Blizzard have announced that local servers for Heroes of the Storm are now live for the Australia/New Zealand region.
With the servers based in Sydney, players within the region will now be able to experience faster connection times. Blizzard have also committed to rolling out servers in other regions, including Southeast Asia and Europe. A list of FAQs is provided below:
Q: What benefits will local servers have for Heroes of the Storm players in Australia and New Zealand?
A: By hosting Heroes of the Storm game servers in Australia, players located in Australia and New Zealand should benefit from improved gameplay responsiveness and a better gameplay experience.
Q: Will I still be able to play with my friends who are on servers in the Americas?
A: Yes. Because the Australian Heroes of the Storm game servers will communicate with the servers in the Americas, you will be able to seamlessly play with friends who are there. Your friends list is powered by Battle.net, not the local game servers, so you’ll still be able to easily group up and chat with friends in the Americas.
Q: Will I need to level up from scratch, pay any fees, or register to transfer?
A: No. Because the local Heroes of the Storm game servers will be linked with the existing Americas region, all characters, gold earned, and progress will be unaffected. The introduction of Australian servers will be completely invisible to local players (no separate Australian server dropdown menu will be displayed), with the immediate benefit of providing a smoother, more responsive gameplay experience.
Q: Where are the servers physically located?
A: The local Heroes of the Storm game servers will be hosted within a data centre in Sydney, Australia.
Q: When will local servers be available?
A: Local Heroes of the Storm game servers are available now!
Q: Does this mean other Blizzard games will also be getting local servers?
A: Blizzard Entertainment is committed to providing our players around the world with the best possible experiences. We will continue to explore optimal server solutions for all of our franchises in each region.
Heroes of the Storm is an online team brawler title, featuring key characters from the franchises within the Blizzard universe (StarCraft, Warcraft and Diablo). Coinciding with the announcement of local servers, Blizzard have also mentioned that more Australian and New Zealand players have been granted access to the Heroes of the Storm alpha.
To see if you’ve been added to the alpha, check your Battle.net account. To have your chance of being part of the Heroes of the Storm alpha, you can register on the official website.