Heroes of the Storm "expansion" - so what does that mean, really?

One of the most anticipated battlegrounds so far, The Battlefields of Eternity, hit the live servers after a week long stint on the Public Test Realm (PTR).  On June 30, the map's release kicked off what's being touted as Heroes of the Storm's first expansion, The Eternal Conflict, with new heroes, and new skins centered around the Diablo Franchise.

This sounds absolutely epic.  However, if there's something about it that doesn't quite make sense, don't worry.  You're not alone.  What's likely bothering you is that question in the back of your mind:  How do you make an expansion for a free to play game, anyway?

For most PC and tabletop gamers, the standard definition of expansion is a purchasable addition to an existing game's content and requires the original to play.  Depending on the game this means different things but new campaigns/extended storylines, items or character classes are par for the course. It's not enough content to be a new game in itself but rather builds - expands, if you will- upon the base product.

However, in the context of a free-to-play game, "expansion" doesn't work quite as well.  Eternal Conflict is free and therefore made available to all players in a new patch.  New premium (real-money) items in the form of hero skins and mounts are made available in the in-game shop as well as new heroes and battlegrounds.

All great but these are types of things we've gotten before many times.  The Sky Temple and Tomb of the Spider Queen battlegrounds weren't billed as a "Luxoria Expansion", though like here, both maps came with a new mount and several desert themed skins.  Suddenly, this expansion is looking a lot more like a simple content update with an epic name.

Some of the new skins for heroes old and new coming in the Eternal Conflict.

But that might be all it needs.

Any marketing expert will tell you that names have power in how they control our perceptions.  "Expansion" certainly sounds a hell of a lot more exciting than "update", precisely because of what it brings to mind.  A heavy dose of exciting new themed content that widens the scope of the game.

That's an expansion in its purest form and in that regard, Eternal Conflict fits the bill nicely.  With the free-to-play model becoming increasingly prevalent, it makes perfect sense to borrow some of the standard terminology of the previous pay-to-play business model.  The Eternal Conflict may not be what we would expect from an expansion but that doesn't mean it isn't one.  It's just been redefined to fit into the era of free-to-play MOBAs.

Angelic Diablo in action.  Talk about holy terror.

Some would say that the meaning of a term cannot simply be changed for convenience.  However, when you're the first to try it (along with being one of the leaders in the overall industry), then yes, it can.  Blizzard, one of the top game developers in the world, has opened up a new avenue in the free-to-play MOBA market, so they can very much get away with it.

The closest any of its competitors have come would be League of Legends, having done several faction events over the last few years.  As I mentioned in a previous post though, Heroes hasn't just added any new map, it's broken new ground within the game with the first map to be drawn from an existing Blizzard universe.  If Blizzard sets the precedent with a successful game, who's to say a massive content update to a free game can't be called an expansion?

Diablo has some new buddies to join him in the Eternal Conflict.  Good luck, Big Red.