With “World of Warcraft” seeing the release of Battle for Azeroth in just 2 months, Blizzard seems to be celebrating its arrival with a new Warcraft-themed map in “Heroes of the Storm.” The event, Echoes of Alterac, will have players returning to do battle in the classic World of Warcraft PvP battleground Alterac Valley.
The new map, called Alterac Pass, will have some features that resemble the previous Nexomania event and others that are completely unique. One similarity between the two maps is that players will be required to again choose a side, in this case Horde or Alliance. By playing enough games, they can unlock faction-specific mounts and icon. There will also be new WoW-themed skins which will Warcraft-ify some Overwatch and Diablo characters. Here’s a look at the Horde themed skins.
And here’s the Alliance ones.
One of the features that is unique to Alterac Pass is the fact that it will be the first map to not include an actual nexus base. Similar to how Alterac Valley was won in vanilla WoW, players will need to defeat faction leaders Vanndar and Drek’Thar in order to win. These leaders will have some of the skills that they had back in vanilla WoW, such as a whirlwind-like AoE attack. If players run out of their specific combat zone, they will start to regenerate health.
Along with the release of the new map, the update will introduce a new character to the game’s roster – Yrel. For those who’ve never played “Warlords of Draneor,” Yrel is a Dranei paladin and her character in HotS will reflect this. She will be a melee-tank hero with strong crowd control and sustain abilities. For more info on what to expect with Yrel, here’s Blizzard’s official hero spotlight video.
The Echoes of Alterac update really does a great job paying homage to the vanilla WoW Alterac Valley map. Despite HotS being a MOBA, the Blizzard team created an amazing adaptation of the classic AV battleground with the skins, the gameplay mechanics, and the new hero. I’m very excited to dive in and relive the glory days!
The event starts June 12 and runs until July 9. Honestly, there’s so much content with the Echoes of Alterac update that I would highly recommend checking out Blizzard’s official preview video to help get prepared for all the action.
Featured Image Credits: Blizzard Entertainment
