Here's a Look at Heroes of the Storm in Action

This is when I remember Dota 2 is just twice removed from Warcraft 3.

I don't know why, but it looks fun for some reason.

Diablo riding into combat!

Too bad it's a MOBA....

Damn, this looks like it could make me switch from Dota 2, which I haven't touched ever since discovering Path of Exile (aka free Diablo 2 sequal). Blizzard is Blizzard for a reason - it makes kick ass blockbuster games. And the visual model of the Pudge is their intellectual property in the first place. It's a cute touch from Blizzard reminding that it gave birth to the entire genre through its Warcraft III World Editor.

Game looks like a nice alternative to LOL and DOTA 2. 20 minute games are a welcome sight. The level design doesn't look like a typical trilane. Definitely won't have a pro scene, but maybe the community will be better for it.

I really want the new Warcraft 4...

I'm rather fond of 'Lords Management' as the genre (courtesy of Idle Thumbs).

Dota 2 is the only loma I've gotten into, and I can't see this replacing it. I'm terrible at it, but goddamn if Valve didn't hit a sweet spot with some of the game design and presentation.

@spoonman671: They confirmed lost vikings skins, at the least.

I didn't see any Lost Vikings.

Pretty funny seeing Blizzard appropriate it's characters that became synonymous with Dota 1/2 - Pudge / Patches, Omniknight / Arthas, Soul Keeper / Illidan etc

I am so glad I have friends that work for Blizzard, can't wait to hopefully get in on the beta.

So is this a game you buy, or is this free to play? If it is free to play, has Blizzard said if they are handling it like LoL or Dota 2?

Rip... is in another time zone!

As do I, but the NA servers have gone to shit recently. I'm starting to get in games where EVERYONE disconnects and comes back. This Blizz MOBA can't get here fast enough.

And I'm sure the servers will start out bad, like all online games do, but they proved it with D3 that they can turn that around very quickly.

I agree sooty. I jumped into DOTA this year and have had no problems at all with the community or picking up the game play. There are assholes everywhere in life, they certainly are not going to stop me from trying something potentially fun.

I guess they have to, but I think it's really weird that this game has Diablo characters in it at all. Diablo has like, 5 characters that anyone gives a shit about.

• Deckard Cain
• Deckard Cain
• Deckard Cain
• Deckard Cain
• Deckard Cain

OK, fine, I guess like Diablo and Tyrael too. Other than that, your options are just a bunch of random-ass bosses or a bunch of characters from Diablo 3 that everybody has already forgotten because that game had zero longevity.

I don't know if I can deal with starting over in yet another MOBA

I can't wait for that one map.

"Unique Battlegrounds" is something that I figured every other Moba would have already managed by now, but no, they all stick to the same map, so having different maps as a selling point actually works here.

I just think it's kind of terrible that this is one of the few cases I've seen this type of game decide to do that.

I'm going to try this game either way, but seriously, please add VanCleef.

I'll just assume you're joking.

Worth the price to see Diablo riding a tiny horse.

Looks neat, the music to the trailer sounded similar to the music in Mass Effect.

@alejandrosernab09: Oh Acronyms? Those are now 'Acros'.

@talibanchic: Or we could just not make it an acronym. I mean I know it's the internet, but we don't HAVE to shorten everything to a few letters

@alejandrosernab09: hero brawler, you mean HeBra?

This seems like it can't not be really successful. Since they already have brand recognition it's easier for new players to figure out what's going on, since instead of being tossed into a sea of new characters they've never met before and having no idea what any of them do, it's just a matter of recognizing characters you already know and figuring out how their abilities from other games transferred.

Also in interviews the Blizzard guys were trying to rename the genre "Hero Brawler" rather than "MOBA," an effort I can whole-heartedly support

Will play it a bit for the characters then quit because instead of taking the LoL approach of removing mechanics that they felt were unneeded Blizz just removed all of them.

This could be something that gets a lot of people that are otherwise uninterested or intimidated by MOBAs to actually try out the genre. If this connects, then there's a third potential contender. If not, then a lot of new blood will be added to the other games.

I'm hoping for it to at least be somewhat successful, so that Riot Games and Valve can learn lessons from what Blizzard tried that worked, and what didn't.

Wow Blizzard

Talk about copying LOL/DOTA2

But it looks better so thats at least something.

Let's be serious you're gonna encounter a ton of twats no matter what game you play online if it's as popular as the likes of League of Legends and Call of Duty.

Every character was crawling in that trailer. Too slow for my likes.

Glad Valve did Dota 2 and not Blizzard, all I can say.

@oginam: What explanation does there need to be? It shows the towers, it shows the gates, and it shows the characters fighting and attacking the gate. Seems pretty self-explanatory.

Doesn't a trailer exist to arouse curiosity and interest anyway?

I like how this is, by any measure, a bad trailer. It doesn't describe anything about the game, the gameplay appears to be unnaturally slow, pure nonsense is going on constantly without any explanation, and just jumps from scene to scene every 3-5 seconds just in case you weren't already confused enough.

And yet, it is fairly representative of the general MOBA experience and those are popular, so fuck trying to make a good trailer that explains anything to a wider audience - that would be a waste of time, right?

@sooty: id say the caustic environment of MOBA communities and how you need to fall completely in line and not suck one bit right from the beginning or face internet wrath make it pretty damn inaccesible to me. granted i didn't spend enough time with the giant bomb group in my pitifully brief DOTA stint, but i wouldn't put it beyond some of them to behave the same way towards nubs...

Was Diablo just riding a horse?

@redhatdrew: For your sake I hope not.

...Then I don't see the point, personally. But hey, Blizzard has a huge built-in fanbase; it really doesn't matter if it appeals to anyone else as long as the die-hards see the ___ license get represented well.

I'm a huge Blizzard fan, but from everything they have said about this game, it seems like it will be too casual for me. I will def play it, but I doubt I will stick with it for long.

Given my only experience with mobas is watching Brad play and 20 minutes of confusion with that Middle Earth thing on PS3 this one felt a lot less entertaining to look at. I might be interested if it is positioned as an easy way into the genre, Dota seems way too daunting.

But yeah, not looking amazing but Blizzard have shown a pretty amazing pedigree when it comes to wrapping their games in gorgeous presentation. Playing through StarCraft 2 and I've been staggering by just how professional and well put together it is compared to a lot of more recent PC releases.

Looking forward to the quick look :)

If LoL is the "baby" version of DotA, then HotS is the "baby" version of LoL. No items, no gold, no last hitting, shared experience across the teams. But it still has LoL's "play the game enough and you can unlock characters" model so I won't be touching it besides trying it out.

Lol, that Pudge.

(psst. I think they were making a joke about Valve ripping off Blizzard first)

This looks fun. I'll definitely give it a shot, don't know if it'll win me over from LoL but we'll see wont we.

MOBAs are accessible. You get better by playing, people are just too quick to quit because they don't instantly start kicking ass.