Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta

Urbin

2015-02-26 12:15:22 UTC

Post by Urbin
I got a mail on monday night, it seems I got into the closed beta of Heroes
of the Storm. I've downloaded and installed the client but have yet to find
time to launch it.
Did anyone else get in and has already had a look at it?

Congrats! No invite here, my bf got in ages ago but wasn't interested
so he's not tried it - I wans't interested enough to "borrow" his copy
either lol, though I'd likely have tried it if I'd got in myself!

Last night I got around to playing a little. I played through the first
three tutorial missions. One explains the basic controls, one shows how to
tackle opponent structures and how to complete objectives and the third
teaches how the "matches" work.

From what I can tell it's a combination of 5v5 Battlegrounds mixed with
reverse tower defense (i.e. you are playing part of the invading horde).

There are multiple levels:
- temporary levels for both teams that start at 1 for each match and which
increase to a max of 20, unlocking special abilities of your heroes. At
certain levels you get to pick a talent/ability from a list of
talents/abilities
- permanent hero levels, that you gain from using a hero in a match. They
unlock new slots/talents/abilities, enlarging the pool to choose from when
picking during a match
- player level, I guess you also gain XP for this from playing matches. This
unlocks boosts (gold gain from matches) and game features (e.g. quests @
level 6)

You start with a single hero, after playing throught he three tutorial
missions a handful of others are unlocked. You can unlock more heroes,
mounts, skins etc either with gold earned from games or using real money.

There are various match modes:
- single player (you get 4 AI heroes to help you) playing against 5 AI
opponents
- cooperative: you and four players fight against 5 AI opponents
- pvp: you and four players against 5 player controlled opponents
- some other modes that I have yet to unlock

The game play is fun but not overwhelmingly great.

What really rubbed me the wrong way is the blatant manner in which "pay real
bucks for content" is everpresent. There is a shop button (I think there now
is one in WoW, too, to buy mounts and pets etc) which I can live with
(though I think it's placement should be on the option screen, not part of
the game play menu). However, wherever you can customise your characters or
unlock new heroes, not only does it indicate the gold cost but also how much
you would need to pay in real bucks. Obviously this is Blizzard's way to
cash in on the free to play, micropurchase trend and it leaves a stale taste
behind.

I'll certainly spend some more time to play a bit more (now that I'm done
with the tutorial sessions) but unless something drastic happens, I doubt it
will keep me interested for very long.

Cheers
Urbin