I'll preface this in sharing that I've been a longtime player of DOTA, DOTA 2, League of Legends, and Smite; for what it's worth, I also played both Street Fighter and Smash Bros. competitively in my local scenes. I was just introduced to Heroes of the Storm this past weekend and immediately got hooked. Its simplistic take on the MOBA game structure is seriously engaging, and this instantly reminded me of Smash Bros. for multiple reasons:
Anyway, there's not exactly a major purpose or anything in making this argument. Really, I guess this is just a NTTP thread. HotS is an excellent game. I recommend you give it a shot. If you already tried to get into the genre through either LoL or DOTA but found it extremely inaccessible--try Heroes. Games on average last only 20 minutes. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay preferable to the 40 minute+ games of the others. There's a lot of tiny ways that this game changes up the typical MOBA formula, and they're all awesome.
tl;dr HotS is super fun guyz
- Accessibility
HotS is much easier to pick up than its competitors. For one, all heroes are available to try out in a test environment prior to jumping into a real game. This gives players time to get familiar with a character they want to try before being thrown into the fray. But the gameplay itself is also easier to delve into. Right off the bat, all skills are available on your hero. You don't have to decide which skill is best to take for level 1 depending on which position you're playing, what your team composition requires, and what counters the opposing team best. Additionally, there's no paradox of choice when it comes to item builds. This is because, simply, there are no items. No gold accumulation--just leveling up and selecting talents that enhance your basic kit or add a new skill into the mix.
The mechanics of the map objectives are also pretty simple. No denying creeps, pulling and stacking camps, placing wards for vision, using courier to gather items, no secret shops, and et cetera. Not having so much going on allows players to just focus on what is the main of objectives of killing, pushing, and taking advantage of the map's gimmick. (In HotS, each map has a unique gimmick to it that gives the team who exploits it a huge advantage.) This allows new players to choose characters who they think are fun and play them in the way they want. Of course team composition is always important, but what I'm saying is that no one is going to be forced into picking a jungler just because that role hasn't been filled yet. (Supports are still a thing, but the trivial tasks of ward placements, stacking and pulling, and so forth are not in the job description.)
Levels are also shared. If you're new, you're not punished for being new. Getting killed left and right won't deprive you of gold. You also won't get left behind at a lower level than everyone else, because the team levels up together. I absolutely love that about HotS. I think it's a step in the right direction. Prevents ridiculous snowballing on a sole individual, prevents frustration and uselessness of others who just aren't having a good game.
- Changing up the maps
Smash Bros. took the fighting genre and threw in a party mix to it. This was mostly achieved by the stages, which were no longer two sides with invisible walls and nothing else. A bunch of craziness goes on in a typical Smash Bros. map. Gimmicks that can be frustrating and cost you the game, even. It's not quite the same extreme with HotS, but the comparison can still be made. LoL and DOTA always focused on the N-map. It's just convention. It gets really boring after a while, though, and it's because of this that I feel LoL introduced secondary maps. Maps which never get as much attention. I'm super glad HotS changed up the map layouts dramatically for each and every stage. In aesthetic, in layout, and in gimmicks. There's one stage where every now and then, entrances to the mines will open up. All players enter this new area and fight for skulls to summon a huge-ass golem to push their lane. I mean, that's just awesome. I love it.
- Cast
Smash Bros:Nintendo's cast::HotS:Blizzard's cast. An obvious point. Doesn't mean anything really but the connection is there.
Anyway, there's not exactly a major purpose or anything in making this argument. Really, I guess this is just a NTTP thread. HotS is an excellent game. I recommend you give it a shot. If you already tried to get into the genre through either LoL or DOTA but found it extremely inaccessible--try Heroes. Games on average last only 20 minutes. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay preferable to the 40 minute+ games of the others. There's a lot of tiny ways that this game changes up the typical MOBA formula, and they're all awesome.
tl;dr HotS is super fun guyz
