Heroes of the Storm "expansion" - so what does that mean, really?

One of the most anticipated battlegrounds so far, The Battlefields of Eternity, hit the live servers after a week long stint on the Public Test Realm (PTR).  On June 30, the map's release kicked off what's being touted as Heroes of the Storm's first expansion, The Eternal Conflict, with new heroes, and new skins centered around the Diablo Franchise.

This sounds absolutely epic.  However, if there's something about it that doesn't quite make sense, don't worry.  You're not alone.  What's likely bothering you is that question in the back of your mind:  How do you make an expansion for a free to play game, anyway?

New heroes for Hearthstone - or class skins - are they worth it?

It comes down to the same thing in the end, but doesn't the first one sound way more epic?  Blizzard apparently thought so too, as I have yet to find anywhere in the Blizzard press release referring to the "fresh face" for each class as new skins.  I'm sure it didn't hurt their decision that it's far easier to pitch a 10 dollar price tag for a new hero than it is for what essentially amounts to a shiny new portrait.  So far new representatives for the Warrior (Magni Bronzebeard), Hunter (Alleria Windrunner) and Mage (Medivh) classes have been unveiled.  

The Heroes of the Storm join the Eternal Conflict in Diablo event

It's common knowledge that for a lot of people, the number seven holds special significance - from the simple concept of "lucky sevens" to the regular usage in fantasy stories as particularly magical quantity.  Whatever your thoughts on the superstition however, it looks like the sevens have struck again - or someone at Blizzard subscribes to the belief.  After seven maps centered around the new Nexus setting, Blizzard has decided the time is right to start drawing on its existing universes for battleground inspiration, starting with Diablo.  Ready to pick a side in the Eternal Conflict?    

Heroes of the Storm Open Beta - transitioning from other MOBAs

So it's been about 10 days since Blizzard opened the Nexus to all with the start of the Heroes of the Storm Open Beta on May 19.  Though the game's official launch is this Tuesday, June 2, for all intents and purposes, it can be considered released.  Anyone who was excited for it yet never received an alpha or beta invite is unlikely to have held off another two weeks for the "beta" label to be removed.  After all the quality assessment that's been done over last year, there's unlikely to be much difference between the version we're playing now and the one after June 2.

The massive influx of new players can be felt within the course of a single match.  It feels like the Technical Alpha all over again, with every team having a few members fresh from League, Smite and the like, still learning the ropes of concepts that differentiate Heroes from the rest.  It's true that until recently new players were being added weekly but those were in gradual measured quantities as opposed to the exponential growth the player base has undergone in the last couple weeks.  While I welcome our new arrivals to the Nexus, I figured now would be a good time to talk about a few of the ways you're not in DOTA anymore....

Chen Stormstout - assassin tank?

So that title probably sounds inane but I cannot think of a better way to describe my experience playing the Legendary Brewmaster's incarnation in Heroes of the Storm.  The most famous panda in Warcraft can just as easily take hits for the team and disrupt enemy positioning as he can burst down priority back line targets and chase down fleeing survivors.  The result is the line between assassin and tank blurring to a point it should not be able to without the aid of beer goggles.

Come into my parlor said the spider to the hero - thoughts on Tomb of the Spider Queen

As many League of Legends players will tell you, when any online game has several maps or modes available, queue times will naturally be longer or shorter as maps fall in and out of favor with the player-base.  Anyone looking for a good game on Twisted Treeline or Dominion can attest to that (self included).  Eventually, even those who like the less popular maps will give up because it simply takes too damn long to find a game.  Blizzard got around this by taking out the element of choice and making each game take place on a random battleground.  While this approach presumably allows Heroes of the Storm to have a great deal more maps and game modes than its competition, it brings its own set of limitations.

Heroes of the Dorm - or Blizzard Hunger Games

Maybe no one's going to die, but for the final contestants the prize may well be your life.  And what will participating cost all the rest who don't even get close?

Guide Spotlights #2 - Heroes of the Storm

Welcome to "Guide Spotlights", the series where I highlight a community member who has been producing quality content to help their fellow players.

Guide Spotlights #1 - Heroes of the Storm

When most of us start a new MOBA, we do a little research first, or at least just after that first, painful loss where you had no idea what you were doing while your teammates raged at you.  Guides and full play through videos are great but what if you just want something you can watch on your phone during the loading screen?  In this series I'll pick a game and spotlight members of its community who produce short and sweet content for new and veteran players alike.

Heroes can't just be balanced - they have to be epic

The concept of Heroes of the Storm is very simple: play as your favorite characters from various Blizzard franchises in a massive hero (and villain) brawl.  What makes them so compelling, that they are able to stay with us long after we've stopped playing the original franchise?  It's that they resonate with our internalized mythology - adhering to age old archetypes of heroes and villains reinforced by everything from popular culture to bedtime stories.  Their identities are already established in a sense, so their incarnation in Heroes and their previous games isn't our first time meeting them.  We know them.

Just not nearly as well as we thought.     

Throwback Thursday: The retro trend of Heroes of the Storm's Warcraft characters

For the last several years, the Warcraft franchise has become almost synonymous with World of Warcraft.  The other day, a friend of mine commented that Hearthstone wasn't so much "Heroes of Warcraft" as it was simply "Heroes of WoW".  It's true that Hearthstone currently draws on elements from WoW more than any of the other Warcraft games, and that the MMORPG will likely remain the defining aspect of the franchise.

However, a recent pattern in Heroes of the Storm implies that Blizzard is making an effort to hearken back to the Warcraft that many of its older fans remember.  So for the first post of 2015 (and first Throwback Thursday edition) let's take a look at how Blizzard is tacitly acknowledging that some of those Warcraft fans may not necessarily be World of Warcraft fans.

Dual-citizenship: It's OK to like more than one MOBA

DotA 2 (left) and League of Legends (right) finally duke it out.

Happy New Year, everyone.  Hope you all had a good holiday and wishing you all well for 2015.  For my last post of 2014, I thought I'd tackle possibly one of the most defining, but definitely the ugliest, aspects of the MOBA genre.  And maybe, just maybe, help bring about a change for the new year.

Deckard Cain: Hero of the Storm - Really?

So, I fully realize this will not be a popular viewpoint (if anyone bothers to read this) but I don't think the (until recently) last of the Horadrim should join Heroes of the Storm.  At least not as a playable character.  Stay awhile and listen.