I have been deeply involved with Heroes of the Storm in the last few weeks and have already spent a lot of hours in the game. Since I want to convey my impressions from the closed beta of HotS unfiltered, I took notes while playing. I didn’t want to create a total work of art that smooths out edges in any way.
The many impressions that crashed down on me during this time are purely subjective. Moreover, I draw parallels in many places to other MOBAs with which I am familiar. Have fun.
Where do I start? Introduction to a casual MOBA?
I could start classically with the tutorial and report on the game introduction, but let’s be honest: Who cares? Tutorials are often more unnecessary than the GEZ and less creative.
I did go through the Heroes of the Storm tutorial because I thought it would provide a nice introduction for my article later, but that was a silly idea. Anyone who has played any MOBA before can save the 10 minutes. The usual blah and “run here and there.” However, this is not a criticism of the game: Since Heroes of the Storm intends to conquer the casual and newcomer market of MOBAs, the tutorial is of course indispensable. But I don’t need it.
I’m pro! Still, a round against bots first
Now I have criticized a paragraph about tutorials because I have so much experience with MOBAs, and then I am doing a bot game first. What irony. Still, I can claim I have tried almost all MOBAs available on the market. Whether Dota 2, Heroes of Newerth, Smite, etc. In the end, I always returned to my familiar League of Legends, which I have been playing for many years. This is partly because almost all my friends are in this game, and secondly, I have preferred Riot’s interpretation of a MOBA so far.
Alright. Despite my MOBA experiences, and exactly because of them, I wanted to tackle a bot game first. Since I was not yet familiar with the game and champion mechanics, I didn’t want to ruin a game for others right away. Even though the bot game was a co-op with real players, fighting against bots is like vanilla ice cream: You can’t go wrong.
The first impression: Blizzard’s “The Avenger”
[pullquote]My favorite heroes united on the battlefield. Unique.[/pullquote]
You surely know Marvel’s The Avengers or the action composition The Expendables? This was my first impression after the game started, which has been confirmed repeatedly. Arthas, Illidan, Uther, Raynor, and Thrall on one team. Who would have thought that Blizzard’s “best of” would find its way to the battle together? It doesn’t matter if good or evil. As a fan of Warcraft and of Blizzard itself, the atmosphere was of course amazing. My favorite heroes united on the battlefield. Unique. Also, I still find the elaborately designed maps super and discover a new detail in every game. Working peons or pruning human gardeners contribute to a coherent overall work.
So why the Expendables? The reason is straightforward: In Heroes of the Storm, action is at an all-time high. Here, everything is chopped up, given the cooldowns. Whether capturing shrines or mercenary camps or gathering coins and skulls—there is war among the opposing teams everywhere. Since there is not really a laning phase, due to team experience, the fights are distributed across the whole map and take place sporadically.
Team? What are you doing? Where is he going?
[pullquote]Here, teamwork is more important than ever.
After one or two rounds of Heroes of the Storm, it quickly became clear to me: Here, teamwork is more important than ever. Due to the different tasks of the maps, I am always rotating with my hero. Either I capture a shrine, fight mercenaries in the jungle, control a walking compost heap, or apply pressure on individual lanes. No one has a really fixed position here, nor established tasks. To coordinate the whole thing, I would wish for an integrated voice tool, similar to Evolve. Short and concise calls using such a tool could improve the game’s organization significantly.
What I would additionally wish for is a firmware update for the heroes’ navigation systems. If you send your hero over larger distances, they take the most adventurous routes and paths. There is still room for improvement.
“Sh4doVV F1ght3r98 wrote Top first”
There is nothing better in League of Legends than when heated discussions in the chat arise after a few seconds in the match lobby about who gets to play in which position. The system in LoL and many other MOBAs is such that before the game starts, all five teammates of a team come together in a lobby to choose champions. It has become custom in LoL for the first one to write their preferred position in the chat to get approval. It’s just unfortunate if you don’t have a high-tech PC or a DSL connection and join the lobby late. Then you inevitably play what’s left – the support. And at this point, Heroes of the Storm has done everything right for me. We can play the champion of our choice on our own accord – and completely without “hate”.
Once we have decided on a hero, we simply click “Find Game” and get four more teammates assigned to us with their hero selection. Of course, in a composition that covers all four playable hero roles. However, this does not work perfectly in the closed beta yet. It often happens that I get assigned 3 additional assassins as an assassin, and we then go into battle with only one other role. But I gladly accept this for not having to deal with the stress of hero selection. Moreover, this system cannot perfectly function since there are hero roles that are played much more frequently by the players.
It’s a real good feeling
[pullquote] Here, even the DMG dealers stay alive longer.
All MOBAs I played before felt quite similar. The game feeling was uniform, and real differences were only in the details besides the graphics. During my first round of Heroes of the Storm, I quickly drew parallels – but not to other MOBAs. The mechanics of the individual heroes, the movement, the skills, and the flow of battles reminded me much more of Warcraft III and a bit of the arena battles from World of Warcraft. Especially the hit feedback feels smoother. The team fights last longer and are more intense. In other games of the genre, individual heroes can wipe entire teams in seconds. Here, even the DMG dealers stay alive longer.
The skills of the individual heroes are very close to the originals. For example, Thrall shoots around with a chain lightning or hits enemies with “Wind Fury” – just as you would expect from a shaman and the retired chief of OG.
Also, the fact that skills can be used against buildings and towers pleases me very much. Why shouldn’t that be possible? Overall, I find the combat system much more dynamic and modern. Not as static as with the other MOBA colleagues, except for Smite.
Items? No thanks
In all the games I have won and lost so far, I have not missed any items for a second. The shopping stress during Christmas time is more than enough for me. With increasing levels, various talents can be selected for our hero. That is enough specialization and individuality for a MOBA.
I can’t fathom why many claim that the lack of items leads to a lack of depth in the game. I can only imagine that the game system was not understood, or that they simply do not like the game system. Everything else exceeds my horizon. Furthermore, real individualization in LoL or Dota 2 never comes to fruition. The reason for that is the meta. There are just builds that utilize the full potential of a champion through usage. Crafting something else helps only conditionally and is again very situational, and you immediately get flamed.
There’s a fresh wind blowing in terms of map mechanics
The game principle hasn’t reinvented the wheel. Like in all other MOBAs, the goal is to destroy the opposing base, or specifically the opposing crystal-thingy. However, thanks to the six different maps that currently rotate, the goal can be achieved in many more ways. Each of the maps hosts various tasks and mechanics. Sometimes there are two or three lanes, other times there is an extra map on the map, and sometimes we turn into a compost heap or dragon knight. Blizzard has really come up with something and not just imported a standard 08/15 map in Warcraft optics. And exactly this variety of maps with the different mechanics, chosen randomly, not only provides depth of play but also creates a little tension before every round begins.
In addition to the various tasks of a map, the mercenary camps in the “jungle” play an essential role. If you give the mercenaries a good beating, they provide support on the individual lanes. This creates additional possibilities to decide a game beyond the map tasks.
[pullquote]…it’s by no means just a casual MOBA and intended for newbies.
HotS is advertised as a casual MOBA and beginner-friendly. True. But it is by no means just a casual MOBA and intended for newbies. It offers a huge variety of gameplay options. Of course, at the beginning, you don’t have to do a degree for the various items, as is the case in Dota 2; however, it is difficult to master. Blizzard has brought a lot of fresh wind into the genre with Heroes of the Storm, paired with intuitive ideas that I really like in implementation. I hope that HotS makes the leap into the eSports scene and becomes a serious competitor to other MOBA colleagues.
Few bugs. Many pesticides
I haven’t noticed any major bugs or inconsistencies in the closed beta so far. Of course, some heroes feel stronger than others, and some are almost useless. This is a question of hero balance. But due to the unique gameplay, where the hero isn’t the central focus, this is tolerable. Team play is crucial here. No one can win a game alone, unlike in other MOBAs.
Blizzard wants to convey this as well and has written a blog post on battle.net, in which it is mentioned that it’s okay if one or another hero is overpowered. Otherwise, I can only refer to my previous post where I reported on network spikes in HotS. If you are affected by these, the game turns into a slideshow.
Ingame Shop & Payment Model
There isn’t much to say about the ingame shop and the payment model. Upon release, Heroes of the Storm will be a free-to-play title that finances itself through money-hungry “I need that skin” players. We can purchase new heroes in the shop with gold and real money. We earn 30 gold for each game won. That’s not really much, considering that most champions cost 10,000 gold. However, there is a daily quest. This can yield between 200 and 800 gold, depending on the task. Sometimes we have to complete three games with a warrior, other times two games with a Starcraft hero.
A small tip on the side: Whenever we level a hero to level 5, we receive 500 gold. This is only possible to a limited extent since eventually, we will have all heroes at least at level 5, but it’s a good way to quickly earn gold at the beginning. You can directly purchase a 10k gold hero for €9.99. What I particularly find fantastic about the shop is the ability to test the various heroes. This is a function that many other games should implement. That way, you don’t always buy a pig in a poke. In Heroes of the Storm, you can test the hero for free against a bot in a small arena. Nothing wild, but immensely helpful.
Conclusion from the Beta
Evaluating a game that is currently in closed beta is of course difficult. After all, everything can still change. Do I like it? Unfortunately, I am one of the players plagued by network spikes. A round of Heroes of the Storm for me looks like a Warcraft slideshow. Even though I can take a hit, under these circumstances I would bail on any game. I am still playing Heroes of the Storm.
Now I am, of course, interested in your first impression of the game: How is it going for you in the closed beta? What do you think of Blizzard’s interpretation of a MOBA?
