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Heroes of the Storm Technical Alpha Thread: [Artifacts Removed]

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I can honestly say I find the number of monsters and non-humans on the roster to be one my biggest draws. I personally always prefer to play the least human characters possible in pretty much anything.
 
Finally got invited to this tonight, so if you are like me and have been waiting a long time, check your emails.

Anyway, what's it like for newcomers? Am I going to get CAPS LOCKED at for being new or is it more relaxed than certain other similar games?
 
And they have DOTA2 if they do. They've got to monetize the game somehow.

Blizzard has three series worth of fan service and throwbacks they could pull from to make a fortune off cosmetics alone. Dota 2 is pulling in tons of money and their cosmetics are just random looking gear and esports booklets.
 
Anyway, what's it like for newcomers? Am I going to get CAPS LOCKED at for being new or is it more relaxed than certain other similar games?

This probably happens in Hello Kitty Online, I don't think any online game could ever be free of it

Even though the game hasn't even been released yet, there are a bunch of chiefs who have no patience for newcomers. I'd say 1 in every 4 games devolves into a bitchfest, which is probably pretty good for the genre. It's relaxed in the sense that team results are more important than individual contributions, but there are some people who complain about whoever has the worst Kill:Death ratio even if you're ahead of the other team by 2-3 levels.

I'll just say it's never been bad enough to make me even consider dropping the game, but I have fairly thick skin.
 
Co-op's been a good experience for me so far. I think because everyone knows they're in there because they either suck and know they suck or are trying out characters for the first time.
 
Co-op's been a good experience for me so far. I think because everyone knows they're in there because they either suck and know they suck or are trying out characters for the first time.

Yeah, I've played a few co-op matches and enjoyed them too. In fact its the most fun I've had with Hearthstone so far, in co-op mode. Ironically enough it's my preferred way to play Starcraft 2 as well, human co-op versus the AI. I think I just find it more relaxed and thus more fun. Human vs. Human can be so damn competitive with team members pointing fingers and being crabby, and since I'm a very casual player of these kinds of games I'm usually also one of the worst players technically.
 
Blizzard has three series worth of fan service and throwbacks they could pull from to make a fortune off cosmetics alone. Dota 2 is pulling in tons of money and their cosmetics are just random looking gear and esports booklets.

The difference is that Valve doesn't make 99% of of Dota 2's cosmetics. The community does.
 
Good points.

I have no problem with LoL and HotS, but I'm not a cheapskate haha
The real problem w/ LoL is the rune crap, and that got killed dead in HoTS. A lot of people like feeling like they're working towards goals (unlocking all the heroes) - the system's not all negatives.
 
Damnit Blizzz.
I'm still not in even after final alpha wipe. :(

Yeah I get the feeling I'm not going to get to play this until open beta. I've been watching my battle.net account page and battle.net app every day too.

Thanks for the link.

Need some more females (and not of the monster'ish type). That's one big reason I don't like DOTA2

I'd like Valeera. Jaina's pretty awesome though, look forward to freezing everything.
 
I'm really liking how Dailys are scaled now. Play 8 games for 800g gives me much more incentive to continue playing than the previous 2 games for 200g.
 
Blizz have got a lousy sense of timing. They finally release the pre-expansion patch for WoW, and when I'm halfway through the new stuff there, this pops up on my battle.net launcher.

Sadly, that means I didn't really have time to play it tonight.
 
I'm really liking how Dailys are scaled now. Play 8 games for 800g gives me much more incentive to continue playing than the previous 2 games for 200g.

Both types exist. The 8 game is ideally stacked with the 2 games if you're being optimal about daily usage too, which works well since it's a 3 daily setup like Hearthstone, where if you randomly just HAD to play more or less in a day that'd suck. I laughed when people said "Oh now I have to play 8 games a day? gtfo" in beta, as though they had to do that specific daily in 1 day.
 
Got my invite today and after about 2 and a half hours of playing I'm already loving it. The game is exactly what I hoped it would be which is the easier to approach MOBA. I always loved the concept but both Dota 2 and LoL lacked the polish that only Blizzard can bring to the table. I really wanted to like Dota 2 and LoL but both games have so many heroes to choose from that it makes the newbies head spin, add to the mix the items and the potential buying tactics that come with them and as a newbie you have a hard time to keep up. I think Blizzard made the right choice in throwing the items in the bin and focusing on the gameplay but thats ofcourse just me.

I've read that some people dislike the "grinding" that comes with levelling different heroes and I get the hate but personally I dont mind it as I feel it gives you incentive to come back to the game as theres always something to play for... to a certain point atleast. Kinda reminds me of World of Tanks where when you finally buy that new tank you wanted, you have to play it a bit to unlock its full potential and I quite like that aspect.

What I dont like is what I've seen in the shop so far. £14.99 for a rainbow pony mount ? That's quite a bit of money. That shit might fly in WoW which is a game with a solid playerbase seeking to stand out from the crowd but this thing is still in alpha. Skins for £7.49 ??? Its all cosmetic! £1.50 or £2.50 max would be ideal imo. Afaik its the volume of the transactions that make the money in these games, not the price of them... then again I dont follow the scene that closely, perhaps people do drop crazy money on purely cosmetic enhancements and maybe I'm just starting to show my age a bit.

Finally got invited to this tonight, so if you are like me and have been waiting a long time, check your emails.

Anyway, what's it like for newcomers? Am I going to get CAPS LOCKED at for being new or is it more relaxed than certain other similar games?

I got some abuse from some weirdo when I teleported back to base to heal up as I was running low on health. This is a tactic the games tutorials seem to try and hammer in early on and I didnt want to end up feeding kills to the enemy team, yet this little prick started throwing the usual OMG's and shit at me and he ( assuming it was a he ) also said "<insert my name here> please delete!" which I can only guess meant he wanted me to delete the game off my hard drive. I dont mind, I got a pretty thick skin so I just tend to ingore players like him but when I've had a drink I'm tempted to unleash some pretty vile stuff at them. :P
 
Wonder Billie is free w/ any (real money) purchase during the Alpha. Who needs a pony when you can have a goat!

Cosmetic items having the big up-charges is a-ok with me. All the heroes are gold unlocks.
 
Wonder Billie is free w/ any purchase during the Alpha. Who needs a pony when you can have a goat!

Cosmetic items having the big up-charges is a-ok with me. All the heroes are gold unlocks.

I saw there was a Pig Mount that was only available for Gold. When did that appear?
 
Finally got in. It seems like fun.

However, holy fucking shit at how much they want per character. I guess I'm spoiled from Dota 2, but c'mon, $4 to $9 PER CHARACTER is insane.

I played my first game and won and got 10 fucking gold. Is that normal? The cheapest hero is 2,000 gold, so that seems insane.

Could someone with more experience let me know how easy it is to unlock heroes without spending tons of cash?
 
Finally got in. It seems like fun.

However, holy fucking shit at how much they want per character. I guess I'm spoiled from Dota 2, but c'mon, $4 to $9 PER CHARACTER is insane.

I played my first game and won and got 10 fucking gold. Is that normal? The cheapest hero is 2,000 gold, so that seems insane.

Could someone with more experience let me know how easy it is to unlock heroes without spending tons of cash?
It just takes time, like w/ Hearthstone. You get 500g per character for getting level 5 with them (so test out the free rotation ones). Dailys range from 200-800g, Coop wins are 10g. Vs wins are 30g, losses are 20g. Definitely grind grind grind in co-op till you hit level 6 for the dailies though.
 
It just takes time, like w/ Hearthstone. You get 500g per character for getting level 5 with them (so test out the free rotation ones). Dailys range from 200-800g, Coop wins are 10g. Vs wins are 30g, losses are 20g. Definitely grind grind grind in co-op till you hit level 6 for the dailies though.

This. I don't think it's too bad, but I'm used to F2P games like LoL or Marvel Heroes to unlock characters.

You do not need every single character in a MOBA with different free rotations.
 
Hmm. Got the invite yesterday for whatever reason. As someone who played s bit too much LoL in the past I was a bit weary of the quality and the gameplay. I am fully aware Blizzard doesn't produce anything but the best (errrrr vanilla D3 -_-) but a strong precedent was set by Riot. And while I never dove into Dota2 I can only assume the same of Valve.

Three games later and I'm digging this. And moving my wallet away from my desk.
 
Anyone thats going to participate willing to add me as a friend in case you win?

I also joinef the other contest but just to increase my chance
 
Bring Your Friend event!

Facebook sign-up for 4000 keys if no friends.

Basically, if you alpha guys reach level 20 in-game, you get a chance all your B.Net unlucky non-alpha buddies get in alpha.

Now I gotta mooch off B.Net tags. ;.;

An important point: in FAQ in the end it's clearly stated that you only friends added before the 16th of October (yesterday) will count in the promotion, should you win. So if you're not friends already with an Alpha-tester, your only chance is the Facebook draw.
 
Any GAFfers want to add a friend so that we can both get that sweet, sweet 50% bonus exp boost? My username is Chimp#1976.
 
I still feel like this game needs some kind of item management system. Feels so bland
Implenting that without getting into micromanagement (which the players rightly revolted at) is going to be kinda rough. More cosmetic stuff would be cool though.
 
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