by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Before we start here, I’d like to make it clear, I LOVE Heroes of the Storm. I’ve spent countless hours playing it.  I love how the game focuses on teamwork and less on individual stats, while combat is very fluid and engaging. And the team brawls are always exciting!

With that out of the way, let’s talk about Artifacts.

From the moment they revealed the word “Artifacts” I was skeptical. The one thing that makes Heroes stand out for me is that character power only comes from talents: there are no items, runes or anything besides talents to improve your performance. This is what made the game for me; you could just jump in and be at the same power level as any other player, no matter how long they’ve played or the amount of cash they’ve spent. Skill becomes the factor that separates the good from the bad, and with character power equal, a skilled team that works together should always trump an disorganized and/or unskilled team.

Now they’re doing this: artifacts to boost your character power. This rewards players who spend a huge amount of time into the game while penalizing players who don’t have the chance to play much. New players who have just gotten into the game will be at a disadvantage, with possibly having to face off against experienced players PLUS said runes making their heroes that much more powerful and harder to deal with.

I really don’t think this is the way to go for Heroes. I feel like that the most compelling feature of the game is that you can just hop in and play without needing to grind anything. Now they’re changing that one thing that sets it apart from other similar games. With this change, a lot of players including myself will become disinterested in the game simply because it’s an additional grind.

To be clear, I know there’s grinding to unlock hero color variations and such but those are OPTIONAL and you don’t HAVE to do them. They don’t offer any benefit in-game and are purely cosmetic.  It’s a cool thing to grind matches for if you want to make sure you’re showing off your main characters with a different look then the original!

Also a very good point by @OliviadGrace:

The @BlizzHeroes artifact buffs aren’t “cool customization” they’re things players will see as a required grind. They’re FAR too strong atm.

— Olivia Grace (@oliviadgrace) July 21, 2014

I agree with her. The artifact effects aren’t little things like gain 0.1 health or something. A flat 10% increase to health, in a game where every point of health matters, is a HUGE buff. Considering it’s gated by gold, and gold can only be acquired through gameplay, then that’s a lot of additional hours spent leveling your artifacts.  Like Olivia said, they’re things players will see as a required grind in order to stay competitive. What about the impact for new players? Will they be forced to focus on one hero to grind up his/her artifacts before getting to play a new hero?

The one feature I have ALWAYS heard when talking to new and old players alike is that they massively enjoy having no items or runes. Talents are awesome and they provide enough of an increase in effectiveness AND a reward for investing in a single character. This simplicity is what makes Heroes cool.

Another point to look at is how they’ll have to make matchmaking fair. Will they differ between players using artifacts and those not? Or even between players that have artifacts maxed, and those only at level 1? Either they’re going to make a huge change to matchmaking, or there will be a lot of players facing players that simply have better heroes then them.

Finally: yes, I know Alpha is Alpha. That said, what good would it be if I, as an alpha tester, didn’t offer my first impressions and thoughts? And this isn’t the last of it, either: when artifacts do go live on the Tech Alpha I’ll be there to test them thoroughly and give the best feedback I can.

Let me know what you think about artifacts!