Heroes of The Storm's Cho'Gall is One Hero Played by Two Players

[Steven Bogos]

Heroes of The Storm's Cho'Gall is One Hero Played by Two Players

Lots of Heroes of The Storm news from BlizzCon, but the most interesting by far is the reveal of Cho'Gall.

BlizzCon [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/heroes%20of%20the%20storm?os=heroes+of+the+storm], with Blizzard revealing a new game mode - Arena, a new battleground - Towers of Doom, and four new heroes - Genn Greymane, Lunara, Tracer and Cho'Gall. Cho'Gall in particular is probably the most interesting reveal, as he is a single hero that is played by two players at the same time, with each player controlling each head.

For a little bit on exactly how Cho'Gall will work: when picked, he is split into two "heroes" - Cho is the Ogre Brute playstyle of the duo, who controls both the movement and auto-attacks of the Hero, while Gall is the caster, constantly using low cooldown + high impact skills, so he can stay active throughout the game. They have some combos that reward co-operation, for example, Gall can cast a Rune Bomb bouncing bomb-type attack which Cho can then detonate with Rune Blast. Check out his Hero Page [http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/heroes/chogall/] for more info.

You also don't have to actually own Cho'Gall to play as him. If one player who owns the hero picks him, any other player can choose to play as the other head, regardless of whether they themselves own the hero. Additionally, all BlizzCon attendees and Digital Ticket holders will get the hero for free, and everyone else can earn the hero for free by playing at least two games with another Cho'Gall player.

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As for the other heroes: Genn Greymane is the leader of the Worgen, and as such is an assassin champion that can attack both in human and Worgen form, while Lunara is a Dryad ranged hero. As for Tracer, we didn't actually see her in-game, but we know she exists as part of the Overwatch Origins Edition [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/161344-Overwatch-Prices-Revealed] bundle.

Moving on to the new maps: Towers of Doom [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHOcX7xsIPo] is a Halloween themed map which has players destroy enemy "Towns", which captures them for your own team.

Lastly, the new Arena mode [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DjkOAmTrvo] pits teams of random heroes against each other in an objective-less battleground, similar to League of Legends's popular ARAM (all random, all mid) mode.

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[Broslinger]

That sounds really stupid. I don't think anyone plays that game anymore anyway.

 

[The Wykydtron]

So it's a 6v5 essentially? Or something? I feel sorry for the other guys on his team, bad Lost Vikings players feeding uncontrollably and just being plain useless was bad enough but now we need two players to be competent with a single character mechanically, and have to be agreeing on the shotcalling in the game? As amusing as one character asking itself "omg why did you go in" might be, it's utterly stupid. I thought Rito was being overly gimmicky with their recently released characters in League but clearly they need to step up their game.

 

[fluxy100]

I'm totally on board for this, he looks like a fun hero to mess around with when I'm playing with my friends. The idea of a warrior and an assassin together in the same character is cool. I'm really enjoying the different ways of play that Blizzard seem to keep coming up with for new heroes.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I guess the drift proved too much for a single gamer.
A two gamer system had to be implemented. Left hemisphere, right hemisphere gamer control.

 

[Xeorm]

So it's a 6v5 essentially? Or something? I feel sorry for the other guys on his team, bad Lost Vikings players feeding uncontrollably and just being plain useless was bad enough but now we need two players to be competent with a single character mechanically, and have to be agreeing on the shotcalling in the game? As amusing as one character asking itself "omg why did you go in" might be, it's utterly stupid. I thought Rito was being overly gimmicky with their recently released characters in League but clearly they need to step up their game.

4v5. Cho'Gall counts as two, plus 3 other normal champs. But, it looks cool. Don't know where all the hate is coming from. Worst case, it's something two drunks have fun with on a bad night. Best case, it really shows off teamwork in some good matches. Looks good to me overall. Games are fun, and I enjoy hots trying out some different ideas.

 

[The Madman]

Now that sounds like fun. Toss in the new maps, including gothic horror one with rock opera playing in the background, and I'm suddenly very interested in getting into Hots again.

I love quirky strange ideas like that. Being weird and fun is what these sorts of games should be all about!

 

[EyeReaper]

Well, blizzard, I have to say, when we were clamoring for a two-headed giant mode in your free-to-play game... this was definitely not what I would ever expect. Points for creativity I guess.

Still no Blackthorne tho? Dang.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

witch each player controlling each head.

Which witch is which?
Or, wait, shit. With. goddamn childrens books.

OT:
Yay! I actually like the fact that heroes of the storms has heroes that are... different! Compared to something like Lol, where all champions follow a very normal playstyle in their type and very few massively deviate from that style.

 

[Aeshi]

This is oddly funny when you remember that old WoW April Fools joke they did waaaaay back in the Vanilla/BC days about adding Ogres as a playable race with this very same mechanic.

 

[freaper]

I thought that was the original idea behind the Ogre Magi from DotA2, have two players control the same hero, but they didn't push it because of the mechanical complexity.

 

[XenoScifi]

This is definitely not a class you want to pick up in a random hero league battle. I cannot stand playing with people as their own character let alone with one that's attached to me. But of course you will get at least one troll that thinks it's a great idea to solo queue as that thing...GG.

 

[Aerosteam]

I don't play this game, or any MOBAs, but I approve of Cho'Gall's playstyle. One thing though is that this type of character is impossible to balance, like multiple characters which count as one in Brawl (Pokemon Trainer, Zelda...).

 

[laggyteabag]

That sounds really stupid. I don't think anyone plays that game anymore anyway.

Populations are quite high, actually. Sure, it doesn't have the same numbers as, say, League or DOTA, but it is still quite popular, specifically for the more casual MOBA audience.

So it's a 6v5 essentially? Or something? I feel sorry for the other guys on his team, bad Lost Vikings players feeding uncontrollably and just being plain useless was bad enough but now we need two players to be competent with a single character mechanically, and have to be agreeing on the shotcalling in the game? As amusing as one character asking itself "omg why did you go in" might be, it's utterly stupid. I thought Rito was being overly gimmicky with their recently released characters in League but clearly they need to step up their game.

It is more like a 4v5, as two players in your team of 5 have to pick Cho/Gall for him to be played. I don't know how savvy you are with the Heroes in HotS, but think of it like having one player be Abathur, but having his Symbiote/"hat" on one player, permanently.

As for how effective he is, im sure that he can certainly be a nuisance for those inexperienced with the character, but if you do manage to get a grip with the guy, and have a partner that you communicate well with, I can see him being one hell of a destructive force. We shall see.

 

[elvor0]

So it's a 6v5 essentially? Or something? I feel sorry for the other guys on his team, bad Lost Vikings players feeding uncontrollably and just being plain useless was bad enough but now we need two players to be competent with a single character mechanically, and have to be agreeing on the shotcalling in the game? As amusing as one character asking itself "omg why did you go in" might be, it's utterly stupid. I thought Rito was being overly gimmicky with their recently released characters in League but clearly they need to step up their game.

Eh, Abathur is a massively popular hero, which is more or less the same thing, but you're not bound to any single hero. This is Abathur Heavy.

This is what I like about HOTS. The decision to have loads of map types and weird heroes like Cho'Gal, Abathur, The Lost Vikings, Rexxar.

But I suppose you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Copy DOTA/LOL and you get accused of cloning, change it up and you're a dumbed down game.

That sounds really stupid. I don't think anyone plays that game anymore anyway.

You don't think but you don't actually know, so that statement is more or less pointless. It's not as popular as LoL or Dota.

At least in July, numbers were sitting at a respectable 4M. Whether or not that still holds true is unkown, but considering I never have to wait more than 30s-1 minute for a queue to pop, I'd say it was quite healthy.

https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/3cipob/number_of_unique_people_in_hots_by_server_july/cswc752

Taken from hotslogs.

 

[Scow2]

So it's a 6v5 essentially? Or something? I feel sorry for the other guys on his team, bad Lost Vikings players feeding uncontrollably and just being plain useless was bad enough but now we need two players to be competent with a single character mechanically, and have to be agreeing on the shotcalling in the game? As amusing as one character asking itself "omg why did you go in" might be, it's utterly stupid. I thought Rito was being overly gimmicky with their recently released characters in League but clearly they need to step up their game.

4v5. Cho'Gall counts as two, plus 3 other normal champs. But, it looks cool. Don't know where all the hate is coming from. Worst case, it's something two drunks have fun with on a bad night. Best case, it really shows off teamwork in some good matches. Looks good to me overall. Games are fun, and I enjoy hots trying out some different ideas.

also - cue QQing from players that think they can take him solo in a straight-up fight because they can't mentally accept that he's two characters.

 

[Broslinger]

You don't think but you don't actually know, so that statement is more or less pointless. It's not as popular as LoL or Dota.

At least in July, numbers were sitting at a respectable 4M. Whether or not that still holds true is unkown, but considering I never have to wait more than 30s-1 minute for a queue to pop, I'd say it was quite healthy.

Whoopteedoo. It still sounds like a super dumb hero to me.

 

[sagitel]

cho'gall is one of those heroes that sound great. on paper. in theory. in real world its gonna be a pain. yeah you sometimes get the few guys who are premade, in constant voice chat and know what they are doing but all in all its gonna be a train wreck. because 1. some people cant get the idea of cooperating and 2. some people cant get how its 2 people. it will have to be powerful to accomodate the losing one hero part. and it will make some guy be alone in the lane. it might work well, (very very unlikely) but i dont think it will ever be balanced

 

[Maphysto]

I love how whenever devs try to introduce something unique and fun into a MOBA, the players have a tantrum.

"NO! IT'S NOT COMPETITIVE! WE DON'T WANT TO HAVE FUN! GIVE US ANOTHER TANKY DPS WITH COPY-PASTED ABILITIES OR WE'LL KNOCK OUR MILK BOTTLES OVER!"