EPTWhile we have seen several games in Heroes of the Storm, we know very little about how the game client itself is going to work, what kind of functionalities it is going to have, how will the payment system be organized, etc. etc.
I am an amateur commentator for SC2 (active on youtube, mostly) and am going to prepare some content for HoS too. Some points below are from a commentator's point of view, some are from player's point of view.
Here's my own completely subjective wishlist of HoS functionalities.
MUST HAVE
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clans, groups, events, news - it's been introduced to SC2 some time ago, has just been added to D3 and should be available from the start in HoS. The ability to play with clanmates will be much more important in HoS than it is in SC2 or D3. The game is based on teamplay, I think that there will be much less people playing it single (=with random teammates) than in any other Blizz game. Events and news will be useful to inform people about training sessions, clan games, etc. Again, even more useful than in 1v1 dominated SC2.
play-based unlock system - it should be possible to unlock all heroes through playing only. While not the most money-earning system, I think that it is the best approach. Would not be as important though, if the next point will be true.
all heroes are equal - "different but equal in strength" (or something like that) was the motto for SC2 races design. It should be the same in HoS. Overpowered heroes available through purchase only is not a way to go.
pay to show off and not pay to win - there's lots of people who want to look good in their favourite computer games. While I think that it should be possible for all heroes to be earned through play, the same should not apply to skins, portraits, or whatever doodads Blizz thinks of. If there is someone who is willing to pay for a fancy new set of wings for his Tyrael, I see nothing bad in Blizz selling it. It would be nice if some skins could be both earned in game and bought.
easy to learn, difficult to master - as with StarCraft, HoS should be easy to play even for a total newbie. Even for a first-time moba player. However, there should be a lot of space to improve one's skill. There is not obvious macro to gain advantage from, but strategy, tactics, cooperation, battle maneuvers, best ability usage, character development - these things should differenciate best players and teams from the worse ones.
SHOULD HAVE
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extensive statistics - global, per hero, per function. Kills, assists, damage, mobs. "unspent" abilities time. APM. And so on. The more the better. I think that the amount of statistics and game analysis ggtracker provides is enough, though it should be adjusted to suit a moba game better.
in-game pro and tournament replay repository - as of right now there is relatively few replays available in the Internet for SC2. Most sites with replays I have been using in the last two years have been inactive lately, and those that are active have few highest-level replays. This should change for SC2 and should not be like that for HoS. There should be a central storage place for replays and uploading a replay should be very easy and quick. So should be browsing it and replay downloading.
after match debrief
This is related to statistics. I think that it would be nice if, after playing a game or viewing a replay, a sum-up screen showing players who fulfilled certain roles best would appear for each. Most damage dealt: playerA. Most mobs kills: playerB. Most kills, most assists, most heals, most hero saves, etc. It would be useful for both players and commentators.
observer drawing system - some basic drawing tools for observers would be nice. A few kinky shortcuts to draw a line, arc, arrow to show some interesting tactics or maneuvers. Perhaps a more impotant addon for SC2, but I think it would be nice for HoS too.
FAR-FETCHED WISHES
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spectator in-game joining - my programmer's sense tells me that, with current SC2 event system as it is, it is going to be difficult to implement. I can only suspect how communication and replays are handled internally, so I may be wrong. Nevertheless, it would be a great thing to have a spectator system which would allow a *read-only* access to ongoing games. And by read-only I mean that the observers would not cause lags. In case of losing any data the observer would have to recover it somehow without slowing or stopping the game or would have to wait for next snapshot.
live in-game tournaments stream - integrating with twitch or any other large stream provider would certainly require some programming work, legal work, deals, etc. - but it would certainly benefit the community. If combined with the abovementioned system, twitch could provide only voice commentary and therefore save a lot of bandwidth. Wouldn't it be nice to discuss an ongoing match on your own clan's chat? Or voip through game client?
obligation to publish torunament replays - I think that it would be nice if all replays from the largest tournaments were released publicly. If Blizzard could somehow enforce it. It could be integrated with the in-game replay repository I mentioned. Either way, players from all around the world would have first-hand access to best games of best teams and would be able to analyze them, learn from them and get better in the game.
spectator PiP system - probably impossible to implement in SC2 editor (could a map-maker correct me if I'm wrong), though I would consider it a great addition for commentaries. There should be a possibility to create a PiP window in current location with a shortcut, then be able to move the main view to other place, and then close the PiP with another shortcut. It should be very useful when the action is divied, a fort attack takes place in one part of the map and a large battle takes place in another.
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TL;DR in bold
Can't wait to hear your thoughts and ideas on the matter!
