Heroes of the Storm just got a really sad update that codified maintenance mode

End of an era

The expectations for the recent Heroes of the Storm update were low, especially after the recent announcement, but this is something else.

Here is what Blizzard hit us with this week for the Heroes of the Storm July 12, 2022 update:

General

• Hero Rotation will update every 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd of every month.
• Each new Season will now have 4 New Seasonal Quests for new Ranked Season.

Collection

• Epic Chaos Lizard Mount has been added for Login reward.
• Spectral Butcher Skin is now available for purchase.

To be clear, this is the content push that’s being done right after announcing that the game is going into maintenance mode beyond the state it was already in following the “Brack Letter.” Players get a mount and the opportunity to buy a skin. Oh, and free heroes will continue to rotate. That’s…pretty much it. No balances, no reworks (which were said to be in the works last time we spoke with the team), and definitely no new heroes this week.

For many Heroes of the Storm community members (and former developers!), this past week has been a punch in the gut. Most notably, the Into the Nexus podcast — which has been the marquee Heroes podcast since the game launched seven years ago (and with pre-launch episodes, before that) — is saying goodbye to the game this month, and will shift the podcast to a new focus.

It’s been a heck of a run. Heroes remained one of my favorite games since it arrived in June of 2015, year after year. I know a handful of people that still play it regularly, and the community is among one of the most passionate pockets of gaming I’ve witnessed in my entire life. I mean, with the servers still online maybe there’s potential down the road for some miracle to happen (especially under the Microsoft banner); but for now, the game is decidedly in a state of cryostasis.