Impressions: Heroes of the Storm – Alpha Stage

Heroes of the Storm (Alpha Stage)

During this article, I ask you to remember: Heroes of the Storm is currently in Alpha, so things are only going to get better. Well, let’s hope.

The Lore

Alright, so, the lore of Heroes of the Storm is quite simple. It is explained through the tutorials in game. While it doesn’t make much sense to have heroes from different universes in the same universe, Blizzard did their best to make it work.

The Nexus is an area / omnipotent power which calls to heroes and transports them to fight against each other. In the tutorial you play as Jim Raynor from the StarCraft franchise, and easily enough he agrees and understands everything that is going on around him once he enters The Nexus.

The Idea

The idea of making a MOBA based around all of the Blizzard games is quite smart, in my opinion. The best of all three worlds, and people can choose who they want to play as. So if they don’t like, for example, the Diablo universe, they can stick to character from the Warcraft universe.

While the feel of the menu screens and the whole ‘The Nexus’ vibe is futuristic and reminds myself a lot of StarCraft, it still manages to keep it neutral to all universes with all of its game modes and maps.

The Game Modes

There are a few different gamemodes. Co-operative, which is just five human players fighting against five AI players. Versus, which is five humans playing against five humans. There is also practice mode which is you, and all AI players on each team. There will be a Ranked and Draft mode implemented soon.

The Maps

In each mode, you can play on five different battlegrounds / maps. They are as followed:

Blackheart’s Bay – Collect gold doubloons by attacking chests and camps of enemies that spawn, then deliver the doubloons to Blackheart near the middle of the map. If you die with doubloons, you will lose them and others can pick them up near your corpse. Once Blackheart receives enough doubloons for each team, he will bombard the enemies’ towers and forts with cannonballs.

Cursed Hollow – This one is simple, collect tribute by right clicking where it randomly spawns, and when you collect three tributes, the other teams’ forts and towers will be cursed. This can cause them to not be able to attack, and it causes the enemy team’s minions to have 1 hit point so they die instantly.

Dragon Shire – On this map, there are two points of interest. At the top, and at the bottom. Capture both of the shrines and then right click the area in the middle of the map to take control of the Dragon Knight and walk around as him. When the Dragon Knight is defeated, or runs out of time, you will return to your normal hero. 

Garden of Terror – During the night cycle of this map, you will be able to collect seeds and once you have 100 seeds, you can take control of the ‘Garden Terror’ at your main base. This is controls exactly like the Dragon Knight can be controlled. 

Haunted Mines – In this map, there are mines which will open at certain times. Once open, heroes can rush into the mines and kill the minions inside for skulls. There is also a boss monster in the mines which will give you many more skulls. After the mines close, each team will summon a Grave Golem, with its strength depending on how many skulls your team collected. 

The Heroes

There are many heroes available, and I’m assuming many more to come. The selection is very interesting right now, with characters such as Elite Tauren Chieftan, and Li Li the Panda.

The Gameplay

The only thing I have to say about Heroes of the Storm in terms of negative gameplay is the fact some heroes are so alike, and so simple to play. For instance, playing Nova is almost the same as playing Raynor, in my opinion. Yes, they have different abilities and stats, but you basically do the same thing.

Though, then again, they both are part of the Ranged Assassin category of heroes. They are meant to be the same gameplay style.

I hope this article has given you insight and some understanding on how Heroes of the Storm is developing during its Alpha stages. I look forward to it becoming an even better game, and I hope so do you.