So yeah, I managed to score a couple Heroes of the Storm invites. I’ve been playing it a few days now and I’m in love. I like playing League of Legends. It’s more humane that DOTA which I just can’t get into. LOL strips out some of the fiddly bits like killing your own minions and messengers that bring you your gear from the store. Well HOS gets rid of even more fiddly shit and the result in my opinion at least is more fun. It's possible that what you like is fiddly shit though.
I hate buying stuff in a MOBA. I hate getting yelled at by my team because I bought the wrong boots or I didn’t get the right cape. It’s like the videogame version of high school and just like High School I find “shopping” intimidating. In Heroes of the Storm there is no item shop. That’s not to say there are not choices though and that’s actually what I like. I want to customize my character during the course of the game and HOS does that through quick decisions, not through shoes.
When you reach certain levels you are asked to pick between two options. Do you want your Q attack to heal you when it hits or should your W ability also cloak you? Pick one and keep playing. I understand that for some people the power of the item shop is a huge part of the game. The ability to not just fine tune your character but sell back gear and respond to enemy builds is huge for some people. I’m telling you it’s not for me. The branching paths in HOS mean that I’m never scrolling through pages of the store wondering what .0001 extra damage times X Levels means or browsing wiki articles looking for the “correct” build for my character.
I’m also a big fan of the different maps with their various bonus objectives. Fighting in my lane is cool and I know how to do that but things get crazy when you start mixing in these other objectives. I know I need to hold my lane but I also know that if I don’t go grab the altar that just spawned, the other team might gain control of the Dragon Knight. Each map has some parallel objective that makes them a ton of fun.
I love leveling as a team. It opens the door for all kinds of new cooperative play like what we talk about in the comic today. A Hero who stays back at the base but augments the play of another hero is so cool. I was chasing down a player who was running away from me. He would have escaped except I also had this crazy bug hat that Tycho was controlling and sending out stuns. He doesn’t have to worry about getting kills and gold because we are leveling up as a team not as individuals so that kind of play is possible.
I can hear my LOL playing friends groaning when they read this stuff. I understand that for some people this sounds like the worst thing ever. If you are that player HOS might not be for you. It is for me though and I could not be happier.
-Gabe out
