In this Advertised Feature, our guest writer takes a look at Heroes of the Storm five years on.
First, there was a DOTA; an innovative way to play strategy games that were invented by amateurs using the Warcraft 3 editor and engine all the way back in 2003. In the following years, the game became immensely popular and spawned plenty of professional players competing in tournaments for valuable prizes. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before a company took it upon themselves to create a standalone game and further profit off of this genre.
One of the first big players to emerge was Riot Games with their worldly-famous League of Legends. Inspired with the original concept, the game came out in 2009 and is going strong to this day with millions in its fanbase. Then came DOTA 2. Produced by Valve and released as an official sequel in 2013, bringing back more of what made the original popular. After that, there were numerous attempts at recreating the winning formula, some of which were quickly forgotten while others stuck for a while. Just like with multiple slave porn games, there were many titles, but few stood the test of time.
Wanting to join in the MOBA race, Blizzard also started working on a game of their own. Being somewhat the founding fathers of the original DOTA, people had high expectations of their upcoming title named Heroes of the Storm. It came out in 2015 and brought a number of innovations to the genre. Though similar, many differences in the game prompted people to refer to it as a “hero brawler” rather than an action RTS.
Where other games focused on a small number of maps (or even just one), Heroes of the Storm was more about variety. It has multiple maps available, and each has unique quests and objectives, which, once completed, give your team a massive boost and, often, win your games. Heroes of the Storm put a significant focus on team-play.
There are no items to buy or gold to farm, like in other, similar titles but, instead, the whole team progresses as a unit. Of course, there are pros and cons to both models, but it’s safe to say that the unique approach that Heroes of the Storm had, had garnered it a massive following rather quickly. Couple that with the fact that it’s a Blizzard game and that they inserted a bunch of already famous characters in it, and it seemed as if they struck gold. It’s like with those best porn sites; some are simply a step above others.
However, in 2018 the developing team behind the game got hit by downsizing by Blizzard. Funds were moved towards other projects, esport tournaments got cancelled, and the game continued getting updates, albeit at a much slower pace. Nowadays, as we’re entering year five since the game officially came out, Heroes of the Storm still offers the same it did to the players but without much on the professional scene. If you’re a casual gamer who enjoys the genre, you’ll have just as much fun though don’t expect a constant influx of patches.
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