Price I paid: Free.
Available on: PC
Heroes of the Storm is currently in beta. Some things may change between now and release.
While League of
Legends (League) is not the first MOBA, it is possibly the most popular
one. So when trying to explain a new MOBA, it’s easier to explain how it is
like and not like League. Heroes of the Storm (HotS), understands this well. They took
the formula that made League the
dominant MOBA, skinned it in their own IP, glued some extra parts on, shaved
the corners off, and made it faster paced. If you have a team that can work
together, you can enjoy that faster-paced gameplay. If not, then you can get
steamrolled and listen to your teammates complain about it.
One instantly noticeable difference between League and HotS: HotS has no items. This means you spend more time actually
playing the game rather than trudging back to your base every time you get
enough gold to purchase an item. Since items are a big part of customization, HotS has you choose between several
upgrades every few levels. Other differences include stations near your turrets
that give you a bit of health and mana so you don’t have to go back to base
every time you get injured, which also increases your time in lane. With a few
other tweaks, there was more awesome per second in a standard game of HotS than a standard game of League.
Character selection is pretty lacking both in variety and aesthetically.
Unfortunately, almost everyone just looks like your standard space marine, elf,
person in armor, kung fu panda, etc. Maybe it is because I have no emotional
attachment to orc person or guy in armor or lady with a sniper rifle because I
don’t play Starcraft, Warcraft, or Diablo III, but to me they’re all
simply cartoonishly dull character designs that rely on established tropes
rather than innovative or original ideas. Even the characters that looked interesting
fell flat in their concepts.
Because other MOBAs know their game is the only context players
have for those characters, they do a much better job creating characters that
are visually and conceptually interesting for the player. In Smite, I had no idea who Arachne, Nox,
or Bakasura were, but they all looked interesting enough to make me want to
play them and even read up on their mythological back stories.
The dismal end of a tragic team fight.
With every free to play MOBA that I know of, you get some
kind of in-game currency to spend on new characters, skins, and other things.
In HotS, it is gold, and it is the
most laughably unbalanced ratio of currency gained to price paid for new
characters I’ve ever seen in a game. I can play a game of HotS and get 20 gold if I lose and 30 if I win. Characters cost
2,000 – 10,000 gold. I don’t need to write a joke for this. That is laughable.
If you do daily quests, you can get bonus gold. You also get gold for leveling
up different characters. However, playing enough games to get the gold you want
is a time commitment that will probably end in weeping and gnashing of teeth
without the ability to coordinate with your team.
They do offer a practice mode where you can play any hero
for free. I applaud them for that, and I wish others would adopt this practice
as well.
Just like an episode of your favorite childhood TV show,
teamwork is everything. HotS splits
its focus between fighting in lanes and fighting over objectives that appear
elsewhere on the map. This clever mechanic forces team fights over the
objectives, keeping the action high. However, an unresponsive team means the
other team can take the objectives without error or protest. The team that
completed the objective gains a temporary, environmental bonus. The bonus and
the means to get it differ on each map, making the gameplay more exciting than League.
However, as I stated, HotS
really is all about teamwork. In League,
one player on a team could have a good game and help their struggling team. In HotS, it is much harder for a single
person who is doing well to save their team. In the words of Peter Mensah from Spartacus, “You fight as one, or you die
as two.” Without teamwork, you stand a better chance of tabbing out, checking
Reddit, and having your character serve as a “What are they doing?” distraction
than winning against a coordinated team.
You also level up as a team rather than individuals. This makes team work upgrade from important to completely necessary.
MOBAs do not always offer the most exciting screen shots, but here's a picture of Diablo riding some sort of scaled dog thing that barks when you jump onto its back.
HotS takes some of
the micromanaging and meta gaming out of the MOBA genre and replaces it with a
focus on teamwork and increased excitement. Because it is so team-focused, if you can wrangle up 3-4 friends
to play it with you and join a voice chat server, it’s an enjoyable game. If
you can’t, you may find the experience frustrating, for each game will rely on
the competency of your team and the willingness you all have to put aside your
differences and work as a unit. Unless invited by friends, I don't play on playing it any more.
More things may change when it goes from beta to actual
release. When it does, I’ll write up another review.
Jesse Galena
@RexiconJesse
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