OS Neutral Heroes of the Storm (Blizzard Moba)

soulsyphon said:

hey kids.

i got alpha access in november for free, but for the rest of you who want beta access will only cost you 40$...

do you feel like this is a scumbag move by blizzard? i feel like boycotting them, everything is money for them these days.

meanwhile the game... it has no achievements, theres a ranking system if you want to play ranked but theres no rewards of any kind thus far... you get a daily quest every day which you can complete by simply doing coop mode (against a.i.) for gold coins... but gold coins can only be used to purchase heroes and their level 10 master skins... everything else requires real money.

i dunno how i feel about this... the game play is quite fast... some games can take between 8-12 minutes... other mobas take 35-40min. i think the longest game i played in heroes was 19min.

overall i feel kind of meh about it. maybe im just not a moba player, since i didn't like league of legends nor dota 2.

oh well, that's that. what about you guys?

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Not a bad move. It's not unheard of to allow players to buy a 'Founders" game. Think there's quite a few titles out there that has the same things like EQN, etc..

It's not for everybody. Personally have been in since... 8/17/13. I've played through it maybe a dozen times. If one loves DotA-like games, then they'll love this similar title. If not, then no loss.

Dota 2 had a buy-in during the beta, (this was $30 or $35, I forget exactly) then was fully free upon launch. I don't see this as "scumbag" move by blizzard at all. They only let so many people into the beta at a time. If you can't wait, then you can buy it. It's not like it isn't giving you anything, it's giving you some gold and a few heroes and whatnot.

Ive just got EU version of Beta.

What is apparent is that game is extremely warming up CPU and GPU.

On 2012 MBP 15 with 4C 2.3 GHz CPU, 8 GB of RAM, GT650M it gets up to 96 degrees celsius even if the whole time fans are running at 6.2k rpm with smcFanControl.

Madness.

koyoot said:

Ive just got EU version of Beta.

What is apparent is that game is extremely warming up CPU and GPU.

On 2012 MBP 15 with 4C 2.3 GHz CPU, 8 GB of RAM, GT650M it gets up to 96 degrees celsius even if the whole time fans are running at 6.2k rpm with smcFanControl.

Madness.

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yeah, the game seems to be resource heavy. league of legends usually puts less strain on the system at high settings.

definitive said:

yeah, the game seems to be resource heavy. league of legends usually puts less strain on the system at high settings.

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Yes, that is true. No matter what I will do it will always be over 90 degrees Celsius.

However, the CPU seems to be not that stressed by the game with only around 40-50% of use by the game alone. WoW, or LoL are capable of getting whole 100%.

The second thing that comes apparent is that game is miles better than LoL.

Brillliant game! Maybe thats because you get a "craving" factor when the game ends at 10th minute? Maybe thats because you get that fulfillment when the game ends in win for your team after 20 minutes, and great fight?

I've never been impressed with much of anything Blizzard has put out. The gameplay in all of their products while sufficiently amusing never goes beyond that and never quite satisfies its price tag to my mind. The constant disney-fied cartoonish fantasy art style is also insufferably boring, unimaginative, and overbearing to the level of a dry heave. Added to this is the need to use their wretchedly awful client to play any game you own of theirs and you get blitz advertising and annoyance before you get close to anything resembling fun. Short answer - they're not my cup of tea.

As far as the recent trend of mobas, I don't get them either, I much prefer the godfather of this movement which all owe an homage to, UT. I can't remember which year's version (maybe 2003?) introduced the node capture dynamic. Why anyone would prefer a set of hot-bar skills to rotate through and god like overview to take you out of the combat instead of fps action is beyond me.

Heard of Minecraft? I paid cash for that before it was even in Alpha, and people continued to pay for it all the way through its lifetime through Alpha, Beta and full release. It's definitely not an unheard of model.

soulsyphon said:

too bad moba's started before 2003, but nice try.

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I never said they didn't simply that UT's node capture style of play encapsulates what mobas do, just to my mind UT did it better. It's a high water mark of gaming history that (so far) I don't see mobas approaching in terms of excitement, or fun of their gameplay.

edit: It's also a mistake to think mobas as they are now are exactly as they've always been. Recent iterations are many leagues (pun intended) apart from where they started. Further UT was incredibly popular around the time of the beginnings of the modern mobas so it's not by coincidence that there may be some influence.

soulsyphon said:

now i know its lame to paste facts but here from wikipedia

The roots of the genre can be traced back ...[13]

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i didn't know the earliest, but i knew that mobas became a thing since starcraft, it became a phenomenon with warcraft 3.

it has no roots in unreal tournament... you're totally making this stuff up. i also played ut 2003, and just no.... perhaps ut took it from starcraft? but i don't relate ut and mobas together...

holding a 'node' and destroying towers with a.i. minions is not the same thing at all.

blizzard entertainment may not be responsible for the actions of modders, except for their engines however a lot of genres spawned from starcraft and warcraft. and now starcraft 2. the moba scene basically spawned inside blizzard's games, so has 'tower defense' games and many others.

none of this relates to UT.

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First, you're right - it is lame to quote from wiki and what you're quoting is pretty much irrelevant to the larger points, since I'm not disputing the existence of mobas before UT, simply that the way they existed is very different from the way they exist now - something the wiki entry upholds.

Second, game genres (and pretty much everything else in this world) don't evolve within the confines of their own space, irrespective of everything else, they cross-pollinate and pick up ideas from everywhere. Is Bioshock or Borderlands the evolution of FPS or RPG(?) - kind of hard to argue either way.

Additionally - to illustrate this further - something like the step back from controlling many elements in the early RTS games to controlling one element isn't an evolution within a genre as much as a stepping back from the genre itself. Controlling a board of elements is the main feature of most strategy games (generally speaking for that time) - stepping back from that to control a single element owes something to just about anything else but the strategy genre - (maybe fps or rpg for starters) and can certainly not be credited as simply (and reductively) an evolution of the RTS itself.

The point you're making about nodes vs towers is a trivial one, mechanically these are variations of each other but fit within the same paradigm of node progression to win a match.

If the bar is that low for you to disassociate an element of gameplay from corresponding with a moba you should find it deeply problematic to fit those early single or two player RTS experiences in with the team dynamics and cooperative strategy that now populate modern mobas. A dynamic I would argue that owes more to the evolution of the arena shooters like UT or Tribes than to anything happening in the RTS space of the time. UT's team based dynamic to win this kind of node progression match far precedes the modern moba and is noticeably different than the simple single player or two player RTS games of the time.

Further, while UT had a variety of maps featuring varying node locations, one of the most popular (maybe 'thee' most popular) that I recall used the diagram found on the wiki entry you quote:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplayer_online_battle_arena#/media/File:Map_of_MOBA.svg

However, (critically) UT placed nodes at the corners and middle of the map - something that is now the main feature of today's most popular moba titles.

So in conclusion, I think it's not hard to argue that the team dynamic, cooperative strategies, and node progression features are components whose popularity have stronger associations with games like UT during that time period than they did with any RTS or early mobas and it is in part those threads that have been woven into the evolution of what we see with current moba titles - except as I said - the god view and hot bar elements make them far less compelling...

soulsyphon said:

*rolls eyes* why do i even bother posting on forums, its always the same ****, people arguing subjectively rather than facts.

i'm done. heck im not in the apple club anymore so im not sure why im still here, have fun.

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Filling your responses with condescending tripe like "nice try, *rolling eyes*" etc while lazily posting wiki links and offering blanket assertions hardly qualifies as an argument that uses facts nor does a simple listing of facts qualify as good argument.

soulsyphon said:

...your first post you mentioned how UT 2003 is the grandfather of mobas which... is not true.

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Metaphorically yes it bears influence - it is not the sole influence but it is not hard to show why that connection can be made (which I've already done) blanket refuting on your part aside.

xSinghx said:

argument that uses facts nor does a simple listing of facts qualify as good argument.

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Fact is: You have your opinion, and NO ONE cares about it.

Please, stay on topic. Dispution about MOBAs is on another forum.

What I have seen in this game is that its not repetitive at all due to mass of Maps and objectives on them, compared to League of Legends. Its way faster also, and is quite balanced, thanks to Group level rather than individual level.

Exp gap between levels also makes it easier to get back and turn around whole game.

koyoot said:

Fact is: You have your opinion, and NO ONE cares about it.

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That's obviously not true. You apparently care enough to respond to it, as did the person who started this thread, and let's hope you're not so conceited you actually believe to know the thoughts of the 1,200 or so people that have viewed the thread.

koyoot said:

Please, stay on topic. Dispution about MOBAs is on another forum.

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You seem to be under the impression that I wasn't responding to someone else, namely the author of this thread and now you. I'm not directing the conversation anywhere but where the author wanted it to go apparently.

Besides, it's not as if we're wholly off topic as the thread started with a complaint about a moba and a game developer - if you'll recall - so your complaint is without substance. Threads are conversational, not coding if - then statements.

sylvanas is being released this week i think, maybe on tuesday... i don't have enough gold to buy her ;[

Back to topic. I pretty much enjoy it. I have found some heroes that I am fond of, I like that I can play without paying money (I am considering buying the nexus bundle since I like many of the heroes included) and I like that Blizzard has made the game playable in my >7 y.o. PC. There are some balance issues, but since I am not that competitive it does not bother me much. Only thing which is bit frustrating although understandable is the slow gold accumulation.

My favorite heroes are Falstad, Nazeebo, Diablo, Zagara. There are others that I like but can't remember at the moment. I find Sgt. Hammer bit op and Murky completely luckster. I like Uther but I can't find a build which will make me feel competitive.

What about yours?

Muradin, Valla, Illidan(YOU ARE NOT PREPARED! - with best voice of the game...), Thrall, Arthas, Lili, Rehgar.
These are my favourite.

Absolutely fantastic game.

Skipping the feuding and instead of making a new topic, I also have some closed beta keys after getting an invite from Blizzard (for free, yay). I gave one to a friend, but I have 3 left. PM me if you're interested.

I've only had time to do the tutorials (dunno why I did - all these games are the same, just slightly different keys) and a practice round. I like what I've seen in my short time. Been too busy and it's too gorgeous out (going back out - 70+ and sunny? Yes please) to play much. Maybe on a rainy day next week I'll explore more.

definitive said:

yeah, the game seems to be resource heavy.

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Not really. Though Blizzard have done the same error they did with SC2: The game doesn't have a FPS cap by default, which means it'll keep trying to push more frames until it hits a limit at your hardware.

Thats a process that will always produce a lot of heat and noise, and be an immense drain on battery. You need to edit the environments file to add the FPS caps yourself. That'll tone down the resource usage substantially, especially i the menus.

Blizzard sent me 5 codes for that game but I doubt I'll play.

Just getting acquainted with this game. Playing A.I. is easy. Playing on line, it gets real old having my butt handed to me. I see you can group with 5 people you know, a huge advantage vs a pickup group. I want this to be fun and casual. I doubt it's going to work out that way.

Huntn said:

Just getting acquainted with this game. Playing A.I. is easy. Playing on line, it gets real old having my butt handed to me. I see you can group with 5 people you know, a huge advantage vs a pickup group. I want this to be fun and casual. I doubt it's going to work out that way.

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While still getting my butt handed to me, I'm actually enjoying this. If you are a seasoned player, what are your picks as best tank and best ranged toons?

For those not familiar, besides the free-to-play rotations, you, can pick any toon in the Shop and try it in a very limited setting, but enough to get a feel for its abilities and progression.

Azmodan vs Zagara
I played Azmodan ("Try me" mode) and Zagara (Free Rotation). Was ready to buy Azmodan, but then I read online, how bad he is. Have not played him in a regular match. Anyone with experience using this toon? Thanks!