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....

"Rek'Sai: Scourge of the Desert" bodes well for League of Legends lore

So lately the popular opinion of League's lore is that it is either low quality or non-existent, both because of what fans have dubbed "The Great Ret-con", when Riot's lore department removed the Institute of War from the official narrative.  The decision met with severe backlash (case in point: you'll have to click "show" to see that actual quote since the comment is below the forum's rating threshold).


With the story piece released yesterday, I think that the lore department's stated goals of expanding the world are actually beginning to show some results for the narrative as a whole.  It's ironic that they would be brought about with the introduction of League's first "true beast", who would be expected to have a fairly small story element (eat caravans, terrorize cities, burrow, repeat).

Welcome to the Jungle

Preseason for League players inspires equal measures of excitement and dread.  Excitement because this is when Riot introduces the most sweeping changes and dread for exactly the same reason.  

We as gamers can be a pretty conservative lot and change is scary.  We all wonder the same things: “will my favorite champion get nerfed?”, “will my favorite strategies still be viable?” but it all boils down to one, simple question.  

Will the game still be fun?