LoL clones will be dead by defaut just like WoW's are.The two games are very simmilar.They came in the perfect time and moment when their model was a hit and worked perfectly.I doubt that HotS can copy any of it.
No working adult has time to grind this game full hero roster in a matter of weeks. It's gonna take months,it took me 3 years for LoL.
So why make playerbase suffer the same endless grind as LoL did?
So what if HotS is still in Alpha stage?Look what is the game against and what concurents it has to face:
http://www.pcgamer.com/league-of-leg...otransactions/
This article shows that in 2013 Riot made ''only'' 624$ millions and were 2nd in the top 10.In 2014 Riot made almost 1$ billion and took the 1st place in top 10.I also want to point that Hearthstone made only 114$ millions.So i don't want to hear from anyone how successfull is that game.I don't know why people love to bring it in discussions.
Being in Alpha/Beta has its advantages and Blizzard are not using them.They are not selling any access to the game.They just give limited random codes.
http://www.lazygamer.net/general-new...d-tournaments/
This articles shows how much more proffitable are Dota 2 tournoments than LoL's.Dota 2 players make more money from the tournoments compared to their LoL equivalents.LoL Proffessionals are on a monthly salary plus they earn money from Riot tournoments.
I don't see none of these to be possible in HotS after the game is released to the public.Blizzard doesn't care enought about its e-sport scene.
http://www.lazygamer.net/general-new...y-the-numbers/
This article shows how big are LoL's and Dota 2's player base.
At this moment in HotS the learning barrier curve and is very low.There will always be competitive players that will crush casuals without mercy and lowering the skill further will make the game so casual that (competitive players and good ones that don't suck) can barely differentiate themselves from a newbie with the limited mechanics they can utilize.
http://www.esportsearnings.com/tournaments
Here is shown a list of prise pools and games.It s indication how much better is the e-sport scene of some games than others.For instance look how far down is SC2 and how even combined it's prises are nowhere near the number the best 2 games have.Or how Hearstone is not even in that list?That says something about how blizzard ''supports'' their e-sport scene.
Blizzard isn't listening to its playerbase. They would have probably kept the Artifacts if it wasn't totalbiscuit to make video of it. Just look at talent gating. Nobody likes it and it's still there, just because some "pro"-youtuber isn't making video to express their opinion about it.
So yea i say it again.It does't matter that this is still Alpha.The game is ready to go in closed beta and blizzard has huge competition against them.Valve's International plus Dota 2's e-sport scene are to big with a lot and huge price pools.
The other enormous game is LoL with huge playerbase that is supporting it.
Hots is entering relly concurent market.If it keeps the current awfull ''F2P''(p2p)model it has,then the game won't survive long.It may attrack players but they won't stay for long.
Also for now the game is just not good enough to be broadcasted as an e-sport.The reason sports are watched is because your average viewers will never achieve the physical fitness of the pro players so it is fun for them to watch pro players doing things they can't do. It also applies to esports. Dota has higher percentage of the playerbase watching competitive games compare to LoL simply because watching pro players pulling off strats and tactics that ordinary players can't do is fun. The more dumb down the game, the less impressive things pro players can pull off because your average player can already do that in a slightly worse manner.
For now i compare Hots to GW2.They both are just not intriguing enought for the viwer. Guild wars 2 PvP is one of the most dumbed down games I have ever played and a lot of people agree with that opinion. Gw2 has "pro" teams, it has tournaments, arenanet even throws thousands of dollars at it. It dosnt matter. No one considers that game an esport, people have to want to watch it. Who wants to watch hots esports where people run around in a 5 man ball for 20 minutes and teamfight.
On twitch Dota and LoL don't move from the top 3.Hots is far behind on 32nd place.I doubt the game will be in the top 10 even when it is released.Someone may say - Hots is in alpha.
My answer is.Streamers want to stream games that are actually liked and that have sponsored tournaments to gain viewers. Hots was #1 for 2 weeks straight when it first came out, after that the top streamers stopped streaming so they could go back to the usual streams they provide and the game fell down to 32nd place.