Blizzard are improving their reporting system in Heroes of the Storm

Compared to other MOBAs, Heroes of the Storm has a relatively tame untoxic player base – at least in my experience. There is the odd aggressive/rude player who pops up here and there though, looking to ruin the experience for everyone else. Hopefully that’ll soon be a thing of the past, because Blizzard are tightening up their reporting system with the game’s next patch.

Heroes of the Storm has always had the option to report other annoying players, but now the whole thing has been given a new coat of paint. Here’s are the various categories that are now available (via the HotS Blog):

Abusive Chat

• Insults, cruelty, or ongoing harassment directed at one or more players.
• Hate speech
• Real life threats

Intentionally Feeding

• Player intentionally and repeatedly gets their hero killed in order to anger allies or feed XP to the enemy team.

AFK/Non-Participation

• Player is idle or inactive for an extended period of time during a game.
• Player is present, but has given up or refuses to take part in the game.

Cheating/Botting/Hacking

• Suspicious behavior which indicates the player may be using third-party software or hack programs to gain an advantage during a game.

Inappropriate Name

• Character names or BattleTags that are offensive, insulting, bypass the mature language filter, or are otherwise considered objectionable.

Spam

• Excessively communicating the same phrase, similar phrases, or pure nonsense
• Blatant or repeated advertising for third party websites

If you’re an avid Murky or Abathur player, fear not. Blizzard will take those hero’s unique playstyles and mechanics into account when reviewing reports on them.

Players who receive multiple reports under the spam or abusive chat category will receive the silence penalty. Here’s what they can and can’t do…

Silenced Players Can:

• Use party chat (with invited players)
• Create, suggest, and request to join parties
• Send and receive friend requests
• Send whispers to friends
• Reply to Whispers from non-friends
• Issue in-game pings

Silenced Players Can’t:

• Use allied chat in-game
• Chat in Hero League draft lobbies
• Chat in general chat channels
• Chat in custom chat channels
• Send whispers to non-friends

Seems pretty standard really. I actually can’t believe Heroes of the Storm never had this sort of detailed system in place before. Thankfully, it’s is in place now, which should hopefully see toxic players squashed out further.

Honestly though, I’ve had little to no bad experiences in Blizzard’s MOBA. With this system in place, I don’t think I will… ever.

Last Updated: September 8, 2015