As someone whose only other Moba experience is tied to a League of Legends account, I was excited to give Heroes of the Storm a try. Full disclosure right off the bat, I’ve been a fan of pretty much every Blizzard game so far (with the exception of WoW) so my expectations were high, but I honestly don’t think that’s unusual for anyone who picks up a Blizzard game nowadays.

If you’re looking for an in depth review on the game’s intricacies from someone who has a lot of experience in Mobas, this article isn’t for you. If you’re someone new to Mobas or you’re looking to try a different brand of Moba and want to know what I liked and didn’t like about Heroes of the Storm, read on.

My Pros

Round times are much more reasonable than the competition – One of the main reasons I never really got into League of Legends was the 45-minute game time. Forty-five minutes for a single round in a Moba just feels way too long. If you have a team with one or more trolls on it, that time can feel like an eternity as you fight a battle that you know you wont win.

Heroes of the Storm round times come in at about half the amount of a regular League of Legends match, usually 15-20 mins but that can occasionally run longer. This is a much more reasonable amount of time. Even if you get a bad team, bad matchup, or troll you’ll be out of there in 15 or so minutes not 60.

Heroes are easy to build and manage – Most Mobas have some form of item system that you use to power up and customize your character. Heroes of the Storm did away with items completely, and instead lets you choose from several ability options each time you level up.

Not only is this much easier to figure out, it means you’ll never be completely useless because you didn’t purchase a certain item in at a certain time. All the options you can choose from are useful, they only server to allow you customize your hero to the situation or play style you prefer.

Mounts make a big difference – There’s no alt tabbing while running to your lane because you move much faster than other Mobas thanks to your mount. Every class has immediate access to a mount that allows them to move at a much higher movement speed than if they were on foot. It’s a small feature that makes a big difference, especially when you’ve just spent 20 seconds waiting for a death timer.

The different game modes are fun and varied – One of the biggest perks Heroes of the Storm has is its wide array of game modes. While all revolve around the Moba style lane play (lane numbers vary), each one has its own unique mechanic that completely changes the way the game is played and forces teams to fight instead of farm and dance around each other for half an hour.

No last hitting – Last hitting was a confusing mechanic for me in League of Legends and I’m glad it’s gone in Heroes of the Storm. The reason they removed it was simple, without a store there’s no need for currency, no currency no need for last hitting. All experience gained form farming minions goes straight to the team’s experience pool.

You do get a bonus in the form of a small health and mana boost for successfully clearing an entire grouping of minions however, which is a nice touch.

My Cons

It’s hard to make a comeback – Could have been the teams that I was on, but I found it incredibly hard to make a comeback win in Heroes after the enemy team had gained more than one of the map’s main objectives, or pushed into the second layer of towers. The reason is not only because of the power the objectives hold, but that teams level as a whole instead of individuals.

In League of Legends if one player kills a bunch of other players or farms very efficiently the will level faster and thus be more powerful. In Heroes of the storm the team levels as a unit, meaning when you land a kill on the other team, every one of your players benefits from the kill. It’s much harder to deal with an entire team that’s 2 levels above you than a single player.

Hero balance can be an issue – A factor in every Moba game, hero balance issues seem amplified in Heroes of the Storm because you only have a limited amount of options to counter the threat with their being no items. You can choose skills that will fare better against a particularly strong hero, but it’s not the same as effectively neutralizing their attacks by purchasing items that directly counter their damage type.

Still, if you’re with a good team then the “OP’ness” of heroes will matter less and less.

Matchmaking is a bit unreliable – If you’ve ever payed a visit to the Heroes of the Storm forums or Reddit page you will of no doubt seen the complaints surrounding the game’s matchmaking system. I had heard about it before hand but only experienced it myself after several rounds into my versus career, where I went on to be matched up against much more experienced players while being placed on a team of “noobs” like myself 5 games in a row.

This is bound to happen in any game, but the frequency of it was more than frustrating. The good news is Blizzard is well aware of the problem and has already made some major strides towards improving the system (I heard it was absolutely terrible in the early days).

Overall I would say I have enjoyed my time playing Heroes of the Storm and plan on adding I to my regular rotation (it helps that I don’t have to carve out hour blocks of my day for a single game). If you’re new to the game as well give it a look and let me know your thoughts in the comments!