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So I don't know if people have gotten the key yet, but I have recently and I am loving this game. I was wondering if peeps were willing to play heroes of the storm with me and my buddies.

As this game is seriously addictive and I usually hate mobas.

Who else is playing this game and enjoying it? (I feel like I am the one that keeps making blizzard related thread O.o)

I am Cairbre. I love the frenetic pace and focus on map awareness and fighting.

I loooove it, though at the same time I wish they'd communicate more, and mention what the next hero is gonna be.

They gave some clues, it's gonna be a warrior and thats kinda it.

It's the genre's future. There'll be DotA 2 for the super edgy hardcore players, LoL for the DotA light players and HotS for pretty much everyone else who is into the genre.

IMO, HotS get stale a lot faster.

Yes, it does. After a few matches. The next day, you play again. 1-2 matches. Maybe more.

 Soladrin wrote:
IMO, HotS get stale a lot faster.

Not really. Unlike LOL were I got tired after the first few games. This one I enjoyed a bit more.

 Sigvatr wrote:
Yes, it does. After a few matches. The next day, you play again. 1-2 matches. Maybe more.

I played consistently for about a week and haven't looked back at it for over a month now.

I have one EU key in case someone would want to try it.

Edit: The key was given away.

I play it a bit from time to time, but I like Strife better.
Add me to your contact list if you want to play, Ash.

 Soladrin wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:
Yes, it does. After a few matches. The next day, you play again. 1-2 matches. Maybe more.

I played consistently for about a week and haven't looked back at it for over a month now.

The game is mechanically sound, but I honestly can't help but feel that I'm playing this massive advertisement for all the rest of their games.


One of the things I hate about Blizzard; they had three good ideas and they are just gonna ride them out till they die. I would love to see what else their creative team could do.

 Slarg232 wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:
Yes, it does. After a few matches. The next day, you play again. 1-2 matches. Maybe more.

I played consistently for about a week and haven't looked back at it for over a month now.

The game is mechanically sound, but I honestly can't help but feel that I'm playing this massive advertisement for all the rest of their games.


One of the things I hate about Blizzard; they had three good ideas and they are just gonna ride them out till they die. I would love to see what else their creative team could do.

There are other games at work at blizzard. Blizzard is intelligent enough to branch out to other IPs.

unlike other Triple A's at least this title was well produced.

 Soladrin wrote:
IMO, HotS get stale a lot faster.

For sure. I've been playing MOBA's since ol' orignal DotA, moved into LoL and DotA 2. Definitely agree that HotS felt stale after a handful of matches.

I like that they quickened the game pace with no buying/gold and made less prima-donnas by having a team-shared experience pool. However each match tends to feel like a mirror of the last, with minor tweaks due to hero mechanics.

Nobody can ever really 'carry' a match, since all of the passives you later unlock are just side-grades. It's great for casual games, like when a buddy comes over to LAN and you're too drunk to handle other games. But as a competitive game it lacks the depth to drive it into other player bases.

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Slarg232 wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:
Yes, it does. After a few matches. The next day, you play again. 1-2 matches. Maybe more.

I played consistently for about a week and haven't looked back at it for over a month now.

The game is mechanically sound, but I honestly can't help but feel that I'm playing this massive advertisement for all the rest of their games.


One of the things I hate about Blizzard; they had three good ideas and they are just gonna ride them out till they die. I would love to see what else their creative team could do.

There are other games at work at blizzard. Blizzard is intelligent enough to branch out to other IPs.

unlike other Triple A's at least this title was well produced.

Which ones?

Well they are creating Overwatch right now for example...

I'm having fun though, Skins seem pretty cool for some though some others need better.

 Slarg232 wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Slarg232 wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:
Yes, it does. After a few matches. The next day, you play again. 1-2 matches. Maybe more.

I played consistently for about a week and haven't looked back at it for over a month now.

The game is mechanically sound, but I honestly can't help but feel that I'm playing this massive advertisement for all the rest of their games.


One of the things I hate about Blizzard; they had three good ideas and they are just gonna ride them out till they die. I would love to see what else their creative team could do.

There are other games at work at blizzard. Blizzard is intelligent enough to branch out to other IPs.

unlike other Triple A's at least this title was well produced.

Which ones?

There are quite a few they are in the works of buying. They are apart of Ubisoft, so both Blizzard and Ubisoft are buying smaller companies and taking a small profit from these companies.

Well they are creating Overwatch right now for example...

I'm having fun though, Skins seem pretty cool for some though some others need better

Agreed. I think they are going to open it up to the community soon, after the open beta and it is offically 'released' they will probably open it up to the community to have really cool skins in the market place.

I don't think they'll make it community made, typically it seems their skins come from various "nexus" storylines that they plan around and make a series.

Like Witch Hunter Valla, Countess Kerrigan, and Harlequin Nazeebo all being from the same "universe".

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
I don't think they'll make it community made, typically it seems their skins come from various "nexus" storylines that they plan around and make a series.

Like Witch Hunter Valla, Countess Kerrigan, and Harlequin Nazeebo all being from the same "universe".

Who knows they hired people from Warcraft 3 because they made a professional Campaign in WC3 that literally stretched the engine to its limits. That some of that team are believe to be working for blizzard right now.

The possibilities are quite high they might allow for community stuff. As they have with Starcraft and warcraft.

Now as far as it getting stale goes, I wonder how much of that is due to the currently limited stable and player selection. The advancement curve is steep! So many players are just playing the 4 or 5 freebies. Even with full unlock, you only have 18 heroes to choose from- and LoL offers 10 free. I don't know exactly how many they have now, but I found a post form 2 years ago saying they had 114. DOTA has 112.

I suspect this is one of those problems that will resolve itself as the game matures.

Blizzard always aims for perfection. In both LoL and DotA, the number of actually efficient heroes can be watered down to 15-20ish. I much rather have a more limited pool of well-rounded heroes instead of a large pool of heroes with a lot of choices that just aren't worthwhile.

Furthermore, it's a lot easier for new players if they face a smaller pool of heroes.

HotS fills a niche on the market. It offers matches that are about half as long as matches in comparable games (15-20 minutes compared to 30-45 (LoL) and 45+ min (DotA 2), has a low entry barrier, is the only game that breaks up with the trashy whack-a-mole laning stage and offers constant teamfights. And the icing of the cake is having heroes of all Blizzard games to play around with.

HotS will establish itself on the market between DotA 2 and LoL. All other competitors will have zero chance to break that trio up and go down trying to reach out for them.

It's the best for the market as you now have one game for each type. Hardcore, competitive players play DotA 2, casual players have HotS and LoL satisfies Asians and all players that don't like either DotA 2 or HotS.

Prices are a bit steep in HotS though...meh. Wife got her account TODAY and already spent over 70$. Not played a single game yet

See what I have found is that ever since it is in beta. Is that it might add more characters I mean there are tons of characters they still have to add from diablo and helk from there other games they have made. It is entirely possible they could add an expansion to this game. But the hero rotation that they do for free is pretty interesting and I have decided to play this game completely for free.

I won't spend a cent on heroes of the storm. I already have spent enough on hearthstone....

Why would they even need an expansion exactly? They add maps and heroes normally.

Hearthstone expansions are needed due to being full on card sets.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Why would they even need an expansion exactly? They add maps and heroes normally.

Hearthstone expansions are needed due to being full on card sets.

In terms of it being blizzard. It is going to happen. Or events or theme changes. I mean last week for april fools they teased big head mode. So I like this game enough for who is running it. Especially after they heard the positive feedback on it they might include behind a paywall though >.>

 Asherian Command wrote:

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Why would they even need an expansion exactly? They add maps and heroes normally.

Hearthstone expansions are needed due to being full on card sets.

In terms of it being blizzard. It is going to happen. Or events or theme changes. I mean last week for april fools they teased big head mode. So I like this game enough for who is running it. Especially after they heard the positive feedback on it they might include behind a paywall though >.>

...What are you even talking about? Moba's don't typically have expansions (short of paid for one's like awesomenauts), doing event's and theme changes in a moba is a normal thing.

And for a paywall? Seriously what, it was just a one time event for april fools day, you aren't making any real sense.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Why would they even need an expansion exactly? They add maps and heroes normally.

Hearthstone expansions are needed due to being full on card sets.

In terms of it being blizzard. It is going to happen. Or events or theme changes. I mean last week for april fools they teased big head mode. So I like this game enough for who is running it. Especially after they heard the positive feedback on it they might include behind a paywall though >.>

...What are you even talking about? Moba's don't typically have expansions (short of paid for one's like awesomenauts), doing event's and theme changes in a moba is a normal thing.

And for a paywall? Seriously what, it was just a one time event for april fools day, you aren't making any real sense.

Because I heard about it on a podcast and the Blizzard team heard that so many people enjoyed the april fools it might become an actual reality. But it might be behind a pay wall.

In terms of an expansion, its Blizzard,there is going to be an Expansion. There is no reason not to. Blizzard has broken a few liches of the market before.

 Asherian Command wrote:

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Why would they even need an expansion exactly? They add maps and heroes normally.

Hearthstone expansions are needed due to being full on card sets.

In terms of it being blizzard. It is going to happen. Or events or theme changes. I mean last week for april fools they teased big head mode. So I like this game enough for who is running it. Especially after they heard the positive feedback on it they might include behind a paywall though >.>

...What are you even talking about? Moba's don't typically have expansions (short of paid for one's like awesomenauts), doing event's and theme changes in a moba is a normal thing.

And for a paywall? Seriously what, it was just a one time event for april fools day, you aren't making any real sense.

Because I heard about it on a podcast and the Blizzard team heard that so many people enjoyed the april fools it might become an actual reality. But it might be behind a pay wall.

In terms of an expansion, its Blizzard,there is going to be an Expansion. There is no reason not to. Blizzard has broken a few liches of the market before.

I don't understand what an expansion would even bring to a moba, even Starstorm (Awesomenauts) was mostly a crowdfunded venture that added new heroes and levels.

And as for the big head thing, they may make it an optional pay for thing like skins maybe, would make sense since people actually found it funny and enjoyed it. Though at least now I know what your talking about.

I don't understand what an expansion would even bring to a moba, even Starstorm (Awesomenauts) was mostly a crowdfunded venture that added new heroes and levels.

I know what it would bring to the moba...

I mean look at Rappers currently they are complaining about not getting enough money from spotify. Its all about the money. If it makes no sense as a consumer it makes sense that a game developer would like to add new content that is behind a paywall its why there is DLC in the first place.

 Asherian Command wrote:

I don't understand what an expansion would even bring to a moba, even Starstorm (Awesomenauts) was mostly a crowdfunded venture that added new heroes and levels.

I know what it would bring to the moba...

I mean look at Rappers currently they are complaining about not getting enough money from spotify. Its all about the money. If it makes no sense as a consumer it makes sense that a game developer would like to add new content that is behind a paywall its why there is DLC in the first place.

Once again, that doesn't make any sort of sense from any sort of thought, monetary or not.

The things that a Expansion would likely offer:

Maps: Blizzard aint this dumb lets be honest even other companies are realizing separating people is a bad thing.

Heroes: Already has a cost, and buying an expansion and then having to buy said hero is so dumb to consider from any sort of practical standpoint, the PR loss alone wouldn't be worth the cost.

Skins: See heroes

Just what could they actually even add to an expansion that wouldn't change it up from a standard moba.

I hope they add map editor and Arcade mode. If they do it, than this game will have a good future. There's enthusiastic community that supports Blizzard, I'm sure there would be some really neat things.

The prices for mounts and characters are steep. I highly doubt they're going to add the price tag for new maps and maybe character talents.

 Sigvatr wrote:
Blizzard always aims for perfection. In both LoL and DotA, the number of actually efficient heroes can be watered down to 15-20ish. I much rather have a more limited pool of well-rounded heroes instead of a large pool of heroes with a lot of choices that just aren't worthwhile.

Furthermore, it's a lot easier for new players if they face a smaller pool of heroes.

HotS fills a niche on the market. It offers matches that are about half as long as matches in comparable games (15-20 minutes compared to 30-45 (LoL) and 45+ min (DotA 2), has a low entry barrier, is the only game that breaks up with the trashy whack-a-mole laning stage and offers constant teamfights. And the icing of the cake is having heroes of all Blizzard games to play around with.

HotS will establish itself on the market between DotA 2 and LoL. All other competitors will have zero chance to break that trio up and go down trying to reach out for them.

It's the best for the market as you now have one game for each type. Hardcore, competitive players play DotA 2, casual players have HotS and LoL satisfies Asians and all players that don't like either DotA 2 or HotS.

Prices are a bit steep in HotS though...meh. Wife got her account TODAY and already spent over 70$. Not played a single game yet

Ha yeah, I keep being told these MOBA's are "free". Not if you lack willpower to avoid buying skins .

HotS does fill a nice niche, and you're right that it will be exceptionally harder for any newcomers to break into the scene. Shorter matches are definitely a huge plus, sometimes I'm not ready to settle into a hour long game.

However the balance of heroes/champions is so wide in LoL and DotA for a few reasons:
1. There are many more available characters in LoL/DotA, which makes internal balance more difficult. When LoL first came out (used to play in the beta, King Rammus skin FTW) it was a very small pool and was easier to balance.
2. The bigger one to me is the dynamic of items and builds that makes the characters difficult to balance. HotS limits your potential build options by only having side-grade passives as you level. But with LoL and DotA you have so many items and skills to take into account, balancing becomes more of a chore.