How To Make HOTS Grow

The first thing it needs to do is to ban all the feeders and asshats throwing games.

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No it aint. And if it does its due to massive commercial that is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOxkGD8qRB4

Like that one video got LoL more players then any other.Its given LoL quite a lot of spotlight.And it cost a LOT to make. Way more then HotS can pay(well blizz can pay but the chance for paying of is nearly zero).+ its a gamble if it will explode like that.

DotA lost a lot of players.Here is the proof. Just look at “all”. Lost over 1/3 of players over 2016-2018 period.From 1.2 mil to 0.8 mil.
https://steamcharts.com/app/570#All

Smite lost em as well but since its only moba on console it will live.Got proof on that as well but ill show em only if someone is interested.

So the only game that maybe got players got em after investing a MASSIVE amount of money for advertisement.Well guess what. When you aint at the top like Fortnite or LoL that is rly hard to do and not bankrupt.

While not a bad idea, this will flood the item pool with recolors people don’t really care about, which will reduce the chance for them to get stuff they actually want :stuck_out_tongue:

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Couple things that I think held this game back…

The platform that it’s on. Other successful Moba’s were 2 things… F2P and on steam. They got a lot of casual people that really came for one of the many other games to give them a try. Battlenet has people that play a few select games, and the people that play them for the most part are invested in those games heavily. Many do not want to make a switch from what they came for.

Reason number 2, Steam strait up has an easier means of payment than battlenet. I could go out and get a steam gift card from Best buy with cash. Battlenet… set up your paypal? creditcard? Assuming you are an adult and have those. I know my parents would not have given me that for an online game when I was young, and honestly now that I am an adult. I’m also hesitant of using credit-cards for stuff like online gaming.

Reason #3. The social aspect. I was dragged to give this game a try by friends that have since left a long time ago. People since (including myself) seem not as efficient at dragging their friends into playing the game with them. They expect Blizz to give them people to play with, and honestly complain a lot more when they don’t get along.

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These ideas actually can work. Most online games are on steam as well as having their own launcher. Warframe is one such game. It has 2 versions for their own launcher and steam(same game tho,no difference).

But will it help the game tho.Our game is in the declining market.Will it give us a boost. Also social aspect does not matter in this case. In WF you cant communicate no matter the platform.

Also steam takes a part of game profit so its not as good as it looks.So the game must redirect you to blizz site or battle net again for every purchase to work around that.

Honestly this can get us more players just by getting in seach bars on steam. After all steam has a lot of players and its easy to just try the game. So if some who try it stay it will at least pay off.

Not sure how hard is this game to put on steam tho. It prb needs some work. Not sure how much tho.Still problems but at least has a chance to work. After all mobas need publicity not these moronic changes that aint gonna get us any players if ppl dont even know game exists.

Its marketing that gets new players not changes.And this at least is marketing.

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It’s nice to hope for things but the writing is on the wall. HoTs won’t ever grow.

HoTS has an active user problem. Increased conversions on monetizing the playerbase would be nice but if the playerbase is shrinking then high conversions aren’t that significant.

The HoTS team failed to see what was needed for the game to grow. The marketing department did a good job but the design team didn’t.

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HotS is very unique/fun game that people would like to play quite a bit, the problem is the frustration after some few months play when MM gets “control” over your “identity” overall

The game becomes a massive compensation creep at that point which simply deters people from playing further… Doesn’t even have to change in general but AT LEAST give some information/control to the player, there was a game where had Zarya/Thrall/Jaina and I decided to 1st pick Tyrande as everyone expected last player to pick a tank, well that player DID pick a tank (Tyrael) but had like 30% WR on the hero :P, not only we got thrashed/dived to no end in that game but also dude didn’t even pick an appropriate engager hero

How could’ve I known that ? = well maybe if I looked at profile then see warrior WR% average some 35% and then see maybe most played “warriors” being Tyrael/Sonya, but = you have like 25 seconds (total) to make a decision

If at least some information/control can be given to the player, things would go better a lot, posted in long format, posted in shorter, here’s even shorter = just GIVE SOME RESPONSIBILITY/CONTROL mechanisms to the player, make them able to prevent (or at least PREDICT) a bad/non-functional team comp and adapt on time though

Heck even the slightest change of making/sorting the most flexible player (the one that plays most heroes/roles) being last pick per draft, even that might contribute to better player-based control

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Woah woah ! Hold on right there copypastable ! Are you looking at other female characters now ?! I thought you only had eyes for mei ? She wasnt good enough for you now was that it lol ?!

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Pharah I’m fine with, Ashe fine

Mei, whatever

But Brigitte ?, come on man, could it even be possible to think of something more boring tbh : P

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Id rather see reinhart then Bridget no offense xD

His voice actor is awesome !
Check out the video you get most of the actors at once its great lol
" this reinhart and reinhart and reinhart and reinhart ! And we are here to deliver. Payload ! A payload of joy my friend ! Haha!!"

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Huh, I expected this to die quietly. Neat.

“Can be” is closer to the truth than “is”. You have to get lucky with multiple high-value quests and have access to multiple low-level heroes to hit milestones for Gold rewards. Unless you have a day off, you’re unlikely to be able to rouse up 10k in 24 hours (especially if you’re new).

I don’t believe that. HOTS is beloved enough for major players to make their own HGC-esque leagues out of nothing - which, if you’ll recall, is how DotA started its rise to prominence. If the game is good enough and the love is strong enough, all you need for the “full MOBA experience” is the monetary flow to sponsor development, balance, and official tournament organization. HOTS is obviously doing enough right for people to want to see it played at a professional level, so it can’t hurt to make it easier to get into and easier to spend money on.

Subjective feedback here, but I haven’t been running into that many report-worthy individuals.

True. But that can easily change once the game becomes more accessible.

HOTS is not and does not have to be like other MOBAs. People’s interest in the professional scene is proof of that.

True, and it could definitely use one.

What are you talking about? Stitches got plenty of new variants. :stuck_out_tongue:

True, and I desperately want it to be.

HOTS is not comparable to older games because older games weren’t free. HOTS is, and you have to make your money somewhere. A free game being addictive and fun doesn’t generate the developer any money.

We’d have a lot more coming and a lot less going if the game was easier to stay on.

Thank you! I don’t post very often but when I do, I try to make it worth something.

The MOBA genre is losing players to simpler games like Fortnite because they’re exactly that: simple. They’re drop in, play for however long you want, and drop out. There’s no organization, no planning, just gameplay. HOTS netted a ton of MOBA fans because it was simpler than its competition without being weird about it like Smashmuck Champions, so obviously there’s a market for a casual MOBA. All HOTS needs to do is tap the market a little better (for example, by being better to its casual players by opening up the roster and making things easier to buy) and it’ll get some life back.

Giving up makes you weak. There’s no harm in trying and hoping for something better doesn’t hurt anyone, so I might as well.

Hello again. If HOTS was crap from the start, it wouldn’t have grown like it did - it would’ve died like Smashmuck Champions and the countless other MOBAs that tried to break into the genre.

Aaay, thank you! That means a lot coming from you.

I agree. They need the income to sponsor that kind of work first though.

That would be pretty nice, yeah.

It can’t be any worse with how flooded the item pool is with emoji packs, sprays, avatars, and banners that people don’t really care about. Adding a bunch of skins will at least give players more Skinergy options. Plus, Step 2 of the proposal involves “allow players to buy whatever they want with Gems at any time”, so if people don’t want to deal with the drop pool, then… they won’t have to!

I agree with your first statement up to a point. League was never on Steam, but it was free and it was the original stand-alone alternative to DotA.

Second point is definitely valid, but the market is becoming increasingly online and brick-and-mortar stores are dying a slow and steady death. Adding Blizzard Balance cards to stores might not be worth the effort.

Third point is valid, but can be helped. The original 20-hero bundles brought in a ton of new blood, so there’s precedent for player drives paying dividends. All Blizzard needs to do is care enough to make it happen.

Would you mind explaining why you consider “make things better for new players, make spending money on the game easier, and make more content that people want to spend money on” to be moronic changes?

Word of mouth does a lot more than you would think. League’s initial boom was because people tried it and told their friends - the initial advertising run wasn’t really that prevalent.

“HOTS won’t ever grow” is a defeatist attitude. Of course it won’t grow if you’re already convinced it won’t. I still have hope because HOTS gives me gameplay that isn’t available anywhere else, so I’m not ready to give up on it.

That said, I don’t think it’s the design team’s fault. HOTS has gameplay issues and QoL issues, but it’s not like its more successful competitors haven’t had those same issues (and in League’s case, had them for years).

Honestly, I would love for HL/UD to have an unordered pick like TL. Sure, selfish players can abuse it to instalock their given choice, but at least that way you’re not relying on someone being shoehorned into a role because they happened to be the last pick.

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As long as they keep with the carebear censorship crap they will keep bleeding players…they drove alot of the OGs away after reworking our favorite heroes just to please the pros so they are more fun to watch on that Twitch Cancer.

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HOTS is not comparable to older games because older games weren’t free. HOTS is, and you have to make your money somewhere. A free game being addictive and fun doesn’t generate the developer any money.

Of course it is comparable. You have to be addictive and fun first. Then you can make money. Not other way round. You could have millions of items in your little game store but if nobody is playing then guess what? Nobody will buy anything. The issue in hots is not the buyer conversion if they thought that was the problem all they had to do is reorganize the store. The problem is that there aren’t enough people to convert.

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I see your point but I really dislike that from a simple reason = there won’t be diversity of heroes/teamcomps, everyone will be picking (and asking for 1st picks be the same) what “doctor ordered”

Just need more info/control, be less shocked when things go downhill, the more info the better, but putting everyone into a “forced bubble” of “meta picks” ?, really dislike that idea

IDK if you may have read my doc online (don’t do it’s 25 pages long lol), but yeah, there’s a part 2 where I suggest complete rw of Ranked to be like real-life team-sports league format where you’ll be placed with 200 people that climbed/fell due to crucible/leadership from last “half or quarter” of a season

X players minimum for each role, Y players minimum for their 2nd/alternate role… Perhaps if been top 5 in last season you could add your best hero from last season in addition to roles you preselect for next season, but thing is again => have a complete overview/information of who does what and % of season/last-season, maybe league-history-best information (last top 10 players what were their most played heroes and what WR% they had with them)

Things like that, think if anything would really accomplish the goal of keeping control (being informed) of what you can expect instead of being “bombarded” by some troll… Sure, let there be trolls, just let the allies be aware of their preferred playstyle/behavior

The pick order being no-pick-order, just creates a pressure toward players to have to pick what their “priority number” suggests (and what their teammates EXPECT them to), chances are will restrict/dumb-down “freedom to express” between players and will just encourage more toxicity if/when ppl don’t follow the “rules” rather

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Btw, can you provide a step by step guide how you created those? :stuck_out_tongue:
And how your implemented them back into the game to take these screenshots that is…

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This is the kind of idiocy that is so frustrating to deal with.

Every unpopular game that died had its very small and dedicated fanbase. Lawbreakers, Paragon, Battleborn… you name it… there will be people there who love the game enough and think its the best game in its genre. And I dunno what kind of argument you are making here. Blizzard threw that full “monetary flow” you are talking about into this game for 3 years, and it failed miserably and they finally had to cut that cord. And now you are arguing that this is all the game needs? WHUTTTT

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I second this. It was a nice presentation.

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Sure.

Step 1: Obtain base image.

Step 2: Make a duplicate layer of the base image and cut out what you don’t want to change (in this example, Jimmy’s face and the background).

Step 3: Mess with the levels.

Step 4: Place the results from Step 3 over the original.

However:

I didn’t, because as I said in the OP, it was just a quick and dirty example. If I wanted to make something that was usable in-game, I would:

Step 1: Grab the relevant texture.

Step 2: Cut out what shouldn’t be changed (in this case, Jimmy’s face).

Step 3: Mess with the levels.

Step 4: Put the removed parts back in.

Step 5: Save the modified texture, which will then be applied to the model and more or less look like this in-game:

If it was an official Variant and not just a texture override, it’d need a data entry of its own to make it an option alongside the other Variants instead of just replacing one, but that’s a five minute job at most.

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A LoL developer stated in 2018 that LoL wasn’t growing or declining in the west, but was stagnant. However, LoL was growing mainly in China and Korea.

That LoL video was a kpop song made for the LoL world championship final, which was extremely profitable. Riot made KDA skins based on that music video and a special prestige edition skin that could only be acquired by buying an event pass. Apparently, the prestige edition and event passes were so successful that Riot started mining that gold mine immediately. People on my friend list log in that haven’t played in years. Riot also sold so much merchandise. The KDA hat sold out within days. The Ahri figure also sold out like two to three weeks later. Merchandise request were so high that Riot started selling new merchandise based on the KDA.

Recently, Lol released a second prestige and event pass the month after world championship ended called the Snowdown. In addition, Riot has two more prestige skins and events planned.

Not only that, but Riot has Lunar event and the Chinese new year event, year of the pig, skins and events. They also have a valentine day event with skins. All of these events have multiple skins, chromas, and at least two passes that cost like 15-20 dollars. I think Riot has found a cash cow with event passes and prestige skins. People are buying those passes like hot cakes, which resulted in high level of activity in game. Plus on top of the events we have special battle modes. It’s actually too much content if you ask me. I can hardly keep up with all the events and new game modes. I still haven’t gotten my free stuff from the Nexus Blitz, was farming for prestige skins and other stuff from the snowdown event.

Also forgot to say, in December riot released a new champion or character. They already have another character ready to be released for the Chinese new year with alternate skin to be sold upon release, not just a recolor skin.

Here are the valentine, year of pig, new character, chromas, icons, and emotes.

ht tp://www.surrenderat20.net/2019/01/18-pbe-update.html

Here are Lunar event and skins for this month.

ht tp://www.surrenderat20.net/p/current-pbe-balance-changes.html

In addition to all that Riot has team up with Marvel to make comic books to explore the lore and characters of LoL.

h ttp://www.surrenderat20.net/2018/12/ashe-warmother-comic-series-preview.html

Finally, they do release an expensive and extremely hard to acquire skin line called Hextech skin lines for the people who want a more rare and unique skin. These are released every 4-6 months. Most recent skin is this:

h ttp://www.surrenderat20.net/2018/12/hextech-renekton-now-available.html

Now tell me how is Hots supposed to compete with that?

As you can tell Riot has characters and cosmetics for almost every type of person. The AAtrox is like a diablo like skin, then you have the new Vayne skin with an attractive look. Kench a not so popular character is also getting a new skin for year of the pig. Point is that Riot has a diverse lineup of characters and cosmetics. There is bound to be a skin or character a new or vet will want to buy.

When I look at the skins and characters in Hots, there isn’t a lot of variety compared to LoL. As for the op. He is right. There isn’t a lot to buy with gems. Outside of buying heroes there are only a few bundles and mounts that you can buy directly with gems. I bought Whitemane and her skin bundle, but there isn’t much of choice for mounts or even announcer packs. I’m not going to buy loot boxes. I bought too many loot boxes in other games only to not get what I wanted from them.

One last thing. Blizzard isn’t selling any merchandise for Hots. Essentially your force to buy from Warcraft, SC2, or Diablo merch store. A lot of that merchandise is old and limited in selection. The only store that has a lot of selection is the OW store.

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Oh having things like that is important. So is word of mouth. But all that is meaningless if barely anyone knows about it.

Warframe is one such game. Due to having great community and being BEST game in its class it was steadily growing. But rly slowly. Too slowly for Acti shareholders.

What gave WF its massive popularity spike is commercials as well. Its just that after destiny 2 fiasco it was that word of mouth that turned Acti commercials to WF ones.

After all if every video about D2 was filled by WF ppl telling you to just play WF since its better and free it turns those videos intro commercials.

But that only works if competition fails. After all, crap like fallout 76 sells in milions just due to commercials.Whats worse we have 2 great game above us that are a direct competition.The only competition to WF was D2 and maybe PoE since both are grind to death type of game but thats it.

Edit:due to all the crap with blizz sacking pro league we are in the position that D2 was. If someone right now put a comment promoting LoL or DotA saying to not play this game due to bad practice activision did we cant dismiss em. And even tho this is rly benign compared to what D2 did our competition is fierce.