How to Prepare for the Heroes 2.0 Conversion

by JR Cook - 7 years ago     show comments

With the official announcement of Heroes 2.0 there is plenty to be excited about, but with a 4 week Beta period the natural question is, “Now what?”. How do we get the most out of our remaining time in 1.0 and what should we be doing to prepare for 2.0? These are tough questions to answer, in large part because there are so many details about Heroes 2.0 that we either don’t know or don’t fully understand.

Much of the concern from players seems to center around the new progression system and the associated rewards. I have even heard some players say that it doesn’t make sense to play until 2.0 is released because every level they gain is one less Loot Chest they will receive later. While I understand how some might come to that conclusion, I feel like there are quite a few things that aren’t being taken into consideration.

With that in mind, here are a few of my thoughts on how to make the next few weeks more enjoyable and more beneficial.

Just Play

The most obvious answer is if you enjoy the game, just keep playing. Play the Heroes you like, play the modes you like. Just have fun. This is a game after all. While this may not be the most efficient way to min/max the system, we are only talking about a difference of a handful of Loot Chests anyway. Considering that a Loot Chest is worth less than a dollar, is it really worth not playing a game that you enjoy, or drastically changing how you do play it so that you can get an extra $5 or $10 in cosmetic rewards? That seems extreme to me.

Level The Right Heroes

With the “just have fun” speech out of the way there are ways to get the 2.0 conversion to work in your favor if you are so inclined.

One of the biggest changes coming in Heroes 2.0 is the massive overhaul to the Hero leveling curve. The amount of experience needed for each level is being evened out to make the leveling process more consistent and more rewarding. Gone are the days of reaching Level 3 in a single game. Gone are the days of having to play dozens of games to get from Level 9 to Level 10.

As you can see, the experience required per level is being changed dramatically. Once 2.0 releases it will take more experience to reach the early levels and much less experience to reach the later levels. We can use this experience change along with how certain rewards work in the current and future systems to our benefit.

One way is to level as many Heroes as possible to Level 5. You cannot lose levels in the 2.0 conversion, so it makes sense to complete the first few levels for each Hero now while the experience needed is so much lower. Yes, you are giving up a few potential Loot Chests by leveling now, but you are saving several hours of your time. If you factor in the Level 5 rewards from both the old and new systems, you are effectively trading 4 Loot Chests for 500 Gold, a Hero Portrait, and three hours of your time. Considering that Loot Chests are worth less than $1 this seems like a reasonable trade-off.

Another way to make the most of the experience change is to not level Heroes past Level 8. Under the 2.0 system, you receive 1 Hero-Specific Loot Chest for every 10 levels you earn with a Hero. In the 2.0 conversion, a fresh Level 8 Hero will end up just shy of Level 10, putting you in perfect position to earn an easy Loot Chest. According to math provided in this Reddit post, 1,775,000 experience into Level 8 in the current system will be the equivalent of Level 10 in Heroes 2.0. If you are interested in min/maxing the Loot Chests you receive during the conversion this is the sweet spot you should avoid going past. If you do have a Level 8 Hero with more experience than that you are better off to reach Level 9 before 2.0 releases to earn the 750 Gold reward.

As a general rule, you are safe to play any Hero that is more than 1,775,000 experience into Level 8 without severely impact future rewards. You may miss out on a Loot Chest or two depending on your exact experience total but the difference in negligible.

Play The Beta

If you love Heroes but you absolutely can’t stand the thought of missing out on any potential future Loot Chests, there is an obvious alternative. Just play the 2.0 Beta. Granted, none of your progress will carry over but you can continue to play your favorite game without sacrificing any future rewards and you are providing valuable test information to Blizzard in the process.

It is also the perfect place to practice Heroes that you might not be all that comfortable with without having to worry about tanking your MMR. It will also help you familiarize yourself with everything that is coming in Heroes 2.0 so that you can hit the ground running when it goes live.

Keep in mind, all of these suggestions are based on the limited amount of information we currently have about Heroes 2.0. While there are ways to min/max the rewards you will receive in the 2.0 conversion, aside for a few clear breakpoints it probably isn’t worth dramatically altering how you play. If you were content to play this game last week without Loot Chests, you should be willing to keep playing without worrying that you are missing out on a chest or two.

The excitement for Heroes 2.0 and the allure of rewards is causing people to over-value Loot Chests. If you find yourself getting overly concerned about how many Loot Chests you are going to get just remember that they are worth less than $1.

Good luck and most importantly have fun!