So here is the link to the article I'm talking about but I just wanted to post my issues with it.
http://en.topbrowserbasedgames.com/news/1161/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=hots&utm_campaign=1
If you want you can read the review above. I'm addressing each of the points that the aforementioned article makes in order as to why they have problems with them. Some are more problematic than others.
HotS is approachable, but still deep: Yes & No
Hots?s business model is more fair: No
HotS has a faster pace: Yes
Comebacks are common: No
It has better backstory: No
Addendum
http://en.topbrowserbasedgames.com/news/1161/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=hots&utm_campaign=1
If you want you can read the review above. I'm addressing each of the points that the aforementioned article makes in order as to why they have problems with them. Some are more problematic than others.
HotS is approachable, but still deep: Yes & No
This is both true and not. What this article is trying to say is that Heroes of the Storm has an easier difficulty curve, which seems to be true. Or is it? HotS might be easier to approach than League of Legends but, in my opinion, it might actually be harder to actually learn for two primary reasons.
The first reason is that while Heroes has done away with things like Itemization builds it has replaced Items with the even-more-finicky Talent system. Understanding an individual hero well enough to take an optimal talent path is actually far more difficult than buying items for a new player because League has a ?Recommended Item? page for every hero that clearly tells you what each item is for and what purpose it fills (core items, offense, defense, etc) while the usefulness of a given talent can change from game to game based on the enemy team composition and the random map.
This brings me to the other reason. Random maps do not make for particularly easy-to-learn games, especially with the convoluted maps of Heroes of the Storm. Now, I understand them easily enough but I?ve been playing MOBA?s since DotA was a custom game on Warcraft?s battle.net servers (Goblin Techies r.i.p.) but a new player to the MOBA genre would be utterly lost trying to decipher the varying map goals and objectives every time they load into a new game. Are they on Garden? Better hope they know how to jungle and collect seeds. How about Dragon Shrine? Do they know where the shrines are and what they?re for? Obviously not, they?re new.
Heroes of the Storm, when looked at from a holistic perspective (that is; the entire game not just leveling up the hero) is actually a much more difficult game to approach than League which has only a single major map (few people play Twisted Treeline and Dominion is gone for good) and a fairly easy-to-learn item system thanks to the Recommended builds.
The first reason is that while Heroes has done away with things like Itemization builds it has replaced Items with the even-more-finicky Talent system. Understanding an individual hero well enough to take an optimal talent path is actually far more difficult than buying items for a new player because League has a ?Recommended Item? page for every hero that clearly tells you what each item is for and what purpose it fills (core items, offense, defense, etc) while the usefulness of a given talent can change from game to game based on the enemy team composition and the random map.
This brings me to the other reason. Random maps do not make for particularly easy-to-learn games, especially with the convoluted maps of Heroes of the Storm. Now, I understand them easily enough but I?ve been playing MOBA?s since DotA was a custom game on Warcraft?s battle.net servers (Goblin Techies r.i.p.) but a new player to the MOBA genre would be utterly lost trying to decipher the varying map goals and objectives every time they load into a new game. Are they on Garden? Better hope they know how to jungle and collect seeds. How about Dragon Shrine? Do they know where the shrines are and what they?re for? Obviously not, they?re new.
Heroes of the Storm, when looked at from a holistic perspective (that is; the entire game not just leveling up the hero) is actually a much more difficult game to approach than League which has only a single major map (few people play Twisted Treeline and Dominion is gone for good) and a fairly easy-to-learn item system thanks to the Recommended builds.
Hots?s business model is more fair: No
This is a little difficult to address. Not because it?s true because it actually isn?t. The hard part is explaining why because it delves into Metagame Balance which are methods of balancing in-game play by affecting something outside of the actual game. An understandably difficult method of game design but one that League has put a lot of work into.
First let?s get this out of the way: yes it is easier to acquire new heroes in Heroes of the Storm than acquiring Champions in League of Legends because 100% of your winnings can go towards the Hero. This isn?t actually a good thing, though. The Rune system not only adds an extra level of complexity to the game (which actually adds to a game?s lifespan) but it also serves as a means of reinforcing the major mechanic of League of Legends, which is Mastery-Through-Repetition.
Popular game series? like the Souls/Borne games, Monster Hunter, and World of Warcraft (ironically) use this mechanic copiously. How League reinforces it with the Rune System though is by making each Champion an investment. If you buy a Champion you need the requisite runes to support your build or you?ll be subpar comparatively to other players of that Champion. This urges the player spend time mastering the Champion because it was a large expenditure of resources and because getting another Champion would further make it difficult to acquire Runes. To complement this mechanic League also has a large number of exceptionally cheap Champions of all role types up for purchase for minimal IP such as Veigar or Ashe, a Mage with huge nuke potential and a utilitarian Attack Damage Carry respectively. Both of these Champions and many more are many times cheaper than even least expensive Hero in HotS.
The article also doesn?t account for the fact that, by the time a player hits account level 30 in League (the level cap) they should have a decent selection of Champions and enough IP saved up to afford their necessary Runes.
First let?s get this out of the way: yes it is easier to acquire new heroes in Heroes of the Storm than acquiring Champions in League of Legends because 100% of your winnings can go towards the Hero. This isn?t actually a good thing, though. The Rune system not only adds an extra level of complexity to the game (which actually adds to a game?s lifespan) but it also serves as a means of reinforcing the major mechanic of League of Legends, which is Mastery-Through-Repetition.
Popular game series? like the Souls/Borne games, Monster Hunter, and World of Warcraft (ironically) use this mechanic copiously. How League reinforces it with the Rune System though is by making each Champion an investment. If you buy a Champion you need the requisite runes to support your build or you?ll be subpar comparatively to other players of that Champion. This urges the player spend time mastering the Champion because it was a large expenditure of resources and because getting another Champion would further make it difficult to acquire Runes. To complement this mechanic League also has a large number of exceptionally cheap Champions of all role types up for purchase for minimal IP such as Veigar or Ashe, a Mage with huge nuke potential and a utilitarian Attack Damage Carry respectively. Both of these Champions and many more are many times cheaper than even least expensive Hero in HotS.
The article also doesn?t account for the fact that, by the time a player hits account level 30 in League (the level cap) they should have a decent selection of Champions and enough IP saved up to afford their necessary Runes.
HotS has a faster pace: Yes
This is absolutely true although whether or not it is a universally positive trait is up for debate. Some players like a longer game because it permits for more diverse strategies while others prefer to be able to cut through games quickly.
Comebacks are common: No
Now this statement is the closest the article comes to being outright wrong. Anyone who has watched or played League of Legends, DotA 2, or any well-made MOBA knows that comebacks are almost completely random. No one game has a ?greater percentage? of comebacks than any other and stating that HotS just flat out has more makes this article seem like it was written by a Blizzard employee (which it might have been come to think of it).
League of Legends sees plenty of legendary comebacks and throws. Just as many as Heroes of the Storm I would say although I would append that with something I will address at the end of this. An issue built into the very mechanics of HotS that actually encourages snowballing, making a comeback harder.
League of Legends sees plenty of legendary comebacks and throws. Just as many as Heroes of the Storm I would say although I would append that with something I will address at the end of this. An issue built into the very mechanics of HotS that actually encourages snowballing, making a comeback harder.
It has better backstory: No
If you are a longtime fan of Blizzard then yes, this game has great backstory. Not any backstory of its own, mind you, just for the characters. If you aren?t a big Blizzard fan you will probably get as much out of the lore as a non-fan of League of Legends gets out of League Lore. This part is the runner up for ?outright wrong? because no one can deny that Blizzard is a juggernaut in the gaming industry. Most gamers have played World of Warcraft at least for a month. Many of the older generation like myself grew up with Warcraft I&II, Starcraft & Brood Wars, and Diablo I&II. So yes it is far more likely that a player entering the MOBA genre for the first time will have some rudimentary knowledge and investment in Blizzard?s library of Lore.
To be honest though, I almost like League of Legends? Lore better. Anyone who played in the earliest days of League will almost certainly fondly remember the faux-newspaper: ?Journal of Justice?. It carried ongoing storylines like the torrid romance between Evelynn and Twisted Fate, Janna?s disdain for paparazzi, and Dr. Mundo?s corporate investments, treating every Champion like a real person, like celebrities in their own world being treated the same way we treat our own. The genuine humor and excellent quality of writing still makes me grin which I reread it. Anyone who tells me that the disparate Heroes of Blizzard with no relation to one another beyond what exists in their separate games is purely uninformed.
For those who are willing to look, they can find that same quality of writing and devotion to Lore in the newest Champions too, despite the Journal being now defunct. The beautiful and somber short story written for the Champion called Kindred, a twin aspect of death represented by the wonderfully distinct characters of Lamb & Wolf, brought my fiance to tears when it ended with Wolf asking Lamb: when everyone else was dead, if she would run from him too? To which she answered: ?I would never run from you, dear Wolf.?
To be honest though, I almost like League of Legends? Lore better. Anyone who played in the earliest days of League will almost certainly fondly remember the faux-newspaper: ?Journal of Justice?. It carried ongoing storylines like the torrid romance between Evelynn and Twisted Fate, Janna?s disdain for paparazzi, and Dr. Mundo?s corporate investments, treating every Champion like a real person, like celebrities in their own world being treated the same way we treat our own. The genuine humor and excellent quality of writing still makes me grin which I reread it. Anyone who tells me that the disparate Heroes of Blizzard with no relation to one another beyond what exists in their separate games is purely uninformed.
For those who are willing to look, they can find that same quality of writing and devotion to Lore in the newest Champions too, despite the Journal being now defunct. The beautiful and somber short story written for the Champion called Kindred, a twin aspect of death represented by the wonderfully distinct characters of Lamb & Wolf, brought my fiance to tears when it ended with Wolf asking Lamb: when everyone else was dead, if she would run from him too? To which she answered: ?I would never run from you, dear Wolf.?
Addendum
Now for that last bit I mentioned about the mechanic in HotS that encourages snowballing. It?s a side-effect of the Team Experience mechanic that I?ve come to recognize in my own mind as the ?Level 10 Effect?. Every game has a team that reaches level 10 first, it?s just a part of the game, with both sides jockeying back and forth for minions and objectives, one is bound to come out on top slightly (or drastically, depending on the game) more often.
When a Hero hits level 10 they gain access to their ?Ultimate? ability. An ability that is far more powerful than their other abilities but comes with a much higher cost in the form of a long Cooldown period (during which the ability can?t be used) and generally a much higher cost in mana.
The ?Level 10 Effect? happens when one team hits level ten and because of communal experience that means the whole team hits ten simultaneously. An entire team gets their ultimates while the other team is still potentially thirty seconds to a minute (or far more) away from getting theirs. This allows that Level 10 team to push objectives with brutal force, unleashing their ultimate attacks and spells on a team that is literally incapable of firing back with the same force. Many ultimates like Raynor?s Hyperion also do serious damage to buildings like Walls, Turrets, and Forts, allowing a team to push objectives without endangering themselves. Every taken objective grants bonus xp to the team which puts them further and further in the lead, creating what can sometimes be an insurmountable gap between the two teams and locking them into a slow (or potentially quick) ending to the game that is decided before one team even has their best skills.
This is the reason why I find HotS to be less effective as a MOBA than League of Legends. Not less enjoyable. I do like the game quite a lot. Ping-ponging around as Artanis like a firstborn foosball is endless fun. But is it a better game than League? Is it more approachable and easier to learn? I think from the outside looking in it might appear that way but on closer inspection it?s actually quite the reverse. League of Legends does badly need to revamp their tutorial systems in my opinion, but the existing structure actually makes the game easier to learn.
When a Hero hits level 10 they gain access to their ?Ultimate? ability. An ability that is far more powerful than their other abilities but comes with a much higher cost in the form of a long Cooldown period (during which the ability can?t be used) and generally a much higher cost in mana.
The ?Level 10 Effect? happens when one team hits level ten and because of communal experience that means the whole team hits ten simultaneously. An entire team gets their ultimates while the other team is still potentially thirty seconds to a minute (or far more) away from getting theirs. This allows that Level 10 team to push objectives with brutal force, unleashing their ultimate attacks and spells on a team that is literally incapable of firing back with the same force. Many ultimates like Raynor?s Hyperion also do serious damage to buildings like Walls, Turrets, and Forts, allowing a team to push objectives without endangering themselves. Every taken objective grants bonus xp to the team which puts them further and further in the lead, creating what can sometimes be an insurmountable gap between the two teams and locking them into a slow (or potentially quick) ending to the game that is decided before one team even has their best skills.
This is the reason why I find HotS to be less effective as a MOBA than League of Legends. Not less enjoyable. I do like the game quite a lot. Ping-ponging around as Artanis like a firstborn foosball is endless fun. But is it a better game than League? Is it more approachable and easier to learn? I think from the outside looking in it might appear that way but on closer inspection it?s actually quite the reverse. League of Legends does badly need to revamp their tutorial systems in my opinion, but the existing structure actually makes the game easier to learn.
