I know that rooting is very popular right now, especially with ICS OS. Personally I DO NOT recommend it. It voids your warranty, and can fry your phone. Wait for the official update, People! It will be here soon.
The rumors do better for Europe than they do here. Europe has the rumors, we have Europe! When Europe gets it, we'll know it'll be in the states soon. Duh!
If you dont root, install the ics ota & hate it, ur stuck. Been there done that & learned my lesson. I'll never do that again.

I LOVED my Hero. The 2.1 upgrade was a bit of a headache, but luckily, I was smart enough to root the phone ahead of time, and just flash a 2.1 ROM. Then once I got CM7 on it, there was no looking back. The phone worked great for me, and it still works great for me. I use it now as a wi-fi mp3 player.
Back to the topic here though, I hope that ICS is coming soon. I really like the look of it. And yes, I know I can flash an ICS ROM and have it now, but that's besides the point. 