Heroes of the Storm - Beta Codes and Discussion

[noiseredux]

talking to myself, but all good. I've been playing more of this and still wrapping my head around stuff. Since I had never played a MOBA before, a lot of this is really foreign to me. And I am aware that HOTS is kind of stripped down compared to DOTA2/LOL. At any rate, I finally decided to play some quick matches with real people last night. And wow. It's totally different when you're not playing with and against computer AI. I played a few matches and mostly felt like a complete idiot the whole time.

First off, I still don't actually own any heroes yet. So I'm just using the free ones they let you use each day. I have built up a bit of gold, but honestly I'm thinking of buying the physical starter pack to get myself boosted at first. It comes with DLC codes for four or five heroes, along with a nice box and manual for like $20. Seems more appealing than grinding for as much gold as would be needed to buy a handful of heroes to get started with. And then I can save the gold for any specific hero I might want later.

Anyway, so far my preference is using ranged attackers. And I can tell you that I'm pretty much useless as a support. I seriously felt bad for everyone on my team when I was put in the support role. I feel like I did nothing but hang back and get ambushed/killed.

[MrPopo]

You see that bush over there? There's a hostile in it, don't go in. If you think about going anywhere by yourself, don't, you'll be ambushed and killed.

Later on as you get better map awareness you can do things like that.

[noiseredux]

If you think about going anywhere by yourself, don't, you'll be ambushed and killed.

this has proven to be 100% true. Yes.

[noiseredux]

I'm now officially hooked. I had a quick match tonight that lasted 31 mins and was insane. We were always a step behind. I kept feeling like I was dying too much. And towards the end I figured out how to really use my hero well. And then I felt things shift. Got a couple good killing sprees going. And we won. It felt like a bit of a shock in a sense. But was gratifying.

I ended up using some gold to unlock Valla, and now I'm level 6 so I've unlocked daily quests for gold.

I still suck, but I'm enjoying this big time.

[noiseredux]

#obsessed.

[noiseredux]

over the weekend I picked up the Starter Pack from Target. I know it seems kind of funny to buy a physical copy of a free game, but it actually made good sense to me. Besides the nice looking box to display, it came with 5 heroes as DLC cards. These would cost you about $50 or 300,000 Gold. So for $20 it def makes sense to help get your roster started. Plus, they're all separate DLC cards, so if you happen to already own one of these heroes you can trade/sell it. The box also contains a Quick Start Guide, which I was hoping to be some sort of strategy guide, but really it's just installation instructions. Meh. Not listed on the box is a little Heroes Of The Storm notebook. I'm not really sure what you'd need this for or why it's included, but as a fan of feelies, I thought it was a cool touch. Also not listed on the box, there's bonus DLC for 5 Hearthstone cards, and level-capped freeplay for World Of Warcraft and Starcraft II.

Of the included heroes, I've spent some time with Jaina, Zagara, and Zeratul and am enjoying them all. I feel like this was money well spent!

[noiseredux]

Dear Diary,

I've been playing a lot of player vs AI matches because it seems to queue up a team of random dudes for you much quicker than PvP matches. The vs AI matches get you in there in under 10 seconds, whereas I've had some PvP ones waiting upwards of 5 mins to find enough players. I *think* it's because Quick Match actually tries to match-make w/ players around your level, whereas the AI ones just throw random dudes together. At any rate, since I'm still learning and just working on daily quests, grinding for gold and XP and unlocking heroes, playing against AI is just fine.

I'm def starting to learn some stuff. Like taking advantage of cover for instance. Or perhaps the best tip I've got: don't die. That obviously sounds like a no-brainer, but pride can get in the way. Your instinct can be to try to be some kind of solo-Robocop or something, but there's times when you def advantage from getting out of harms way instead of trying to finish off an enemy. Especially later in the game when respawning takes so long.

I had a sick match last night - maybe the best I've ever played. I got 31 kills and zero deaths. Felt like a champ. I really really like Valla right now.

Your Bud,

You.

[MrPopo]

Awww, our little Noise is learning how to play a MOBA.

[noiseredux]

Awww, our little Noise is learning how to play a MOBA.

I'm starting to get the hang of it, and actually feeling pretty comfortable. Of course I'm sticking to just ranged assassins so this is still tip of the iceberg. Mostly been using Valla and Jaina right now. But I figure I'll be experimenting more as time goes on thanks to daily quests. Plus my interest in trying new characters should certainly grow as I get more comfortable with the game itself. I've got about 10k Gold saved up right now, so I'll be purchasing another Hero or two soon.

Played like 10 matches last night. Had a few really good ones - twice I got 10x Killing Spree and once I even hit 20x. Pretty awesome feeling.

[MrPopo]

Heroes is a bit more forgiving in that they seemed to have gotten rid of the traditional Carry role; since there's no items or farming available the idea of a character that starts off weak but grows on an exponential curve goes away because there's no risk, just reward. So now there's no newbie trap of "Ooo, let me take the ranged guy so I can sit back safe" and then you get murderlated. I'm guessing Support is now the challenging role to learn in Heroes. I ended up getting pretty good as a Support in League of Legends; with a good Carry we could get quite aggressive.