The Rise and Fall of Heroes of the Storm
Years ago, when MOBA’s supremacy could not be questioned, I found myself playing DOTA2 and LoL, and feeling quite unfulfilled. There was no discernable progress aside from skill ranking, the team play aspect of the game was largely forgotten in PUGs and the toxicity level of the communities was potent enough to kill any fun that otherwise could’ve been enjoyed through the social side of the game. Enter Heroes of the Storm.
In my mind, Blizzard had just swooped in to save the day for MOBAs. By the time Heroes of the Storm was released, I had largely put MOBAs aside for some FPS or RTS game or another that my friends and I commonly fall back on in times of desperation. It wasn’t until my Blizzard-buds (we play almost every game Blizzard has made together – and little else) called me up a couple weeks later to join them for some HotS that I actually even installed the game.
What I found was a sweet refuge from many of the issues that had spoiled other MOBAs for me. There were critical team-based objectives that changed by map, meaning each game offered something a little different and felt more rewarding. Levelling up characters to unlock new skins and other vanity items was also a nice perk, something that other MOBAs kept firmly locked behind a pay-wall.
In addition, the community was considerably less toxic. There was still the odd flamer, but for the most part my PUG teammates were respectful and even helpful to newer players. The muting system for toxic players must have been considerably stronger, as I encountered on a number of occasions players who had been globally muted (with a cooldown) for their behavior.
All of this, plus the regular release of new heroes, made for one seriously fun game where you constantly felt that you were working towards or accomplishing something. The Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) e-Sport league was seemingly gaining momentum, and offered a refreshing take on the MOBA genre. It seemed I was not the only one who had enjoyed the core concept of other MOBAs, but was turned off them by the execution of the genre-leading titles.
As the HGC grew and the playerbase expanded, things only seemed to get better. New events were released that offered cross-game rewards (unlocking mounts in WoW and vanity pets in Diablo, to name two) and provided serious motivation to stick with the game. This went on for a while, with ebbs and flows, until the Blizzard announcement in December of 2018 that came as a blow to many people.
The HGC would not be renewed and the HotS devs were being re-assigned to different projects. This, essentially, was a deathstroke for a game that exists solely as an online multiplayer experience. With no new content or competitive scene, the player base would inevitably dwindle to the point that unreasonable match times would deter even the most resilient players.
Recently, I fired up HotS with a couple friends and was immediately saddened by what I saw: very little new content in spite of my extended absence, an active event that felt disjointed and half-hearted and, as expected, much longer wait times than usual.
After completing two bittersweet matches, we decided to call it quits and leave our once-beloved game in the shadows in which it now rests. I would love to say that we are not witnessing the death of yet another Blizzard masterpiece, but I cannot. All I can do now is place my faith in the new projects that the devs over at Blizzard are working on.