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Heroes of the Storm Technical Alpha Thread: [Artifacts Removed]
- Thread starter fluffydelusions
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shysaursoft
Member
Crazy. All that work, and you're going to have to do it all again once things are reset before beta.
(I'm assuming there's going to be a profile reset at some point).
Yeah, that might be it for me.
I was enjoying the game, but I'm pretty opposed to something where I have to massively farm up a ton of items (that also notably reduce the rate at which I can get new heroes) just to be able to have good builds.
Incitemaybe
Member
I'm sure it's well known around here but I'm pretty new to this....how does one go about getting into the Beta?
I've gone to the Blizzard website and picked what beta i'd be interested in under my account....is it just a waiting game after that?
Thanks
I've gone to the Blizzard website and picked what beta i'd be interested in under my account....is it just a waiting game after that?
Thanks
I'm sure it's well known around here but I'm pretty new to this....how does one go about getting into the Beta?
I've gone to the Blizzard website and picked what beta i'd be interested in under my account....is it just a waiting game after that?
Thanks
Pretty much yes. Sometimes they will give keys away to their betas on various fan sites, but as of right now the HotS alpha is just blind invitation. Don't trust any "key links", you'll get an e-mail and the application will show up on the blizzard launcher if you get in.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Not at all thrilled by the latest changes. Really turned off by the items though, irrational knee-jerk reaction is "oh goodie, grinding for SFxT gems." I'll give it a week to get a feel for it before I bother complaining.
I do find this experience interesting overall though. I've never been in an alpha before, so seeing how much a game that I find fun can turn into something I wouldn't have been interested in if it had started that way kinda feels like 5 years of an MMO condensed into several months. Maybe less really is more, I dunno.
I do find this experience interesting overall though. I've never been in an alpha before, so seeing how much a game that I find fun can turn into something I wouldn't have been interested in if it had started that way kinda feels like 5 years of an MMO condensed into several months. Maybe less really is more, I dunno.
Eh, let's be realistic here. The only "feedback" that is going to matter is the change of revenue per player on the next few waves.
Reddit is all up in an uproar, I can't imagine how their official forums are taking it, and this is the breaking point for me too. I'll check back in about a month to see if they backpedal with the next big patch. Otherwise the only point of this game is to play Sgt. Hammer on PvE custom maps.
I''m not sure why NeoGAF exist either. And yet here we are. So let's party!
theMrCravens
Member
Is there a reason they're aiming more for a LoL experience instead of going the DOTA route ?
More money? Valve can take a seat back and let something like Dota 2 be completely free
theMrCravens
Member
It's Blizzard Entertainment we're talking about though.
Aren't they Valve +++ ?
I am confused...
In the end LoL is the market leader in the genre and I guess it just made a lot of sense for Blizzard to just copy that.
The Valve way is vastly superior, but Blizzard can't really go that way.
Dota 2 can be completely free because it generates all its revenue through cosmetic items that the community makes for the game, and having steam and its marketplace directly integrated into it.
Blizzard doesn't have that, and League is wildly successful as well, so that's they route they went.
The difference is Blizzard doesn't run online store like Valve does and able to make profit from percentage cut from sales within Steam Store.
That's why Dota 2 was able to have all heroes available.
HoN doesn't charge for anything but cosmetics either and it does alright.
Hats, particularly community created ones, were still an experimental idea during DOTA 2's conception. That was not why DOTA 2 makes all its heroes available for free.
They're all available because DotA is free, and they wanted maximum migration between the two games.
The reason Blizzard don't make their heroes free is simple: Paywall/grindwall heroes generate more money.
Eh, the heroes themselves I agree with - I think having everything available really does make DotA2 more awful for beginners. I like the league system for champs/heroes, I think it serves new players well and it isn't that big of a deal for veterans. Artifacts and talent gating? not so much. I liked the universal talent gate of a low level unlock - easy to get over that hump for a vet. The per hero unlocks...not as much. It should be like 1 game to unlock them per hero if it's this way.
Artifacts are just awful and need to go.
Oh, and anyone that is too lazy to post ont he forums, at least go and upvote the threads/posts that put stuff in perspective.
Artifacts are just awful and need to go.
Oh, and anyone that is too lazy to post ont he forums, at least go and upvote the threads/posts that put stuff in perspective.
If you are to follow a competitor's footsteps, why follow the second in line, specially if its nowhere near as big as the market leader?
But that's what everyone's been saying.
They want maximum migration so that people use Steam, which is Valve's cash cow.
Blizzard doesn't have that.
You're misunderstanding.
I'm not saying that Steam/the market/Hats are the reason behind the approach, I'm saying they can take that approach because having Steam/the market/Hats give them the means to do so.
Blizzard does not, so they are basically forced into taking a different route.
(Also, one could argue that Dota HAD to have all the heroes be available for gameplay reasons.)
I can't ever remember such a near-unanimous negative reaction to something- there aren't even apologists for it really, on a design level.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
Twitch stream for new hero, battlefield, and developer insights starting soon:
http://www.twitch.tv/BlizzHeroes
http://www.twitch.tv/BlizzHeroes
dave is ok
aztek is ok
Runes?
Welp, that does it for me. Fuck this game.
Welp, that does it for me. Fuck this game.
Incitemaybe
Member
Can someone explain why the idea of runes is making everyone angry?
They take a really long time to collect in LoL. The system is fine IMO if they're easier to get.
It's an unfriendly barrier to new players. If you're a fresh player who jumps into the arena, gets destroyed by players with fully leveled artifacts slots, you'll be upset.
If you decide to work hard and beat them, only to realize you need to spend many hours / lots of gold to even be on the same playing field, you're going to be discouraged.
Incitemaybe
Member
hmm, I can see how that wouldn't be a good direction to go in. Do you feel blizzard overlooked this or just don't care?
Or that it's a ploy to make people pay money to be on equal footing with people who have either spent more time with the game or straight up paid?
That's what it is. Even a perceived advantage from runes is enough to get people to spend their e-money on it instead of unlocking heroes, which eventually leads to more profit.
It's quite sinister.
Balmung421
Member
Loved their answers to the Artifact feedback. They are totally open to making whatever changes are needed to make the system better, and the comparisons they used between COD and Titanfall make tons of sense.
Really excited to try out the system and see what works/what doesn't.
Really excited to try out the system and see what works/what doesn't.
I'm sure people at Blizzard are working to ensure that HotS makes money, which means there needs to be a big enough incentive for people to pay for something. As other folks have said in this thread, they can't hope to emulate Valve's model...
That said, game developers aren't evil geniuses. I think they saw an opportunity to try and add depth and customization to the game through a method that exists in a highly successful competitor and wanted to try it. If the fanbase continues to be vocal about their dislike I imagine the system will change.
But LoL doesn't even let you buy runes with real money do they?
They don't. What happens is, some players will compartmentalize runes and champions into two mental groups.
Runes: "Things I have to grind for, and which I need if I want to remain competitive"
Champions: "Things I can buy with cash in order to save my IP for runes"
Glass Shark
Banned
My interest in this game tanked immediately after this announcement.
The solution to this problem seems simple to me. Make runes cheap or even free.
If they're cheap/free then there's no point to them existing. Which is what we're getting at in the first place. They don't add any gameplay interaction.
SargerusBR
I love Pokken!
Did Rehgar ever appeared in WoW? I only remember him from the comics
Let's not be silly, he's a generic WC3 shaman if you're not into the comics, that's still something that fits in just great. You could just as easily say "LOL thy're adding Diablo characters that I don't give a shit about" or any other source of them that you don't like.
There's a big difference between a main character in a Diablo game and a support unit from Warcraft 3.
You're right in that it's not really that different from them adding Sgt. Hammer or Zagara to the game (to be fair, I have no idea if they're lore characters or not) it just seems strange to dip into that well so early when there's still a whole bunch of Blizzard characters that people actually care about to be included, especially since the roster is already crowded with Warcraft heroes. Isn't his skill/talent set almost exactly what they datamined for Thrall?
He's not some random unnamed character though, he's a known quantity in the lore. That'd be like complaining that Medivh got put in or something, we haven't played as him either but he exists and has affected the series. Reghar has been around and is popular, At the WORST level, you're right he's just like Sgt Hammer. So who cares?
Medivh is a character that exists in the Warcraft campaigns though. Rehgar is just a comic character.
Again, I don't think it's a huge deal but it is funny that some no-name comic exclusive character only the strongest grogs have ever heard of made it into the game before Thrall or Duran.
Honestly...I would hope Thrall would be a little more impressive than chain heal/totem/lightning shield :/ I'm glad it's not him, that's a huge undersell of his potential.
If I was guessing, I'd say they're saving a bunch of heroes for the Beta roll-out.
The Skeleton King, Varian Wrynn, Maeve, Azmodan, Kael'Thas, Chen Stormstout, Sylvanas, The Lost Vikings and a bunch of others all have code strings in the Alpha... So I'd say there's a lot of stuff they're testing that they're holding back on...
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