by JR Cook - 8 years ago     show comments

About a year ago I got into the Tech Alpha for Heroes of the storm. If anyone reading has ever watched the Power Hour, you’ll know I’ve come from a Dota heavy background. I dove into this game with reckless abandon. I loved it compared to the other games. The simplicity that Heroes brought, yet its surprising depth sank its hook into me deep. The map variations and the talent system fascinated me. I couldn’t stop playing the game. I dropped all other mobas I had played for a good six or seven months before my old Dota team ragged on me enough to come back and play a few games with them.

The results actually surprised me. I tank in Heroes but in Dota I mained support. Vengeful Spirit and Keeper of the Light were my go to characters. I realized that Dota became a lot easier due to my improved positional awareness and ability to pay attention to the surroundings. Dota only has one map, sometimes patching will make minor adjustments, but overall the game is very monotone in where enemies can attack you from. I made sure my carry stayed safe the entire game while maximizing my own farm without subtracting from his. I set up last hits on kills for the carry and made sure we had vision the entire time of possible gank locations from where enemies were coming from.

After I had played with them, I started thinking about those games and what changed. I hadn’t touched Dota in so long that it couldn’t have been a fluke couple of games. I went back to my time with Heroes. There was a video a while ago breaking down a great team fight. I can’t remember the video off the top of my head, but the narrator mentioned that in Heroes “The skill cap is your positioning.” This rings true in Heroes, and to a lesser extend, all mobas. The ability to have superior positioning gives you the ability to cut off any potential advantage your enemies have. Granted, in dota they can override superior positioning by simply being more farmed than you by a vast degree or outleveling your team.

But the positioning overrode everything in those few games. It made me realize that via Heroes, I ended up becoming a vastly better moba player in general. Many players stuck in the “mmr hell” range tend to forget that positioning is everything in this game. Instead rushing in and blowing all their skills in a flashy blaze of glory, not taking into consideration where their teammates are or where they are positioned. The same is true with where their enemies are positioned. Sometimes a simple force wall from a Tassadar can absolutely make or ruin a team fight for your team just based alone on how it positions everyone relative to the force wall.

Learn from every experience you have in Heroes. You might not stick with this game forever, but based on what I’ve learned so far. Everything that reigns supreme in Heroes will serve you incredibly well in whatever game you choose to play.