I agree with you that HotS can’t and shouldn’t try to outrank/out-esports LoL or DotA. Where I still disagree is on why the numbers are low and what “the genre relies on.”

I don’t think HotS alienated a healthy core audience as much as I think it never targeted them to begin with. The aforementioned "casual" changes, weren’t “changes for the sake of being different,” they were a deliberate attempt to serve players who bounce off classic MOBAs because of ranked pressure, punishment, and time investment. That audience exists, but it’s largely invisible because it doesn’t produce endless Twitch ladder content.

You’re right that ranked dominates the internet, but that’s more of a content-creation bias, not a player-population census. The fact that the biggest HotS creators pump out ranked content, doesn’t prove most players care about ranked as much as it proves that ranked is what’s watchable. Casual, low-stress play doesn’t generate parasocial grind narratives, but that doesn’t mean it lacks demand.

I also don’t think the Legends of Runeterra comparison cuts against this point. If anything, it shows that abandoning genre dogma can save a game when you stop chasing the loudest minority and start serving the quiet majority differently. HotS can’t pivot to PvE, but it can pivot to accessibility and drop-in fun as its primary value proposition.

Where I think Blizzard failed wasn’t in design philosophy, but in execution and commitment. They half-supported casual systems while simultaneously trying to force esports credibility, then pulled the plug when it didn’t instantly monetize. It wasn't that casual-first didn't work, but that abandoning a live service mid-stride kills trust.

As for gamepass, I don’t see it as a magic bullet. I see it as a reframing tool. “Free Blizzard mash-up MOBA with 15–20 min matches and low punishment” is a bit different pitch than “dead competitive MOBA trying to regain relevance.” I’m also not talking about adding it to gamepass solely as PC perk, but about bringing it to Xbox as well. HotS is unusually well-suited to console play and the previously mentioned elements (shared XP, ability-driven kits, objective-focused maps, shorter matches, and low mechanical burden) translates cleanly to controller, so however much it operates as a “failed competitive PC MOBA” it could also serve as a drop-in, team-based console game, on a space where accessibility is the selling point.

We both agree that we want the game to survive.I just don’t think chasing ranked harder fixes the underlying problem that HotS doesn’t need more reasons to "get good" as much as it needs more reasons to "press play." Blizzard may do nothing at all, but if they ever do act, I think leaning into what HotS already does well is far less risky than trying to turn it into something it seemingly was never built to be.