StarCraft 2 Medic joining Heroes of the Storm, but Team League is out

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Blizzard has revealed in today's livestream from Gamescom that the StarCraft 2 Medic will be added to Heroes of the Storm as a dedicated support character.

The medic's Heroic will enable her to summon and board the Medivac vehicle, which can then transport her to any point on the map. Blizzard's Dustin Browder said the ability "can be absolutely devastating," but it's also a very high-skill maneuver.

"Team that know what they're doing can make some incredible plays [with it]," he said. "If you don't know what you're doing, it can be a real mess."

The Team League mode is also being eliminated, as it's proven more difficult than anticipated for players to assemble the same teams every night, and most players are thus opting to stick with the Hero League instead. Browder also explained that changes are coming soon to the matchmaking system which will see new players ranked more accurately after completing 20-25 placement games, which can then be tweaked further based on performance and player feedback. Good news it you've been blaming your losses on getting teamed up with scrubs. Bad news if those losses were actually your fault.

Update: Now that the stream is over, Blizzard has posted a few more details about the coming changes, which you can dig into at Battle.net.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.