With the launch of Machines of War, a Developer Q&A gave us some exciting insights of what is coming to the nexus. Here’s a quick summary of what we know.

1. An amazing new Kael’thas Skin is in the works. Halloween or Christmas speculations anyone?

2. The devs are testing a hero that changes the battleground in some way. Destructible rocks like in Star-Craft II?

“It is possible from a technical standpoint to create heroes that affect battlegrounds, we're testing some things right now actually!”
-BlizzDev_PIGonzales

3. Non-Standard maps are in the works.

“We will definitely see some crazy maps moving forward. A 4 lane map wouldn't be too far of a stretch." --BlizzDev_PIGonzales

4. The new upvotes system will go into a player profile. Perhaps something akin to Diablo three.

5. There are plans to release both Overwatch and Warcraft themed battlegrounds!

6. Poor Murky, the devs feel his pain and are looking to make him viable again. Murloc fans rejoice!

“While I can't say what our answers are yet, I can say that we've very recently had discussions on our Murloc friend and that we're not afraid to tweak/buff him to be more viable.” -BlizzAZJackson

7. The dev team is looking to make more meaningful rewards for player progression at level 20.

“Level 20 is absolutely an area of focus. We'll speak more on this around Blizzcon!”
-BlizzDev_PIGonzales

8. The resource struggle is real, but Blizz has their eyes on both overhauling old maps and creating new maps with new mechanics. It’s just a matter of what to do first.

9. There’s been talk in the community about having 3D maps like those found in Star-Craft. The devs said it’s not off the table but it sounded as if these won’t happen because of how much resources it would take.

“We are 100% open to mechanics that alter/affect environments."

"Different cliff levels are challenging from a technical perspective, but it's not completely off the table.”
-Blizz_Zhopp

10. It sounds like supports will continue to follow the prescedent Auriel set, being challenging and having unique mechanics that keep players from feeling like a ‘Heal-Bot’.

11. The next crazy hero will be released or at least shown at BlizzCon.

“When is the next really unique hero coming? like Abathur, Murky, TLV or Cho'Gall.” -aslokaaMurky “All the heroes you mentioned were announced at Blizzcon... ;-)”
-BlizzDev_PIGonzales

12. How does Blizzard treat lore in the Nexus?

“In terms of "canon" the nexus is pretty loose, we experiment with alternate realities and crossovers, so I wouldn't take the Nexus lore as die hard facts, but more of a crazy "what if?" universe!” -BlizzDev_PIGonzales

13. Skins you say?
“Altered Fates-themed Skins are in development as we speak!” -BlizzDev_PIGonzales

14. On Braxis Holdout (also known in the UK affectionately as Brexit)

“We have some ideas for Braxis, but we want to make sure and collect data and make an educated decision instead of reacting too quickly.”

“As players learn to bring strong AoE heroes and ways to protectsaid heroes the map mechanic should fall in line with our expectations.” -Blizz_JDeShazer

15. So regardless of how snow-bally Brexit is now, we’re sure to see adjustments that make the map as balanced as possible. As we’ve seen before, Blizzard gathers info and uses that to make informed decisions to balance the game.

16. For the MVP screen, plans are to make it longer so you can type and read, but also include the ability to exit fast; best of both worlds.

“The ability to skip MVP is coming.”-BlizzTravis

17. Fenix was shelved while Artanis made stage; why? Devs couldn’t decide on how to make him awesome enough. Zealot form or Dragoon form? Future HYPE!

18. The Devs gave us a peek into their balance criteria. They look for: Does the hero have healthy talent diversity? Does it FeelsBadMan to play with or against the hero? Is the hero too oppressive to play against? Does the player have their own niche?

19. On MVP rewards:

“We decided against it as we don’t want to put too much emphasis on the end of match rewards. There’s the potential that it could skew in-game behavior in a negative way if people play specifically to earn awards.” –BlizzTravis

20. On Getting Trolls and Draenei into the game:

"We're working hard to get racial/class coverage shored up! Draenei are not forgotten!”
-BlizzDev_PIGonzales

So far it seems like there's piles of great stuff just around the corner for Heroes!

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Machines of War Developer Q&A Recap