Changes That This Game Desperately Needs in 2016

Hello lads! Today our HotS boost team is here to talk about something different: we want to discuss what Blizzard should add to Heroes of the Storm to make our favourite game even better. During the 2015 the game saw many changes: buffs, nerfs, new heroes, the open beta and finally the release. Quite a journey, right? However we still feel that the developers can do a lot to improve HotS, and here are a few suggestions.

Matchmaking Fixes

Okay, starting with a controversial topic, almost the “elephant in the room”. Blizzard itself knows that the current system doesn’t wor and has done very little to improve it. Since before the launch it was a concern, and now it’s probably the biggest problem of the game.

HotS has been around for more than half a year, and yet the problem is unresolved. Many players quitted the game because of this, and if you lurk the web orthe official forum, it’s one of the hottest topics. Without changes, HotS will lose a significant portion of its players.

On top of that, during our duo queue boost sessions we hear many players complaining about their MMR, thinking that they should have a higher Matchmaking rating. This leads to my second point.

Soft MMR Reset

If you are familiar with MOBAs, you know that many games reset the MMR periodically, usually once a year. I think that Blizzard should do the same, and soon, mainly because the current system is a mess. I’ve never really liked the typical “I’m stuck at X rank because of bad teammates” excuse, but I must admit that in this game the mmr system needs a total revamp.

First of all, the mmr is hidden: is different from your rank, and you can’t see it. Second, the system is not working because often there is a huge discrepancy between the skill level of the players on the same team, resulting in unbalanced games.

Blizzard could fix the issue quickly making the MMR visible and public: it would be a great motivation, just like the rank, and it would stop the complains about the skill difference in games. If you get outplayed by someone with your same MMR, you can only blame yourself, and improve.

Showing the mmr is only a quick fix, but we need a greater change, modifying the formula behind the matchmaking rating. Higher elo players can’t really improve their MMR because they can only face a limited amount of players, and the matchmaking takes a lot of time for them. It’s frustrating, and kinda demotivating. There are many working method, for example the “rolling MMR system”, where your past matches become less and less relevant as the time goes on, while your recent games are more impactful.

Finally, I think it’s time for at the very least a soft reset - not starting from zero again maybe, but reducing everyone’s mmr. The meta and the playstyle changed a lot since HotS release, and our HotS tier list shows always different champions. It’s crazy that your rank depends so much on past games, so a soft or hard reset is definitely needed.

Bans and Grandmaster League

Hero League is our “solo queue” system, where young, inexperienced players go on an adventure, alone or with a partner. It’s a jungle, a total mess, not only because of the poor MMR and matchmaking system, but for its very mechanics.

I mean, I like the idea behind the current system: 50 ranks, each representing the 2% of the total players. If you are at rank 20, you are better than the 60% of the playerbase. Pretty cool, but the execution is terrible. First of all, you can’t lose rank before the 40th. This means that even the worst player will eventually get to it, so there are effectively 40 ranks, each representing 2,5% of the total players. Rank 40 itself is a massive feed fest, but I guess it can’t be helped. There is no Grandmaster league yet where top players will compete. Also the OP heroes in the meta aren't stoppable and first picks are always the same, we need bans in order to stop OP heroes and get some new heroes picked in the draft.

General Balance and Faster Fixes

In every game there is a certain character that is better than other, but for MOBAs balancing the op heroes quickly is crucial. You can see how the same heroes get picked over and over, since Blizzard is pretty slow when it comes to nerfing the overpowered heroes and buffing the weak ones. Balance changes come only with the big patches, so the game feels boring and monotonous, as you see always the same picks.

On top of that, sometimes the nerf hammer is too heavy. We have seen many heroes disappearing completely from the top of our Heroes of the Storm tier list because they were nerfed into oblivion. The ideal solution is having a full roster of balanced heroes, but at least having a greater pool of viable character should be a priority

Unranked Draft

Another controversial point, but I strongly like the suggestion: we need a way to practice drafting before entering the ranked queue. When (and if) bans will be implemented, drafting will become much more complex - we can already see in competitive games that the teams start fighting already at the champion selection screen.

According to our Heroes of the Storm boost team the average player will benefit a lot from unranked draft, as they will be able to learn how to build composition properly without losing elo in the process.

Changes To The Pricing Policy

Last but not least, we need more consistency on price changes. Blizzard doesn’t change the price of old heroes often, mostly because they want us to pay with real money, and not in game currency. Of course Blizzard wants to make profit, and that’s fine - but they should understand the needs of the playerbase. Many of us still prefer the F2P system, and are tired of farming gold to buy a hero that has been around since the alpha.

For example, Nazeebo, Zeratul and Nova are 10k gold or 10$ each, and they have been here since the launch of HotS. Blizzard should decrease their price and make the more accessible to new players: they are all strong heroes according to our Heroes of the Storm tier list and should be easier to purchase.

In conclusion, HotS is in a fine spot right now, but needs a few essential changes to remain fresh and crush the competition, attracting new players and keeping the veterans. Tell us if Blizzard needs to add something, we want to hear your opinions! If you appreciate our content, check our site in the next days for more articles and guides.