Blizzard has announced a uniform league format that will include a promotion and relegation system for Heroes of the Storm.
Sam Braithwaite, manager of esports for Heroes of the Storm said, "I came into this job as a fan first, and one of the things that stood out to me was that I had a hard time following as a fan. Different events hosted by different tournament organizers on different weekends made it difficult to follow along."
When asked about the promotion and relegation format, Braithwaite said, "We want to bridge the gap between the Heroes player that logs in to play matchmaking and the player that wants to go pro. There is no clear path right now and the Open Division will provide structure to that."
The new program brings with it a guaranteed compensation for players on the teams in the league. "It levels up the competition across the board," said Braithwaite. "Currently, the top two to three teams can approach this as a full time job."
"We hope this enables teams to do things such as invest in a team house, or hire a coach, or an analyst," Braithwaite continued.
The base compensation will be made public information within the next few weeks. Pay information, and the rest of the details for the revamped Heroes esports league will be available in the coming months before the qualifiers begin.