Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm video game review
People typically groan when they hear the word “MOBA.” I usually answer, “Tell me more.” Since I could use a mouse and keyboard, I’ve been playing RTS games. In 2005, I played my first MOBA, the original DOTA. I played a variety of various games over the years, notably League of Legends semi-competitively through ranked matches.
In general, MOBAs appeal to the hard-core audience. They have complicated item builds, long matches with precise mechanics, and advanced tactics like last-hitting. Heroes of the Storm by Blizzard throws a lot of that out the window while still managing to be a tonne of fun.
Fundamentally, playing Heroes is still pretty much like playing a MOBA. It’s a five-on-five, top-down, click-intensive game featuring a selection of characters for each function, including support, tanks, and DPS. Blizzard has made a number of concessions that set it apart from its rivals in an effort to lower the entry barrier.
The lack of any form of item is maybe the largest change in Heroes of the Storm, and I can’t express how delighted I am about it. It can be challenging to learn new item-meta on top of learning every map and every character’s subtlety for each character. I do, however, appreciate the “me-too” nature of adding items to every new MOBA, as it did initially originate from the original DOTA (and, indirectly, Warcraft III’s shops). When returning to a particular MOBA, I’ll frequently spend hours upon hours theory crafting builds to determine the optimal line of action, which can become tiresome if you have to do it for every game. Healing wells have taken the place of potions and can be located at each fort checkpoint, making it even simpler to resume the action without any downtime.
Heroes of the Storm allows players to choose from a variety of abilities after reaching specific level milestones, so there is still plenty of room for theorycrafting, but you don’t have to be concerned about that extra important layer that might make or break a battle. However, newer players will be able to select any hero and begin playing without the need for items. The game’s ranking system restricts builds at first as you level up, providing few options for characters you’ve never played as before. However, it just takes a few games before everything is accessible, and at player level 25 (a few days of intense play), every talent will be immediately unlocked. In conclusion, it will be incredibly simple to return to Heroes months later and pick up new playstyles.
Another benefit of the open-ended build method is that it is flexible. There is still hope even if you don’t create the ideal team composition while choosing the heroes. For instance, you can change the spec of your support or tank heroes to play a more damage-focused role as the game progresses. If the team has several support players, healers can completely focus on damage, and if there is no one to take damage, warriors can take a more tanky approach. It’s considerably more tolerant than most MOBAs, where you risk getting screamed at for choosing a hero who doesn’t match the meta at the moment, let alone your team.
The other significant mechanic that Heroes of the Storm is promoting is shared experience. In essence, it enables everyone on the team to always be on the exact same level as one another. For instance, your team won’t have an one expert player that is perfect at lane picking up all the experience points. Instead, both the weakest and strongest players are equally powerful. This system appeals to me for several reasons. It doesn’t deter athletes from trying to mount a comeback, for starters. Even though another team may theoretically outperform their rivals collectively, everyone now feels like they are contributing without being singled out for criticism.
In general, Heroes of the Storm offers a more laid-back atmosphere. Unranked matches are much less stressful (as they should be), and you can even disable allied chat to avoid angry players’ taunting. Instead, you can rely on the pretty robust pinging mechanism on the mini-map. Also completely disabled is “All” conversation, so you won’t hear any trash-talking from the opposition.