It’s just a giant machine designed to make you purchase gems. Making it as casual as possible with very high quality graphics and voice acting to draw as wide as possible of an audience is a good business strategy.
One problem to that plan is also accessibility: HotS is an around 20gb install. Twice the amount of league of legends and untold times more than the mobile league.
You can’t make a casual decision to install this game like you can the mobile version of lol. You have to dedicate time and a lot of disk space to this.
The game can’t be too hardcore or all those people who spent that much time and disk space installing this will just uninstall and go away. They wont buy gems.
The average gamer these days is a casual. Something we have to live with.
Apparently this is false logic. The most casual game here is the least successful one and it has failed to retain a large playerbase. Indeed, I’m drawing a blank on any casual PC multiplayer game being a big success. Even a seemingly simple game like Fortnite managed to pull ahead of the pack in my opinion because building raised the skill ceiling. Usually the games with the higher ceilings are the ones that end up attracting the most players and the highest competitive interest. Casuals are trend followers, not trend setters.
Another thing that should be done is return the level 5 hero requirement for ranked and require that at least 15 level 5 heroes are available to access the mode. Makes sense from a non-“smurf” perspective.
I disagree. Not only are these ideas relatively easy to implement, with the notable exception of this one due to the present uncertainty about it (hence the point of discussing/developing it),
one of the key consequences should be making money.
As if it was needed a demonstration of temporary hero availability was just made surrounding Blizzcon. The functionality is already there. Likewise, the treasure chests are an already existing functionality for the coin purses. There are multiple currencies already in existence. Deliver silver along with gold through the coin purses, slap another currency option on the relevant hero screens, and tie temporary unlocking to it. The gold that comes with silver in the coin purses takes care of itself. The “super dynamic” bundle may require a little bit of work but it’s no titanic project.
What you’re missing is that intelligent monetization of the by far most valuable aspect of this game - heroes - can provide the resources you people keep moaning to no end about. Given that the heroes are already made and the trivial effort to improve their availability how you could possibly think these aren’t budget ideas is a mystery.
The abusive chat reporting system has gotten rid of many engaged players, as you yourself have testified with respect to your friends who have succumbed to report accumulation after playing committedly for a while. Passionate players who spend a lot of time on this game are unironically the type of players most likely to spend money on it. Give them reasonable protection and don’t be surprised if the bottom line improves.
At minimum the silence penalty should be reverted to an inability to chat (with an ability to see the chat) without playing restrictions, after a reset of abusive chat penalties. I don’t think the problem here is one of effort and budget, but one of dealing with the Blizzard numbnuts behind the scenes who can’t string together five progressive thoughts to work out how good intentions are insufficient when making these types of decisions. Fortunately we have years demonstrating the failure of these decisions, and wise people can learn from their mistakes and correct them. The reality is happy, well adjusted people don’t carry these games. Target the behavior, not the people unless you can be thoughtful. Blizzard have shown they aren’t terribly thoughtful, hence why this thread exists and the game is in the crapper despite available resources that were probably an envy of the industry.
The map ideas are not essential per se, but they do seem economical. I agree that maps promoting splitting and dynamic decisions while also forcing fighting due to their objectives (Dragon Shire is my favorite map and a very welcome break from all the go-here maps as it lets you think on your feet) improve the replayability of this game and cannot be overlooked, removed, or changed into something else.
The best way to keep the game in maintenance mode is to keep writing that it’s in maintenance mode as a justification for not trying to do anything about it being in maintenance mode.
Think they should do it like League. Heroes can be bought through in game currencies or using loot boxes, but to get cosmetics you would need to use real money equivalent. Like RP in League which you can only buy with real money. Plus I think this will encourage the dev team to make more wild skin ideas because we’ll actually be paying for those with real money.
That being said, I don’t think simple color variations warrant a separate payment. Maybe colorations are accessible with in game currencies too.
Heroes of the Storm doesn’t have a lack of purchasable items problem. Incremental price reductions do not solve any major problem and it’s laughable to suggest that making things more attractive for purchase results in less than “some revenue”. At least the last sentence is truthful. Heroes of the Storm has a population and players, many of whom are veterans, aren’t buying anything problem. Deep, affordable access to heroes is the best foot forward this game can put. Then it needs to survive on its merits.
It is a fact, not stated by me, but by the company. Do you honestly think that if I stopped writing that on forums that aren’t even read by the Devs that this would magically result in Blizz/Activision deciding to refund HOTS again?
You should also note (if you actually read any of my posts above) that we agree on many key points. This thread is called “consequential Ideas on a Budget”, so it’s quite fair I point out many of these ideas would be costly to implement.
There’s nothing costly to implement the two ideas directly related to the game generating its own funding. As turtle pointed out all the components of the coin purses are evidently in the game. It’s hard to understand what technical challenge the flexible bundle could cause either. The abusive chat reporting penalty just needs to be reverted [and reset]. One idea provides affordable access to gameplay while the other protects a player’s account.
I find it incredible how difficult even the simplest things are to grasp and appreciate. The biggest concern is that the powers that be have lost their minds too.
It’s almost like Blizzard hates money. ¯\(ツ)/¯ Go figure. The passivity is what gets me. Does anyone actually understand what the purpose of the “HotS 2.0” changes was? I believe I know the changes, but I just fail to see a purpose. Was it to increase exposure to purchasable items by giving some of them away in a randomized manner? They reduced the price of the most expensive heroes by I think 25% via the gems but it appears there are some shenanigans going on in the cheaper tiers. It’s like they were flailing, trying to do something they didn’t really know what.
My suspicion is there is boneheaded sophistry going on behind the scenes. People seem to have the idea that being smart is looking smart. So they bury themselves in numbers, do their little spreadsheets, read whatever the hell this “industry literature” is, and apparently just stop thinking. Lol, are they building models of some kind? Generally speaking it’s like some people can’t tie their shoes in the morning without a model. It really boggles my mind how ineptly they’re wasting the quality hard work that has gone into this game. They don’t have to give it away, just deliver it better. Think from the perspective of players, not from a perspective of nonsense.
Players that are still here are likely done with most of their money-giving, and it may surprise you that some of the vocal ones haven’t given much. Any way you look at it with the current playerbase the future of HotS is stagnant at best.
If the forum is any indication players that are still here are inclined to believe advertising explains what has happened to the game and is the solution to its present circumstances. It’s a dead-end.
One aspect of this topic that hasn’t been discussed much is the business model itself. Like with other free to play games the money pit runs deep here, not that it is unique considering some other games. It may have been Fifa that showed the lucrative potential of games in recent times with its Ultimate Team packs, essentially the lootbox concept. Do micro transactions fall under the same umbrella? Anyway, what I’ve heard about free to play games is that most people don’t spend money whereas a minority of whales spending a lot carry them. Simplistic though this may be it may be the root of a misconception.
A lot of people spend money on games, the underaged included. If you take an all or nothing approach where spending money doesn’t get a player far unless it’s a lot of money you are liable to creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. People will recognize that spending a little or moderately doesn’t get them much and avoid doing so. That leaves the whales. However, there are manifestly many fish in the gaming ocean. You don’t just bring harpoons.
Gameplay has to be available at popularly affordable prices. No ifs, buts, free weekly rotations, cheaper heroes, leveling, maintenance mode, or any of the nonsense the bottom-of-the-food-chain plankton and sea vegetables that populate these communities secrete. The time for stupid “free to play” greed was when League of Legends came out.
I find cost relative to revenue interesting too. Things have already been made and the game isn’t making much money off it all anyway. In whose darkened mind does it make any sense to cling onto the status quo? Or is Blizzard so inefficiently or pathetically run that virtually no one has the power to make change without getting the whole decrepit behemoth in slow motion?
Spot on. The game itself is not that bad, although I believe core gameplay needs to be expanded. But for whatever reason they can’t get out of their own way and start making relatively easy and simple changes that actually matter. I don’t know if it’s because everything is pretentiously difficult at that company or because no one really cares. Neither makes an awful lot of sense to me.
I actually think much of the game play is fine. There are a handful of things that could be improved, and some are indeed low-hanging fruit. If they dropped 3 new maps and a new hero or two, with the groundwork I’m certain has already been done by the original team, they’d have a huge influx of players.
We do have to acknowledge economic reality. Blizz needs a new IP badly. They need new hype. WoW is still carrying, but it isn’t growing. OW is stagnating because of the competition in the FPS space. RTS is effectively a dead genre, so WC and SC aren’t going anywhere. They were hoping to jump into mobile with Diablo:Immortal but the PC gaming community rebelled. Right now, they’ve got everything they have bet on 00 to win, to make a roulette reference. They need Diablo 4 and it’s still at least a year out. D2:Resurrected will get some buzz, but they’re still at least a year out from getting back to financial momentum going the right way. Rumor is they have another unannounced IP kicking around too, but that’s even farther in the future. Without the promise of a big new source of cash, they aren’t going to spend a cent on anything but a big, immediate ROI.
There are two things they could do here:
Invest in managing their old games which costs money
Ignore their old IPs, gut their teams, and get D4 done as fast as humanly possible and hope their fans’ loyalty isn’t completely shot by the time they release it - but, it’s the cheapest route.
If they were doing option 1, I think we could have a productive discussion. Fans will understand if they’re dealt with honestly and thrown a few bones while we wait. However, I think they’re going with option 2. They threw tens of millions at SC:Ghost and Project Titan and they can’t afford any more risk.
The gameplay is fine up to a point. Its simplicity limits the experience and I believe it’s one of the key reasons why the game was unable to excel. Adding new maps and heroes is what the developers have done throughout the game’s history. This adds content and variety but the core gameplay remains limited - you substitute stuff (heroes and maps) as opposed to make every match more than what it used to be. The last twenty heroes and handful of maps have done nothing to reverse the game’s trajectory for this reason. A trickle of new maps and heroes will do jack squat now. Highly inefficient and ineffectual effort, amply demonstrated. I don’t know how anyone here can still imagine a meaningful enduring influx of players resulting from what has always been done.
This thread is not about Blizzard in general beyond its effect on the game’s development. Most of you are acting like there’s nothing left to be done or that nonsense like advertising would reverse the game’s fortunes. The fact is none of you have a clue what you’re posting about. There are easy steps to take to improve accessibility to gameplay content and generate some revenue, including protecting accounts from frivolous and destructive idiocy like the abusive chat reporting system. Then finally, in the absence of anything else of importance to do and with plenty of heroes and maps to fall back on, it is time for the remaining developers to look down their figurative pants and see if there’s anything there to make their mark on this game with. The people who made this game, and who have been gone for a long time, left the job unfinished. They lacked ambition, and judging by their early attempt at Artifacts, sense too.
