Heroes of the Storm

 PC
User Score
6.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1580 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 821 out of 1580
  2. Mixed: 277 out of 1580
  3. Negative: 482 out of 1580
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  1. TemplarGR
    May 24, 2016
    10
    I have been playing it a lot for a year. It is clearly the best MOBA game in the market right now. Better than LoL or Dota 2, by a large margin.

    The MOBA genre was born out of mods for earlier RTS games. They proved really successful, so standalone versions like LoL were introduced. Problem is, those earlier mods depended on RTS engines like Warcraft 3, and many concepts of those mods    I have been playing it a lot for a year. It is clearly the best MOBA game in the market right now. Better than LoL or Dota 2, by a large margin.

    The MOBA genre was born out of mods for earlier RTS games. They proved really successful, so standalone versions like LoL were introduced. Problem is, those earlier mods depended on RTS engines like Warcraft 3, and many concepts of those mods were influenced by those games, while really not making much sense. When LoL and Dota 2 copied those mods, they brought these problems in their games as well.

    Other MOBAs rely too much on last hitting, which is a very boring thing to do, and have concepts like "carries", which is stupid. You are spending at least half the game's time laning mindlessly for gold.

    Also, other MOBAs are playing only on 1 main map, with clear cookie cutter builds everyone copies from the others. The supposed "depth" doesn't really exist, it is an illusion, all you have to do is follow the "meta", last hit for 20 minutes, and then play another 20-30 minutes when you already know the outcome of the game but can't really leave.

    Heroes, a fresh take on the gerne, removes many of those problems. No last hitting, shared team experience, lots of different maps with different strategies, removal of items, you instead get talent choices unique per hero. The laning phase is quite short and not that tedious, then the game becomes action-packed. Comebacks are extremely common, you don't really know what will happen until the very end.

    It is deceptively deep as a game, in my opinion much deeper than LoL or Dota 2. While you can "learn" the basics really easily, and it really is the best MOBA for a newcomer to get into, you have a loooooong way to go before you understand how each map should be played, how heroes synergise with and against each other, and how to teamfight properly.

    Also, it is probably the best F2P model i have ever seen. Ignore the haters, you can be 100% competitive and have fun without ever spending a single cent. All heroes are available with purchase for in game gold. Match gold gain rates are really slow, but the game features "daily" quest that are completed very easily and provide lots of gold. Just completing these dailies in PvP games will take 1 hour per day and will allow you to buy plenty of heroes per month, alongside all the other gold bonuses you get from leveling up and other promotions/events. Skins and mounts are costly when not on-sale, but the game has to make money from somewhere, and they are purely cosmetic.

    The main problem of this game, is the matchmaking system, which is really bad and easily exploitable. If you have friends to play with, this game will be a blast, but if you are solo, this game can be frustrating. Since this game is the most team-oriented of the MOBAs, your individual influence is very low. If you have trolls, afkers, or just bad players, you may lose games while still playing really well. But still, the game is worth it, even with the bad matchmaking.

    So, if you like MOBAs or want to get into MOBAs, this is the game for you. If you don't like past MOBAs, this may be the game for you. It is free, just try it!    … Expand
  2. vahn
    Aug 29, 2015
    8
    In an era where MOBAs reign and multiply, it's the originality of one game that allows them to succeed. For the most part of course: we saw experiments like SMNC, Dawngate, and maybe Smite but they end up either failing, being cancelled or just feel too different to be fun. HoTS however feels different on some regards.

    I will admit upfront: I was not expecting any good from this game    In an era where MOBAs reign and multiply, it's the originality of one game that allows them to succeed. For the most part of course: we saw experiments like SMNC, Dawngate, and maybe Smite but they end up either failing, being cancelled or just feel too different to be fun. HoTS however feels different on some regards.

    I will admit upfront: I was not expecting any good from this game and I simply thought that this was going to be another LoL or DOTA2 clone with no innovation whatsoever. But in the end I was partially wrong, and I'm glad that the game is actually tons of fun!

    Instead of talking of what the game is about, I want to focus on what makes HotS different:

    -There are no items. Hence, there's no gold. Hence there's no last hitting. Everyone takes experience points at the same time and you don't get to be shouted if you're a support in need of money: you can attack and get yourself already into the battle from level 1.

    There are no levels. To be precise, the levels are shared between all of your team mates but it doesn't mean you can slack off: each player gives exp from their creep farming and hero killing, but there's no fear of being left behind anyway: if your exp rate is low you just go and farm creeps.

    There is no jungling. Again, to be precise you can find creeps in the jungle but they have another role, and that's to push the lane. While giving exp, they also turn into stronger creeps that will push the lane and help you out, especially boss types.

    No skill levelling. Your skill levels up with your level and you start with all 3 at once from level 1, while you have to choose your ultimate at level 10 (instead of 6). Instead of skills however you have talents and if you've played WoW for the past 2-3 years you'd understand what it is. If not, it simply means that your character gets unique perks on their skills of their choosing, greatly modifying their skills' functions.

    The best example I can give is the new hero Kharazim: he is a melee support but with the right talents he can turn into quite a good damage dealer. Granted not all heroes have the same luck, but their talents can potentially change how they behave in combat.

    There is more than one map. Most of the maps are still the standard 3 lane way, with one being a 2 lane, but the difference here is that you have more than one map and each one of them have unique events that you MUST do in order to win. In Blackheart's bay for example you have to hunt gold coins so that the pirate will use his cannon on the enemy team's buildings, and or in another where you need to collect seeds to build an horror that you can use, and so on. As of now, there are a total of 9 maps and they are always random chose, meaning that your last match might be totally different than the last.

    Overall, the main feature of this game is that it's, quite literally, a simplified MOBA that cuts the fat around the most annoying parts (gold farming, exp farming, etc), and simply makes it more about the actual combat rather than being around preparing to combat. Fights don't last more than 20 minutes (I won some in 10 as well), and that means you can have that "one more game" feeling quite a lot.

    Still...the game has flaws. Some aren't game breaking, sure, but they're flaws nevertheless.

    The game is still relatively new, which means we have a total of only 40 heroes right now: not a lot for a MOBA, especially where in LoL we have more than 100.

    The shop's prices are insanely high. Sure, LoL's skins aren't cheap either but usually the heroes in that game aren't costy, but in HotS a hero can cost up to 10 bucks! And some skins? 15 bucks too! Luckily enough you can buy them with daily missions that give you gold, but that'll take you a very long time before you can purchase your favourite hero.

    The lack of items, gold, and experience farming might make the game too easy for some and the talents don't always translate into new builds: if you have one build working you might as well stick with that only. Besides, didn't you do the same on LoL? Didn't you always build the same, exact items for most matches?

    And for last, the game is mostly based of events in the map and might turn off the purists, since you ARE required to achieve the events' goals in order to win.

    But still I cannot deny that I had a lot of fun playing so far and I quite literally don't see a reason to play Dota or LoL anymore: those games are complex, yes, but they don't allow mistakes to happen and rely on a high skill level to play another hero properly. But in this game, you can play any hero you want and have fun right at the beginning without worrying about too much of your skills. Sure, some heroes are harder than others but even the hardest to play can be fun to try.

    With that said, I highly recommend to give this game a try. It tries new things and, in my opinion, it succeeds on making a new type of MOBA. Definitely a must try.    … Expand
  3. Ixnatifual
    May 2, 2016
    8
    Pretty much the best MOBA on the market out there currently. They addressed many of the genre's legacy issues, promoted team play and removed only the pointless complexity, thereby creating a more accessible game without losing any depth in the process. Easy to learn. Hard to master. It's relatively quick to accumulate gold to get a decent selection of heroes, and there is no advantage toPretty much the best MOBA on the market out there currently. They addressed many of the genre's legacy issues, promoted team play and removed only the pointless complexity, thereby creating a more accessible game without losing any depth in the process. Easy to learn. Hard to master. It's relatively quick to accumulate gold to get a decent selection of heroes, and there is no advantage to veteran players, other than actual skill, to give them an unfair advantage over new players. For some reason, banning is still a thing, so depending on which hero or heroes are your favourite, if you play in ranked matches, you may rarely get to play your favourites as they may simply get banned.

    The gameplay will be very familiar to players of the genre, but the more objective-based map selection ensures you'll be fighting the opposing players a lot more frequently than you may be used to. Possibly the best genre evolution is team-wide shared experience accumulation within a game, allowing support and tank players to also kick ass. Unfortunately the game can suffer from performance issues even on high-end hardware. Perhaps a side effect of having the game based on the StarCraft 2 engine, which may not be optimally tuned for modern hardware. This is probably the only major flaw of the game, but a potentially very detrimental one.

    The heroes and villains in the game are drawn from the various Blizzard franchises, primarily Diablo, StarCraft and WarCraft. They have plenty of character and are drawn and animated nicely, usually with meaty sound effects that make it a pleasure to destroy an enemy hero and watch what the physics engine does with them afterwards.

    The pricing appears crazy to me. The individual heroes and bundles, have a very reasonable price in in-game currency, while their real money price is prohibitively expensive, even looking at the bundles they have on sale. For the full price of an AAA game, you will only get a handful of the game's heroes and a few skins. It's not really a problem for the player, as you can just buy the heroes you want with gold, but before I would spend real money over simply acquiring gold, they'd probably need to halve the real money costs and increase the gold costs by 50%. But maybe I'm just not the average spender.

    PROs
    - Best designed MOBA out there
    - Great selection of heroes/villains
    - Relatively easy to get in-game money for buying new heroes

    CONs
    - Poor optimization
    - Crazy real money prices
    - Banning system    … Expand
  4. Watersson
    Jul 18, 2015
    8
    HOTS is a nice change from the League of Legends or Dota 2. It introduces quite interesting changes such as sharing of experience between members of teams, mounts, capturing checkpoints, recruiting creatures and so on. In this game there is no gold or buy items. Only you, your team and skills. Blizzard gives us disposal 7 completely different maps. They differ from each other tasks,HOTS is a nice change from the League of Legends or Dota 2. It introduces quite interesting changes such as sharing of experience between members of teams, mounts, capturing checkpoints, recruiting creatures and so on. In this game there is no gold or buy items. Only you, your team and skills. Blizzard gives us disposal 7 completely different maps. They differ from each other tasks, soundtrack and graphics. What else? The game is very simple! There are not any clever tactics, the goal is only a one- to kill and win. With a clear conscience I can recommend you Blizzard's MOBA. Oh, Matchmaking sucks here.… Expand
  5. TRANDO101
    Jun 29, 2015
    8
    Heroes Of The Storm is quite fun, and its got a fair bit of familiar characters, as well its not too grindy, the only bad things that i can think of is that the matches are all team based, but thats the same for all mobas, and that there aren't a lot of maps 4 or 5.
  6. banditpwn
    Jul 21, 2015
    7
    Blizzard Entertainment seems to be on a trend of making online games that are extremely easy to pick up but lack a lot of the depth and complexity of games in the same genre. Heroes is no exception here as a new MOBA player can jump right in and feel comfortable yet a MOBA veteran might miss the depth of LoL or DotA. I have played Heroes ever since it was in closed beta and saw it growBlizzard Entertainment seems to be on a trend of making online games that are extremely easy to pick up but lack a lot of the depth and complexity of games in the same genre. Heroes is no exception here as a new MOBA player can jump right in and feel comfortable yet a MOBA veteran might miss the depth of LoL or DotA. I have played Heroes ever since it was in closed beta and saw it grow into a game that I believe has the potential to rival other MOBAs simply because Blizzard is behind it (meaning it is beautifully crafted and well thought out). Also it is awesome to see all the lore from past Blizzard masterpieces all compiled nicely in one universe.

    Being a long time League of Legends player, the thing I most missed about Heroes is the lack of items or any rich in game customization system. While this makes it very easy to pick up with choosing different customizations rather than learning ~100 items, it makes the game get pretty dull after playing a few hundred games. I ground out a bunch of games when the ranked system as first released and made it pretty far in a short amount of time because it seems really easy to win games with certain characters or simple strategies.

    In all, I would certainly recommend Heroes to friends to try out since it is a helluva lot of fun but I certainly wouldn't play it on a very consistent basis and risk getting bored of the limited customization and repetitive game play.

    Score: Solid 7-7.5 (Maybe an 8 or higher for newcomers to MOBAs, seriously give it a try it's free)    … Expand
  7. DemKin
    Oct 24, 2015
    5
    Broken automatic matchmaking system, bizarre team composition, unbalanced and frustrating matchups. This pretty much seems to sum up everybody's experience of this game.
    It's a classic MOBA, except Blizzard dumbed it down a bit and with it its competitive potential. The heroes have one predetermined role and have to stick with it, there is no items to buff them or anything, the maps have    Broken automatic matchmaking system, bizarre team composition, unbalanced and frustrating matchups. This pretty much seems to sum up everybody's experience of this game.
    It's a classic MOBA, except Blizzard dumbed it down a bit and with it its competitive potential. The heroes have one predetermined role and have to stick with it, there is no items to buff them or anything, the maps have secondary objectives to fulfill, the heroes are not very numerous and the balance is very bad, but the worst about this game is this very silly automatic matchmaking system that tends to make the most random team compositions and will make you wait 3 mminutes to then send you into 20+ minutes of unbalanced garbage, and that's a fun killer.
    After a few hours, the fun's not there anymore and HotS for me is a nope. Blizzard should make new franchises instead of trying to ride that MOBA wave and doing it wrong.    … Expand
  8. blade01
    Oct 8, 2015
    6
    So many things so **** up in a game, why blizzard, why?First of all, i dont know how the prices in other MOBAS are for content.But one **** skin for 10-30 bucks?Really?Sometimes blizzard bundles things together so you have to buy the hole package or youll probally never get a skin or mount.Why?The problem is so many people are willing to spend enough money on 2 or 3 skins to buy a AAASo many things so **** up in a game, why blizzard, why?First of all, i dont know how the prices in other MOBAS are for content.But one **** skin for 10-30 bucks?Really?Sometimes blizzard bundles things together so you have to buy the hole package or youll probally never get a skin or mount.Why?The problem is so many people are willing to spend enough money on 2 or 3 skins to buy a AAA title.This is so hilarious.But the things you can buy are cosmetic only for the most part and you can farm gold more or less easy.I play 1-3 games a day and unlocked heros for i think 50k gold in a ok period of time.Blizzard lets you play heros for free on a rotation, fair.I wish the prices for skins were lower so i could buy some of them and be happy to give something back for the game.But not that much money, no.Even on 50% discount a skin is about 5 bucks.Makes me sad.

    Besides that, the game isnt that great.The game never looks awesome but i cant run it properly on my(older) PC while other, better looking games run just fine.This is a weird and sometimes the game is so demanding that is laggs like hell.

    I encountered many bugs along the way too.20 minutes prior to the review im writing right now i had a game with the AI.The AI broke completely, never moved.I had to play alone, died 30 times maybe because hey, i was alone against a complete team.I had other issues with bugs, the mostly the AI.

    The game is really unbalanced.Sometimes i think blizzard never tested the things they do.No long ago the released Leoric.Kinda broken this is hero, now they made some changes with the latest patch....and hes still a bit overpowered.Youll see him in most pro-lineups for a good reason.Same with one of the newer maps.For example the map with the punishers.They rebalanced some things because if you were behind on that map it was nearly over.The punishers wer too strong.After the patch i never played the map, so i dont know if they succesfully changed it now but again, who tested this ****

    In the end i think this is a mediocre game that many people play because they are not good enough for the other mobas.I dont mean that as an offence.Im not made for this genre too but Heroes is simple enough for me so i dont mind.But its kinda shallow i think in many aspects.The community is still very toxic despite the fact that it is very likely that youll play in quickmateched with a team that is not that great because like i said, they are not good enough for the other mobas.I recommend this game to that target audience or when you are total new in the genre.I think you can learn a lot by playing Heroes.But as a product i think its mediocre and a solid 6.    … Expand
  9. everin
    Oct 1, 2015
    7
    Tier 2
    + An excellent post-introduction to MOBAs for those who have already played LoL and DotA 2 but have grown tired of them
    + Full of just as many unaware, objective-ignoring teammates as other classics in the MOBA genre + Matches are quick and streamlined, offering stale but easily digested simulacra of the mechanics you've come to love from other MOBAs ? Provides a variety of map    Tier 2
    + An excellent post-introduction to MOBAs for those who have already played LoL and DotA 2 but have grown tired of them
    + Full of just as many unaware, objective-ignoring teammates as other classics in the MOBA genre
    + Matches are quick and streamlined, offering stale but easily digested simulacra of the mechanics you've come to love from other MOBAs
    ? Provides a variety of map types, which it then offers to you in a completely random order regardless of your interest in them
    ? Pets the soft scaley back of your reptilian brain by injecting it full of rewarding DOPAMINE through "daily quests" and sparkly visuals
    - Improves on the pricing model of LoL by making everything more expensive despite offering shallower gameplay and fewer characters overall    … Expand
  10. Lightfighter
    Jul 10, 2015
    9
    I play this game since beta (January '15 i believe), and I "must" play it every day. I like that they really keep the F2P aspect in balance with paying users imo. You don't have to pay, if you don't want to. It's very possible to play Hero League without paying any real money. U only need to gather 10 heroes and reach level 40. The heroes you can buy with gold or real money. Gold can beI play this game since beta (January '15 i believe), and I "must" play it every day. I like that they really keep the F2P aspect in balance with paying users imo. You don't have to pay, if you don't want to. It's very possible to play Hero League without paying any real money. U only need to gather 10 heroes and reach level 40. The heroes you can buy with gold or real money. Gold can be gathered by playing games, leveling heroes and leveling you as a player.

    I started playing the Moba genre since it was a mod of Warcraft 3. I never found any other game in the genre quite as enjoying as the mods of WC3. Dota en LoL were not my kind of games, these games have a too steep learning curve and an unkind community. Heroes of the Storm is the reason I tried the genre again, and it succeeded to keep me interested enough. Yes, there are also flamers, kiddies and plain stupid players present. But those kind of players are in every game. You can easily find new friends ( you get bonus xp and gold if u team up with a friend), and just keep playing with the ones you like.

    Heroes of the Storm is my main game since January and I estimate that it stays that way for the next half year.    … Expand
  11. gipsylon
    Oct 29, 2015
    6
    I've been playing this game since January 2015 and it's still far from being finished.

    Matchmaking is a joke, MMR and ranks are all over the place. I don't feel any difference in players skill whether I'm rank 1-5 or when I was previously stuck at 20-25 (before reset). I have over 2000 games played and I'm still being matched with absolutely clueless people who have 100-200 games    I've been playing this game since January 2015 and it's still far from being finished.

    Matchmaking is a joke, MMR and ranks are all over the place. I don't feel any difference in players skill whether I'm rank 1-5 or when I was previously stuck at 20-25 (before reset).

    I have over 2000 games played and I'm still being matched with absolutely clueless people who have 100-200 games total and are unranked (still doing their 20 placement matches, which is actually some **** thing introduced to trick people into thinking devs are improving something, fun fact - some people are placed at the lowest rank 50 after their placement matches where they went 15 wins 5 losses or similar - since it's not possible to drop rank below 40 it means they played 20 games for nothing).

    Servers are unstable and you are guaranteed to have lagging/disconnecting people in most of games, sometimes whole team gets dropped, sometimes you get strange freezes and you have to quit the game and rejoin.

    Devs pretend they know about the issues and are working on it, but the only stuff we get are some skins and reskinned horse for 10€.

    TL;DR
    You will enjoy the game if you're new to MOBA and like Blizzard games in general, but once you learn the game basics and get better you will realize how uncompetitive and unfinished this game is.
    Also prices are too high.

    PS. Don't trust anyone who gives this game more than 7/10 at this point.    … Expand
  12. xl33tgamerx
    May 10, 2020
    7
    This is a pretty average game. Nothing great. Just average. About as average as the come for MOBAs. Nothing special, just a Blizzard brand MOBA.
  13. jacob4
    Jul 16, 2016
    10
    A fun, exciting, and competitive crossover of Blizzard's greatest works! Heroes of the Storm is like the Mountain Dew of team arena games which is good I guess. The maps are interesting and all the characters are unique in their own way. A great substitute if your not into League of Legends or DOTA.
  14. chriscox
    Jul 17, 2015
    8
    I started Moba's with the original Dota on Warcraft 3, It was a tough gig back then. People expected you to be an expert and new players got a really hard time. I also played League of Legends for 2 years and got Gold Rank IV.

    When trying Hot's for the first few games i was shocked at how simple it felt in comparison. Gone away with an inventory system last hitting etc. I feel the game    I started Moba's with the original Dota on Warcraft 3, It was a tough gig back then. People expected you to be an expert and new players got a really hard time. I also played League of Legends for 2 years and got Gold Rank IV.

    When trying Hot's for the first few games i was shocked at how simple it felt in comparison. Gone away with an inventory system last hitting etc. I feel the game is a little more casual in that sense.

    The important thing is the game is fun with lots of varied and interesting maps with different things to do. I will have to wait and see how long it can hold my interest.    … Expand
  15. Bejjano
    Jun 15, 2015
    8
    A pretty solid moba with even more variety than others. My only gripe is that a team filled with bronze players can beat a team filled with platinum players pretty often. The game caters to newbies, so your excellent solo plays you might be use to in other mobas (1v2'ing for a double kill or something) can be easily overshadowed by simple objectives. In other words, objectives > kills.A pretty solid moba with even more variety than others. My only gripe is that a team filled with bronze players can beat a team filled with platinum players pretty often. The game caters to newbies, so your excellent solo plays you might be use to in other mobas (1v2'ing for a double kill or something) can be easily overshadowed by simple objectives. In other words, objectives > kills.

    And I'm ok with this, there's just a bit too large of a focus on team play, resulting in a not so enjoyable solo queue experience. If you play with friends, I think you'll have more fun than other mobas.    … Expand
  16. BatmanBuster
    Jun 30, 2015
    7
    This game takes MOBA to a whole new level, but not anything new is actually good. I dont really enjoy seeing an all-star salad with all the characters molted down in an alloy strong enough to survive most of the criticising which come from players happy about the previous blizzard's individual game-worlds.
  17. olejka
    Dec 13, 2015
    5
    In this game I am not interested to win. With a large number of cards, this game boring "classic" MOBA games.

    The game is good only familiar characters, good localization and technical support.
  18. Assessinho
    Jul 14, 2015
    6
    Meh. I expected more from a Blizzard game, I had some gameplay issues and crashes.
    Maybe I will change my review once, but for now, this is a shadow of what this game could've been.
  19. Darius_84
    Jan 15, 2023
    0
    There are no words to describe how bad this garbage is. Spare yourself the pain and do something else, let this trash die the way it's supposed to
  20. SArais
    Nov 25, 2015
    5
    Another Age of Strife Styled Fortress Assault Game Going On Two Sides genre game, Blizzard's attempt to get in the pot. When did game reviews become more about the bushiness practices than the games themselves? I can't blame the hatred- corporatalized **** does tend to be involved and paid reviews do exist.

    HOTS is not a perfect game to hold my attention, but it can have it's moments of    Another Age of Strife Styled Fortress Assault Game Going On Two Sides genre game, Blizzard's attempt to get in the pot. When did game reviews become more about the bushiness practices than the games themselves? I can't blame the hatred- corporatalized **** does tend to be involved and paid reviews do exist.

    HOTS is not a perfect game to hold my attention, but it can have it's moments of return, but not for extended periods of time.

    I don't spend money, nor care to, unless it's a pointless cosmetic that I like. So yes, I'm a sucker for pointless shiny things.

    **** type games are not my cup of tea to begin with, most of it boiling down to me wondering what the **** i'm doing, why i'm doing such pitiful damage, and am not contributing to my team in any way.

    Awesomenauts and HOTS relieve this and make it playable at least, opting for a selection of upgrade or purchasing them from the shop, specializing them for the class and it's abilities, rather than have a large pool of items and trying to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do.    … Expand
  21. HardlyRushed
    Jun 8, 2015
    6
    Heroes of the Storm is well made, but it's only entertaining for a short while, i reached level 30 and i didn't even want to play more instead i went back to league of legends, if you've never tried a moba go ahead it might be for you, personally there nothing to do inside an actual game, no item, no masteries, no runes or anything similar only talents. So this is my moba lover judgement
  22. Zhurav1
    Jun 25, 2015
    9
    After being an experienced MOBA player through Dota 1, 2 and Heroes of Newerth, reaching top 1% in HoN and top 3-5% in Dota 2, I feel safe to say with lots of experience under my belt that HOTS is a great game. Although the game has plenty more balance and features to release, it feels very involved and fun. Yes it is easier to pick up and has less of a learning curve, that does not meanAfter being an experienced MOBA player through Dota 1, 2 and Heroes of Newerth, reaching top 1% in HoN and top 3-5% in Dota 2, I feel safe to say with lots of experience under my belt that HOTS is a great game. Although the game has plenty more balance and features to release, it feels very involved and fun. Yes it is easier to pick up and has less of a learning curve, that does not mean that it cannot be mastered like other MOBA's. If you are sick of the farming phase and having supports pushed into roles where they will be dominated, then you will love this game. If Blizzard released a VOIP, the game would further improve. I highly recommend it and hope blizzard pays very close attention to the games balance and expansion.… Expand
  23. Ballsack
    Jun 26, 2015
    8
    Alright, what I dont get is why people **** on this game so much, Its refreshing to have a new game in this genre when its been ruled by basically dota and riot. The characters are nice, game has depth and theres a lot to do in it.
  24. Thatguy1451
    Jun 27, 2015
    9
    Heroes of the storm does do a decent job of trying to stand out from the other top MOBAs like LOL. You can play as some of your favorite heros from all of Blizzards games. This game is great for those that are new to these types of games and does not take a huge amount of time to be able to get the basics right as you have no items and no gold to farm from last hits. Really I do enjoy thisHeroes of the storm does do a decent job of trying to stand out from the other top MOBAs like LOL. You can play as some of your favorite heros from all of Blizzards games. This game is great for those that are new to these types of games and does not take a huge amount of time to be able to get the basics right as you have no items and no gold to farm from last hits. Really I do enjoy this game as I was able to get friends to join in as they could catch on quickly. The only issue I have is the time it will take to gather all the heroes using only gold you gain at the end of the game. Overall it does a decent job of removing all the issues that you would be flamed for normally in LOL, you can play any hero you want anywhere people just get along and don't mind.… Expand
  25. blues
    Jul 13, 2015
    8
    The game plays great and I love to see all my favorite characters. Downsides: First is that the game is hard to play for free, since getting some characters takes a lot of time or lots of money. It really feels they are milking you dry. And second is that quick match is terrible! The worst of that is that you need to spend significant time to get into the Heroes League and do some normalThe game plays great and I love to see all my favorite characters. Downsides: First is that the game is hard to play for free, since getting some characters takes a lot of time or lots of money. It really feels they are milking you dry. And second is that quick match is terrible! The worst of that is that you need to spend significant time to get into the Heroes League and do some normal games with drafting (this is where the fun started for me). Conclusion: a great and very fun game that requires money and/or lots of time to enjoy.… Expand
  26. Exavier
    Jul 16, 2015
    6
    For a free(ish) game, HotS has some weight to it. Taking it at face value, you have a MOBA with recognizable Blizzard characters; when I heard of this my hype was at an 11. Unfortunately this falls flat of my expectations.

    ++ Has a wide roster with some interesting character playstyles. Even without purchasing any characters and only using free rotation, you shouldn't be bored with the    For a free(ish) game, HotS has some weight to it. Taking it at face value, you have a MOBA with recognizable Blizzard characters; when I heard of this my hype was at an 11. Unfortunately this falls flat of my expectations.

    ++ Has a wide roster with some interesting character playstyles. Even without purchasing any characters and only using free rotation, you shouldn't be bored with the selection.
    -- That being said, characters are expensive to purchase with in-game currency, and the cost with real money is downright absurd. At a rate of $0.99 per 1,000 gold, with 1/3 of the champions costing 10,000 gold, you're looking at $10 per decent character. So effectively, just a small handful of characters once you've depleted your "early" bonuses (aka playing for an entire day or two straight).
    -- Which, unfortunately, is dull after a while. Each map gives you different objectives, but they generally all feel the same. Go here, kill this, go here, your team gets an advantage for a little while. Every map feels very similar.
    ++ To their credit, however, the maps are pretty. So that's something.
    ++ And to the character selection's credit (and cost), at the very least they give you the option to test a character before you buy it, in a reasonable single-player practice environment with a single lane, minions, an enemy Arthas, and an ally Malfurion to back you up, as well as control over level and lanes.
    -- There is an unfortunate lack of complexity in character leveling, but enough to make one character using the same hero at least *slightly* different from the next.
    ++ And on the plus side, at least it's easy to unlock the masteries for a given character. 2-3 matches seems to be enough.

    There's not a whole lot else to say about the game. It's briefly fun, but gets stale fast--maybe I'm jaded. But I think this is where I have the biggest issue, coming more from a fan of these series than an unbiased gamer. It just doesn't feel like they've been done justice. I get the idea behind making everyone level at the same time, but it doesn't solve the problem of "if one person on your team sucks, your whole team sucks." In fact it makes it worse. With individual leveling, a good carry can compensate a poor player. Now that poor player drags the whole team down.

    Not to mention, when I'm doing really well individually, I want it to be known, and I want to tear that battlefield up. When I heard this was going to be a possibility, I imagined strolling in with Kerrigan, rocking a lane, shutting someone down and FORTHESWARM-ing all over the place, cackling maniacally while blasting muh gaming tunes at max volume. Now I'm held back because someone else on my team is feeding but I'm nailing every skillshot? Not a fan of that. In reality the homogenized experience pool makes individual players doing bad even worse.

    "Homogenized" is probably the best word I can use to describe it overall. But it's not bad, for what it is. I may pick it up when I'm bored or a neat new hero comes out I wanna look at, but this just doesn't have revive that spark that had me playing LoL for so long. In fact, as someone who hasn't played LoL for a couple years, this game actually made me want to play LoL again.    … Expand
  27. Drackbolt
    Jul 18, 2015
    8
    Pros:
    Automatic saving of full game replays and easy sharing
    Ability to try ANY hero or skin before purchasing Many ways to gain Gold for purchasing Heroes with daily Quests Excellent tutorial and introductory setting Hero experience and Levels are spread out across entire team, greatly reducing "snowballing" effects Lack of "items" and introduction of Talents shifts sophistication    Pros:
    Automatic saving of full game replays and easy sharing
    Ability to try ANY hero or skin before purchasing
    Many ways to gain Gold for purchasing Heroes with daily Quests
    Excellent tutorial and introductory setting
    Hero experience and Levels are spread out across entire team, greatly reducing "snowballing" effects
    Lack of "items" and introduction of Talents shifts sophistication and balancing to Champs/Heroes
    Good sense of humor and atmosphere; fun to see old Blizzard game characters return as well
    Positive in-game feedback from narrator and other champs is a nice change
    High attention to detail and ease of navigation through all game interfaces
    Starting matches with all QWER abilities makes you feel immediately powerful and relevant
    Lack of last-hitting means more focus on champ-to-champ conflict and taking objectives
    Lanes are much shorter and riding mounts means quicker and more engaging play
    Average game is only about 20 minutes, with no lack of action
    Many different maps to play on with their own mechanics
    In general players are punished less for mistakes, encouraging more positive community reactions

    Cons:
    Hard-won last-hitting skills are lost here
    No "items" or in-game currency to spend at shops
    Hero experience and Levels are spread out across entire team, meaning you cannot personally "snowball"
    Purchasing champs or skins with real money is slightly more expensive than in other games
    Fewer Heroes to choose from since the game is relatively new
    Graphics are good but not mindblowing
    Some abilities have unexplained mechanics (like someone's dash/tunneling making them take no damage)    … Expand
  28. Gorgannan
    Jul 30, 2015
    6
    The Good: Fast paced, interesting gameplay with many maps. Many heroes on initial release, with more to come. There are some unique mechanics, and the short games make it easy to play. Kills aren't very rewarding, making a feeder on your team really not that severe.

    The Bad: Most of the heroes kits are very uninspired. Low skill floors, low skill ceilings. There are 3 or 4 VERY unique    The Good: Fast paced, interesting gameplay with many maps. Many heroes on initial release, with more to come. There are some unique mechanics, and the short games make it easy to play. Kills aren't very rewarding, making a feeder on your team really not that severe.

    The Bad: Most of the heroes kits are very uninspired. Low skill floors, low skill ceilings. There are 3 or 4 VERY unique heroes, and then most who are just so bland and easy. Between thematics and kit, it's been hard for me to find more than a few heroes I enjoy playing. Kills aren't very rewarding, so doing well doesn't feel good. It's a little TOO important to do the objectives. My biggest complaint is shared experience. There is a diminishing return on experience in every game. Each level takes more and more to level. Well in this game, you'll never have easy to kill squishy underfed targets to gain experience off of when you are behind, because instead of one crazy fed character on the enemy team, their whole team will be slightly ahead. This makes comebacks MUCH more difficult than any other moba I've played. The only way to win against a winning team is for them to throw, and not for you to play well. It's frustrating for the carry roles (ranged ADC) to not be able to get a real edge on assassins as well.

    There is no customization of characters because there is no gold because there is no farming. When I first started playing Dota and LoL, I hated last hitting. I thought it was the most stupid mechanic in a game. Now that I've played them for years, I see why you need it. To replace the item system, there's a talent system. The talents are boring, add very little to the gameplay, and based on their team, are preset as to what you must get to be effective in your role.

    The Ugly: This games graphics are bad. VERY behind in the genre. Between LoL's recent visual upgrade, and Dota 2s stunning effects, Heroes looks like a pixelated WC3 with slightly better models. The default mount is a horse, which EVERY rides. Giant Demons, Jim Raynor (space cowboy) and monstrous creatures of all sorts who look incredibly out of place. They should remove mounts from the game. I'm not really sure what the point of them is. Just give a run when not in combat effect and call it good. Stitches looks retarded up there on his horse.

    Overall, it has potential. It could be very big with some changes. The most off-putting things for me though, are gameplay design choices they have, so it really just isn't the game for me. Warcraft 3 is currently the last game of Blizzards that I'm still playing and I hope they can start releasing higher quality games soon. I mistakenly had high hopes. Blizzard didn't let me down, I expected too much.    … Expand
  29. icydecay
    Jul 31, 2015
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. THIS IS A LONG REVIEW, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

    To start off let me say that I have a lot of experience playing moba's; over 2000 games on league and several hundred on both dota and Hots. With that being said, I can honestly say Blizzard did not do too bad with this game. I will try to give an honest list of both pros and cons, as well as some moot points, and I'll try to be fair.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Pros
    -For the Blizzard lore fans out there, this game includes several of the iconic people throughout most of Blizzard's franchises.
    -Gameplay is more accepting of new to the genre players, meaning its a lot easier to get into this game than dota or lol
    -So far there has been pretty consistent patching and releases to keep the game from getting too stale
    -The game is somewhat fair, I mean unless you are playing against the top echelon of hero league(10 or lower) there is a super defined meta, so that you don't HAVE to play the FotM hero.
    -it is ftp so ever if you don''t enjoy the game too much you can see it as nothing ventured
    -hero progression in the game is a tad bit more rewarding, in which you can attain different hero colorations (similar to league's chroma packs , compared to the newly added champion mastery in LoL
    -gameplay is a little more action packed than the other two mobas, in that action is more constant in heroes, whereas in both dota and LoL the action is a little more explosive
    -with minion deaths awarding only exp as well as the absence of items in the game, you are not constricted to farm your lane for some 15-20+ mins until the "mid game"
    -game is more objective based, which can allow for some miraculous comebacks, even when severely down in both kills and exp
    -there are some innovative gameplay, relating to some specific hero's, namely abathur and the lost vikings (for the dota fans reading this, the lost vikings play out somewhat similar to meepo)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Cons
    -dear god the reconnect systems sucks...very, very, VERY badly
    -hero league matchmaking is very imbalanced; the ranks are not separate enough and progression occurs much too quickly to allow for evenly matched game, resulting in most games becoming complete stomps
    -regular quick match formation of teams can be a bit rng at times(iv'e had games of 4 assassins and a support against 3 warriors, a specialist, and a support) which results in some very frustrating games
    -being that the game is more objective based, the lack of "currency" in the game and shared experience, the ability to solo-carry games is just not there
    -(i was very, very disappointed with this) hero master skins are stated as being unlockable by progression, and is a way to show that you truly have played that hero a lot, yet it costs as much as the newer champions(10,000 gold, which is nothing to laugh at) and that can cut back on unlocking new, fun heros
    -until you reach level 20, you have to level up a champion simply to use some of its talents and abilities, which is not something a pumped up person wants to do when they just bought their favorite hero
    -some maps are just downright frustrating ( haunted mines, i'm looking at you)
    -the community is pretty polarized due to the mixing of players from league and dota with the casual blizzard fans, which causes some very hostile games
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Now for some moot points, and just some of my opinions.
    -This game can be very unwelcoming to hardcore players because the sustained gold income to buy new champions is very inconsistent, basically the quests are nice, just not for people who play 4-5+ games a day
    -there needs to be median game mode that is targeted more towards the hardcore community; something that isn't "Ranked" simply for us to pass the time, and it would maybe split up the two communities because lets be honest, getting into the games with new-to-moba players can be a bit frustrating
    -tbh some champions do feel a bit stale and clunky, such as -> sonya, lich king, elite tauren chieftain...etc
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Overall its a decent game. For the casual moba players, as well as new-to-moba players this is definitely a great game for you. For the more hardcore players, this game, imo, is more of a pallet-cleanser; but it has the propensity to be a great game.    … Expand
  30. Azgar5991
    Aug 7, 2015
    8
    i'm League of Legends player but a friend of mine show this game from Blizzard ( i was a World of Warcraft player ), start playing and now i pass my time playing this one. You fight more at team than LOL you need you re team for the most of match, The map you play is always changing and you need do diferent things in each map. For me this game is pretty good not yet better than LOL buti'm League of Legends player but a friend of mine show this game from Blizzard ( i was a World of Warcraft player ), start playing and now i pass my time playing this one. You fight more at team than LOL you need you re team for the most of match, The map you play is always changing and you need do diferent things in each map. For me this game is pretty good not yet better than LOL but someday i belive yes, after all its Blizzard.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

16
#16 Best PC Game of 2015
12
#12 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
46
#46 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 57 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 57
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 57
  3. Negative: 0 out of 57
  1. Ten Ton Hammer
    Nov 1, 2015
    90
    Heroes of the Storm is an exceptional game that’s thrown the cat amongst the pigeons in this rigid genre.
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  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Sep 9, 2015
    90
    In Heroes of the Storm you play as one of Blizzard's iconic characters from Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. At first glance the game looks like a typical 5 vs 5 MOBA, but there are changes that differentiate it from its competitors. The matches are shorter, items have been replaced with talents and all maps have different side objectives. Overall, the changes have made the game more intense and varied. The main thing that I have issues with is the payment model. At first it seems fair and reasonable, but after a while you realize that you have to spend tons of money if you want to unlock all the characters or play the game for a long time. [Sept 2015]
  3. Games Master UK
    Aug 18, 2015
    86
    A welcoming avenue into a visually complex genre, with supreme production values. [Summer 2015, p.74]
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