by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

The Heroes twitter feed has lit up with the following image:

The next Tech Alpha patch will bring a lot of changes. Today we’d like to introduce Artifacts! http://t.co/PZHqO2KW7u pic.twitter.com/PPZ0EKqhFs

— Heroes of the Storm (@BlizzHeroes) July 21, 2014

What Are Artifacts?

In addition to all of the upcoming changes recently outlined in our Progression System update blog, Artifacts are a new system we’re introducing. Once a player reaches Player Level 15, they will unlock an Artifact Slot. Within these slots you will be able to place a variety of powerful Artifacts in the form of Gems, Relics, and Trinkets that you can use to further enhance and customize your heroes. This new system will offer players a variety of new and compelling choices to add further depth to their heroes and how you play them, and it will also give you new things to spend your hard-earned Gold on that will further progress your Heroes in a meaningful way.

You can find more information about artifacts on the official blog post. The first response from the fanbase seems to be overwhelmingly negative, as evidenced by the comments to the blog post. The players are citing “the grind” as the main reason they aren’t too excited about this feature.

Suffice it to say, the addition of artifacts brings Heroes a step closer in terms of similarity to other MOBAs out there, and that alone is already making it a controversial topic. Expect more analysis from us as a more complete list of artifacts emerges from the tech alpha.