Heroes of the Storm gets a new Brawl called Blackheart's Revenge next week that will be the first battleground to feature attack/defend mechanics and asymmetrical gameplay.

It was an eventful weekend for Blizzard fans, with the developer announcing future plans for World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, and Overwatch at BlizzCon 2016. MOBA Heroes of the Storm also received some attention, with Blizzard putting together an epic trailer to announce Varian Wrynn and Ragnaros as the next two heroes to join the game's roster.

While the splashy hero reveal received most of the attention from Heroes of the Storm fans, Blizzard also took time during the opening ceremony to detail a new map that will soon be added to the game: Blackheart's Revenge.

Blackheart's Revenge will be the first battleground to feature attack/defend mechanics and introduces asymmetrical gameplay to Heroes of the Storm. Unlike other maps in the game, only one team will have a Core. The team with the Core is on attack and must use cannonballs to fire at Blackheart's ship before he can destroy the Core. Meanwhile, the defending team will attempt to assist the ghost pirate in his siege by preventing the attacking team from collecting enough cannonballs to sink the ship. The defenders "win" if Blackheart succeeds in destroying the Core.

If that sounds confusing, Blizzard has put together a nice summary of what this brawl will entail in a new YouTube video.

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There's no denying the fact that Heroes of the Storm is running a distant third in popularity in the MOBA space to Riot's League of Legends and Valve's DotA 2. But Blizzard deserves credit for developing unique maps and game modes that change up the traditional MOBA gameplay. The Brawls in Heroes have a bit of an arcade-style feel to them and have helped make the MOBA genre more attractive to casual players.

Blizzard is still serious about wanting to turn Heroes of the Storm into a successful e-sport and the developer will likely continue to put a lot of focus on hero balance as well as future changes to the game's Ranked Play mode. But there's no denying that Heroes viewership numbers on Twitch pale in comparison to League, DotA and even some other MOBA-inspired titles like SMITE. At this point, Blizzard is probably better off continuing to come up with zany game modes like Blackheart's Revenge for Heroes while focusing on other games like Overwatch that have established a larger e-sports following.

Heroes of the Storm is available now for PC and Mac. Blackheart's Brawl will release next week.

Source: Battle.net