Is Heroes of the Storm for casuals?

[trips25]

Good Article from a technical alpha tester and a quick review of the current battlegrounds.

Does seem like it is pretty casual, which we all knew already. But I guess that's not a bad thing at all. LoL and Dota2 get way out of control sometimes.

[Deleted]

That's not a bad thing. LoL was regarded (and still is by some people) as a casual version of DotA.

[Deleted]

I thought that was obvious from the start since Blizzard's game design philosophy is to make their games accessible to as many people as possible. And that's a good thing in my opinion.

And I'd argue that LoL is pretty casual too. Sure you have the competitive scene, but the gameplay itself is pretty casual and their design philosophy isn't that different from Blizzard's.

[primalmatter]

Its pretty unfriendly to casuals actually speaking as a beta tester. The fact your entire team is linked together means there is no way to ever comeback from a losing match if one person is bad at deathball...

Worst still with no surrender button most matches become exercises in trolling when one of the teams has a weak link.

[trips25]

I think the one thing I would miss with no items is it eliminates the chance s heroic comeback that some champions in LoL had with certain gear. You could be medicore an entire match until you slowly connect your awesome set, then rip people apart! Dont think the talents allow for that.

[Slatch]

Looks like the author's first moba was LoL and he doesn't mention playing any others.

In my experience the first time I played HotS I didn't like it. I put it down, then came back a couple months later and played it solid for a week or two. I've got to say I am quite impressed by it now. The talent system plays out very similarly to how buying items works, without the ridiculous OP builds that some heroes could get in different mobas. Tuning even in Alpha seems fairly good. I've seen it take years for other mobas to reign in horribly imbalanced classes. Hopefully Blizzards keep up with reasonable tuning! I also love the way the maps force team fights and keep the fun going. Trying to play a solo game for 20 minutes while you attempt to farm and avoid fights will straight up lose your team the game in HotS.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

HotS is for players who play Blizzard games in general, not necessarily casuals.

[A Chozo]

It's more casual-friendly than the others. Faster battles, faster fights mid camp, and people don't wish me death just because I shot the thing they were shooting :|

And, I for one welcome the less-than-30 minutes battles of HotS!

[Nikkaszal]

Easy to pick up for sure.

Level 40 matches with 5v5 premades are so far from casual it's not funny though. I've had to knuckle down and improve my rapid decision-making with regards to strategy and tactics far more with HotS than I ever did with LoL.

[Deleted]

From what I have seen it isn't butchered completely to fit for casual play, and there is still room for skill playing a role. Though from what I can see, it is mostly teamwork that is the greatest difference, not so much individual performance.

From what I have seen, I far from an expert on the topic.

[hellosaltygoodness]

it's probably been since july that i've even logged into it, but i do remember i sucked at it pretty hard, just as i suck at LoL.

[Cirque]

That's not a bad thing. LoL was regarded (and still is by some people) as a casual version of DotA.

Well, all I have to say is that if LoL is considered casual, then HoTS must be for 3 year olds.

but yes OP, HoTS is very casualfriendly. There are no complicated itempaths - in fact there are no items at all. Individual performance is solely how good you are at following the team, there is little to no laning and it's impossible to die in lane anyway: lanes are too short. There is no individual experience, so you can't get fed really hard nor can you feed really hard either, because all EXP is global. There is no lasthitting, so even if you suck at that you're fine.

Despite all this, things that many moba players would consider shortcomings, this game is actually pretty fun (and I am or was a very serious LoL player, but WoD happened so yea). It's relaxingly easy and of course there is a minimum of individual skill like with all games, but overall everyone and their grandmother should feel comfortable stepping into and understanding this game.

- - - Updated - - -

Looks like the author's first moba was LoL and he doesn't mention playing any others.

In my experience the first time I played HotS I didn't like it. I put it down, then came back a couple months later and played it solid for a week or two. I've got to say I am quite impressed by it now. The talent system plays out very similarly to how buying items works, without the ridiculous OP builds that some heroes could get in different mobas. Tuning even in Alpha seems fairly good. I've seen it take years for other mobas to reign in horribly imbalanced classes. Hopefully Blizzards keep up with reasonable tuning! I also love the way the maps force team fights and keep the fun going. Trying to play a solo game for 20 minutes while you attempt to farm and avoid fights will straight up lose your team the game in HotS.

Tuning right now is actually quite bad, but it's alpha so w/e. Most players won't notice because most players have no idea what's going on and why it's going on, so it's all fun Talent system works out like any other talent system: there is really only 1 correct path per champion, with maybe an IF here and there, and with a lot less options than you would with most traditional item systems (although arguably some roles, primarly adcs in LoL, really don't vary much at all. This in stark contrast with a lot of toplaners and even junglers who really have different builds every game).

It's alpha so it's fine, obviously, but yes the bottomline is this game is very easy to get (and stay) into!

[apepi]

It has an easier barrier of entry than LOL/DOta2 and you should be able to play ranked play a bit sooner in HOTS faster than LOL.

But people seem to think that because a game is more casual as an negative attribute, which is pretty much wrong.

[Cirque]

Its pretty unfriendly to casuals actually speaking as a beta tester. The fact your entire team is linked together means there is no way to ever comeback from a losing match if one person is bad at deathball...

Worst still with no surrender button most matches become exercises in trolling when one of the teams has a weak link.

Most "casuals" are the weak link, so I guess there's no problem there. But no I disagree. It's way more impactful to have anyone in LoL go 0/13 than it is to have a weak link in this game, because in LoL that means 1) one on your team is useless, and 2) at least one of the enemy, but usually more, is OP. Now in HoTS what happens is 1) only one of your team is useless, but not THAT useless because at least he a) still has all the EXP everyone else had and b) there can never be an item disadvantage; and 2) the enemy may be slightly ahead in EXP but in my experience it's always managable, and I have met a lot of godawful players in both games.

[thewallofsleep]

I have zero understanding of how to play DotA style games, and I'm sure this one will be no exception. If they design a tutorial which makes me able to figure out how to play, I will be very surprised. All the roles and phases of the game go right over my head.

[ComputerNerd]

Most "casuals" are the weak link, so I guess there's no problem there. But no I disagree. It's way more impactful to have anyone in LoL go 0/13 than it is to have a weak link in this game, because in LoL that means 1) one on your team is useless, and 2) at least one of the enemy, but usually more, is OP. Now in HoTS what happens is 1) only one of your team is useless, but not THAT useless because at least he a) still has all the EXP everyone else had and b) there can never be an item disadvantage; and 2) the enemy may be slightly ahead in EXP but in my experience it's always managable, and I have met a lot of godawful players in both games.

No.
At least use the word correctly.
Casual does not mean, nor has ever meant unskilled.
Some stupid concept that needs to die.
Casual is about time commitment, in that they are often not committing for long continuous periods of play.
Casuals plan their play around their life, hardcores plan their life around their play.
Casuals can be skilled or unskilled, as can hardcores.

[Deleted]

casual? I dunno

lower skillcap? for sure

[Snorek]

have to agree with taftvalue. Its easy enough for new people to pick up but still has enough skill cap to be fun competitively speaking

[ttak82]

I have zero understanding of how to play DotA style games, and I'm sure this one will be no exception. If they design a tutorial which makes me able to figure out how to play, I will be very surprised. All the roles and phases of the game go right over my head.

Then you are in luck as the current tutorial is very detailed. (tried it on the alpha so, thats how I know) While I was unable to complete it (game keeps crashing on my laptop), It gives a decent run down on the gameplay. Lots of humor too, if you like blizzard heroes (I feel that this is also what blizzard is trying to sell: their heroes, their stories - If they pull this off well, they will get people to try their other games too, in case players have missed out earlier).

OT: The article is fairly accurate, and so are some of the comments below it. I agree that most of the hardcores will stick to Lol, Dota2. Blizzard is focusing more on the fun aspect of it, and as such, the ESPORTS factor will depend on the community, as it always has for blizzard games.

Edit2: I feel that the major hardcore thing about HoTS is the system requirement, cos it does seem to require beefy specs to play it properly.

[PizzaSHARK]

HotS is for players who play Blizzard games in general, not necessarily casuals.

No, it's definitely for casuals. The Blizzard universe characters will be a nice draw, but being able to play as Jim Raynor or Diablo isn't going to make someone pick up HotS when they'd normally pick up LoL or Dota 2. It won't really draw anyone in that's looking to get into other Dotalikes like League or DotA - HotS has removed so many core mechanics from those games that I'd honestly even hesitate to call it a Dotalike.

You're right that it'll probably draw a lot of Blizzard fans in, but that's also why it's designed for casual players. If those "oooh, I wanna punch Arthas with Tassadar!" types walked into a game with the kind of up-front complexity of DotA or even League, a whole hell of a lot of them would immediately forget about it and just go back to playing whatever Blizzard game they were playing before.