Here’s a co-op game I played as Tyrael. I really like his kit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1z47Jl9PJo
And another, this time I play as Nova, the Ghost character https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmRGMKcpD00
So is it as slow and casual as it looks at first glance? No last hitting, no creep aggro for attacking heroes or towers, no juking, no picking/drafting, no items?
Yes, but on the other hand the maps are compact leading to lots of conflict and there are different ones with different objectives. And heroes pick from talent trees every level, rather than reaching max level on every skill by default, which kinda sorts does the same thing as items (you can build characters differently).
This game looks interesting to me, mainly because I have no idea what you just said.
Derek
The lack of any last hit mechanic and shorter rounds are the main selling points for me in this. I always found the concept of last hitting and the timing game around it really tedious and not interesting at all. I also like the idea of having shared exp instead of competing with your own teammates for resources and the varying map objectives look like an interesting alternative mechanic for pushing lanes.
So yeah, I’m pretty sold on this already based on the videos I’ve watched.
Bliz still makes me think “simple and fun to play yet difficult to master.” So always interested in what’s next but not overly optimistic at this point
Sounds like this is their casual friendly answer to MOBA’s they way Hearthstone is to CCG’s.
Which would be fantastic.
Yeah, I actually enjoy DotA2 and LoL, but last hitting is tedious and awful and adds nothing worthwhile to the game. Then the whole competing with your team for resources part just encourages everyone to be huge dickweeds, which is part of why the communities tend to be so godawful. Removing all of that is nothing but a huge plus. On top of that replacing the convoluted mess of items and their upgrades in other DotAlikes with different ability upgrades and having to choose from more than four skills instead of just getting them all sounds like it could be even more interesting than what DotA does.
Yeah, I actually enjoy DotA2 and LoL, but last hitting is tedious and awful and adds nothing worthwhile to the game. Then the whole competing with your team for resources part just encourages everyone to be huge dickweeds, which is part of why the communities tend to be so godawful. Removing all of that is nothing but a huge plus. On top of that replacing the convoluted mess of items and their upgrades in other DotAlikes with different ability upgrades and having to choose from more than four skills instead of just getting them all sounds like it could be even more interesting than what DotA does.
Personally I think it sounds a lot less interesting than DotA (though, as you note, much less likely to generate obnoxious behaviour), and I find things like last hitting do end up adding depth to the game, but I’m really glad Blizzard are taking this approach. It makes much more sense to me to fundamentally rethink the mechanics of MOBAs than to just reskin them like, say, Infinite Crisis. I’ll probably still end up playing DotA most of the time but it’ll be nice to have some proper variety (and backed by a studio which applies a lot of polish).
Looking at this made me want to actually try DotA2 again.
I do like the idea of a more casual MOBA since if I suck it up in my DotA2 attempt I can still have some fun in the genre.
The per-character skill tree is interesting, especially when combined with no items, because they basically serve the same purpose. For most DoTA characters different items are really about different item “builds”, i.e. you get different items to tailor your character to a specific purpose. But that means that you have to either a) memorize and internalize all items before playing as any character (to optimize your build), or b) just ignore that and use a pre-defined build for the role you’ve decided to play.
So, having tech trees basically takes the place of b), at the expense of the really high level last minute tweaks to builds allowed by a). I suspect for most players, that trade off is acceptable, and that instead of looking at 50 irrelevant items for their current character, they just look at 3 ability tree options. To an extent I think that trade-off is trusting in the team-based mechanics to provide the relevant complexity, instead of placing it on an each individual build. Which makes sense, now that we’ve seen how rich the core team-based gameplay in these games can be.
my understanding thus far is that the talent tree does effectivly replace item purchases.
The issue I have with that is the fact that one can no longer review their opponents customization, if someone shifts and goes for more CC instead of pure damage, etc. So that your team can counter it. I like that aspect of League. (and I would venture a guess that it does exist in Dota2 as well)
LoL already have like two builds for every character, one for magic, the other to max autoattack damage/dot. I imagine some heroes do have more than 2 or 3 viable builds, so is still some streamlining some people will not like.
The issue I have with that is the fact that one can no longer review their opponents customization, if someone shifts and goes for more CC instead of pure damage, etc. So that your team can counter it. I like that aspect of League. (and I would venture a guess that it does exist in Dota2 as well)
It does, yes. TotalBiscuit mentioned this difference in his WTF is (or whatever it was labelled) too. I suspect the change isn’t as big as it might first appear to a League/DotA player, given the way HotS seems to be structured - a sudden team wipe based on a surprise skill tree isn’t going to swing the game in the way good use of a key item (or indeed reaching level 6) might in DotA. But I could be wrong
I’m pretty sure you can see their Ultimate power though.
Count me in the column of people that is glad to see there is no last hitting. Personally I find it tedious and the idea that it adds depth to the game is kind of dubious (complexity isn’t depth) and whatever depth it does add could surely be replaced with more entertaining mechanics. I’m all for any and all attempts at streamlining a MOBA game.
I think that depth is probably the wrong description for what last hitting provides (it deepens the skill curve, widening the gap between skilled and unskilled players).
I think that there are features that last-hitting enables that do provide depth at high levels (income disparity,item builds, mid-game pivots) but I suspect there are ways to enable those features while eliminating last hitting. Uneven distribution of wealth within the same team is itself a pretty interesting component that HotS seems to do away with, but I think you could still implement uneven distribution without the twitch requirements of last hitting.