World of Warcraft Reveals New Battleground, New Character, And More

Blizzard has unveiled their next update, Heroes of the Storm, and has provided gamers of the popular title details on what to expect from the MOBA in the near future.

A new battleground, hero (Yrel), and more tweaks are on the way.

“The conflict between the Horde and the Alliance rages on inside the Nexus with the upcoming Warcraft-event: Echoes of Alterac! Battle for glory on Alterac Pass, a new battleground inspired by the iconic World of Warcraft battleground, Alterac Valley. Choose a side, then complete a series of quests to unlock your faction’s a portrait, banner, and mount! And don’t forget to show your Azerothian spirit with new skins, mounts, sprays, and other cosmetic items—as well as an all new Warcraft hero, Yrel, the Light of Hope.”

Here are more details from Blizzard:

“The horns of war echo once again across the snowy slopes of Alterac. This time, something is different. Powerful Heroes join the Alliance and Horde, while the legendary generals Vanndar and Drek’Thar are infused with strange Nexus energies.”

Heroes of The Storm – Alterac Pass

• New Map Mechanic – Cavalry: Your Cavalry units have been captured by the enemy! Your goal is to break them out of Cages on the map while preventing the enemy team from doing so. Channel on the enemy Cage to gain control of it, then maintain control until your prisoner is freed. After a short delay, the winning team will spawn a Cavalry unit in each lane, boosting the movement speed and damage of nearby allies.
• Lay Siege to your Opponents: Standard cores have been replaced by Generals who will fight back when attacked! Generals can be attacked after one keep is destroyed, but they gain 20 armor from each keep that’s still intact—destroy all three enemy keeps to diminish their defenses.
• Destroy Keeps to Spawn Reavers: When a keep is destroyed, the enemy team will begin to spawn melee Reaver minions instead of catapults. Reavers lead your other minions into combat, and serve to tank the brunt of the enemy General’s attacks.

Heroes of The Storm – Yrel

Trait

• Divine Purpose (D)
  • Activate to instantly charge Yrel’s next Basic Ability at no mana cost.
  • Passive: Yrel’s Abilities charge up over 1.5 seconds, increasing in effectiveness, but reducing her movement speed by 25%.
    • Cooldown: 10

Basic Abilities

• Vindication (Q)
  • Unleash holy energy around Yrel, dealing 38 damage to nearby enemies and healing her for 96.
    • Charging up this ability increases its damage up to 125, and healing up to 320.
      • Cost: 50
      • Cooldown: 6
• Righteous Hammer (W)
  • Her hammer deals 38 damage to enemies in front, or knocking them away.
    • Charging this Ability increases knockback distance, damage increased to 125.
    • Enemies hit at max charge are stunned for 0.75 seconds.
      • Cost: 50
      • Cooldown: 16
• Avenging Wrath (E)
  • Leap to a location, dealing 150 damage to enemies in an area and Slowing them by 50% for 1 second.
    • Charging this Ability increases its range.
      • Cost: 50
      • Cooldown: 6

Heroic Abilities

• Ardent Defender (R1)
  • Surround Yrel in a barrier for 3 seconds, absorbing all damage taken and healing her for 50% of the damage received.
    • Cost: 40
    • Cooldown: 100
• Sacred Ground (R2)
  • Yrel sanctifies the ground around her, gaining 40 Armor until she leaves the area.
    • Cost: 40
    • Cooldown: 100

In addition to the new battleground and character, the Echoes of Alterac event also features several quests that begin after players choose between, of course, the Horde or the Alliance. Either quest line features faction-themed rewards that include new portraits, banners, and a mount, all of which can be seen here. Here are the quests:

Echoes of Alterac Event Quests and Rewards

• Quest: Play four games as a Warcraft Hero. Reward: Warcraft Reinforcements Chest (Contains four item drops as usual, but one of them is guaranteed to be a Warcraft Hero from a pool of 28)
• Quest: Achieve 50 takedowns in winning games. Reward: Faction Portrait
• Quest: Play six games with friends. Reward: Faction Banner
• Quest: Win eight games as a Warcraft Hero. Reward: Faction Mount (Ram for the Alliance, Wolf for the Horde)

The Heroes of The Storm: Echoes of Alterac event runs June 12 all the way until July 9th. The new hero, Yrel, arrives first during the week of June 12, then Alterac Pass during the week of June 19.

Heroes of The Storm is now available for PC.