On May 22 2015 01:02 xDaunt wrote: For newbies, team comps shouldn't matter that much as long as both are equally screwed up (as is usually the case). It's more important for the newbies to focus on learning the flow and pacing of the game, as well as the heroes that they are playing.
Eh, a random team selection frequently leaves one team overwhelmingly favored. It's made worse by newbies not understanding that some heroes are just not for new players (Illidan and most specialists)
The horribly bad spot that QM is in now is making me wonder if I should try Hero League even though I don't know ten heroes completely comfortably yet.
The ones I have are Anub, Muradin, ETC, Tyrande, Malfurion, Kerrigan, Valla and Zagara.
Of those, I have yet to play ETC since his changes and know the rest well, with Zagara, Kerrigan, Anub and Tyrande being my main heroes. As a third support I'll get Uther (who I've played quite a bit when he's on rotation) though I'm not sure yet about my third assassin. Jaina is popular but I just don't really like her that much, I'd rather get Tychus but I don't think he is as useful or wanted. Falstad seems fun but I'd have to play him a dozen games first. Zeratul might be an option, but I'd definitely want to get real good with him before I play him in HL. Bad Void Prisons ruin games.
I was planning on slowly improving over time and adding heroes till I got ten heroes that I know very well before I went into HL but QM is such garbage right now. Absolutely terrible in that I'm getting multiple 3k MMR teams versus half that. In several games it feels like I'm the only one that knows better than to dive for objectives or starting a teamfight when you're 9-11 in levels down. And then there's the absolutely new player that just doesn't know the game, map, hero or basics. That in itself is fine but why am I playing with them against 3k MMR teams?
On May 22 2015 05:02 Thezzy wrote: The horribly bad spot that QM is in now is making me wonder if I should try Hero League even though I don't know ten heroes completely comfortably yet.
The ones I have are Anub, Muradin, ETC, Tyrande, Malfurion, Kerrigan, Valla and Zagara.
Of those, I have yet to play ETC since his changes and know the rest well, with Zagara, Kerrigan, Anub and Tyrande being my main heroes. As a third support I'll get Uther (who I've played quite a bit when he's on rotation) though I'm not sure yet about my third assassin. Jaina is popular but I just don't really like her that much, I'd rather get Tychus but I don't think he is as useful or wanted. Falstad seems fun but I'd have to play him a dozen games first. Zeratul might be an option, but I'd definitely want to get real good with him before I play him in HL. Bad Void Prisons ruin games.
I was planning on slowly improving over time and adding heroes till I got ten heroes that I know very well before I went into HL but QM is such garbage right now. Absolutely terrible in that I'm getting multiple 3k MMR teams versus half that. In several games it feels like I'm the only one that knows better than to dive for objectives or starting a teamfight when you're 9-11 in levels down. And then there's the absolutely new player that just doesn't know the game, map, hero or basics. That in itself is fine but why am I playing with them against 3k MMR teams?
HL is not that hardcore. I started playing HL immediately when I got 10 heroes After 50 matches I still have those same 10 heroes. 1 support only
I was excited at first, but I don't think I'm in any hurry to start over *with* lag though =p.
On May 22 2015 05:02 Thezzy wrote: The horribly bad spot that QM is in now is making me wonder if I should try Hero League even though I don't know ten heroes completely comfortably yet.
The ones I have are Anub, Muradin, ETC, Tyrande, Malfurion, Kerrigan, Valla and Zagara.
Of those, I have yet to play ETC since his changes and know the rest well, with Zagara, Kerrigan, Anub and Tyrande being my main heroes. As a third support I'll get Uther (who I've played quite a bit when he's on rotation) though I'm not sure yet about my third assassin. Jaina is popular but I just don't really like her that much, I'd rather get Tychus but I don't think he is as useful or wanted. Falstad seems fun but I'd have to play him a dozen games first. Zeratul might be an option, but I'd definitely want to get real good with him before I play him in HL. Bad Void Prisons ruin games.
I was planning on slowly improving over time and adding heroes till I got ten heroes that I know very well before I went into HL but QM is such garbage right now. Absolutely terrible in that I'm getting multiple 3k MMR teams versus half that. In several games it feels like I'm the only one that knows better than to dive for objectives or starting a teamfight when you're 9-11 in levels down. And then there's the absolutely new player that just doesn't know the game, map, hero or basics. That in itself is fine but why am I playing with them against 3k MMR teams?
If you are good at/like Tychus, play Tychus. The difference between hero tiers is not that large to justify shoe-horning yourself into Jaina over Tychus. Plus, I'm stereotyping that if you haven't tried HL before now then you aren't likely to be shooting for rank-1 where the differences start to matter (and even then I would argue are not game breaking).
I'm terrible at support and try to avoid it as much as possible. Looking at my match history I've only been support in 6 / 44 matches (not counting Tassadar, fyi Tyranda can't solo-support so I wouldn't count her either). I'm surprised I haven't been forced into healing more.
In any case, HL is a very different beast from QM, I didn't like it and really only played the month it came out. Probably cuz I was much worse at it than QM for whatever reason (being bad at changing who I play game to game probably a big part of it).
On May 22 2015 05:02 Thezzy wrote: The horribly bad spot that QM is in now is making me wonder if I should try Hero League even though I don't know ten heroes completely comfortably yet.
The ones I have are Anub, Muradin, ETC, Tyrande, Malfurion, Kerrigan, Valla and Zagara.
Of those, I have yet to play ETC since his changes and know the rest well, with Zagara, Kerrigan, Anub and Tyrande being my main heroes. As a third support I'll get Uther (who I've played quite a bit when he's on rotation) though I'm not sure yet about my third assassin. Jaina is popular but I just don't really like her that much, I'd rather get Tychus but I don't think he is as useful or wanted. Falstad seems fun but I'd have to play him a dozen games first. Zeratul might be an option, but I'd definitely want to get real good with him before I play him in HL. Bad Void Prisons ruin games.
I was planning on slowly improving over time and adding heroes till I got ten heroes that I know very well before I went into HL but QM is such garbage right now. Absolutely terrible in that I'm getting multiple 3k MMR teams versus half that. In several games it feels like I'm the only one that knows better than to dive for objectives or starting a teamfight when you're 9-11 in levels down. And then there's the absolutely new player that just doesn't know the game, map, hero or basics. That in itself is fine but why am I playing with them against 3k MMR teams?
If you are good at/like Tychus, play Tychus. The difference between hero tiers is not that large to justify shoe-horning yourself into Jaina over Tychus. Plus, I'm stereotyping that if you haven't tried HL before now then you aren't likely to be shooting for rank-1 where the differences start to matter (and even then I would argue are not game breaking).
I'm terrible at support and try to avoid it as much as possible. Looking at my match history I've only been support in 6 / 44 matches (not counting Tassadar, fyi Tyranda can't solo-support so I wouldn't count her either). I'm surprised I haven't been forced into healing more.
In any case, HL is a very different beast from QM, I didn't like it and really only played the month it came out. Probably cuz I was much worse at it than QM for whatever reason (being bad at changing who I play game to game probably a big part of it).
Lili is so easy support that anybody can use it. Also she is so damn good D: And she is my only support that I have
Global play is so pointless for Heroes. The only difference between it and having to make a new account is that you get to use the same login details.
Not surprising though since all Blizzard games are like that .
I think they accidentally posted next week's sales on the Italian forum and then removed them, they're:
Anub Cyb'arak Skin (I'm assuming Armour'arak is cyb'arak) - Edit: it's Amour, not Armour, I guess it's love bug arak, might buy that one :D Roller Derby Nova
On April 07 2015 22:24 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I'm getting buried in Heroes of the Storm offers from Blizzard. First they throw up a pay-wall and then a few weeks later they let any one in?
Has Blizzard announced how many people bought this "Founder's Pack". I'm guessing the number was lower than expected and Blizzard ain't saying a thing.
With Blizzard pumping out more and more content each year in all of their various universes.. sooner or later they are going to have a commercial failure. and i think Heroes of the Storm is going to be just that.. Blizzard's first commercial failure.
Fortunately, they can move the people working on Heroes onto other projects.. like folding and counting all the money they are making with Hearthstone and WoW.
made this contentious post a while back.
well, it seems others are noticing the game's lack of popularity.
the retail starter pack will be $20 and be available June 2.
With the release of any AAA level title or expansion (SC2, D3, WoW) Blizzard issues a triumphant press release about all the bazillions of dollars they are making as the game sells millions of units in a week or less.
if we get a press release from Blizzard about sales totals within a couple of weeks after the retail release that's a good sign. no press release and no bragging at the next investor call is a bad sign.
i think HotS is a great game. However, i do not think it'll be popular. Maybe it'll take a couple of years to build a fan base.
On April 07 2015 22:24 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I'm getting buried in Heroes of the Storm offers from Blizzard. First they throw up a pay-wall and then a few weeks later they let any one in?
Has Blizzard announced how many people bought this "Founder's Pack". I'm guessing the number was lower than expected and Blizzard ain't saying a thing.
With Blizzard pumping out more and more content each year in all of their various universes.. sooner or later they are going to have a commercial failure. and i think Heroes of the Storm is going to be just that.. Blizzard's first commercial failure.
Fortunately, they can move the people working on Heroes onto other projects.. like folding and counting all the money they are making with Hearthstone and WoW.
the retail starter pack will be $20 and be available June 2.
With the release of any AAA level title or expansion (SC2, D3, WoW) Blizzard issues a triumphant press release about all the bazillions of dollars they are making as the game sells millions of units in a week or less.
if we get a press release from Blizzard about sales totals within a couple of weeks after the retail release that's a good sign. no press release and no bragging at the next investor call is a bad sign.
i think HotS is a great game. However, i do not think it'll be popular. Maybe it'll take a couple of years to build a fan base.
I think that HotS is not a massive investment from blizzard. Alot of assets are reused from other games, and it is just using the modified SC2 engine.
It seems like its a medium size team of developers, which means that it really doesn't need massive massive sales to make a profit. I doubt its going anywhere.
On April 07 2015 22:24 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I'm getting buried in Heroes of the Storm offers from Blizzard. First they throw up a pay-wall and then a few weeks later they let any one in?
Has Blizzard announced how many people bought this "Founder's Pack". I'm guessing the number was lower than expected and Blizzard ain't saying a thing.
With Blizzard pumping out more and more content each year in all of their various universes.. sooner or later they are going to have a commercial failure. and i think Heroes of the Storm is going to be just that.. Blizzard's first commercial failure.
Fortunately, they can move the people working on Heroes onto other projects.. like folding and counting all the money they are making with Hearthstone and WoW.
the retail starter pack will be $20 and be available June 2.
With the release of any AAA level title or expansion (SC2, D3, WoW) Blizzard issues a triumphant press release about all the bazillions of dollars they are making as the game sells millions of units in a week or less.
if we get a press release from Blizzard about sales totals within a couple of weeks after the retail release that's a good sign. no press release and no bragging at the next investor call is a bad sign.
i think HotS is a great game. However, i do not think it'll be popular. Maybe it'll take a couple of years to build a fan base.
I think that HotS is not a massive investment from blizzard. Alot of assets are reused from other games, and it is just using the modified SC2 engine.
It seems like its a medium size team of developers, which means that it really doesn't need massive massive sales to make a profit. I doubt its going anywhere.
depends what you mean by massive. rather than using vague wording that can mean anything lets get down to numbers.
in 2013 there were 80 to 90 guys working on the game. that grew to 140 in 2014. so the team is more than double the size of the RTS team.
On April 07 2015 22:24 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I'm getting buried in Heroes of the Storm offers from Blizzard. First they throw up a pay-wall and then a few weeks later they let any one in?
Has Blizzard announced how many people bought this "Founder's Pack". I'm guessing the number was lower than expected and Blizzard ain't saying a thing.
With Blizzard pumping out more and more content each year in all of their various universes.. sooner or later they are going to have a commercial failure. and i think Heroes of the Storm is going to be just that.. Blizzard's first commercial failure.
Fortunately, they can move the people working on Heroes onto other projects.. like folding and counting all the money they are making with Hearthstone and WoW.
the retail starter pack will be $20 and be available June 2.
With the release of any AAA level title or expansion (SC2, D3, WoW) Blizzard issues a triumphant press release about all the bazillions of dollars they are making as the game sells millions of units in a week or less.
if we get a press release from Blizzard about sales totals within a couple of weeks after the retail release that's a good sign. no press release and no bragging at the next investor call is a bad sign.
i think HotS is a great game. However, i do not think it'll be popular. Maybe it'll take a couple of years to build a fan base.
I think that HotS is not a massive investment from blizzard. Alot of assets are reused from other games, and it is just using the modified SC2 engine.
It seems like its a medium size team of developers, which means that it really doesn't need massive massive sales to make a profit. I doubt its going anywhere.
depends what you mean by massive. rather than using vague wording that can mean anything lets get down to numbers.
in 2013 there were 80 to 90 guys working on the game. that grew to 140 in 2014. so the team is more than double the size of the RTS team.
The thing is, they both share a team, Team 1 is both HOTS and Starcraft. We dont know how many are working for either project exclusively, I believe Dustin Browder talks about this in one of his interviews at Heroes of the Dorm.
A good chunk of the team is an art team, and art is a weird thing in games, you're constantly in and out of projects, because unlike programming/game design stuff, there's only so much they need from you.
IDK, I think with the marketing alone it'll be an alright population wise.
On April 07 2015 22:24 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I'm getting buried in Heroes of the Storm offers from Blizzard. First they throw up a pay-wall and then a few weeks later they let any one in?
Has Blizzard announced how many people bought this "Founder's Pack". I'm guessing the number was lower than expected and Blizzard ain't saying a thing.
With Blizzard pumping out more and more content each year in all of their various universes.. sooner or later they are going to have a commercial failure. and i think Heroes of the Storm is going to be just that.. Blizzard's first commercial failure.
Fortunately, they can move the people working on Heroes onto other projects.. like folding and counting all the money they are making with Hearthstone and WoW.
the retail starter pack will be $20 and be available June 2.
With the release of any AAA level title or expansion (SC2, D3, WoW) Blizzard issues a triumphant press release about all the bazillions of dollars they are making as the game sells millions of units in a week or less.
if we get a press release from Blizzard about sales totals within a couple of weeks after the retail release that's a good sign. no press release and no bragging at the next investor call is a bad sign.
i think HotS is a great game. However, i do not think it'll be popular. Maybe it'll take a couple of years to build a fan base.
I think that HotS is not a massive investment from blizzard. Alot of assets are reused from other games, and it is just using the modified SC2 engine.
It seems like its a medium size team of developers, which means that it really doesn't need massive massive sales to make a profit. I doubt its going anywhere.
depends what you mean by massive. rather than using vague wording that can mean anything lets get down to numbers.
in 2013 there were 80 to 90 guys working on the game. that grew to 140 in 2014. so the team is more than double the size of the RTS team.
the RTS team and HOTS team have been separate for a long while now. which is what allows them to both be in development simultaneously. do both teams walk past the same security guard in the morning? ya.
The # of employees working on a project goes up during beta... so if anything its now more than 140.
Furthermore, your claims would make Blizzard's responses in the link i provided in the area of misleading or deceptive. There is no motive for deception.
On April 07 2015 22:24 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I'm getting buried in Heroes of the Storm offers from Blizzard. First they throw up a pay-wall and then a few weeks later they let any one in?
Has Blizzard announced how many people bought this "Founder's Pack". I'm guessing the number was lower than expected and Blizzard ain't saying a thing.
With Blizzard pumping out more and more content each year in all of their various universes.. sooner or later they are going to have a commercial failure. and i think Heroes of the Storm is going to be just that.. Blizzard's first commercial failure.
Fortunately, they can move the people working on Heroes onto other projects.. like folding and counting all the money they are making with Hearthstone and WoW.
the retail starter pack will be $20 and be available June 2.
With the release of any AAA level title or expansion (SC2, D3, WoW) Blizzard issues a triumphant press release about all the bazillions of dollars they are making as the game sells millions of units in a week or less.
if we get a press release from Blizzard about sales totals within a couple of weeks after the retail release that's a good sign. no press release and no bragging at the next investor call is a bad sign.
i think HotS is a great game. However, i do not think it'll be popular. Maybe it'll take a couple of years to build a fan base.
I think that HotS is not a massive investment from blizzard. Alot of assets are reused from other games, and it is just using the modified SC2 engine.
It seems like its a medium size team of developers, which means that it really doesn't need massive massive sales to make a profit. I doubt its going anywhere.
depends what you mean by massive. rather than using vague wording that can mean anything lets get down to numbers.
in 2013 there were 80 to 90 guys working on the game. that grew to 140 in 2014. so the team is more than double the size of the RTS team.
the RTS team and HOTS team have been separate for a long while now. which is what allows them to both be in development simultaneously. do both teams walk past the same security guard in the morning? ya.
The # of employees working on a project goes up during beta... so if anything its now more than 140.
Furthermore, your claims would make Blizzard's responses in the link i provided in the area of misleading or deceptive. There is no motive for deception.
They're stlll Team 1 out of Blizzard's 5 development teams, they still answer to the same leads of both projects . they probably switch people in and out like I described, which allows the team to work on two titles simultaneously. Granted, you probably have people who will never touch HOTS on that team, and vice versa.
There is no motive for deception because there is no deception.
I still think its a bit unfair to declare Heroes as a failure before it launches. There is a difference between having to sign up for a beta (even if its easy to get access) and just go into a website and press "download".
That said, I don't think Heroes will be a huge success either. I said it before (and it was the reason I quit the game), but the skillcap/outplay potential of heroes is simply too low. And in order to verify that this isn't just me, I went on to check what the most played LOL heroes actually are.
Everyone who has a bit of experience with the game would identify the most picked champions as being high skill playmakers, and the end of the day, that is really what Heroes is lacking imo. Why would you switch from LOL to a new game where you have to pay (or play a lot) to unlock new stuff just so you can play similar Heroes you would never touch in LOL?
On April 07 2015 22:24 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I'm getting buried in Heroes of the Storm offers from Blizzard. First they throw up a pay-wall and then a few weeks later they let any one in?
Has Blizzard announced how many people bought this "Founder's Pack". I'm guessing the number was lower than expected and Blizzard ain't saying a thing.
With Blizzard pumping out more and more content each year in all of their various universes.. sooner or later they are going to have a commercial failure. and i think Heroes of the Storm is going to be just that.. Blizzard's first commercial failure.
Fortunately, they can move the people working on Heroes onto other projects.. like folding and counting all the money they are making with Hearthstone and WoW.
the retail starter pack will be $20 and be available June 2.
With the release of any AAA level title or expansion (SC2, D3, WoW) Blizzard issues a triumphant press release about all the bazillions of dollars they are making as the game sells millions of units in a week or less.
if we get a press release from Blizzard about sales totals within a couple of weeks after the retail release that's a good sign. no press release and no bragging at the next investor call is a bad sign.
i think HotS is a great game. However, i do not think it'll be popular. Maybe it'll take a couple of years to build a fan base.
I think that HotS is not a massive investment from blizzard. Alot of assets are reused from other games, and it is just using the modified SC2 engine.
It seems like its a medium size team of developers, which means that it really doesn't need massive massive sales to make a profit. I doubt its going anywhere.
depends what you mean by massive. rather than using vague wording that can mean anything lets get down to numbers.
in 2013 there were 80 to 90 guys working on the game. that grew to 140 in 2014. so the team is more than double the size of the RTS team.
the RTS team and HOTS team have been separate for a long while now. which is what allows them to both be in development simultaneously. do both teams walk past the same security guard in the morning? ya.
The # of employees working on a project goes up during beta... so if anything its now more than 140.
Furthermore, your claims would make Blizzard's responses in the link i provided in the area of misleading or deceptive. There is no motive for deception.
They're stlll Team 1 out of Blizzard's 5 development teams, they still answer to the same leads of both projects . they probably switch people in and out like I described, which allows the team to work on two titles simultaneously. Granted, you probably have people who will never touch HOTS on that team, and vice versa.
There is no motive for deception because there is no deception.
you can not have 2 pieces of software simulatneously in beta without separate teams. Beta is the most stressful stage of software development in terms of manpower requirements. Furthermore, Browder has already stated HotS and SC2 have their own teams. Do they all answer to Mike Morhaime.. sure they do. It does not make paying them any cheaper.
Blizzard hides teams for years. neither of us knows how many teams they have. We do know its at least 6 though. WoW, Diablo, SC2, Overwatch, Hearthstone, HotS.
On May 22 2015 15:59 Hider wrote: I still think its a bit unfair to declare Heroes as a failure before it launches.
i agree: never under-estimate Blizzard's ability to improve a game after its released. Blizzard makes the best expansion packs in the industry. Their "feed back loop" with players is crazy good.
i had someone tell me that heroes has over 13 million players right now and it's blowing dota's "6 million" out of the water :crazy:
except that they were inferring the 13 million number based off an interview where the devs said there were 11 million signed up to the beta, and therefore that all 11 million are now playing, and with open beta another 2 million ppl joined. forget ppl with multiple bnet accounts. and then comparing to the made up dota 6 million number, which isnt even correct.
On May 22 2015 15:59 Hider wrote: I still think its a bit unfair to declare Heroes as a failure before it launches. There is a difference between having to sign up for a beta (even if its easy to get access) and just go into a website and press "download".
That said, I don't think Heroes will be a huge success either. I said it before (and it was the reason I quit the game), but the skillcap/outplay potential of heroes is simply too low. And in order to verify that this isn't just me, I went on to check what the most played LOL heroes actually are.
Everyone who has a bit of experience with the game would identify the most picked champions as being high skill playmakers, and the end of the day, that is really what Heroes is lacking imo. Why would you switch from LOL to a new game where you have to pay (or play a lot) to unlock new stuff just so you can play similar Heroes you would never touch in LOL?
Three things. First. The fact that a champion is popular is a result of many factors. Most of the time people pick champions that they think are overpowered and will grant them the win. Or they saw some pro winning the game singlehandedly using it. Looking at this list, all of these champions have the reputation of being OP. We are talking about mostly unranked games, where people don't really know what's good. And still on the list there are Jinx and Ashe that are anything BUT high skillcap champs.
Second. If we look at the first champions released in LoL, we can see the likes of Annie, Ryze, Warwick etc. The most basic and dull champion designs possible. As the game gets older then come the more complex heroes. This is done for a reason. Firstly basic heroes are easier to make and second they are needed in the game. Having the basic heroes released first is good for introducing new people to the core concepts of the game(thats why you play Raynor in the tutorial and not Chen). As the game gets older and enough people are familiar with the game, more complex heroes are being introduced.
Third. I can't agree that the relation between "skillcap/outplay" and game popularity is directly proportional. Quite the opposite. If we put the games popular on this site on the "skillcap" scale it will be something like this : SC>DOta2>LoL. Then we look at the popularity of these games and we can safely say that the relation is inversely proportional. That of course ignores the countless different factors that are responsible for the popularity of a game. And this is why I think that saying if the game will be successful or not, only based on the hero roster/skillcap, is not fair.
Or they saw some pro winning the game singlehandedly using it. Looking at this list, all of these champions have the reputation of being OP.
Only Zed and Thresh on that list is part of the pro meta. But ofc balance obviously is a contributing factor as well, but it should still be obvious that players gnerally prefer "playmaker"-champs.
Ofc the removal of last-hitting makes it slightly harder to get the playmaking-scenarios, but imo that actually implies that the mechanical skill of heroes should be even higher than the skillcap of LOL champs. But unfortunately they went the completely opposite direction.
The most basic and dull champion designs possible. As the game gets older then come the more complex heroes. This is done for a reason. Firstly basic heroes are easier to make and second they are needed in the game. Having the basic heroes released first is good for introducing new people to the core concepts of the game(thats why you play Raynor in the tutorial and not Chen). As the game gets older and enough people are familiar with the game, more complex heroes are being introduced.
In this case this argument doesn't make alot of sense for a couple of reasons:
(1) Blizzard releases champs way too slowly to get enough of high playmaking heroes within a reasonable time frame.
(2) The outplay potential could come through a talent-choice. Then it becomes optional what type of "style" you would use with the hero. So you don't need 30+ "simple/low skill cap" heroes.
(3) LOL was released in 2009. It doesn't make sense to compare how a 6 year old game looked like at release to a Heroes of the Storm. Instead, new products are suppposed to be up to standards with its competitors. You can't defend Blizzard's design-choice here by saying that in "xx years" Heroes will also have lots of outplay-potenital champs. It will be too late at that point in time.
(4) There isn't any clear trend towards Blizzard wanting more "outplay-heroes" in the game. E.g. look at the newest assasin Thrall.
Thus, in my opinion its an intentional decision by Blizzard to avoid 1v2 outplay scenarios and instead they believe teamcoordination should be the primary differentiator.
If we put the games popular on this site on the "skillcap" scale it will be something like this : SC>DOta2>LoL
Its all about being easy too learn and hard to master. Sc and DOTA = Hard to learn. HOTS = Easy-to learn relatively easy to master (mechanically) LOL = Easy to learn, relatively hard to master (mechanically).
Since we're talking about popularity and potential popularity of HotS, I have a question:
What does HotS offer that LoL and DotA (and any other popular MOBA that's been out before HotS) don't? HotS is really my first MOBA game so I have nothing to compare it to (and I believe I'm in the minority with that), but what's the incentive for people to start playing HotS if they're already really committed to playing LoL or DotA? I have many friends tell me "HotS looks nice and all that, but there's no way I'm switching to a different MOBA now."
The only reason I decided to start playing HotS at all is because it has Blizzard heroes and I'm a big fan of Blizzard games (so I suppose brand loyalty is one reason), but why else would HotS potentially be able to hold its own in the MOBA-sphere?
EPT
After 50 matches I still have those same 10 heroes. 1 support only 
