And I just don’t know if I have that in me. But past that, this is clearly a game that requires a long term investment to really get good at, and past the casual mess-around stage. I like trying out the different champions, I suppose, and yes, there’s now that gambling thrill from opening loot boxes to find cool skins. If I want a fun, team-based, competitive game, I’m playing Overwatch.īut I can’t tell you what itch Heroes of the Storm scratches. If I want to think about strategic play, I play Hearthstone ( Starcraft is too strategic and APM-dependent for me). If I want to kick back and lazily farm, I play Diablo. Most of Blizzard’s other games fill a specific mental niche for me. Even if it’s perfectly acceptable, and charming in its own way, the fundamental question I find that I ask myself when playing is “why would I choose this over the other 20 games I could/should be playing instead?” The problem is that even as a more “accessible” MOBA, Heroes still doesn’t hold my interest all that well. I had my two year stretch where I played League of Legends fervently, but that time has come and gone. I will say up front that I am not a big MOBA player these days. Some kind of spark that other Blizzard games have that it’s lacking. Like before, it feels like Heroes of the Storm is a game that’s just missing something. Granted, I don’t think the progression system is worse than before or bad for players necessarily, but those looking for a game transformed are probably not going to find it here. Rather, I think by getting on the loot box train, it’s more about monetizing the game better for Blizzard.
Heroes of the storm 2.0 beta update#
The impression I’m getting from this update is that it’s not exactly a big shake-up to the game like you might think. Boxes contain skins and voice lines and sprays like Overwatch, but also banners and chat emojis. The biggest alteration of the 2.0 relaunch is the game’s progression system, which now is loot box-based, and gives players boxes when they level up with individual heroes, which contributes to their overall player level. Lately, Overwatch heroes are being imported by the truckload, and I was curious to see how they would play in this adjacent genre.īut what I found with Heroes of the Storm 2.0 is a game that hasn’t fundamentally changed all that much, despite the new branding and new heroes. There are probably at least two dozen new heroes added to the game since I last played, in addition to a number of new maps.