by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Open Beta is officially here and with that comes a new wave of players into the Nexus. For some, this will be an entirely new experience and their first taste of a MOBA (or Team Brawler as Blizzard insists on calling it). Other players will be experienced veterans of this style of game with countless hours of League of Legends or DotA 2 under their belts. Most will fall somewhere in the middle.

There will be a lot of advice directed towards these new players. Most of it will be sound in theory and well intended, but it can also be easily misconstrued. Having played Heroes since early Alpha, I have seen many players who continually repeat the same cliche advice in chat and criticize anyone who doesn’t play in a way that fits their rigid understanding of the game. Knowing basic strategy is good, but knowing the logic behind that strategy and when to deviate from it is even better.

New players should play Versus A.I. (formerly known as Cooperative)

When you first start playing Heroes of the Storm there is a lot to learn. The conventional wisdom is that new players should do this learning while playing Cooperative Mode. This game type allows real players to play with and against computerized opponents in a 5 vs 5 battle. It is a great way to learn the basic mechanics of the game, the abilities of the various Heroes, and the different maps and their Objectives. When you first start playing a Hero you will only have access to a limited selection of talents. You will unlock additional talents as you level up that Hero. This mechanic is called Talent Gating and you must reach Level 4 with a Hero to unlock all of his or her talents. Cooperative is the perfect game type for unlocking talents on a new Hero.

Unfortunately, it is also a great way to develop and reinforce bad habits. Even the newest of players will begin to outclass the A.I. opponents after just a few games, which can lead to sloppy play. Once you have a solid grasp of the fundamentals, including the different map objectives, and have unlocked all of the talents on your Hero of choice you should consider trying Quick Match. Be warned, your first few Quick Matches games might be rough. However, the matchmaking system will quickly access your ability and begin to match you against similarly skilled opponents. Not only will you learn faster by playing against real opponents, you also earn more gold and experience in Quick Match. Anytime you want to try a new Hero you should return to Versus A.I. mode and repeat the process.

Don’t Die!

This is one of the most important things that a new player can learn. Sadly, it can also be one of the more difficult things for them to grasp. Early in the game the respawn timers are very short, so it can be easy to feel like those early deaths don’t matter since you can be back in the fight so quickly. Keep in mind, each of those deaths provides experience to the other team and they also lessen your team’s ability to gain experience in return. The team that gets an early level advantage has a tremendous edge so don’t fall into the trap of thinking that those early deaths don’t matter.

That said, there are times where a death is acceptable or even preferred. Some examples might be a team fight where you trade one of your Heroes in exchange for two of theirs, losing a Hero so that the team can capture an Objective, or one Hero sacrificing himself so that the rest of the team can escape from an unfavorable team fight without additional deaths. There are also certain Heroes like Diablo, Uther, and Tyrael who have specialized upon death mechanics that can justify their deaths strategically.

Don’t attack the tank

Warriors have more health than other Heroes types and they also have talents to help increase their survivability. As a result, they are much more difficult to take down and you will often hear people saying, “Don’t attack the tank!”. This is good advice and it based on sound logic, but many people take this to the extreme and will complain any time another player attacks the tank.

The reality is that based on positioning, you are often much better off attacking the tank than you would be trying to attack some other Hero. Your goal should be to take out the most dangerous or the most vulnerable opposing Hero, but that isn’t always an option. If by trying to attack the less durable Hero will put you in a vulnerable position it only makes sense to sometimes attack the tank if that is the Hero that is within range for you. The real advice should be to avoid using your major abilities on the tank (unless doing so will secure the kill) while your team maneuvers into position to find a better target.

Everyone should be in a lane

The goal of the game is to destroy your opponents Core. The way you accomplish this is by gaining more experience than your opponents and by pushing each lane farther than they do. In the early game, it is very important to have at least one Hero in each lane so that you are able to gain experience from that lane and to continually apply pressure to push that lane forward. Having a level advantage, particularly if it is a level that includes an additional talent, can make your team much more powerful. A small early advantage in experience can quickly snowball into a completely one-sided game.

However, as the game progresses and Objectives begin to spawn, the priority placed on laning is reduced. The lane phase in Heroes is much shorter than other MOBA’s. It can vary from game to game, but a good rule of thumb is that the laning phase lasts until you reach Level 10, at which point the team fighting phase begins. Don’t be that guy at Level 11 who blindly rushes back to the top lane after each Objective to kill minions without realizing that your team is now fighting 4v5 or trying to capture mercenary camps. On the flip side, don’t be the guy who at Level 4 is trying to solo a merc camp while the opposing team is taking down Towers in the lane you left empty. If you are unsure what you should be doing, by all means, get in a lane and soak experience. Just be sure that you also keep an eye on the mini-map, be on the lookout for pings, and be prepared to assist your team when they need your help.

Focus on Objectives

One of the major differences between Heroes of the Storm and other games in the genre is the map Objective. The Objectives are different from map to map, but they are all important. If your team is better at responding to Objectives, your team will have a decided advantage. I don’t want what comes next to detract from this message: Objectives are important!

Just like the ‘Don’t attack the tank’ advice, the ‘Focus on Objectives’ mentality can be taken too literally. When an Objective spawns your first instinct should be to respond to it, but you also need to assess the situation. Is one team higher level than the other? Does one team have their Ultimate abilities? Is one team in a substantially better position than the other to contest the objective? Are there Heroes dead on either team? The answers to these and other similar questions can have a dramatic effect on what the right play is.

There will be situations where your best option is to forgo an Objective. One of the best examples is when your team is down a level to your opponents and it is a level that involves an additional talent. If you engage in a team fight over that Objective you will be at a severe disadvantage. In that case, your best play is often to let the other team have that Objective while you focus on instead on gaining experience to close that level gap. On maps such as Haunted Mines or Sky Temple, the benefits of an Objective can be split. Another common mistake is for a team to continue to contest an Objective after the situation is clearly no longer favorable for them. You are often better off to be satisfied with what you can out of an Objective and then relinquish control rather than lose Heroes in an unfavorable engagement.

In Conclusion

Now that we are in Open Beta and the full launch is right around the corner there will a steady stream of new players entering the game. If you are a veteran player, please help welcome these new players and get them started off on the right foot. Don’t just tell them what to do or that what they did was wrong, but help them understand the why behind what they should be doing. If you are a new player have fun and don’t get discouraged. While the game may seem overwhelming at first, like all Blizzard games it is easy to learn but difficult to master.