'Heroes of the Storm' game roster news, latest updates: new playable characters confirmed to be Varian and Ragnaros

'Heroes of the Storm' BlizzCon 2016 Hero Trailer Heroes of the Storm / Blizzard

Blizzard Entertainment had a lot of surprises for its fans during the recently concluded 2016 BlizzCon event, which was held over the weekend. During the annual event, the company made several announcements for its different video game titles, including introducing two brand new playable characters for their highly popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game, "Heroes of the Storm."

During the event's opening ceremony, the production director for "Heroes of the Storm" — Kaeo Milker — went on stage and introduced fans to two new playable characters. The two characters are Varian Wrynn and Ragnaros, who are both taken directly from the deep lore of "World of Warcraft" and the larger "Warcraft" franchise.

Varian Wrynn — also called "Ghost Wolf" — is the son of the late King Llane Wrynn. The new Alliance leader had led his people against the Lich King in Northrend, and is instrumental in humanity's fight against the Horde. Varian will be the first character in "Heroes of the Storm" that is playable as a multi-class hero. Players can choose to either use him as a stealthy assassin or a shield-wielding tank-class character.

Ragnaros, on the other hand, is a powerful Elemental Lord that has control all of fire elementals in the realm. He rules over his fire minions inside the core of Blackrock Mountain.

Aside from announcing the two new playable characters, Blizzard also revealed a new brawl mode called "Blackheart's Revenge." Within the new mode, one team will be tasked with bringing down Blackheart's ship, while the other team will help Blackheart fend off attackers. The new brawl mode was announced to be coming out on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

As for the new playable characters, Blizzard revealed that Varian will become available on the test realm starting next week. He will then be made officially available on Nov. 15, while Ragnaros will be made available sometime in December.

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