Heroes of the Storm - Review

It’s strange that Heroes of the Storm exists at all. Every popular MOBA owes a great debt to DOTA, which started as a WarCraft III mod and spawned a genre that has completely obliterated real-time strategy games in terms of popularity. If Blizzard decided to hop on the bandwagon, chasing after the same pool of money in the same way everyone else is, they would have likely achieved moderate success due to brand recognition. Yet Heroes of the Storm is not just another MOBA. The game is a bold and ambitious reevaluation of the entire genre. That’s not to say Heroes of the Storm is completely different from its peers. Two teams of five still compete against each other, level up, and earn new abilities. The same character archetypes are present, such as tanks that absorb damage, assassins that dish it out, and supports that heal the team and hinder the enemy. Despite the similarities, those coming from other games might have a difficult time with Heroes of the Storm because the pace and flow are so different. Even though the ultimate goal is the same—destroy the core at the enemy’s base—various objectives add plenty of color. Instead of just having one competitive map, Heroes of the Storm currently has seven, each containing a special task that can wildly swing the course of a match. On Blackheart’s Bay, a ghost pirate stands next to an enormous ship. The first team to hand over the requisite number of doubloons is rewarded with cannon blasts that decimate enemy buildings. These doubloons are earned by defeating specific NPCs around the map, smashing open chests that spawn periodically, and by killing members of the other team. Another map, Haunted Mines, involves traveling underground to gather glowing skulls. The team with the most skulls summons the stronger grave golem, a gigantic beast that looks like it’s made of demonic, gnarled branches. The objectives on each map are so game-changing that they can’t be ignored. In other MOBAs, players slowly coalesce from their individual lanes into a unified force. Heroes of the Storm is a team effort almost immediately. The game strips out a lot of the build-up, forcing large engagements quickly and frequently. It’s as if Heroes is saying “hey, team fights are the best part anyway” and after playing more than 100 hours, we’re starting to come around. Many have criticized Heroes of the Storm for lacking the overt complexity of its peers, but the game provides a convincing argument in response. For example, Heroes lacks any items whatsoever. In Dota 2 or League of Legends, items augment characters, enhancing their strengths and covering weaknesses. Heroes fills this void with talents, acquired roughly every three levels. Talents immediately have a significant impact on your character, whereas items in other MOBAs usually need to be combined with one another for powerful effects, and it can take a while to reach that point. So many games include certain mechanics because “that’s the way it’s always been done,” but Heroes of the Storm holds nothing sacred. Another huge change, and certainly one of the most controversial, is that experience is shared amongst your team. Instead of each character leveling up individually, everyone contributes to a team pool. On one hand, it can be extremely frustrating if you’re performing well, but the rest of the team isn’t, making you feel like you’re being held back. However, the shared experience pool does a lot more good than bad. It allows new players to contribute without worrying that they’re behind. Veterans may scoff at such a notion, but MOBAs can seem very impenetrable to the uninitiated, so it creates a more positive environment for everyone, not just those in the know.