So is Blizzard Giving up on Heroes of the Storm?

[Bonsaii]

Funny, when you consider..

A) Lol/DoTA have nearly no map differences besides aesthetics. Saying that there is no difference between maps is an outright lie, when each map has a large difference in the win/loss rate of various heroes.
B) Mechanics - Heroes is a fast pace, quick, team version of LoL/DoTA. In LoL/DoTA, you have a 20-30 minute laning phase to boost your carries, followed by 10-15 minutes of hoping to hell that your carries are good enough to actually carry the game. Focus is entirely on one person the entire game, and 60% of the game is doing the EXACT same thing - IF you are carry, you get as many last hits as possible. If you are not carry, you focus on healing the carry, jungling to distract the other team from your carry, or helping the carry get his last hits.
In Heroes, good players are still capable of carrying to an extent on certain heroes, and there will be moments where one player manages to shine (Stealing a boss from the enemy team solo, reversing what was otherwise a complete team wipeout, ect), but the outcome of most games is dependent on your team, rather then a single player - Good for some, bad for others, but it can't be said to be poorly designed.

And finally, don't get me started on some of the pathetic heroes in DoTA/LoL. It seems you are just salty that blizz isn't doing exactly what you want..

As for Heroes overall, I personally think its mainly because the MOBA market is simply overly saturated. If Heroes had been released 3 years earlier, it would be doing much better then currently. For now, its success is entirely dependent on how much effort Blizz will put into it - If Blizz continues to keep at it, it will eventually outlast some of the lesser competition, and maybe place 4th on the overall lists of MOBAs. If they don't, it won't.

1. You sound like you have never played a game of Dota in your life. Every hero can be high impact.
2. What heroes do you feel are pathetic in Dota?
3. I do agree, Blizzard is late to the market. But they can force it if they want and make it last. I'm sure its still making money, but it probably won't ever be their main focus.

[Deleted]

Funny, when you consider..

A) Lol/DoTA have nearly no map differences besides aesthetics. Saying that there is no difference between maps is an outright lie, when each map has a large difference in the win/loss rate of various heroes.
B) Mechanics - Heroes is a fast pace, quick, team version of LoL/DoTA. In LoL/DoTA, you have a 20-30 minute laning phase to boost your carries, followed by 10-15 minutes of hoping to hell that your carries are good enough to actually carry the game. Focus is entirely on one person the entire game, and 60% of the game is doing the EXACT same thing - IF you are carry, you get as many last hits as possible. If you are not carry, you focus on healing the carry, jungling to distract the other team from your carry, or helping the carry get his last hits.
In Heroes, good players are still capable of carrying to an extent on certain heroes, and there will be moments where one player manages to shine (Stealing a boss from the enemy team solo, reversing what was otherwise a complete team wipeout, ect), but the outcome of most games is dependent on your team, rather then a single player - Good for some, bad for others, but it can't be said to be poorly designed.

And finally, don't get me started on some of the pathetic heroes in DoTA/LoL. It seems you are just salty that blizz isn't doing exactly what you want..

As for Heroes overall, I personally think its mainly because the MOBA market is simply overly saturated. If Heroes had been released 3 years earlier, it would be doing much better then currently. For now, its success is entirely dependent on how much effort Blizz will put into it - If Blizz continues to keep at it, it will eventually outlast some of the lesser competition, and maybe place 4th on the overall lists of MOBAs. If they don't, it won't.

When I said no difference I meant gameplay. I don't know what kind of maps Blizz added since one year ago but the last time I played they were all the same. Lanes with minions. And an ''event'' on timed intervals which makes people group up around it, fight for it, and the winner gets something which will help him push. All maps played out like this. Different would be something like ARAM from LoL or Arena from smite. Something which changes up the gameplay a bit. HotS is the one where maps are distinguished mostly by looks.

Heroes is not fast pace. It is much more slower paced than dota and lol. Games being shorter doesn't mean the game is fast paced. Hots is painfully slow. Your point about carries is retarded and it just shows you probably never played dota. There is the international 2016 going on atm. Might watch a game and see how it plays out. Focus is not on one person. Just because Hots has no way to make a player distinguish himself it doesn't mean the game is more teambased. It just means they removed a lot of things from it. All MOBAS are teambased. This focus on carry thing is just wrong. Even in the olden days of 4 protect 1 in dota it would be ignorant to say the carry is all that matters. More so today.

Both Lol and dota suffer from their own problems. Imo Dota has become too teamfight centric, with people constantly roaming and fighting. While LoL has suffered from the same problem since its early days. The focus on stats and static roles makes it so there are only a few viable heroes for every role at any given time. Ifyou think I criticize HotS for no reason or that I am a lol or dota fanboy you are wrong. I simply played all these games a fair amount of time, and actually wanted for Hots to become the next best thing. Sadly, objectively speaking, Hots doesn't bring anything new to the table. It only removes or dumbs things down. It plays painfully slow compared to other mobas. It offers very little options for a player to outplay his opponents. And it has some terrible designs like mounts. Which make the game worse and are obviously just a cashgrab.

Personally I only play SMITE nowadays. I think it walks the perfect balance between being aggravating and dumbed down. Hots and LoL get boring after one game, while Dota2 makes me rage after one game.

[tanksin the enhance shamy]

what happened to the arena mode?

[Nerraw]

what happened to the arena mode?

It got delayed to be expanded into something reminiscent of Brawls from Hearthstone and Overwatch. Ie. some kind of weekly gamemode. Some people hope that a trailer will be shown at Gamescom but I honestly don't expect to hear much before Blizzcon.

[Mormolyce]

I've not played it since beta

...

is this just being silently swept under the rug as the singular failed release by Blizzard?

Yeah you might want to log in and take a look, they've added a shitton to the game since beta. It's probably the most active Blizzard game in terms of updates.

- - - Updated - - -

what happened to the arena mode?

Well you know. "When it's finished".

[Frozen Death Knight]

Yeah you might want to log in and take a look, they've added a shitton to the game since beta. It's probably the most active Blizzard game in terms of updates.

I would rather say that it is the most active Blizzard game right now in terms of patch cycles. Neither Hearthstone, WoW, Diablo 3, and StarCraft 2 have got as many regular patch updates as HotS, whether they are large or small in size. Overwatch remains to be seen since it still is a new game.

[ttak82]

HHots is painfully slow.

Both Lol and dota suffer from their own problems. Imo Dota has become too teamfight centric, with people constantly roaming and fighting. While LoL has suffered from the same problem since its early days.

Personally I only play SMITE nowadays. I think it walks the perfect balance between being aggravating and dumbed down. Hots and LoL get boring after one game, while Dota2 makes me rage after one game.

I agree with some of your statements but you seem to be confused.

HOTS is not slow. Teamfights and waveclear are fast in the games. There is a lot of burst and mobility creep now in HOTS. You say Hots is painfully slow, yet you play smite, which I feel looks much much slower that its isometric alternatives.

Agree with DOTA2 and LOL becoming TF centric - which is actually great and makes those games.. faster. This was certainly evident in TI6. I dont follow much of LOL but the TFs shown in the spotlights are crazy.

- - - Updated - - -

And finally, don't get me started on some of the pathetic heroes in DoTA/LoL. It seems you are just salty that blizz isn't doing exactly what you want..

This, I want to know about. Which hero do you think are pathetic and why?

[Thoughtful Trolli]

"If you become level 30 in Heroes of the Storm, you get a special weapon transmogrification for your World of Warcraft character. Plus an Excellent Hat transmog: It's a trucker's hat, has a blue net on the back, is white on the front and says "I'm Eggscellent."

Heroes of the Storm becomes relevant again for another quarter of the year.

This, I want to know about. Which hero do you think are pathetic and why?

They are probably referring to the fact that out of 130 heroes, you only use 20 or you lose.

EDIT: Oh yah I forgot: Riot wasn't kidding at all when they prophesied that the solid foundation to a MOBA required a strict adherence to a proper Arena. No matter what professional LoL or Dota 2 game you watch, you're going to know right away what map they are on.

HOTS screwed itself with its goal to be more fun by having more maps, which is really kind of sad because people were begging Riot for magma chamber so much, it felt like it was really going to be awesome, but I can see why they didn't do it now.

[ttak82]

They are probably referring to the fact that out of 130 heroes, you only use 20 or you lose.

EDIT: Oh yah I forgot: Riot wasn't kidding at all when they prophesied that the solid foundation to a MOBA required a strict adherence to a proper Arena. No matter what professional LoL or Dota 2 game you watch, you're going to know right away what map they are on.

HOTS screwed itself with its goal to be more fun by having more maps, which is really kind of sad because people were begging Riot for magma chamber so much, it felt like it was really going to be awesome, but I can see why they didn't do it now.

I saw a fair bit of diversity in TI6 with repeated heroes coming in mostly because of comfort picks. DOTA2 drafts have a lot of bans though so that might be a factor. I don't follow LOL so can't comment there. Will be interesting to see how HOTS meta evolves, because currently there are very predictable picks in most matches (only 55 heroes so far).

What was different about magma chamber though?

I, and many others, think more maps are fun. I'd welcome more.

[paralleluniverse]

Funny, when you consider..

A) Lol/DoTA have nearly no map differences besides aesthetics. Saying that there is no difference between maps is an outright lie, when each map has a large difference in the win/loss rate of various heroes.
B) Mechanics - Heroes is a fast pace, quick, team version of LoL/DoTA. In LoL/DoTA, you have a 20-30 minute laning phase to boost your carries, followed by 10-15 minutes of hoping to hell that your carries are good enough to actually carry the game. Focus is entirely on one person the entire game, and 60% of the game is doing the EXACT same thing - IF you are carry, you get as many last hits as possible. If you are not carry, you focus on healing the carry, jungling to distract the other team from your carry, or helping the carry get his last hits.
In Heroes, good players are still capable of carrying to an extent on certain heroes, and there will be moments where one player manages to shine (Stealing a boss from the enemy team solo, reversing what was otherwise a complete team wipeout, ect), but the outcome of most games is dependent on your team, rather then a single player - Good for some, bad for others, but it can't be said to be poorly designed.

And finally, don't get me started on some of the pathetic heroes in DoTA/LoL. It seems you are just salty that blizz isn't doing exactly what you want..

As for Heroes overall, I personally think its mainly because the MOBA market is simply overly saturated. If Heroes had been released 3 years earlier, it would be doing much better then currently. For now, its success is entirely dependent on how much effort Blizz will put into it - If Blizz continues to keep at it, it will eventually outlast some of the lesser competition, and maybe place 4th on the overall lists of MOBAs. If they don't, it won't.

Yeah, pretty much this.

HotS fixes the terrible design mistakes of Dota. Having games that drag on and on for 40 minutes even though the winner is obvious after 20 minutes, is stupid. Having carries, the idea that 1 or 2 heroes should be fed so that they can blow up other heroes in 1 second, is stupid. Having 1 unchanging map, forever, is stupid.

Too bad HotS squanders it's virtually perfect game design with the most expensive, stingy, and pay-for-advantage business model.

[Tenjen]

pay for advantage? going to need to specify

[jasdasm]

You're the exception not the rule though. It's a good game, but people would rather play Dota or League. They're just more complete and deep games.

u think people play LoL or Dota 2 because its deeper and more complete???????????????

/lol

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

Very fun game, the ranking system is really bad, the match maker is clearly terrible. I will keep playing it thought as long as it's more entertaining than all the other crap out there.

[DesoPL]

It got delayed to be expanded into something reminiscent of Brawls from Hearthstone and Overwatch. Ie. some kind of weekly gamemode. Some people hope that a trailer will be shown at Gamescom but I honestly don't expect to hear much before Blizzcon.

And mutators from SC2 don't forget. :P

[Deleted]

Yeah, pretty much this.

HotS fixes the terrible design mistakes of Dota. Having games that drag on and on for 40 minutes even though the winner is obvious after 20 minutes, is stupid. Having carries, the idea that 1 or 2 heroes should be fed so that they can blow up other heroes in 1 second, is stupid. Having 1 unchanging map, forever, is stupid.

Too bad HotS squanders it's virtually perfect game design with the most expensive, stingy, and pay-for-advantage business model.

How are carries and having one map stupid ?
I'd say the opposite, having several maps is really annoying and adds too much variables, having carries makes carrying your team easier, either you're the carry and destroy the ennemy team or you're another player and you can then feed your carry

No really, HotS is absolutely terrible. Kills don't feel rewarding, even dominating the ennemy team doesn't feel rewarding because the "losing team" can turn the situation around so easily and get and undeserved win even though they have played worse for most of the game, early game is irrelevant, your actions early in the game don't matter, the game is slow, and body block is extremely annoying

[Yrrildur]

Hopefully this game will not be dead anytime soon. Moba's in general are after all these years feeling a bit repetitive, but HotS definately the least. There is a lot of action going on. So much, so players who are used to LoL will feel they lost control. They are used to last hitting creeps for 15 minutes, before the actual fun starts. In HotS the fun usually starts within a minute or two. I like this a lot, on top of that I also like the craziness of some heroes. Just think about Abathur, Murky or the lost Vikings. These mechanics are possible in HotS and this will mean even more crazy heroes can enter the arena.

[ttak82]

How are carries and having one map stupid ?
I'd say the opposite, having several maps is really annoying and adds too much variables, having carries makes carrying your team easier, either you're the carry and destroy the ennemy team or you're another player and you can then feed your carry

No really, HotS is absolutely terrible. Kills don't feel rewarding, even dominating the ennemy team doesn't feel rewarding because the "losing team" can turn the situation around so easily and get and undeserved win even though they have played worse for most of the game, early game is irrelevant, your actions early in the game don't matter, the game is slow, and body block is extremely annoying

Kills don't feel rewarding, even dominating the ennemy team doesn't feel rewarding because the "losing team" can turn the situation around so easily and get and undeserved win even though
What should make a kill feel rewarding, though? The kill itself of the advantage gained? DOTA is really punishing for the guy that gets killed. basically PvP that has PvE costs (losing gold and thus the opportunity to get upgrades immediately). In HOTS, it's never over till it's over though.

We can agree that DOTA2 is very different from HOTS. DOTA2 is like the classic MOBA. It is even marketed like that. The chessboard (map) is the same. The strategy differs in hero selection. HOTS is more of a point and click brawler. Team fighting is key. Every character has some impact in early and late game.

having carries makes carrying your team easier
I guess the point really ran over your head. In other words, playing support roles or on heroes that don't scale well late game in DOTA feels boring. DOTA2 might be fun at higher levels of play, where every character can make a reasonable impact with skilled play, but the experience at lower levels is not great. It's far more snowbally than other games. One can go on and on about other issues of DOTA, but as I have said before, it's a different game. It's a more fun game to watch, though. But that's my opinion.

[A dot Ham]

Q2 earnings are in for Blizzard and its a profitable one. 15 million copies of Overwatch sold, $900 million in microtransactions and even a slight uptick in wow player numbers. It all seems golden -well except for SC2 which kind of seems to be withering on the vine a little- but one interesting thing is a complete lack of Heroes of the Storm in their press releases.

Its no secret MOBA's are an oversaturated market and anything not League of DOTA 2 has been dying off and HotS hasn't exactly been a power house -literally the only time i've heard someone mention it was someone after a WoW pet from a cross game promotion. So was the Blizzard ips character roster not enough to keep it growing? I've not played it since beta but i've heard its problems lie more in horrible attempts at running esports events for it rather than the game. Though it begs the question, is this the first actual Blizzard flop?

They have cancelled games before release before, had things like Warlords be met with a large negative reaction from a sizeable portion of its fanbase but i cant think of another retail release by Blizzard thats been such a comparative flop to all its other products to the point its not even worth mentioning in their quarterly reports.

I'm sure there must be some Blizzard dies hards enjoying it for the characters alone, but is this just being silently swept under the rug as the singular failed release by Blizzard?

Or is it just another sign of people being sick of "yet another moba" and sticking to the other blizzard titles with established audiences?

I love how your tone is as though you are an expert but posses no firsthand knowledge of the game itself, Blizzard's financial position, and/or their strategy moving forward.

Also just because Dota 2 and League of Legends tend to be the most popular, this does not at all mean there is an "over saturation". Once upon a time Ford was the only name in the car industry, then for many years it was "buy american or don't buy at all", now we have a multitude of car manufacturers to choose from.

Seeing as how HotS was originally developed as a custom game for SC2, and then quickly turned into its own game in no time flat, I can't imagine they are ever going to be hurting financially.

Bottom line here though is that you make a lot of assumptions and postulations, and yet throughout your one sided fictional dialogue you don't really demonstrate any sort of knowledge or expertise on business, the industry, or the game itself.

0/10 for making me read this uninformed article from a know-nothing.

[paralleluniverse]

It's a more fun game to watch, though. But that's my opinion.

Hell no.

Dota 2 is not a fun game to watch.

Half of the game is spent last hitting creeps. Why would anyone want to watch that? It's just stupid.

In comparison, HotS is constant action, team fights from beginning to end.

[Deleted]

Hell no.

Dota 2 is not a fun game to watch.

Half of the game is spent last hitting creeps. Why would anyone want to watch that? It's just stupid.

In comparison, HotS is constant action, team fights from beginning to end.

Have you even watched more than 5 minutes of this years international?