Blizzard releases Ragnaros on Heroes of the Storm’s test server

After announcing plans to release a new character during its fan gathering in Anaheim last month, Blizzard is finally giving players a chance to try out Ragnaros in Heroes of the Storm.

Ragnaros, the lord of the fire elementals in World of Warcraft’s Azeroth, is now playable on the Public Test Region (PTR) server for Blizzard’s multiplayer online arena battler. Players can download the PTR update and test out the character capabilities right away. As you might expect, he has plenty of fire-related attacks and abilities including the Molten Core trait that turns Ragnaros into his ultimate form. The new character will likely debut in the core Heroes of the Storm servers sometime in the next couple of weeks.

This is the latest addition to Blizzard’s MOBA, but Ragnaros isn’t the only change. The publisher also reworked the playing field of the Haunted Mines level. The stage now unleashes an undead army that the competing teams can battle over to power up a strong Golem that attacks enemy structures.

Other changes include how matchmaking works for parties in the game’s ranked mode. Blizzard is also loosening the restrictions on skill levels players will come up against to “ease movement up and down the rankings.”