GMarshal Profile Blog Joined March 2010 United States 21994 Posts Last Edited: 2014-04-26 19:16:56 #1 Contents

What is Heroes?



The Basics



The Maps



The Heroes



The User Experience



The Good and the Bad









What is Heroes?

Perfection. Goal that always changes

~Abathur, Heroes of the Storm



Over the last month or so, Blizzard, a company you may be marginally familiar with, began sending out invites for the "technical alpha" of their new MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), Heroes of the Storm (Heroes). Some of us in TL staff were fortunate enough to get access to this alpha, and have decided to bring you a little coverage. This is the first article of what we hope will be many, and should serve as a primer to the game, as well as a rundown of our first impressions.





The Basics

Heroes follows the basic design of all modern MOBAs, it pits ten players in two teams of five against each other, where they compete for resources and attempt to kill each other. The main object of the game is to destroy the opposing teams "palace", which I will no doubt mistakenly call "throne" often. Waves of creeps spawn from each side and attempt to push down the lane, trying to get at the opposing palace. To destroy the opposing palace players must destroy forts and towers, and, critically, compete for map objectives, that vary from map to map. Unlike most modern MOBAs however, Heroes has a variety of different maps, four at the moment, which radically change how each game is played, depending on the specific objectives of that map, and the way it is set up.



Hero selection is also handled differently in Heroes than in most MOBAs, at least at the moment. Instead of having a selection phase where the team will discuss what heroes to pick and make their selection, players select what hero they wish to play before hitting find game, and the matchmaking service attempts to make fairly balanced teams. Furthermore at the moment it is possible to have the same hero on opposing teams, possibly a decision made right now due to the rather small hero pool.



Heroes also has no mechanic for buying items, there are no shops, and no way of obtaining gold or currency, with experience being the only visible resource the players compete for (with invisible resources like positioning and map presence being rather important). Experience is gained in a couple of ways, by being within range of dying creeps in lane, by knocking down forts, killing mercenaries and killing opposing heroes. Experience is a team resource, meaning that everyone levels at the same time. This is very unlike other MOBAs and makes for some interesting dynamics, as lanes are important only insofar as you need to place a single hero per lane to gain experience. There is no such thing as last hitting or denying in Heroes.



Also unlike other MOBAs, you do not "skill abilities", putting points into specific skills to unlock them and make them more powerful as the game goes on. You begin play with your hero abilities already unlocked, and gain talents at specific level points (levels 1,4,7,10, 13, 16, 20), where you can choose which improvement you take, Improvements range from upgrades to your existing abilities, to entirely new abilities. Talent selection is very important in Heroes, as your talent selection will define the strengths of the hero, and the value of certain skills is very dependent on the opposing team's lineup and the map. At level 10, "heroic abilities" are unlocked which are usually an extremely powerful spell or ability, akin to "ultimates" in DotA.



Mercenaries are a defining and vital feature of Heroes. To anyone familiar with other MOBAs, the idea of a "jungle" and neutral creeps is very familiar, however Heroes' unique twist on a traditional mechanic makes the mercenaries ever more vital. Mercenaries are neutral enemies scattered across the map, which don't appear until the forty five second mark. These Mercenaries provide experience when slain, and scale in difficulty, from the rather easy siege ogres, which a lone hero can reliably kill at level 1 so long as they dodge their attacks (though it does take a while), to the imposing grave golems, which require a three or more heroes at level 15 to kill. What makes mercenaries vital however, isn't just the experience they provide, but that after defeating them, they will respawn and dutifully march off to the nearest lane to help you push. This means that controlling the mercenaries allows you to reliably push the enemy lane, and the timing of capturing mercenaries in order to force your opponents to choose between defending their forts and map objectives, is a vital part of the game.



There are a few types of mercenaries, which I will briefly cover here. Its important to note that if mercs are deaggroed they heal fully, almost instantly, and any defeated mercs in that camp respawn over time. Take note that for the mercenaries to fight for you you must stand in the circle that appears when you defeat them, and that if an enemy is standing there you will not be able to capture them until the enemy is defeated (and that if you let them just stand there and don't contest, they'll get the mercenaries) . Any given mercenary's difficulty varies depending on the map.



Siege Ogres - The weakest mercenaries, often categorized as level 6-9 solos, they give a moderate amount of experience, and are very powerful pushers. Equipped with cannons or a satchel of boulders, they out range all buildings, which means that if not brought down quickly they will decimate forts and towers. Each camp consists of two ogres, when killing them its best to walk out of their ranged attacks, which are denoted with a red circle appearing where they are targeted.



- The weakest mercenaries, often categorized as level 6-9 solos, they give a moderate amount of experience, and are very powerful pushers. Equipped with cannons or a satchel of boulders, they out range all buildings, which means that if not brought down quickly they will decimate forts and towers. Each camp consists of two ogres, when killing them its best to walk out of their ranged attacks, which are denoted with a red circle appearing where they are targeted. Knights - Knights are extremely powerful, backed up by a wizard with a powerful buffing aura and the ability to cast a shield on a fellow knight, making him even tankier. The Knights have a ton of HP and are an awesome addition to any push. Its highly suggested that when taking out this camp players focus on taking out the wizard first, as it makes the camp easier. It is also recommended you bring a buddy or two until you are level 12-16 depending on what hero you are.



- Knights are extremely powerful, backed up by a wizard with a powerful buffing aura and the ability to cast a shield on a fellow knight, making him even tankier. The Knights have a ton of HP and are an awesome addition to any push. Its highly suggested that when taking out this camp players focus on taking out the wizard first, as it makes the camp easier. It is also recommended you bring a buddy or two until you are level 12-16 depending on what hero you are. Golem - The most powerful camp, a single Grave Golem, possess a rooting attack, an area of effect stunning stomp, boatloads of hp, and deals a ton of damage to buildings. A pushing golem requires a concentrated effort to bring down, or it will easily take one or two forts. The golem is very hard to solo without specific heroes, and shouldn't be tried before level 16 or so if you wish to solo it.





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The Maps

The variety of maps in Heroes is one of the most appealing features, as it gives greater variety in games and allows for more depth of strategy. Lineups that work well in some maps are not nearly as effective in others, and some heroes are extremely well suited to specific scenarios. All maps have some common features however, forts are of course present in every map, and grant exp to the team that brings them down. Towers and gates are also common which also add to the defense of both team's palaces. Interestingly, Towers and Forts have ammunition, which regenerates slowly over time, this means that it is possible to force a tower or fort to run out of ammunition firing on creeps, and then bring it down without worrying about being attacked by the defensive structure. Towers and forts will always fire on creeps and mercenaries before they target Heroes, which means that attacking with the creepwave is prudent. There are also "health fountains" next to the forts, which can be used by players to restore some mana and hp (gradually), they are pretty fragile and usually the first thing to go when the fort is pushed, but they are a good remedy for not having to return to the main fountain to heal, and have only a 100 second cooldown (for each player, so if Diablo uses it before Kerrigan, Diablo has to wait 100 seconds before using it again, but Kerrigan can still use it) In some maps there are watchtowers, which can be claimed by standing within their claiming radius and which grant vision surrounding them.



Blackheart's Bay

(click for loading screen)



And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,

(Heaven's Mother send us grace!)

As if through a dungeon-grate he peered

With broad and burning face.



Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)

How fast she nears and nears!

Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,

Like restless gossameres?



Are those her ribs through which the Sun

Did peer, as through a grate?

And is that Woman all her crew?

Is that a Death? and are there two?

Is Death that woman's mate?

Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge)



Blackheart's Bay, a map where wealth is everything. This map is made up of three lanes, two almost joint top lanes and one very distant bottom lane. Between the top two lanes is a crucial watchtower, which is often hotly contested. Its not unheard of for both teams to rush the tower at level 1 in an attempt to catch out a hero, often resulting in interesting teamfights.



The map's principal objective is to give doubloons to the pirate captain. There are two ways to get doubloons (coins), the first, and the one newer players often think is the only, is from treasure chests, which spawn every so often, right below the top two lanes and right above the bottom lane. Each chest contains five coins and must be broken through attacking it to get to the coins inside. Needless to say, chests often result in huge fights with teams attempting to snipe them and run away with the coins. The second method of obtaining coins is clearing pirate camps (which are like mercenaries but who don't attack once defeated) and standard mercenary camps, each of which drops two coins. The Pirate camps are nestled against the wall of each side, and are not very challenging to take out after level 3 or so and are in view of the central watchtower. Coins must be turned in to the pirate captain, an action which requires channeling and which can be interrupted by damage. Furthermore, any coins a hero is carrying drop on death. The astute reader will already have surmised that teamfights can get a bit hectic with the added incentive of capturing the coins of fallen enemies, and that turning them in is never a trivial task, as a clever enemy will be on the look out to ambush any solitary heroes trying to turn in coins.



When a team turns in enough coins (ten for the first turn in, with an additional two coins for each subsequent turn in), the pirate captain unleashes hell on the opposing side, pelting them with a cannonade of twelve cannonballs, aimed at their defensive structures that are furthest from the palace moving inward. A single cannonade will usually take out a tower and a fort, and it takes about five to six cannonades to ensure you win a game - assuming you don't do any pushing yourself. Mercenary camps on this map are interesting, with a grave golem in the north of the map, hidden behind a smoke wall, which means that any attempt to secure it must be super cautious to avoid being ambushed. To the south of the map is a knight camp, also hidden behind smoke, but its comparative weakness makes it a safer bet. Getting these mercs however means being out of position for chests and far away from the pirate captain in the center of the map. Two siege ogre camps, one per side are pretty much adjacent to the pirate camps, making it a fairly good choice to take both at once, for a tidy sum of four coins.



The map is also littered with smoke and other line of sight blockers, allowing for interesting escapes and ambushes taking advantage of unwary enemies. The most often heard criticism about this map is that "the pirate captain's voice gets annoying" to which I say "ARRRR, TALKING LIKE A PIRATE IS FUN!"



Cursed Hollow

(click for loading screen)



But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -

Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -

On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'

Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

The Raven (Poe)



If objectives are important in most maps, in Cursed Hollow they are insanely crucial. The main mechanic in Cursed Hollow is collecting tributes. Whenever a team collects three tributes, the opposing team is cursed. Being cursed sucks. While a team is cursed, the hp of all their minions is reduced to 1, forts are at half health, and the forts and towers stubbornly refuse to attack the enemy. What that means is that when you are cursed, every lane is pushing you, and the enemy is likely wrecking forts. This means that when a tribute spawns, there will almost always be a teamfight around it.



There are three lanes in this map, and it is important to place the most mobile heroes on the top lanes so that they can relocate to objectives easily, it is also essential to have a couple people roaming, and to react quickly to the "objective spawning" notification. The two watchtowers, nestled on each side of the map provide some vision, and stealthily capturing the enemies tower can grant an advantage. Tributes spawn randomly in preset locations between the top and bottom lane, usually in quite defensible positions. Claiming a tribute is a channeling action that can be interrupted by damage.



Mercenaries on this map are plentiful and are absolutely crucial for counterpushing if you get cursed, as they are immune to the effects of the curse. Being both cursed and attacked by knights is not pleasant, so it is really really important to at the very least contest these while desperately defending. It is also important to note that there are paths around your walls in this map, which means it is possible for enemies to sneak around you and lay ambushes behind the first line of forts.



The mercenaries in this map are split evenly, with no "middle" mercenaries and are placed in opposing sides with the placement being inverted, so that the right side ogres push the bottom lane, and the left side ogres push the top. The camps consist of one ogre camp, one knight camp and one golem camp. The ogres are placed in such a way that taking the opposing sides ogres will cause them to walk behind the first fort and bombard it from a location where creep waves will not attack them.



In general, this map is quite fun, although potentially frustrating if your team fails to grasp the importance of the objectives. It really encourages coordination and teamfights, with positioning and quick reactions being utterly essential.



Dragon Shire

(click for loading screen)





At the sight he beheld

He clenched firmly his lance:

The head and tail of a dragon

With scale-covered flanks.



The flames from its maw

Cast a glow all around,

And round a fair damsel

Its coils had been wound.



And over the shoulder

Of the hapless fair maid,

Like the thong of a whip,

The dragon's neck swayed.

Fairy Tale (Yuri)



What feels like the smallest map, dragon shire is interesting in the sense that the primary objective, that of obtaining the dragon knight, isn't as critical as it might at first seem. The map has three lanes, the middle lane passes by a giant statue of a dragon, while the top and bottom lane each have a shrine above and below them, respectively. When the shrines "activate" they behave much like watchtowers, requiring a player in their radius to capture them. When either team holds both shrines, they may activate the dragon statue, the player that activates it becomes the dragon knight for a minute. The dragon knight is pretty strong in combat, with a lot of hitpoints, a burning breath, and a charge attack that knocks the enemy being charged far away. His attacks are especially effective against buildings, and when slain, the hero inside reappears, exactly where the knight was when it died.



Mercenaries on this map are perfectly mirrored, with one middle "netural" camp, and two camps on each team's side of the map. The topmost camps are knights, the bottom ones are ogres, and the middle neutral one is also ogres. This map encourages splitting your team, since traveling as five ensures the shrines will be captured behind you before you secure the knight. However this also sets up interesting opportunities for group ganks, and offers a very clear set of decisions, as covering both objectives and the dragon knight spreads your forces super thin, and losing even a single one of the objectives requires a rapid adjustment of your strategy.



Long grass serves as the main line of sight blocker in this map, and its placement encourages ganking players rotating towards the mid dragon knight. A team on the defensive has but to send four players to guard the knight and a single player to backstab any shrine that's abandoned, although this offers the enemy a juicy opportunity to just grab their mercenaries. While the knight is indisputably strong, he doesn't add too much to teamfights, especially at higher levels, where a players ultimate would probably contribute more.



Overall, the map is very satisfying, with clever positioning and rapid adjustment being key. Its also nice to play on a lush green map when all the other maps are dreary and grey, or scorched and dead.



The Haunted Mines

(click for loading screen)



"They hear me -- they that dwell far down where the sea-serpent lies

And they, the unseen, on Afric's hills that sport when tempests rise:

And they that rest in central caves, whence fiery streams make way,

My lightest whisper shakes their sleep, they hear me, and obey.



"They come to me with ancient wealth -- with crown and cup of gold,

From cities roofed with ocean-waves, that buried them of old;

They come from Earth's most hidden veins, which man shall never find,

With gems that have the hues of fire deep at their heart enshrined.



"But a mightier power is on me now -- it rules my struggling breath;

I have swayed the rushing elements -- but still and strong is Death,

I quit my throne, yet leave I not my vassal-spirits free --

Thou hast brave and high aspirants, youth! -- my Sceptre is for thee!

The Necromancer (Hemans)



This is a two lane map, and at first glance might seem too small for five players. That is very deceptive, as at the beginning of the game there is a full half of the map that isn't visible, the mines. The primary objective in this map is collecting skulls, which are in the possession (and I assume being used by) zombies in the mines. When the mines open you can descend into them through the two entrances, one in the middle of each lane. The mine is infested by groups of zombies, which drop skulls when killed, and a huge golem in the center of the mine that drops a large number of skulls. There is a total of a hundred skulls, and when all 100 are collected, each team spawns a Grave Golem (in opposing lanes) which wander forward and siege your opponents base. Their power and hit points are proportional to the amount of skulls your team collected, which means that a team that ignored the mines might find themselves losing a fort, more, or potentially the game.



There are five mercenary camps in the middle of the map, four ogre maps, and one central knight camp. These camps are super important, as it is common for one team to only go into the mines to grab a couple skulls and capture all the mercenaries, wrecking the enemy forts while they're occupied cutting through the undead, and then defending the golem push. This map offers all kind of interesting decisions, and one of its strengths is how it rewards proper communication. Its entirely possible to contest skulls, and have a huge fight in the mines around the huge golem, its also possible to almost completely ignore them, or to split your efforts. There's also the balancing of offence vs defense, where players must decide whether its more important to push with their golem or stop the opposing golem from attacking, often resulting in awesome teamfights around defensive structures.



It is important to note that is fairly easy to tell how many enemies are down in the mines, as the zombies appear on the map, and the rate at which they die is a huge clue. Golems will also respawn where they died and only attack buildings, which means that while the first golem can be fairly easy to deflect, the following ones are not, and they tend to do quite a number on forts.



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The Heroes

In Heroes there are four "types" of heroes, heroes can be either ranged or melee, and are categorized as either "Assassin", "Warrior", "Support" or "Specialist". Depending on what general role they are supposed to cover. In general, a balanced game is supposed to have one of each category, but in practice, mixes seem a lot more varied, and heroes don't seem to conform exactly to their role.



Two mechanics that must be mentioned in this section are "mounts" and "hearthstones". Due to the absence of gold, there are no TP scrolls like in DotA, so instead heroes have an active channeled ability that allows them to teleport to base. This ability has next to no cooldown and is broken by any damage. Heroes also have "mounts", usually in the form of horses, that allow them to quickly travel to other parts of the map, using a mount is broken by damage, and mounting takes a few seconds. Not all heroes have mount however, as some enjoy the ability to teleport to allies (with a long cooldown) or to burrow or fly to any location in the map instead.



It is also very important to be aware that all heroes have the same movespeed, making mounting up one of the few ways to effectively chase down an escaping hero. It also makes gap-closers and teleportation abilities incredibly important, as being able to blink away often ensures your survival.



Assassin: Assassins are exactly what it says on the tin, heroes designed to deal massive amount of burst damage and bring down other heroes. Usually equipped with a gap closer or a stun, and occasionally with invisibility. It is worth mentioning in this section that invisibility in Heroes works like it does in SC2, an "invisible" unit can't be targeted, but is still visible as a shimmer on the ground, and can be hurt by area of effect abilities. Attacking breaks invisibility, but, crucially, forts do not reveal invisible units. Assassins tend to be on the squishy side, ranging from brittle to fragile, with the notable exceptions of Kerrigan, whose passive ability grants her shields proportional to how much damage she deals to non-hero units, and Illidan, whose Metamorphosis heroic ability provides additional health points for each hero his initiation hits. Assassins are generally considered a "must have" on any team, as without their damage dealing potential it becomes very hard to bring down heroes. The Assassins currently available in Heroes are: Kerrigan, Nova, Falstad, Demon Hunter, Illidan, Raynor, Zeratul and Tychus.



Warrior: Warriors are the damage sponges of the game, usually armed with really high hp totals, and generally low damage output. It can be very daunting to face a warrior as an assassin, simply because they are often equipped with self heals, helpful auras and a boatload of HP. Warriors however generally sacrifice damage in order to achieve this, preferring utility and tankiness. Warriors often have good stuns, making them invaluable when facing down squishy assassins, they rely on their team to get the damage needed done. Generally warriors are good to have, although not as essential as assassins, they work wonderfully well when paired with assassins however, as they complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. The Warriors currently available in Heroes are: Stitches, Arthas, Diablo, Tyrael, E.T.C., Barbarian and Muradin.



Support: Support heroes are heroes whose greatest strength is their ability to support their allies. Usually this involves healing or shielding their allies from damage, as well as hindering the enemy, supports often have ultimates that either deal a lot of damage or really aid their allies, making them teamfight heroes. Shields are one of the more elegant mechanics in Heroes, with shields being essentially temporary HP that are hit first, Shields can usually be applied to allies and buildings alike. Supports most often have a heal of some sort (be it shields or actual healing) and an ability which stuns or slows, but make up for it with relatively poor damage. The Supports currently available in Heroes are: Uther, Malfurion, Tassadar, Tyrande, Brightwing and Li Li.



Specialist: "Specialist" is the catch all term for heroes that don't fit any of the above three categories, usually because they emphasize a specific niche to a large extent. Specialist's viability in lineups really depends on both the map, and the supporting lineup, for example, Gazlowe is a fantastic jungler, being able to take on mercenaries from an early level, in maps where it is more important to be able to engage enemies defending an objective, he can find himself rather limited, although he'd be fantastic at defending the same objective. Since there are only four specialists and each is rather unique, I'll touch briefly on each.



Witch Doctor: Witch Doctor's calling is pushing and very difficult to land damage abilities, his skills and talents all allow him to output massive damage in an area, at the cost of channeling or being rather dodeagable. He also lacks a gap closing ability or really any way to ensure his abilities land, which make it vital that he be accompanied by someone who can. This makes him useful in zoning role as well as defensively, which makes him a bit of a hybrid between an assassin and a support, which is probably why he is categorized as a specialist.





Witch Doctor's calling is pushing and very difficult to land damage abilities, his skills and talents all allow him to output massive damage in an area, at the cost of channeling or being rather dodeagable. He also lacks a gap closing ability or really any way to ensure his abilities land, which make it vital that he be accompanied by someone who can. This makes him useful in zoning role as well as defensively, which makes him a bit of a hybrid between an assassin and a support, which is probably why he is categorized as a specialist. Gazlowe: I feel like Gazlowe is extremely powerful due to his ability to solo camps at low levels. His turrets and other abilities all lend themselves to setting up at a camp and slaughtering it, and this same ability means he's perfect in a defensive role, either behind gates or setting up at an objective. He requires setup however, since he needs to plant turrets and otherwise prepare, which make him less than ideal when attacking, as teamfights will often be over before he has a chance to deploy. His relative fragility also means that jungling alone can often set him up to get destroyed by a roaming assassin.





I feel like Gazlowe is extremely powerful due to his ability to solo camps at low levels. His turrets and other abilities all lend themselves to setting up at a camp and slaughtering it, and this same ability means he's perfect in a defensive role, either behind gates or setting up at an objective. He requires setup however, since he needs to plant turrets and otherwise prepare, which make him less than ideal when attacking, as teamfights will often be over before he has a chance to deploy. His relative fragility also means that jungling alone can often set him up to get destroyed by a roaming assassin. Sgt. Hammer: As a siege tank, Sgt. Hammers abilities are kind of predictable, she's good at area control and dealing out damage, at the price of being extremely slow to attack. At least in theory, in practice, it seems like the good Sergeant doesn't accomplish too much, her mines are effective and amusing, but her attack rate feels too slow, and the immobility of siege mode too punishing. That said, she excels at sitting in the back of a fight and pummeling the enemy, so smart players can probably get good returns out of her with proper talent selection.





As a siege tank, Sgt. Hammers abilities are kind of predictable, she's good at area control and dealing out damage, at the price of being extremely slow to attack. At least in theory, in practice, it seems like the good Sergeant doesn't accomplish too much, her mines are effective and amusing, but her attack rate feels too slow, and the immobility of siege mode too punishing. That said, she excels at sitting in the back of a fight and pummeling the enemy, so smart players can probably get good returns out of her with proper talent selection. Abathur: I confess to some bias, Abathur is one of my favorite heroes in the game, and every time I pick him, everyone in TS groans in disapproval (sorry Kadaver). Abathur's skills all rely on him staying near base, as he can essentially put a hat on allied heroes that he uses as a focal point to cast abilities from. He also spawns locust that travel down the lane and provide some pushing power, as well as planting "toxic nests" that deal little damage, but grant detection in a small radius. His "Heroic Ability" is to clone an existing allied hero, gaining all their abilities and cooldowns for the duration. In practice this means that he can clone a hero and use their ultimate, which has very interesting effects. Abathur feels like a hero with a lot of potential depth, but victory with my favorite Zerg commander has so far proven elusive.





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The User Experience

For fans of StarCraft, the user experience is going to be very familiar, playing games gives you "exp" which levels up your account. Certain levels unlock certain things, like an extra free hero slot, or the ability to complete daily quests. Speaking of, there are also daily quests, and hero specific quests, which give exp and also unlock skins and the like. Leveling up gives you gold, which you can use in lieu of real money to purchase heroes. As of right now accounts also start with gold, although its not known if that will continue to be the case. The bottom line is you don't need to spend a cent to enjoy the game, and the leveling progression is pretty fast, with daily quests, and bonus exp for playing on weekends and with friends, its a breeze to get past the first 10 levels.



The free heroes rotate every week, which means even if you don't play a lot and level super fast you'll still have a variety of heroes to play, and it also gives you a chance to try most heroes before purchasing them. You can also try unpurchased heroes in single player from the store. Unlike what I expected, it doesn't feel like pay to win, and its perfectly feasible not to spend any money, (I, GMarshal, haven't spent any real money, and I've been loving it). The interfaces are intuitive to anyone who's played a blizzard game before, and there are chat channels, which is nice. The battle net friend system is the same its always been, and its really easy to party up.



One of the issues is the absence of all chat, which would make the game more enjoyable, I often find myself wishing I could ask the opposing Abathur what his build is, and the like, and its annoying not to have, along with no voice chat. The ping system however is comprehensive, allowing you to transmit a variety of commands, and pinging things like mercenaries will display a message saying "PlayerX wants to do Siege Orges" or "Tyrande wants to retreat"



The ability to suggest players and add them is well designed and intuitive, and its easy to request people for friends after a game ends. Overall the entire design seems solid, with the lessons learned in SC2 taken to heart. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement, like tabs for chat and the ability to resize the chat window, but its a marked improvement over what the SC2 user experience has been for years, and shows that thought went into the design.



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The Good and The Bad Over the last month or so, Blizzard, a company you may be marginally familiar with, began sending out invites for the "technical alpha" of their new MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), Heroes of the Storm (Heroes). Some of us in TL staff were fortunate enough to get access to this alpha, and have decided to bring you a little coverage. This is the first article of what we hope will be many, and should serve as a primer to the game, as well as a rundown of our first impressions.Heroes follows the basic design of all modern MOBAs, it pits ten players in two teams of five against each other, where they compete for resources and attempt to kill each other. The main object of the game is to destroy the opposing teams "palace", which I will no doubt mistakenly call "throne" often. Waves of creeps spawn from each side and attempt to push down the lane, trying to get at the opposing palace. To destroy the opposing palace players must destroy forts and towers, and, critically, compete for map objectives, that vary from map to map. Unlike most modern MOBAs however, Heroes has a variety of different maps, four at the moment, which radically change how each game is played, depending on the specific objectives of that map, and the way it is set up.Hero selection is also handled differently in Heroes than in most MOBAs, at least at the moment. Instead of having a selection phase where the team will discuss what heroes to pick and make their selection, players select what hero they wish to play before hitting find game, and the matchmaking service attempts to make fairly balanced teams. Furthermore at the moment it is possible to have the same hero on opposing teams, possibly a decision made right now due to the rather small hero pool.Heroes also has no mechanic for buying items, there are no shops, and no way of obtaining gold or currency, with experience being the only visible resource the players compete for (with invisible resources like positioning and map presence being rather important). Experience is gained in a couple of ways, by being within range of dying creeps in lane, by knocking down forts, killing mercenaries and killing opposing heroes. Experience is aresource, meaning that everyone levels at the same time. This is very unlike other MOBAs and makes for some interesting dynamics, as lanes are important only insofar as you need to place a single hero per lane to gain experience. There is no such thing as last hitting or denying in Heroes.Also unlike other MOBAs, you do not "skill abilities", putting points into specific skills to unlock them and make them more powerful as the game goes on. You begin play with your hero abilities already unlocked, and gain talents at specific level points (levels 1,4,7,10, 13, 16, 20), where you can choose which improvement you take, Improvements range from upgrades to your existing abilities, to entirely new abilities. Talent selection is very important in Heroes, as your talent selection will define the strengths of the hero, and the value of certain skills is very dependent on the opposing team's lineup and the map. At level 10, "heroic abilities" are unlocked which are usually an extremely powerful spell or ability, akin to "ultimates" in DotA.Mercenaries are a defining and vital feature of Heroes. To anyone familiar with other MOBAs, the idea of a "jungle" and neutral creeps is very familiar, however Heroes' unique twist on a traditional mechanic makes the mercenaries ever more vital. Mercenaries are neutral enemies scattered across the map, which don't appear until the forty five second mark. These Mercenaries provide experience when slain, and scale in difficulty, from the rather easy siege ogres, which a lone hero can reliably kill at level 1 so long as they dodge their attacks (though it does take a while), to the imposing grave golems, which require a three or more heroes at level 15 to kill. What makes mercenaries vital however, isn't just the experience they provide, but that after defeating them, they will respawn and dutifully march off to the nearest lane to help you push. This means that controlling the mercenaries allows you to reliably push the enemy lane, and the timing of capturing mercenaries in order to force your opponents to choose between defending their forts and map objectives, is a vital part of the game.There are a few types of mercenaries, which I will briefly cover here. Its important to note that if mercs are deaggroed they heal fully, almost instantly, and any defeated mercs in that camp respawn over time. Take note that for the mercenaries to fight for you you must stand in the circle that appears when you defeat them, and that if an enemy is standing there you will not be able to capture them until the enemy is defeated (and that if you let them just stand there and don't contest, they'll get the mercenaries) . Any given mercenary's difficulty varies depending on the map.The variety of maps in Heroes is one of the most appealing features, as it gives greater variety in games and allows for more depth of strategy. Lineups that work well in some maps are not nearly as effective in others, and some heroes are extremely well suited to specific scenarios. All maps have some common features however, forts are of course present in every map, and grant exp to the team that brings them down. Towers and gates are also common which also add to the defense of both team's palaces. Interestingly, Towers and Forts have ammunition, which regenerates slowly over time, this means that it is possible to force a tower or fort to run out of ammunition firing on creeps, and then bring it down without worrying about being attacked by the defensive structure. Towers and forts will always fire on creeps and mercenaries before they target Heroes, which means that attacking with the creepwave is prudent. There are also "health fountains" next to the forts, which can be used by players to restore some mana and hp (gradually), they are pretty fragile and usually the first thing to go when the fort is pushed, but they are a good remedy for not having to return to the main fountain to heal, and have only a 100 second cooldown (for each player, so if Diablo uses it before Kerrigan, Diablo has to wait 100 seconds before using it again, but Kerrigan can still use it) In some maps there are watchtowers, which can be claimed by standing within their claiming radius and which grant vision surrounding them.Blackheart's Bay, a map where wealth is everything. This map is made up of three lanes, two almost joint top lanes and one very distant bottom lane. Between the top two lanes is a crucial watchtower, which is often hotly contested. Its not unheard of for both teams to rush the tower at level 1 in an attempt to catch out a hero, often resulting in interesting teamfights.The map's principal objective is to give doubloons to the pirate captain. There are two ways to get doubloons (coins), the first, and the one newer players often think is the only, is from treasure chests, which spawn every so often, right below the top two lanes and right above the bottom lane. Each chest contains five coins and must be broken through attacking it to get to the coins inside. Needless to say, chests often result in huge fights with teams attempting to snipe them and run away with the coins. The second method of obtaining coins is clearing pirate camps (which are like mercenaries but who don't attack once defeated) and standard mercenary camps, each of which drops two coins. The Pirate camps are nestled against the wall of each side, and are not very challenging to take out after level 3 or so and are in view of the central watchtower. Coins must be turned in to the pirate captain, an action which requires channeling and which can be interrupted by damage. Furthermore, any coins a hero is carrying drop on death. The astute reader will already have surmised that teamfights can get a bit hectic with the added incentive of capturing the coins of fallen enemies, and that turning them in is never a trivial task, as a clever enemy will be on the look out to ambush any solitary heroes trying to turn in coins.When a team turns in enough coins (ten for the first turn in, with an additional two coins for each subsequent turn in), the pirate captain unleashes hell on the opposing side, pelting them with a cannonade of twelve cannonballs, aimed at their defensive structures that are furthest from the palace moving inward. A single cannonade will usually take out a tower and a fort, and it takes about five to six cannonades to ensure you win a game - assuming you don't do any pushing yourself. Mercenary camps on this map are interesting, with a grave golem in the north of the map, hidden behind a smoke wall, which means that any attempt to secure it must be super cautious to avoid being ambushed. To the south of the map is a knight camp, also hidden behind smoke, but its comparative weakness makes it a safer bet. Getting these mercs however means being out of position for chests and far away from the pirate captain in the center of the map. Two siege ogre camps, one per side are pretty much adjacent to the pirate camps, making it a fairly good choice to take both at once, for a tidy sum of four coins.The map is also littered with smoke and other line of sight blockers, allowing for interesting escapes and ambushes taking advantage of unwary enemies. The most often heard criticism about this map is that "the pirate captain's voice gets annoying" to which I say "ARRRR, TALKING LIKE A PIRATE IS FUN!"If objectives are important in most maps, in Cursed Hollow they are insanely crucial. The main mechanic in Cursed Hollow is collecting tributes. Whenever a team collects three tributes, the opposing team is cursed. Being cursed. While a team is cursed, the hp of all their minions is reduced to 1, forts are at half health, and the forts and towers stubbornly refuse to attack the enemy. What that means is that when you are cursed, every lane is pushing you, and the enemy is likely wrecking forts. This means that when a tribute spawns, there will almost always be a teamfight around it.There are three lanes in this map, and it is important to place the most mobile heroes on the top lanes so that they can relocate to objectives easily, it is also essential to have a couple people roaming, and to react quickly to the "objective spawning" notification. The two watchtowers, nestled on each side of the map provide some vision, and stealthily capturing the enemies tower can grant an advantage. Tributes spawn randomly in preset locations between the top and bottom lane, usually in quite defensible positions. Claiming a tribute is a channeling action that can be interrupted by damage.Mercenaries on this map are plentiful and are absolutely crucial for counterpushing if you get cursed, as they are immune to the effects of the curse. Being both cursed and attacked by knights is not pleasant, so it is really really important to at the very least contest these while desperately defending. It is also important to note that there are paths around your walls in this map, which means it is possible for enemies to sneak around you and lay ambushes behind the first line of forts.The mercenaries in this map are split evenly, with no "middle" mercenaries and are placed in opposing sides with the placement being inverted, so that the right side ogres push the bottom lane, and the left side ogres push the top. The camps consist of one ogre camp, one knight camp and one golem camp. The ogres are placed in such a way that taking the opposing sides ogres will cause them to walk behind the first fort and bombard it from a location where creep waves will not attack them.In general, this map is quite fun, although potentially frustrating if your team fails to grasp the importance of the objectives. It really encourages coordination and teamfights, with positioning and quick reactions being utterly essential.What feels like the smallest map, dragon shire is interesting in the sense that the primary objective, that of obtaining the dragon knight, isn't as critical as it might at first seem. The map has three lanes, the middle lane passes by a giant statue of a dragon, while the top and bottom lane each have a shrine above and below them, respectively. When the shrines "activate" they behave much like watchtowers, requiring a player in their radius to capture them. When either team holds both shrines, they may activate the dragon statue, the player that activates it becomes the dragon knight for a minute. The dragon knight is pretty strong in combat, with a lot of hitpoints, a burning breath, and a charge attack that knocks the enemy being charged far away. His attacks are especially effective against buildings, and when slain, the hero inside reappears, exactly where the knight was when it died.Mercenaries on this map are perfectly mirrored, with one middle "netural" camp, and two camps on each team's side of the map. The topmost camps are knights, the bottom ones are ogres, and the middle neutral one is also ogres. This map encourages splitting your team, since traveling as five ensures the shrines will be captured behind you before you secure the knight. However this also sets up interesting opportunities for group ganks, and offers a very clear set of decisions, as covering both objectives and the dragon knight spreads your forces super thin, and losing even a single one of the objectives requires a rapid adjustment of your strategy.Long grass serves as the main line of sight blocker in this map, and its placement encourages ganking players rotating towards the mid dragon knight. A team on the defensive has but to send four players to guard the knight and a single player to backstab any shrine that's abandoned, although this offers the enemy a juicy opportunity to just grab their mercenaries. While the knight is indisputably strong, he doesn't add too much to teamfights, especially at higher levels, where a players ultimate would probably contribute more.Overall, the map is very satisfying, with clever positioning and rapid adjustment being key. Its also nice to play on a lush green map when all the other maps are dreary and grey, or scorched and dead.This is a two lane map, and at first glance might seem too small for five players. That is very deceptive, as at the beginning of the game there is a full half of the map that isn't visible, the mines. The primary objective in this map is collecting skulls, which are in the possession (and I assume being used by) zombies in the mines. When the mines open you can descend into them through the two entrances, one in the middle of each lane. The mine is infested by groups of zombies, which drop skulls when killed, and a huge golem in the center of the mine that drops a large number of skulls. There is a total of a hundred skulls, and when all 100 are collected, each team spawns a Grave Golem (in opposing lanes) which wander forward and siege your opponents base. Their power and hit points are proportional to the amount of skulls your team collected, which means that a team that ignored the mines might find themselves losing a fort, more, or potentially the game.There are five mercenary camps in the middle of the map, four ogre maps, and one central knight camp. These camps are super important, as it is common for one team to only go into the mines to grab a couple skulls and capture all the mercenaries, wrecking the enemy forts while they're occupied cutting through the undead, and then defending the golem push. This map offers all kind of interesting decisions, and one of its strengths is how it rewards proper communication. Its entirely possible to contest skulls, and have a huge fight in the mines around the huge golem, its also possible to almost completely ignore them, or to split your efforts. There's also the balancing of offence vs defense, where players must decide whether its more important to push with their golem or stop the opposing golem from attacking, often resulting in awesome teamfights around defensive structures.It is important to note that is fairly easy to tell how many enemies are down in the mines, as the zombies appear on the map, and the rate at which they die is a huge clue. Golems will also respawn where they died and only attack buildings, which means that while the first golem can be fairly easy to deflect, the following ones are not, and they tend to do quite a number on forts.In Heroes there are four "types" of heroes, heroes can be either ranged or melee, and are categorized as either "Assassin", "Warrior", "Support" or "Specialist". Depending on what general role they are supposed to cover. In general, a balanced game is supposed to have one of each category, but in practice, mixes seem a lot more varied, and heroes don't seem to conform exactly to their role.Two mechanics that must be mentioned in this section are "mounts" and "hearthstones". Due to the absence of gold, there are no TP scrolls like in DotA, so instead heroes have an active channeled ability that allows them to teleport to base. This ability has next to no cooldown and is broken by any damage. Heroes also have "mounts", usually in the form of horses, that allow them to quickly travel to other parts of the map, using a mount is broken by damage, and mounting takes a few seconds. Not all heroes have mount however, as some enjoy the ability to teleport to allies (with a long cooldown) or to burrow or fly to any location in the map instead.It is also very important to be aware that all heroes have the same movespeed, making mounting up one of the few ways to effectively chase down an escaping hero. It also makes gap-closers and teleportation abilities incredibly important, as being able to blink away often ensures your survival.: Assassins are exactly what it says on the tin, heroes designed to deal massive amount of burst damage and bring down other heroes. Usually equipped with a gap closer or a stun, and occasionally with invisibility. It is worth mentioning in this section that invisibility in Heroes works like it does in SC2, an "invisible" unit can't be targeted, but is still visible as a shimmer on the ground, and can be hurt by area of effect abilities. Attacking breaks invisibility, but, crucially,. Assassins tend to be on the squishy side, ranging from brittle to fragile, with the notable exceptions of Kerrigan, whose passive ability grants her shields proportional to how much damage she deals to non-hero units, and Illidan, whose Metamorphosis heroic ability provides additional health points for each hero his initiation hits. Assassins are generally considered a "must have" on any team, as without their damage dealing potential it becomes very hard to bring down heroes. The Assassins currently available in Heroes are: Kerrigan, Nova, Falstad, Demon Hunter, Illidan, Raynor, Zeratul and Tychus.: Warriors are the damage sponges of the game, usually armed with really high hp totals, and generally low damage output. It can be very daunting to face a warrior as an assassin, simply because they are often equipped with self heals, helpful auras and a boatload of HP. Warriors however generally sacrifice damage in order to achieve this, preferring utility and tankiness. Warriors often have good stuns, making them invaluable when facing down squishy assassins, they rely on their team to get the damage needed done. Generally warriors are good to have, although not as essential as assassins, they work wonderfully well when paired with assassins however, as they complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. The Warriors currently available in Heroes are: Stitches, Arthas, Diablo, Tyrael, E.T.C., Barbarian and Muradin.: Support heroes are heroes whose greatest strength is their ability to support their allies. Usually this involves healing or shielding their allies from damage, as well as hindering the enemy, supports often have ultimates that either deal a lot of damage or really aid their allies, making them teamfight heroes. Shields are one of the more elegant mechanics in Heroes, with shields being essentially temporary HP that are hit first, Shields can usually be applied to allies and buildings alike. Supports most often have a heal of some sort (be it shields or actual healing) and an ability which stuns or slows, but make up for it with relatively poor damage. The Supports currently available in Heroes are: Uther, Malfurion, Tassadar, Tyrande, Brightwing and Li Li.: "Specialist" is the catch all term for heroes that don't fit any of the above three categories, usually because they emphasize a specific niche to a large extent. Specialist's viability in lineups really depends on both the map, and the supporting lineup, for example, Gazlowe is a fantastic jungler, being able to take on mercenaries from an early level, in maps where it is more important to be able to engage enemies defending an objective, he can find himself rather limited, although he'd be fantastic at defending the same objective. Since there are only four specialists and each is rather unique, I'll touch briefly on each.For fans of StarCraft, the user experience is going to be very familiar, playing games gives you "exp" which levels up your account. Certain levels unlock certain things, like an extra free hero slot, or the ability to complete daily quests. Speaking of, there are also daily quests, and hero specific quests, which give exp and also unlock skins and the like. Leveling up gives you gold, which you can use in lieu of real money to purchase heroes. As of right now accounts also start with gold, although its not known if that will continue to be the case. The bottom line is you don't need to spend a cent to enjoy the game, and the leveling progression is pretty fast, with daily quests, and bonus exp for playing on weekends and with friends, its a breeze to get past the first 10 levels.The free heroes rotate every week, which means even if you don't play a lot and level super fast you'll still have a variety of heroes to play, and it also gives you a chance to try most heroes before purchasing them. You can also try unpurchased heroes in single player from the store. Unlike what I expected, it doesn't feel like pay to win, and its perfectly feasible not to spend any money, (I, GMarshal, haven't spent any real money, and I've been loving it). The interfaces are intuitive to anyone who's played a blizzard game before, and there are chat channels, which is nice. The battle net friend system is the same its always been, and its really easy to party up.One of the issues is the absence of all chat, which would make the game more enjoyable, I often find myself wishing I could ask the opposing Abathur what his build is, and the like, and its annoying not to have, along with no voice chat. The ping system however is comprehensive, allowing you to transmit a variety of commands, and pinging things like mercenaries will display a message saying "PlayerX wants to do Siege Orges" or "Tyrande wants to retreat"The ability to suggest players and add them is well designed and intuitive, and its easy to request people for friends after a game ends. Overall the entire design seems solid, with the lessons learned in SC2 taken to heart. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement, like tabs for chat and the ability to resize the chat window, but its a marked improvement over what the SC2 user experience has been for years, and shows that thought went into the design.



The Good



IT IS FUN!!

Fighting as a Blizzard character versus other Blizzard characters tugs at the heart strings of almost anyone who has ever played a Blizzard game and this game satisfies like no other. Smacking Diablo in the face as Barbarian or Valla is more satisfying in this game than it was in D3. The Hyperion’s shadow scares everyone on the other team from fighting and when Kerrigan jumps on you fear is all you feel.



There is no way to emphasize this enough, despite the scorn some people seem to heap on it because it is "casual" and despite mechanics many of us speculated would be boring, the game is incredibly fun. When you're playing time shoots by. Its the type of game that can swallow afternoons without you noticing. Its the type of game where you are actively excited to play again.





Fighting as a Blizzard character versus other Blizzard characters tugs at the heart strings of almost anyone who has ever played a Blizzard game and this game satisfies like no other. Smacking Diablo in the face as Barbarian or Valla is more satisfying in this game than it was in D3. The Hyperion’s shadow scares everyone on the other team from fighting and when Kerrigan jumps on you fear is all you feel. There is no way to emphasize this enough, despite the scorn some people seem to heap on it because it is "casual" and despite mechanics many of us speculated would be boring, the game is fun. When you're playing time shoots by. Its the type of game that can swallow afternoons without you noticing. Its the type of game where you are actively excited to play again. Two premade teams with good communication make for EPIC games

While we just mentioned that games end quickly once you get a strategy going, this quickly turns around when BOTH teams have a strong strategy and are executing it well. We played one game in a five player stack where it lasted nearly 40 minutes and was very very back and forth on cursed hollow. Unfortunately there is no video but here is a short battle report:



Both palaces were completely vulnerable by the end of the match, the mercenaries were all on cooldown, and the curse was far out of reach for either team (for you Dota players imagine having only your throne with no Rosh on the map and the Aegis/cheese gone, LoL players - neither team had an inhib and baron is gone the buff also completely gone). There was a lot of pushing and pulling all game but our lanes were starting to push and we decided to go all in hoping we didn't get backdoored. The opposing Falstad (who has a global teleport for his mount ability) was interrupted while channeling for a backdoor during our push and we killed him off quick, letting Kerrigan’s Torrasque Ultralisk ultimate tank the palace damage while we finished the game.





While we just mentioned that games end quickly once you get a strategy going, this quickly turns around when BOTH teams have a strong strategy and are executing it well. We played one game in a five player stack where it lasted nearly 40 minutes and was very very back and forth on cursed hollow. Unfortunately there is no video but here is a short battle report: Both palaces were completely vulnerable by the end of the match, the mercenaries were all on cooldown, and the curse was far out of reach for either team (for you Dota players imagine having only your throne with no Rosh on the map and the Aegis/cheese gone, LoL players - neither team had an inhib and baron is gone the buff also completely gone). There was a lot of pushing and pulling all game but our lanes were starting to push and we decided to go all in hoping we didn't get backdoored. The opposing Falstad (who has a global teleport for his mount ability) was interrupted while channeling for a backdoor during our push and we killed him off quick, letting Kerrigan’s Torrasque Ultralisk ultimate tank the palace damage while we finished the game. Games are quick

I don't know how many times I have wanted to fit in a game of dota with my brother and found that I just didn't have an hour to queue up, and play. In Heroes that's not a problem, with most games lasting 20 minutes, at most. That's *incredible*, it feels like the condensed MOBA experience, as it scratches many of the same itches, but without the suffering that goes into trying to hold on to a losing 45 minute game, or playing a game that's lost from the 15 minute mark, but having to struggle on. This is an incredibly good thing, because it means almost every minute of the game is packed with action. In twenty minutes you might get 15-20 kills, get mercenaries, dive into the mines and slay a bone golem, and destroy four forts. There's never a moment in Heroes where you just feel like your only alternative is to sit back and farm, or where you're sitting in base wondering what to do, you're either fighting over objectives, taking objectives, defending a push or sieging the enemy. There's never that creeping moment of frustration where you feel like all you can do is lurk behind the walls of your base and hope not to die, as the carries of your team do the heavy lifting and you're rendered utterly powerless. At every stage of the game, your hero is contributing, and the speed of the game means that losses sting a lot less. When you lose a game in League or DotA, its a significant time investment, which is one of the reasons some players get so upset at defeat, in Heroes, you have an unpleasant game and its over quickly, and you probably have time for another game.





I don't know how many times I have wanted to fit in a game of dota with my brother and found that I just didn't have an hour to queue up, and play. In Heroes that's not a problem, with most games lasting 20 minutes, at most. That's *incredible*, it feels like the condensed MOBA experience, as it scratches many of the same itches, but without the suffering that goes into trying to hold on to a losing 45 minute game, or playing a game that's lost from the 15 minute mark, but having to struggle on. This is an incredibly good thing, because it means almost every minute of the game is packed with action. In twenty minutes you might get 15-20 kills, get mercenaries, dive into the mines and slay a bone golem, and destroy four forts. There's never a moment in Heroes where you just feel like your only alternative is to sit back and farm, or where you're sitting in base wondering what to do, you're either fighting over objectives, taking objectives, defending a push or sieging the enemy. There's never that creeping moment of frustration where you feel like all you can do is lurk behind the walls of your base and hope not to die, as the carries of your team do the heavy lifting and you're rendered utterly powerless. At every stage of the game, your hero is contributing, and the speed of the game means that losses sting a lot less. When you lose a game in League or DotA, its a significant time investment, which is one of the reasons some players get so upset at defeat, in Heroes, you have an unpleasant game and its over quickly, and you probably have time for another game. You get to play your hero.

If you've ever played DotA, gotten into all-pick, knowing you want to play a specific hero and had someone else pick it right away, you know there's a certain level of discontent that goes with it. Its not the end of the world, but it changes your mentality. Especially as a new player, when I had to have a guide open to even know what skills to pick, it was really frustrating. Heroes does it in a different way, which has its ups and its downs. In Heroes you pick your hero before queuing, which has its upsides and downsides:



The upsides: it lets you play what you want to play. Working on getting better as Malfurion? You're guaranteed to get him. Trying to get the "three wins" achievement? You can pick your strongest hero. It also has the added benefit of letting the matchmaking system auto balance your teams, and makes games shorter by removing the picking phase, it also stops the annoying trend in DotA all pick of picking a hero and immediately being counterpicked by something that crushes your hero.



The downsides: It removes the strategic part of picks and bans, which is something that's going to have to be implemented if Blizzard wants the game to be played more seriously. It denies pubs the ability to coordinate picks after they know who their teammates are, and it sometimes winds up with really wonky teams, where you have two specialists and no synergy. It also means that you might select a hero unsuited to the map you get, since you have no way of knowing ahead of time.



Overall however, it feels far more positive than negative, its different, refreshing and enjoyable to be able to play 50 games in a row as Zeratul if you so wish, and have a more or less balanced team around.





If you've ever played DotA, gotten into all-pick, knowing you want to play a specific hero and had someone else pick it right away, you know there's a certain level of discontent that goes with it. Its not the end of the world, but it changes your mentality. Especially as a new player, when I had to have a guide open to even know what skills to pick, it was really frustrating. Heroes does it in a different way, which has its ups and its downs. In Heroes you pick your hero before queuing, which has its upsides and downsides: The upsides: it lets you play what you want to play. Working on getting better as Malfurion? You're guaranteed to get him. Trying to get the "three wins" achievement? You can pick your strongest hero. It also has the added benefit of letting the matchmaking system auto balance your teams, and makes games shorter by removing the picking phase, it also stops the annoying trend in DotA all pick of picking a hero and immediately being counterpicked by something that crushes your hero. The downsides: It removes the strategic part of picks and bans, which is something that's going to have to be implemented if Blizzard wants the game to be played more seriously. It denies pubs the ability to coordinate picks after they know who their teammates are, and it sometimes winds up with really wonky teams, where you have two specialists and no synergy. It also means that you might select a hero unsuited to the map you get, since you have no way of knowing ahead of time. Overall however, it feels far more positive than negative, its different, refreshing and enjoyable to be able to play 50 games in a row as Zeratul if you so wish, and have a more or less balanced team around. Surprising strategic depth

The game is far, far deeper than it seems at first glance. Its hard to encompass in broad terms, since it very much matters what map the game is taking place on, but it always seems like there are strategic choices to be made. An example: on Haunted Mines, when you take the mercenaries is a crucial, crucial decision that really impacts how the game plays out. If a team decides to go for the mercenaries before the undead spawn, then it ensures that you'll have to fight for skulls in the mines, as the pushing power of the golems is undeniable. However if the mercenaries are up when the undead spawn, the teams must choose, the team that decides to go for skulls will have great pushing power, if they can defend the massive mercenary push if the enemy decides to forego collecting skulls. If the enemy contests skulls, there's always the threat of a single enemy hero capping the mercenary camps, and your team finding itself faced by a golem of equal strength and waves of mercenaries pounding on your walls. However splitting your team is a recipe for defeat in detail, because if you lose two or three heroes you will find yourself confronted by the fact that the enemy can happily seize both skulls and mercenaries. Suddenly, communication, vision and timing are absolutely crucial.



The shared experience mechanic means that an advantage for a single enemy translates to an advantage for their whole team, thus making mistakes immediately punishes you. Allowing enemies to seize mercs gives them both exp and extra pushing power, and being down a fort can mean a full level advantage for the enemy. Coordinating teamfights, on defense and offense is absolutely crucial to victory, with the team that can initiate and fight best, winning, even if they are at a level deficit. For a game that is purportedly casual, the strategic understanding necessary to succeed is surprisingly complex.





The game is far, far deeper than it seems at first glance. Its hard to encompass in broad terms, since it very much matters what map the game is taking place on, but it always seems like there are strategic choices to be made. An example: on Haunted Mines, when you take the mercenaries is a crucial, crucial decision that really impacts how the game plays out. If a team decides to go for the mercenaries before the undead spawn, then it ensures that you'll have to fight for skulls in the mines, as the pushing power of the golems is undeniable. However if the mercenaries are up when the undead spawn, the teams must choose, the team that decides to go for skulls will have great pushing power, if they can defend the massive mercenary push if the enemy decides to forego collecting skulls. If the enemy contests skulls, there's always the threat of a single enemy hero capping the mercenary camps, and your team finding itself faced by a golem of equal strength and waves of mercenaries pounding on your walls. However splitting your team is a recipe for defeat in detail, because if you lose two or three heroes you will find yourself confronted by the fact that the enemy can happily seize both skulls and mercenaries. Suddenly, communication, vision and timing are absolutely crucial. The shared experience mechanic means that an advantage for a single enemy translates to an advantage for their whole team, thus making mistakes immediately punishes you. Allowing enemies to seize mercs gives them both exp and extra pushing power, and being down a fort can mean a full level advantage for the enemy. Coordinating teamfights, on defense and offense is absolutely crucial to victory, with the team that can initiate and fight best, winning, even if they are at a level deficit. For a game that is purportedly casual, the strategic understanding necessary to succeed is surprisingly complex. Its Aesthetically Pleasing

The game has been made really pretty. Its clear that many of the graphic assets aren't done yet, especially for heroes, but the game is brimming with details that show the care and love that has been put into the game, the satisfying way the gates open, the hidden gears under the palace that turn and close at the beginning of the game, the game is brimming with little details that make the game a pleasure to look at. The jousting pavilions on dragon shire, that hint that where the mercenary camp now stands once had knights fighting for each others honor, the little animation for the curse, where the raven hovers menacingly over every unit, the fact that the tied up sharks in Blackheart's Bay can be accidentally cut down by abilities.



The music, the WarCraft 2 soundtrack that fills me with nostalgia every time it plays. The fact that the music is so good that I'm not interested in muting it. The unit response dialogues, which just scream blizzard. The entire game just screams Blizzard, and that is a very, very good thing. If you've played Diablo, Warcraft or StarCraft, this game will bring back fond memories, even if you haven't the seer amount of love and care put into the little details, make the game downright pleasant to just look at. Every few matches I notice something new, like how injured towers start crumbling and you can see that they are full of gears.





The Bad

Talent Tree is limited until account level 8

Honestly, for all the things that this game limits you from based on account level, the only thing that makes ZERO sense to us in our first time experiences is the fact that not all talents are available in a match until your account hits level 8. Sure, account level 2 players might be forced to play a vs AI game, thats fine, the one game is enough to get you to account level 3 for Player vs Player matches. But once you get into those 5v5 matches, you are very very disadvantaged for no fault of your own because you aren’t account level 8. Not only do you only have 2 talents of a possible 4 for each “breakpoint” in game hero level but you only have one of your two heroic abilities available to you. Sure, maybe new players might be overwhelmed with more options, but honestly, I would rather have a weaker Zeratul because I experimented with my talents unsuccessfully, not because I am forced to have a weaker Zeratul. His most useful skills unlock at account level 8, so trying to play him before that feels like a waste of time. You are less a glass cannon and more of a glass spoon at any level below 8.



Limiting player talent options to level 8 is just mean to new players.





Honestly, for all the things that this game limits you from based on account level, the only thing that makes ZERO sense to us in our first time experiences is the fact that not all talents are available in a match until your account hits level 8. Sure, account level 2 players might be forced to play a vs AI game, thats fine, the one game is enough to get you to account level 3 for Player vs Player matches. But once you get into those 5v5 matches, you are very very disadvantaged for no fault of your own because you aren’t account level 8. Not only do you only have 2 talents of a possible 4 for each “breakpoint” in game hero level but you only have one of your two heroic abilities available to you. Sure, maybe new players might be overwhelmed with more options, but honestly, I would rather have a weaker Zeratul because I experimented with my talents unsuccessfully, not because I am forced to have a weaker Zeratul. His most useful skills unlock at account level 8, so trying to play him before that feels like a waste of time. You are less a glass cannon and more of a glass spoon at any level below 8. Limiting player talent options to level 8 is just mean to new players. While the game looks polished, there are definitely still some bugs

Currently Tassadar’s forcefield ultimate lets people walk through it from time to time. It might be related to whether they are touching the forcefield when it first appears, but we aren’t sure on how it works exactly. Stitches’ hook doesn't always grab - the model is slightly wider than the actual hitbox from what we’ve seen. Not by much, but definitely by a little bit smaller. Arthas’s Sindragosa ult, well, sometimes it flies in the opposite direction you initially tried to send it. There are also some performance concerns, insofar as server stability and game engine, but these are to be expected in an alpha, and there's no doubt blizzard is working on them.



While surprisingly well balanced, there are some concerns

Some heroes are especially strong while others will have a hard time finding where their niche is. On streams and other community sites, Raynor is seen by players as especially troublesome. His Hyperion ultimate is powerful, his chasing ability as an assassin is strong with the right talents, his auto attacks do quite the damage, his penetrating round is a knockback, and he has an AoE buff for every allied character around him. He also has an ability that automatically heals him whenever he falls below 30% hp for about 30% of his max hp once every 45 seconds. Oh and his passive? Anytime an enemy unit dies around him his cooldowns are reduced by 2 seconds, enemy heroes reduce his cooldowns by 20 seconds. So if raynor assists with two enemy kills in a teamfight within five seconds at less than 30% hp well it can proc again and heal him once more. Quite the tanky assassin Jimmy happens to be.



Kerrigan, well she’s not quite as bad as Raynor, but she fits into every team comp and there is never a moment where you think, I really wish Kerrigan wasn’t on my team. While we ran a pushing Kerrigan in most of our games, an “active” Kerrigan exists, where you have four active talents to make her an extremely effective assassin with the equivalent of eight skills. So if you like hotkeys Kerrigan is for you. Her damage and utility of her kit is ridiculously powerful and can punish poor positioning almost more than anyone else in this game.



Other champions don’t really feel like they have a place. While LiLi can heal a lot, Malfurion can heal very well, can split push a lane left by himself if he has to, has a rooting ability and can restore mana to his allies. Some heroes have alternatives that simply do a better job but of course, this could change with some number changes and hero exploration.



That said, at no point do opposing Heroes feel unfair. There is never a feeling of "wow the opposing team has tychus, gg" or "our team has abathur, gg". There are definite strengths and weaknesses, but its clear that all heroes are on the same page, even if some don't feel as powerful as others.





Some heroes are especially strong while others will have a hard time finding where their niche is. On streams and other community sites, Raynor is seen by players as especially troublesome. His Hyperion ultimate is powerful, his chasing ability as an assassin is strong with the right talents, his auto attacks do quite the damage, his penetrating round is a knockback, and he has an AoE buff for every allied character around him. He also has an ability that automatically heals him whenever he falls below 30% hp for about 30% of his max hp once every 45 seconds. Oh and his passive? Anytime an enemy unit dies around him his cooldowns are reduced by 2 seconds, enemy heroes reduce his cooldowns by 20 seconds. So if raynor assists with two enemy kills in a teamfight within five seconds at less than 30% hp well it can proc again and heal him once more. Quite the tanky assassin Jimmy happens to be. Kerrigan, well she’s not quite as bad as Raynor, but she fits into every team comp and there is never a moment where you think, I really wish Kerrigan wasn’t on my team. While we ran a pushing Kerrigan in most of our games, an “active” Kerrigan exists, where you have four active talents to make her an extremely effective assassin with the equivalent of eight skills. So if you like hotkeys Kerrigan is for you. Her damage and utility of her kit is ridiculously powerful and can punish poor positioning almost more than anyone else in this game. Other champions don’t really feel like they have a place. While LiLi can heal a lot, Malfurion can heal very well, can split push a lane left by himself if he has to, has a rooting ability and can restore mana to his allies. Some heroes have alternatives that simply do a better job but of course, this could change with some number changes and hero exploration. That said, at no point do opposing Heroes feel unfair. There is never a feeling of "wow the opposing team has tychus, gg" or "our team has abathur, gg". There are definite strengths and weaknesses, but its clear that all heroes are on the same page, even if some don't feel as powerful as others. Laning is boring

There is no incentive to lane other than to gain experience. Since everyone shares exp, and exp is capped in lane (one person collects experience just as well as five in one lane) there is no direct incentive to having more than one person in every active lane with creeps.



This means that on some two lane maps you have two laners and three players roaming doing mercenary camps and ganking lanes. Sounds fun right? Maybe theres a team fight in the middle of the map, maybe theres a big fight where the two roaming groups find eachother? Thats great but the guys who are laning turn into experience towers. They sit there, and just try not lose the towers they are guarding. If they get low, they back off a bit and eventually the minions will get close and you get their exp anyway. The only time this changes is when you need to worry about Dragon Shrines in that scenario you need two people in at least one lane to ensure they don't get both shrines. In this case you end up with a 2-1-1-1 set up with one roaming ganker. But laning still sucks. You push a lane you are easily gankable, you dont push a lane, you’ll get exp but accomplish not much else. Heck pushing lanes early doesn’t even result in much tower damage or lane/map control because the lanes are so short to begin with.



In short, laning is something that needs to be looked at to make it more fun. They killed last hitting and they killed the ‘laning phase’ but you need to have someone in every lane for exp or else you will fall very behind. Its only ok to leave lane when your lane opponent has also left or when going for a major objective such as the curse on cursed hollow, or doubloons on Blackheart Bay (and even here bot lane should probably never leave due to relative distance to the captain and a strong truly neutral mercenary camp).





There is no incentive to lane other than to gain experience. Since everyone shares exp, and exp is capped in lane (one person collects experience just as well as five in one lane) there is no direct incentive to having more than one person in every active lane with creeps. This means that on some two lane maps you have two laners and three players roaming doing mercenary camps and ganking lanes. Sounds fun right? Maybe theres a team fight in the middle of the map, maybe theres a big fight where the two roaming groups find eachother? Thats great but the guys who are laning turn into experience towers. They sit there, and just try not lose the towers they are guarding. If they get low, they back off a bit and eventually the minions will get close and you get their exp anyway. The only time this changes is when you need to worry about Dragon Shrines in that scenario you need two people in at least one lane to ensure they don't get both shrines. In this case you end up with a 2-1-1-1 set up with one roaming ganker. But laning still sucks. You push a lane you are easily gankable, you dont push a lane, you’ll get exp but accomplish not much else. Heck pushing lanes early doesn’t even result in much tower damage or lane/map control because the lanes are so short to begin with. In short, laning is something that needs to be looked at to make it more fun. They killed last hitting and they killed the ‘laning phase’ but you need to have someone in every lane for exp or else you will fall very behind. Its only ok to leave lane when your lane opponent has also left or when going for a major objective such as the curse on cursed hollow, or doubloons on Blackheart Bay (and even here bot lane should probably never leave due to relative distance to the captain and a strong truly neutral mercenary camp). The team NEEDS coordination

In such a team oriented game, trying to play in a pub is frustrating. There is some form of built in matchmaking which attempts to make “balanced” teams in terms of composition (I have never played a solo match with 4 total assassins or supports for example). With no voice communication in this fast paced game (15-20 minutes for a match compared to 30-40 in DotA or LoL) its hard to text chat your intentions. The text font is also frustratingly small, it feels like you need a magnifying lens just to read it.



Furthermore, the fact that is currently an alpha and no one has much experience and no established meta leads to players not understanding map mechanics, heroes, or even the experience system. So playing in a pub results in next to no strategic coordination, and next to no communication to understand what the current or next goal should be all while everyone is trying to figure it out. At the very least when in a group of players, you can discuss and decide on a plan of action. If its wrong, you can learn from it. Losses are meaningful, you can figure out what went wrong and why. In a pub, you lose because one person is in a bad position late game or because of a poor initiation and there is no discussion to figure out exactly what went wrong or where in the strategy you failed. Or simply put, you lose because there is no coordination for the map objectives. Even if you do coordinate well for a map objective such as the Dragon Knight to be taken, without good communication you might not be able to make full use of the Dragon Knight due to poor communication and limited time with the Dragon on your side. Sometimes though, you get teams that can and do understand the game, and lead or listen to leadership well, and then it feels almost like playing with a five stack.







Then again with the right hero, you can carry your pub



The bottom line however is this, despite a few quibbles, the game is fun. Its incredibly enjoyable, and its easy to spend hours playing and not even notice. That, more than anything, is what matters. For a game only in alpha, it is incredibly impressive, and its looking to get much better from here on out.



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The bottom line however is this, despite a few quibbles, the game is. Its incredibly enjoyable, and its easy to spend hours playing and not even notice. That, more than anything, is what matters. For a game only in alpha, it is incredibly impressive, and its looking to get much better from here on out.

Moderator "life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery" The measure of a terrible day is when you go to bed thinking "man, I wish the zombie apocalypse would start already"