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.

Thoughts on Overwatch and what it means for MOBAs

I'm sure the title has you confused - Overwatch, while certainly taking some MOBA aspects, is still very much a first person shooter.  Or is it?  Up until recently, I had spared little thought for Blizzard's upcoming shooter, having been obsessively following the development of their other project, Heroes of the Storm.  Thanks to a Founders' Pack, I'm now in the Heroes beta, and the tunnel vision seems to have cleared somewhat.  So when Blizzard announced this past weekend at PAX East that the Overwatch beta was slated for Fall 2015, it seemed like a good time to take a look at their first new franchise in 17 years.