Gamescom 2015 is still going on as I write this. There will definitely be more news regarding lots of games and stuff. But specifically, I want to talk about my interview with Blizzard Entertainment’s Heroes of the Storm team. Because I actually managed to get a straight and satisfying answer about one of the questions every Starcraft fan has been asking for awhile. And it is from the Game Director of Heroes of the Storm, Dustin Browder himself!
It was a really friendly enviroment and we talked about a lot of things: Such as why they decided on the Team Leveling system, their other game design choices etc… When the topic came to our soon-to-be arriving heroes (Kharazim -Diablo 3 Monk, Rexxar and Artanis), Dustin Browder mentioned that they were really looking forward to getting Artanis and his gameplay kit into the game. He is supposed to be a sturdy and heavy-hitting hero with little mobility. Your typical zealot, right? So I had already set my mind on asking about another favorite Zealot character from Starcraft and it was the perfect opportunity: “What about Fenix?”
If you know your Starcraft lore, you probably also know about Praetor Fenix. He was a legendary Protoss zealot who fought against the zerg swarm in the original Starcraft game. And even when he was overrun with zergs, he didn’t just stop fighting. He was just suited up in an exo-skeleton Dragoon armor and picked up where he had left off. So naturally, he is a huge fan favorite. But enough with the introductory. We’ll have a detailed Fenix article soon anyway…
I somehow expected Dustin to dodge the question but as I said, he didn’t shy away from it. Instead he tackled it and told me that they had also been talking about Fenix internally. A lot. But to reflect Fenix properly, they had to implement some kind of resurrection mechanic into his skill set. And since there are already lots of heroes with resurrection mechanics (one being the lately released hero – Leoric), they had to step away from that mechanic and move on to something different. At least for a while. However, all is not lost… Apparently he was saving the best for last: “Give us some time. Maybe 6 months or so… We may be talking about Fenix then.”