Comments on: Thoughts: Heroes of the Storm

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 12:25:28 +0000

Dota’s far more fluid than it used to be thanks to its frequent balance patches, but so much of it is bound up in the stuff you have to memorise by rote – the heroes, the abilities, the items and the secrets of the map. HotS on the other hand places the focus almost entirely on the ebb and flow of the match, where the reason you did well (or not) is pretty obvious just from keeping an eye on the teamfights and the minimap. I think learning the heroes would help, but the edge that gives you isn’t so huge that it can swing matches – at least, not at the level I’m currently playing at.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 12:18:07 +0000

Yeah, it strikes me as weirdly counterproductive. I have absolutely no idea how LoL prices their heroes, mind, so they might just be following the market leader in that regard – but when the rest of the game does so well at distinguishing itself from LoL in terms of ease of access it doesn’t make any sense to then drop a massive paywall around most of the metagame.

By: innokenti

innokenti — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 09:33:48 +0000

I feel this is part of why the HotS learning curve worked for me a bit more – I was free to make the mistakes, but it was also most of the time apparent what my mistakes were and how I or the team were getting it wrong.

On LoL or DotA I was just made to fear that I’d do the wrong wrong thing and that was terrible, but also no way to know what was wrong or right without someone explicitly telling me (and usually without explanation).

You’re right about the team, positioning and map focus. That amongst other things wins it for me.

By: Aleksei Volchok

Aleksei Volchok — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 16:22:18 +0000

Fair enough, I hadn’t played Dota enough to know all its meta. But LoL is very structured. You have 3 lanes and dozens of available items, but you’ll get a bucket of hate if you chose wrong lane or buy non-optimal items. Dozens of hours are spend to just understand what are you supposed to do.

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 16:06:40 +0000

“In LoL or Dota you know what to do for most of the game. Go to lane, last hit, kill if you can but mostly just hang out there.”

That’s not what you do in Dota, outside of maybe the first 10 minutes (and if you are playing support not even then).

By: Aleksei Volchok

Aleksei Volchok — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:06:56 +0000

I feel HotS is much more team-oriented. Much closer to Counter-Strike or some other objective-focused team shooter. In LoL or Dota you know what to do for most of the game. Go to lane, last hit, kill if you can but mostly just hang out there. HotS deliberately breaks this routine. It make game more strategic – but also more intense. It’s not the game where you can play in a relaxed state just doing mechanical meditative actions. You have to think about map control all the time. You have to coordinate all the time.

My friends prefer LoL after some time with HotS so I’m not playing it as much. I think it’s streamlined in all the right places to force you think about the current game, not about builds, composition and all this meta stuff. But they say it’s too simple. Sad.

By: innokenti

innokenti — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 13:01:55 +0000

I do think that the game isn’t too open and flexible if you don’t spend any money, but it still gives you a good opportunity to see whether it works for you before you do. I’ve spent just under £10 for a starter bundle, a hero on weekly discount and an XP booster and am quite satisfied with the balance of heroes I’ve been able to buy or unlock with in-game currency so far.

It’s relatively generous with giving you in-game gold up-front with it being given out for daily quests, leveling a hero to 5 and progressing through your profile levels. You should have no trouble grabbing one or two heroes that have got your fancy pretty quickly. Then it’s a question of whether you want to spend any real-world money. I’ve got my fill of entertainment for the price and I suspect I’m good for more.

Then again, unlike Dota or LoL I actually get what they’re doing here and enjoy it. It’s been in-game designed to be fun, engaging and deep, both from a strategy and tactical perspective. Blizzard have actually honed and cut the formula down to what I think is a nice, neat essence.

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 12:42:31 +0000

I don’t understand their monetisation strategy at all. Surely the tactic is to get people invested in the game?