Heroes of The Storm Enters Closed Beta With New Map, Ranked Mode, and Thrall

[Steven Bogos]

Heroes of The Storm Enters Closed Beta With New Map, Ranked Mode, and Thrall

Heroes of the Storm has made the jump from Technical Alpha to Closed Beta, and has brought along a new map and Thrall for the ride.

For those of you who haven't gotten their hands on Blizzard's MOBA: Heroes of the Storm [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/heroes+of+the+storm], your chance may have finally come! Today, the game officially transitioned from Technical Alpha to Closed Beta, and as well as sending out a boatload of keys to those who signed up for the Beta, Blizzard is also introducing a new map, a new hero, and Ranked Mode, to further entice those of you who were already in the Alpha.

The new map is none other than the Jaina [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/138485-Heroes-of-The-Storms-Sky-Temple-Revealed] and The Lost Vikings.

For more information on the Sky Temple, Blizzard have put together this neat little Thrall [http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/battlegrounds/sky-temple/] in his official hero page.

The patch also introduced the much-requested "Ranked Mode", which allows players (who are level 30 and own at least 10 Heroes) to queue up alone or in a party of up to five for ranked, competitive matches against other players of similar skill and party size. Naturally, ranked play comes with the "draft pick" mode of picking champions, that League of Legends and DoTA 2 players will be familiar with.

If you haven't gotten a Beta invite yet, be patient! Blizzard is planning to send more invites out as the Closed Beta progresses.

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[VladG]

I'm still undecided on HoTS. I've played a few games, got to level 12, I think and there are things I like and things I don't like.

I like removing items in favour of talents - it simplifies the game without removing all that much depth.

I don't like the slower, less responsive DOTA-like movement as opposed to the snappier LOL-like movement.

It might end up being the kind of game that is more fun to watch than to play for me.

I'll reserve judgement until I have the chance to play with a close premade group for a while (if I ever do), since this is even more team focused than your average MOBA.

 

[Devin Barker]

As someone who has a really hard time penetrating LoL and DotA, HotS is much easier to jump in. This may end up being the "casual" version of a Lords game, but for those of us who have a hard time remembering every item and how in benefits every character, gets tired of the same map over and over, and is not a fan of being called a "newbie F*****" and being blamed for "tanking the whole game" HotS may be the experience we are looking for.

 

[Ferisar]

As someone who has a really hard time penetrating LoL and DotA, HotS is much easier to jump in. This may end up being the "casual" version of a Lords game, but for those of us who have a hard time remembering every item and how in benefits every character, gets tired of the same map over and over, and is not a fan of being called a "newbie F*****" and being blamed for "tanking the whole game" HotS may be the experience we are looking for.

I'm afraid the atmosphere in Heroes will be exactly the same, just having played some of the game up to this point. I think that the barrier to entry is so low that it might take some digging to find the bad apples as often, but if it goes competitive, people will act exactly the same way. It's sad, but there it is.
If it's not feeding, it's missing objectives or not helping the team or getting caught. It's a bit more boiler-plate in that, which is funny. If you die in DotA or LoL, most players will blame you for giving money to the enemy team. If you die post-15minute in Heroes, you've deprived your team of having a teammate for the next objective. This is true in LoL/DotA, as well, but it's hidden behind some other systems.

 

[Devin Barker]

As someone who has a really hard time penetrating LoL and DotA, HotS is much easier to jump in. This may end up being the "casual" version of a Lords game, but for those of us who have a hard time remembering every item and how in benefits every character, gets tired of the same map over and over, and is not a fan of being called a "newbie F*****" and being blamed for "tanking the whole game" HotS may be the experience we are looking for.

I'm afraid the atmosphere in Heroes will be exactly the same, just having played some of the game up to this point. I think that the barrier to entry is so low that it might take some digging to find the bad apples as often, but if it goes competitive, people will act exactly the same way. It's sad, but there it is.
If it's not feeding, it's missing objectives or not helping the team or getting caught. It's a bit more boiler-plate in that, which is funny. If you die in DotA or LoL, most players will blame you for giving money to the enemy team. If you die post-15minute in Heroes, you've deprived your team of having a teammate for the next objective. This is true in LoL/DotA, as well, but it's hidden behind some other systems.

You May be right, I have just yet to run into any of it. For the most part it seems this game is too "casual" for people to get too agro over. Im sure Ranked is a totally different experience, but thus far I have yet to be yelled at and while I was trying out some new characters im more that sure I tanked some runs for my team. But you are correct angry children will leak their way into just about any game and shout obscenities.