being a multi-region game. Different regions have different ratings and restrictions. So developers had few options how to proceed with the issue and in the end they decided to solve it in a more efficient way in terms of resource management and just remove the cigar.
You can embrace the soap drama in more detailed way by the link bellow.
http://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/36lpsh/yes_we_know_smoking_is_bad_everybody_does_but_its/crfnkij

      Blog of the Storm created funny quiz!

Are you a specialist ? Maybe you are pushing the lane in your dreams ?
Behold the ultimate quiz that will make you understand whom are you destined to be!
http://blogofthestorm.com/which-role-are-you-in-real-life/

      You require more minerals MOAR, MOAR Stimpacks!

Recently developers introduced nice update to Starter Bundle – everyone who buys SB receives a free 7-Day Stimpack!
As the change is retroactive today it was announced that players that bought SB before update was active will start receiving Stimpacks on May 26.
http://www.heroesnexus.com/blue-tracker/topic/13634-starter-bundle-retroactive-stimpacks

      Where to watch Heroes of the Storm launch event?

Blizzard just posted info about launch event gatherings!
If you can’t be at the event in person you can attend those gatherings or watch the official live stream.
More info about the event –
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/18813884
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19216871/be-part-of-the-heroes-of-the-storm-launch-celebrations-18-05-2015
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19035566/the-nexus-is-calling-join-the-launch-celebration-on-june-1-05-05-2015
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19332819/gather-for-the-heroes-launch-event-22-05-2015

      Third part of World’s first butterfly cosplay has been posted by Blizzard!

In this part Vaeflare will cover the final steps needed to complete the sculpture creation.
If you are not familiar with a whole story or want to refresh it feel free to read previous chapters linked below.
Part 1 – http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/14665105/
Part 2 – http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/15371654/
http://eu.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/19272682/world%E2%80%99s-first-butterfly-cosplay-part-3-bringing-monarch-brightwing-to-life-22-05-2015 

      E-Sports weekend!

Saturday is day of Zotac Cup and Enter the Storm Qualifiers.
If you are not familiar with these two events than you should know that they both attract semi-professional and professional teams to compete for prizes.
Zotac cup offers cash prize and points while ETS Qualifier allows to participate in largest to date EU tournament with 5000$ prize pool and opportunity to compete with best EU teams.
Zotac Cup starts at 15:00 CET.
Enter the Storm Qualifier starts at 16:00 CET.
For more info use links provided below.
Zotac Cup – http://heroes.zotac-cup.com/
Enter The Storm – http://heroes.gosucup.com/

      Daily Quest#19 by SolidJakeGG

Daily Quest is a series of hero video guides made by @SolidJakeGG.
In this episode author will guide you through the process of playing Kael’thas.
Video starts with the description of Sun King’s lore followed up by talents and abilities overview.
Then Jake proceeds with Try Me mode demonstration of abilities and talents as well as torturing Arthas.
After satisfaction with death of the Lick King author will explain you variety of talent choices on different tiers, shown in talent calculator.
And lastly gameplay footage with commentary and gorgeous Kael skin is shown.

This gameplay footage will show you how to win a Hero League match on Garden of Terror with a triple specialist composition versus a popular meta-composition of two tanks.