Just after the Alpha started there were some really good bundles, I bought those. Glad I did as well.
I just don’t see how this is even remotely possible. The game isn’t even really out yet and it’s already always at the top of Twitch streams. MOBA’s are relatively inexpensive to develop, Blizzard will easily make their money back and then some. Maybe their perception has been skewed by the ridiculous success of Hearthstone.
The starter bundle and the nexus bundle are the only (relatively) good bundles. The rest are complete ripoffs, provided you can wait for the beta key patiently.
Something’s bugging me about HOTS. It’s fun to play, don’t get me wrong, but none of the heroes feel all that interesting. It could just be that the roster is relatively small and Blizzard hasn’t had a real chance to flex their idea muscles yet, but there are only a handful of truly unique heroes in the game I feel.
It feels like most heroes are using 4 random abilities from the same pool of possible abilities: Skillshot snare/stun, AOE nuke/slow, Short range dash etc… All with very slight variations to fit the flavour of the hero being played.
There aren’t any heroes who’s skills are all passive, there aren’t heroes who WANT to get hit (Axe -> Counter Helix). Of course, there aren’t really any heroes like Abathur in any other MOBA so it does go both ways. I’m just saying I feel like we haven’t really seen much in terms of creativity with hero variations. Blizzard could be doing a lot more to make each hero feel unique.
I think they’ll get there eventually. They changed Falstad’s skills because he was just “stand from afar, shoot all your shit and that’s it.”
For what it’s worth, Lost Vikings are going to be 3 characters in 1, where you can control each by pressing 1,2,3 on the keyboard or control them all by pressing 4. Imagine the body blocking potential…
If anything there’s going to be another problem:
“We’re just going to keep adding heroes forever until we get sick of it and stop at this point,” Browder said. “There’s no secret number, and there’s no number that determines when we launch.”
I’d rather them keep the pool small and focus on tweaking uniqueness and power levels. Because the game’s income is directly dependent on pumping out more and more characters like most MOBAs, you’ll get a situation where a small number of characters will be “like others but better”, with the balancing efforts only rotation the position of who overshadows the rest each month.
At least Blizzard’s rep is being honest about the validity of the stim packs:
I want to play Thrall but all the QQ about him makes me hesitant to drop the 10k gold if he just gets nerfed straight away. 
Thrall is fun, but he does feel op. Well worth the 10k imo
Also green posters aren’t associated with blizzard at all I don’t think, they’re just community members who consistently help others, aka unpaid volunteers lol
Wow so Blizzard makes trillions from Hearthstone and he still does it for free?
I want there to be weapon transmogs for sale in addition to the skins you can already get. Recognisable, legendary weapons from across the Blizzard spectrum that you can equip on class appropriate characters (for example, Jaina Proudmoore shouldn’t be able to use the Sulfuras transmog). Or pay to unlock already existing weapon models as transmogs for other characters. Thrall using Frostmourne! Why the hell not!
This is TF2 hats but with a lot more potential.
I gotta say, I think the game will be quite successful, but not as we, the players, ultimately want it to be. I wonder if any of you feel the same way, explained below:
[details=Spoiler]+Bonus “Friend XP” forces you to look for friends, therefore somewhat eliminating the solo queue issue. Not that solo queue isn’t toxic, of course it is. But it’s much easier to find a team, therefore less bitching.
+Heavily objective-based, meaning teamfights everywhere. You feel engaged all the time, and guilt is not as much of a heavy issue.
+Very easy to dive right in, very easy to leave just as fast. Doesn’t take as much time as LoL or Dota, therefore very easy to find time for other games.
+Shop’s “try” option, letting you quickly test heroes and their talents/talent builds.
+Chance to play as Blizzard’s most iconic characters to date.
-No items. No in-match meta for counterbuilds. No dynamic outside of team composition and talent selection (extremely reliant on Blizzard’s balancing).
-The way dailies are made, you are often discouraged from how YOU want to play the game, if you want a respectable influx of gold. Unless you play for longer than is necessary.
-Shop prices, the already existing bundles and stimpacks.
-The time it takes to level up to Ranked.
-Nonsensical talent gating.[/details]
The way I see it, the game is currently super fun to get into, but just enough to suck our money away, then throw us out of the cycle by getting increasingly boring (no long-term fun factor). While in the meantime, new players will be recycled right in, keeping the flow of money at a steady pace.
Heroes of the Storm simply feels…sterile. For lack of better word. Too idiot-friendly. And it’s not a playground, it’s a rollercoaster ride. Feels amazing at first, but in the end, you’re still on rails, driving in a circle.
Still an interesting alternative to LoL and Dota. Though I believe it could have been so much more if it didn’t shy away from some of the usual concepts. It has the characters to make it work. A chance much bigger, than any other game, trying to compete with the two titans, can possibly have.
…but fuck it, as long as I can play Tyrael or Sgt Hammer, I don’t care. I’m having a blast :3
(just wish we had a purchasable D3 remodel for Diablo)
Definitely disagree with this, no items is one of the best things about this game. Saying theres no in match meta is silly, as there is plenty of ability to change talents during the course of the game; as an example, as Tassadar if Im matched up agaisnt Murky or somebody, I will take MULE to help repair buildings, nullifying their pushing. (Old example, from before the murky rework, but it is an example). Most of the other things I agree with though.
I’ve heard it explained best, that its MUCH easier to lower prices than it is to raise them. They’re still in beta, and trying to find a price point. $10 per character is way too much, except for maybe new characters to cash in on that hype. But if they started at $2 and later realize $5 is better, theres huge blowback. If they start at $10 and find out $5 is better, players will be happy. I figure the prices will stabilize eventually. Gotta remember its barely out of alpha and still is in beta, plenty of time for them to figure this stuff out; and the fact they’re doing weekly sales, you know they’re definitely trying to find a good number for sales. I bought gazelowe when he was on sale for like $3, because it was an easy price point for me to just pull the trigger on.
Thundermaw#1860 add me
What you’re describing becomes far less nuanced when you all level up as a team, and your mechanics have no bearing on how fast you can afford to change your specs. You’re also locked in once you go down a certain route. It also becomes far less nuanced when the lion’s share of decision making around the map is taken out of your hands by an announcer telling you to gather tribute or some shit.
Honestly it’s just not a very deep game, and that’s not the problem for me. The problem is that people TREAT it like it’s so serious and they’re being fucking obnoxious, moreso than even LoL in my experience. I can’t enjoy a casual game if people are gonna be losing their shit every single game.
Moba Players are cancer, everybody knows that. I think the title is accurate, its a moba for people who hate mobas
And I agree with that thread title, but that also means people should chill the fuck out and stop acting like other people are keeping them out of a pro MOBA career.
the announcer only takes away decision making if you let it make all your decisions for you
sky temple is the only map where i’d say you absolutely must drop everything you are doing and fight for map objectives. on any other map you have to frequently reassess the value of the map objective and weigh it against what you and your team could get by forfeiting it.
on top of the usual attributes of a team (pushing, teamfighting, CC, picking, poking/sustain, etc.) you also have to consider a team’s ability to stall or deny a raven lord tribute capture, or their ability to hold off the garden terror, or their ability to sneak grave golems or coin turn-ins, or whatever attribute blizzard decided to make important in the map you’re playing. that alone makes this game require more decision making than any typical 3-lane 2-objective+turrets moba.
Got the beta yesterday and played it for something like 4 straight hours!!! Got home from work today, got my daily done! And… that’s about it… I’m already feeling the game losing it’s grip on me. There’s nothing tempting me to go back.
The good:
-Love the graphics and animations. I love they kept a colorful look.
-The way heroes interact with each other is also amazing.
-I really enjoy the perk system, or whatever you wanna call it. It can change the way your hero plays and in a way it replaces items. You can build tank, dps, mobility, whatever.
-The variety of the maps and it’s objectives.
The bad:
-Shallow. After you played the game for a couple of hours you already did everything in it. I don’t see exactly how I can vastly improve my Raynor play beyond the past couple of hours I spent with him. I understand everything I need to know about him. Every Raynor I play against, does the exact same thing as I do.
-Slow game play. You can’t really have flashy plays. In lane, basically if you’re under 25% hp, just back to heal. Take your time, there’s nothing the enemy hero can do to capitalize on it.
-Lack of items. Perks might make up for it, but at the same time I got so used to items in MOBA’s that having none makes the game feel too simplistic. It’s like releasing an FPS that goes: “You can only equip one weapon, no secondary, no gadgets, nothing. One weapon only.”
-The variety of maps. I see you all praising the multiple maps, but in the end… it always ends up with: “UGHHHH not this map!” and everyone has their own preferred map and don’t wanna play any of the other ones.
-1 min death timers after 15 min. I know it’s there so games can end in 20 min. But I feel that after 15 minutes, I spend more time being death and waiting for respawn then actually playing the game, especially if losing.
-No /all chat. Thank you carebear Blizzard for telling me that I can’t control myself, even though you have no idea who I am or how I act. I’m surprised they even allowed team chat after Hearthstone. Could have just used pings… I shouldn’t be giving them ideas.
- Prices. 20 Gold for a game? Enjoy those 10000 gold prices.
Final verdict. It was really fun for those first couple of hours. Got real old, real fast. Just like Hearthstone.
So, uh, those 2 statements don’t really go together. You don’t see any room for improvement, but spend more time dead than alive?
Have you seen the way people act in this game? Blizzard been talkin recently while pushing Overwatch about how they want to push towards better player behavior with their game design, but HotS is full of bad behavior every single game, as opposed to one douche every few games in LoL. And that’s in unranked normals where everyone picks their champ before they’re even queued up. Every effort that they’ve made with this game to reduce player toxicity through game design has failed miserably. We’ll see if it’s any different with Overwatch, seeing as it’s not a MOBA.