I've never been much of a fan of mobage, but Blizzard's excellent "Heroes of the Storm" was an exception. Inspired by the Defense of the Ancients Warcraft 3 mod that spawned the entire genre, HotS, released in 2015, was generally well received by critics and players alike. However, despite the high quality of the game and years of support from Blizzard, the number of players never reached a critical mass.

Support shrank for years until mid-2022, when Blizzard put the final bullet in HotS and announced the end of active development. The game has continued to see hero rotation and the odd minor balance patch, but nonetheless the news was greeted with dismay by hardcore fans. And some were not content to leave it at that.

In a sort of circular moment, the mod team announced that the mod that has now become a game is the subject of a new and impressively full-featured mod project: the "Resurgence of the Storm" is a "Heroes of the Storm" modification of the " Starcraft 2" engine and is located in the game's arcade section; it has been in development for over four years and features 15 heroes, nearly all of which have been rebalanced or have new talents added compared to HotS.

"Like many, we miss Heroes of the Storm. We miss reading patch notes and getting excited about new heroes, reworkings, and balance changes, so we did it ourselves: heroes like Arthas got a total rework, and the mod even has room for two new heroes: Selendis (who once planned as an official addition to HotS) and Talandar. Further new heroes are also planned to be added.

Due to the nature of the project, it is not as convenient and accessible as HotS. With no matchmaking system, players will need to use the game's Discord to make matches, and RotS developers emphasize that this is not a "complete replacement" for HotS. 'Being a StarCraft 2 mod, there are some models and abilities that cannot be replicated. Most importantly, there is no quick-cast setup, which is a very important feature.

Interestingly, the appearance of RotS saw Blizzard's David Warner, who has worked on HotS for some time and is apparently still keeping an eye on the community, share one of Blizzard's untouched plans for the game. The mod would completely rework Arthas, one of the game's earliest and most caustic designs, which Blizzard itself had planned to do before ending support.

"Seeing the neat project for Resurgence of the Storm reminded me that I promised to share the rework of Arthas that I was working on before support ended," Warner wrote. I hope someone will find this interesting."

"Stupid disclaimer: no matter what NotBelial says, this is not a preview of what's to come or a hint of a grand revival. I am sharing this for fun and nostalgia, not any official announcement from Blizzard."

Warner has posted a detailed breakdown of what Blizzard plans to do with the character. The full text can be read here, but the short summary is basically to make Arthas more tanky and focus on growing Arthas' abilities to unstoppable heights, depending on the leveling path the player chooses, and to make Frostmourne's health-restoring abilities The idea was to make them stand out appropriately. There is also a very funny sounding heroic ability at the end of the leveling path that instantly mounts you with a speed buff, does not dismount you when you take damage, and then jumps down on the enemy and stuns them with an AoE.

To be clear, if you want to try Heroes of the Storm, it is still an ongoing issue, and RotS feels like it is for those who have already started. However, there is something undeniably satisfying about the mod-game-mod loop, and if nothing else, this is a testament to the tools and flexibility Blizzard has built into Starcraft 2's great arcade features. Below are instructions on how to download the mod. You can also follow development and find games on the RotS Discord.