Blizzard still updates Heroes of the Storm almost monthly, and I think that's great.

Heroes of the Storm is the only MOBA that I have ever loved. It's Blizzard’s late entry into the genre, which was born from an old Warcraft Mod. HotS is a brilliant, but late, game that arrived on the scene. The field was dominated by League of Legends, and Dota 2 at the time. Despite Blizzard’s best efforts, and a 2017 relaunch as HotS 2.0 development began to wind down. In 2022, Blizzard finally announced they would not be creating new content for the games.

It's hard to argue that Blizzard supported HotS beyond the point when it was no longer viable. This game started with 30 characters, but now has 90. It also boasts a ton of maps, modes and other extra content, all of which are free. One of the most bizarre aspects of HotS is that players feel 2.0 did not monetise it enough.

Blizzard is still working on the game, even though HotS is in maintenance mode. They continue to release regular updates. The developer continues to release seasonal events, mode changes, and in-depth balance updates, even though there is no new content.

It's huge. Just reading the list of fixes, tweaks and improvements took me about 10 minutes. I won't bore anyone by going into detail on the buffs or nerfs for Abathur et al., but will just say that there are still Blizzard employees (whom the community refers to as the "janitor") at Blizzard who care about the game and make near-monthly adjustments and fixes across a large part of the roster.

This patch also fixes a number of issues with shrub visibility. One such issue was a bug that allowed players to invisibly farm in bushes. It could be the echo of Knights Who Say Ni! I find it amusing that the code master of the HotS shrubberies is somewhere in California.

It has also left the HotS community in a good place. I've always found MOBAs to be a bit spiky and HotS has certainly had that element. But the HotS players that are still hanging around the Discord and subreddit of the game (as well the official forums) appear to be a pleasant group: both resigned to that fact that their beloved games is in its dotage and pleased that Blizzard still listens, still updates, and still supports the game long after most of the industry has moved forward.

You can see that any rancor is drowned out in the discussion on this subreddit thread. People are discussing what this means for Raynor with split-pushing and why Brightwing continues to be cheap as hell and OP. This thread has received 333 comments since the patch was released. Many games would love to have that level of engagement.

The expectations of players for any game can be unrealistic these days. Developers are expected to provide constant updates and new content for free, and responsive customer support is not only expected but demanded. HotS is past that. Everyone who plays it, and even those working on it, knows that it's over. They all share one thing, however: a love for the only MOBA that is actually good.

Blizzard receives more than its fair share, and much of it is deserved. Here's an area where you can only doff your hat. I reinstalled HotS and went into quickplay, found a great match with Valla almost instantly (I wasn't very good and rusty, but we won). It's as much fun as ever, and it's nice that Blizzard continues to support it for true believers, even though it's long past the point where it was commercially viable. Where credit is due, it should be given. Some may say that HotS is dead, while others might say "Long live Heroes of the Storm!"