I can't show the actual DSR filter because you can't screenshot it. I just grabbed the image @4k and downscaled it by 0.5x on each axis with paint.net supersampling
Look at Tassadar shoulders and also the weapon at bottom left
HotS aping the League business model is folly. People in sufficient numbers are still willing to pay for an occasional box and $15/mo for WoW exclusively because of personal investment and social ties. LoL has these. Most MMOs do not. HotS does not. I had hoped HotS would succeed but these aspects have made me doubt it will.
To whoever Cyro and me played on Heroes and made Cyro feel e-famous, it was a good game (Spaylz & Sohma I believe!)
Also Tassadar is great, but can't wait to try both Abathur and Arthas out more. I really think if they want to make this game an actual success, they've got to drop prices a little. They might because this is still Alpha!
The LoL model is like it is because people didn't know there was a better model at the time. Dota has shown you can have a vastly superior model that still nets them more average monetization.
I don't see any evidence that it is vastly superior. DOTA does has a marginally higher revenue-to-users ratio, however, it's debateable whether they are comparable as the average LOL player might be more casual/younger (thus lower salary) than the average DOTA player. From my own perspective, I would never in a million years purchase a skin - couldn't care less - but I could definitely see myself purchase a couple of champions in League.
Moreover, I actually think a lot of gamers like the unlock-feeling as it does add an incentive-structure (though I am not a fan of masteries and runes). Another advantage is that it reduces the learning curve when you play against the same champions over and over when you just start out which makes it easier to learn how to dodge skillshots. If you played against a new champion each game, it would be harder for newer players to pick up the game.
Quick Question~ Climbing up the MMR chain... what is the most impactful hero I can play? Meaning, what hero do I have the best chance of carrying my team with and being the biggest difference maker?
On October 19 2014 13:57 kirsed wrote: I play this with my cousin like once a week. Where can I find the optimal builds? I don't really care to learn the game I just want lazy optimization.
On October 19 2014 12:55 Joedaddy wrote: Quick Question~ Climbing up the MMR chain... what is the most impactful hero I can play? Meaning, what hero do I have the best chance of carrying my team with and being the biggest difference maker?
Tassadar. He can do pretty much everything that your team needs.
On October 19 2014 13:57 kirsed wrote: I play this with my cousin like once a week. Where can I find the optimal builds? I don't really care to learn the game I just want lazy optimization.
On October 18 2014 11:36 TheDougler wrote: God I hate hopping into a thread and alienating myself... But honestly I think Diamond has a point.
I want a successful Blizzard Moba. The most successful moba (financially) is LoL, so I'm fine with Blizzard using their business model. I'm not one to pay money for microtransactions but obviously many people do, and if Blizzard can make a quick buck off of them I'm all for it. Another player in the competition for best MOBA means competition which leads to a better player/spectator experience. If they fuck up, people will play LoL or DoTA and it's no big deal for us as consumers.
That's my stance anyway.
So here is the potentially large problem with Blizzards gold model as of right now of buying heroes, even disregarding the fact that gold is too little or that the heroes are too expensive.
LoL was the first MOBA game to succesfully employ the iteration of the f2p model. Grinding for runes/champs etc. There were very little good alternatives at the time(Dota 2 wasn't out yet) and so it grew steadily as the only one with such a payment model. Nowaydays a large portion of the people play League and a significant portion plays Dota as well. You want to draw the people away from LoL and Dota potentially in order to get them to play HOTS and reap in the monies.
The payment system for Dota 2 works well for Dota 2 because they have Steam so people installing Dota 2 are more likely to use Steam and thus generate more Steam value. People from League who want to try out Dota have full access to everything Dota 2 has to offer except for cosmetics, this means that they have smaller switching costs. They have to give up their League account which they spend countless of hours in or they can simply play both(not possible for Dota players the other way around btw).
However people from League who want to switch to HOTS(and, being the largest demographic is the one you will want to bring to HOTS). Have massive switching costs. They spend countless hours on League and now in order to fully play HOTS they have to spend countless hours on HOTS, this is a huge barrier of entry to anyone who played League before and is used to having a significant portion of the game unlocked(they played for it a ton but as of that moment they have a wide array of options). Thus this means that the switching cost of people from League to HOTS are incredibly high. As Kuponss pointed out, Riot was only able to be succesful with the current model simply because they were the first and have such market position. Even now there are discussions and people getting angry at Riot's model for newer players since you have to grind so much. For example Riot has region locks, thus everything I work on on my EU account does not transfer to my NA account, it is a huge barrier of entry to play with my friends and a detriment to my enjoyment if I ever want to play on a different region. Simply because I have to grind everything again and spend countless hours(or countless dollars) in order to play. Having to grind in League and then switch to more grinding in HOTS is simply a very large barrier to entry.
Blizzard's unique game modes and short duration of games coupled with their franchise needs to be able to help people cross that barrier, but I am not sure if that is actually possible. So you have to rely on an unsaturated demographic (the market from people who don't play moba's currently and or don't want to play 40 minutes but 20 minute games), the rest of it is going to be the Blizzard fanbase.
You can't just copy the most succesful business mode blindly without taking into account in what position Riot was when it employed that business model and what position HOTS is in right now. The model would have worked if Blizzard was the first but they are not, they are not even the second or the third.
Kipsate, I think you are badly underestimating Blizzard's position. They have some huge advantages that will help them break into the market, including brand name, reputation, a large installed fan base, and a fresh product. LoL is an old product. Yeah, there are a lot of people who are heavily invested in it, but for how long do you think people will want to stick with LoL, which is very stale compared to HotS?
Locked-hero models have been successful outside of League. Smite managed it despite a super rocky start and far less marketing than Blizzard will doubtless do for HotS (no Blizzcon exposure, for one thing). Do you really think Blizzard will run it worse than Hi-Rez?
Even HoN was fairly successful with it for a time before S2 mismanagement, LoL esports, and DotA 2 release drove it six feet under and it had to change its ways.
There's also the fact that Valve's model only performs as well as it does because they give the community a lot of tools that directly interact with the content, which Blizzard is about as likely to do as pigs are to sprout wings.
Sure, the Valve model is nicer to me as a player and I've dropped games because they've adopted the locked-hero model+runes (cough Dawngate). But the model can certainly work and can provide money to sustain a beta.