Loot Boxes Introduced in Heroes of the Storm 2.0

Loot Boxes, or Loot Chests in this Case, arrive to Heroes of the Storm. Blizzard is upgrading to Heroes of the Storm 2.0, with all new progression system.

The infamous Loot Boxes from Blizzard are on their way to Heroes of the Storm as the MOBA announces that it's now going into a Heroes of the Storm 2.0 era. Looking at it from a gameplay perspective, Heroes of the Storm 2.0 means very little. It's more of an acknowledgement of the various maps, characters, and balance changes that have been included in the game since launch. However, the progression of storefront and meta systems are being reworked completely. Heroes of the Storm 2.0 is perhaps best considered a celebration, instead of a relaunch.

As of today, with a major patch released to the newly designated Open Beta, Blizzard is set to release assorted new content over the next month. Today's patch includes a brand new progression system which removes the current player level systems and replaces it with a level summing up all individual character levels. The leveling of characters will also change, with later levels being much faster to obtain and the level 20 cap being removed. The goal is to make leveling less repetitive while also rewarding players for investing time into their characters.

Instead of receiving rewards with specific unlocks for character levels, all newly earned levels will now instead give out a Loot Box, or as Heroes calls them, Loot Chests. Like in Overwatch, Loot Chests will be packed with goodies of different rarities ranging all the way up to Legendary Skins. Loot Chests can potentially include all currently unlockable content within Heroes, with the exception of event exclusive content. That includes skins, mounts, color variations, as well as newly announced content like banners, icons, sprays, voice lines, and emojis.

With the new progression system, players will still be allowed to unlock heroes with gold or skins with real money, now branded Gems. Furthermore, if a loot box contains items you already possess, you'll earn a currency named Shards which can then be used to buy cosmetic items.

Heroes of the Storm is now available exclusively on PC and is free to play. The Heroes 2.0 update is available now via the game's Open Beta, previously the PTR but no longer needs an additional download.