The players of Blizzard’s MOBA Heroes of the Storm are currently complaining primarily about one problem: The Butcher. He is way too powerful, says a large part of the community. But what is it about all this criticism?
Ah! Fresh meat!
The latest addition to HotS, the Butcher from the Diablo universe, is currently turning matches into a pure … well, slaughter fest as an assassin. Apparently effortlessly, he plows through enemy heroes, leaving nothing but devastation and plenty of fresh meat in his wake, which in turn makes him even stronger. The outcry among players is loud: Why is the new hero so overpowering?
New heroes – often overpowering to rake in cash?
Whether it’s LoL, SMITE, or HotS, almost all MOBAs have to regularly listen to the accusation that new heroes are too overpowering in the first few weeks. The reason for this is said to be that more players are willing to spend real money to be rewarded with some “easy wins” with the new character for a few days. While such accusations sound logical – after all, every company wants to make money somehow – I personally do not believe this is the main reason. I cannot imagine that a reputable company can afford to regularly introduce completely overpowering heroes just to get a few extra coins. The reputation of a game is simply ruined too quickly nowadays.
New heroes are unfamiliar
New heroes are primarily one thing for a variety of players at release: unknown. Because one does not quite know what the new character can do, it is often much easier to scream: “He’s totally overpowered! Nerf him!” In the case of the Butcher, I find such calls unjustified. Well, I’m not playing at a professional level. But in the area around rank 20 of the hero league, I never found the Butcher to be too strong if you know his abilities. You can escape his life steal by just running away, and after that, the good meat mountain is often hopelessly lost. A targeted stun can even end the fight particularly quickly if you catch the moment of his “Unstoppable” correctly. Those who know exactly how an enemy hero works can quickly figure out how to defeat him.
Better too strong than too weak – at least at the beginning
Completely independent of the possible revenues, one must also consider the following: A new character can never be “perfectly” balanced, simply because there is no perfect balance. Therefore, a new character should rather be a bit stronger to appear “cool.” Because nothing would be more boring than a new hero who is not fun to play because he is too weak. The first impression is incredibly important, even with new game content. If it’s going to be poorly balanced, then rather a bit too strong – at least in the first few days. But I’m sure that can be debated.
