Since we’re starting to get a big roster of Heroes and there are complains from new comers and “new comers” that it’s hard to get Heroes I think it’ll be time to make 1 Hero / major role (Ranged Assassin, Tank, Healer) permanently free to all accounts, outside of the weekly free rotation.
These Heroes imo should be:
Jimmoty (Raynor)
Mura (Muradin)
Evil furball (Lili)
(Yes, Hoku, I chose that name because of you.)
With this change it’ll be a bit easier to start fresh in this game but still won’t make smurfs’ job that easier so it won’t encourage that misbehaviour.
Well, she is an evil furball. Just look what she put her poor uncle through in Mists of Pandaria, sneaking off to get into trouble with some random stranger!
The only issue with relying on free rotation heroes for actual new players is that they never get a chance to get used to a hero and a kit before it changes on them, other than the free hero they get from the tutorial. Having a limited roster of constantly available heroes means they can get to a basic level of competency on one or more basic heroes more rapidly, and then focus on learning the maps and other aspects of play.
I have every Hero and I refuse to smurf so it is pointless to me. But fresh players want more than just the free rotation (which is only completely available after lvl 20).
This suggestion isn’t for them to have every role. Or to make them don’t care about the free rotation.
It’s just these Heroes can help learning these roles and they aren’t always on free rotation. I think it’d help the learning curve of newbs and will increase HotS power to lure in fresh meat gamers.
I don’t know on one hand i would love for legit new comers to have the ultra hero pack for free from the get go but on the other one some smurfs always come to ruin games and i dislike the idea of giving them a hand.
Well, I see no reason why all the heroes shouldn’t be free to begin with (if DotA 2 can do it, I see no reason why other similar games can’t), but I guess this is at least improvement on this flawed and p2w system (I know this is not a popular stance, but it is true; having more heroes does give you an objective advantage over other players, and being able to pay for any sort of gameplay advantage in a video game, even if you can grind it for free, is p2w).
Btw, I have them all unlocked while sitting on +100k gold, so don’t think I’m trying to benefit myself from saying that all the heroes should be unlocked by default!
They have an entire week to try those heroes. And 14 heroes = 7k gold per week. Couple that with the dailies and they could easily purchase any hero, even the newest one (except the 15k) EACH WEEK. More, if they decided to go for the cheaper one rather than the most recent flashy stuff on the market.
I don’t recall having this kind of treatment when I first started this game. The new comers are having it easy.
Not all new players will be devoting that much time per week to the game, they may only play on weekends, for example, or a couple of evenings a week. That simply isn’t enough time to understand a new hero very well.
Personally, I think three very basic heroes as a starter pack is reasonable, as it gives them something to start with, but isn’t likely to buff the smurfing issue too much. They will still have many goals to pursue expanding their roster, so to me it is decent compromise.
There was a time when in an event Blizz gave 5 Heroes for free if you participated. I got none because I had all.
With 2.0 and Megapacks (which cost 100 gem), I got 100 gems only since I had all the Heroes. I couldn’t get a single Hero (which is usually 300 gem at least).
And getting gold is way easier when I started.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make easier the grind for new players. Our goal is HotS’ growth.
Even if you can grind for 1 Hero/week that’s still 85 weeks atm and this number will only rise.
Giving Raynor, Lili and Mura free for every acc is nothing big but a welcomed boost to newcomers.
When you first started, you probably also had a much smaller hero roster to begin with. Games change over time, and usualy they become more difficult towards new players because ‘cheese’ heroes/tactics at that point are already countered so new players cant rely on those anymore.
Recieving the 3 easiest heroes in the game is a good start on that, but even then its not enough. I would like more guidance towards players on which heroes they should try afterward.
For example: They played a lot of raynor, now it tries to give him 3 options:
A higher risk hero, with quite similar mechanics
A similar risk hero, but diffirent mechanic
A diffirent style hero, but with some knowledge from the previous one, quite easy to learn.
For raynor this for example could be: tychus, lunara, kael.
For muradin: Dehaka, Stitches, ETC
For lili: Lucio, Stukov, Alex
And basicly for each hero, these should be a list of 3 heroes that can be chained towards a diffirent hero. Initialy restricted to just the class, but eventualy also mixed role heroes can start to show.
A few heroes like diablo, varian, hammer could also always be recommended heroes to try as new because of their very basic handling. (wether a hero is easy or hard shouldnt matter too much, and can still be shown towards players anyway).
If you can guide the gold payments towards heroes they prefer, you can attract newer players better since they arent going to be surprised much when they purchase a hero. You definitely dont want a new player to purchase the vikings or abathur.
Things that are easy to come are also easy to go. People usually don’t appreciate gifts that they recieve for granted. Let them put some effort into it and they would much treasure the rewards they have earned themselves.
Doing so means you’re giving the players options. Which ever hero they choose is up to them. They would stick to that hero for some time and learn the ins and outs of them. Which is good. For themselves, as well as the game as whole.
The gold price has it reasons. When I first started the game, I was impressed by many heroes. But after looking at their price tag:
Abathur? Out of my reach.
Zeratul? Out of my reach.
Nova? Out of my reach.
So, after the first 3 weeks, I was ultimately lead to Raynor, Muradin and Malfurion. Which are currently among my top 10 highest level and win rates heroes.
With all that said, the current system is fine. The price tag will be the guidance and prevent the new comers from trying outrageous stuff like drafting Abathur as their first pick.
Muradin probably isn’t a good choice since he’s already one of the three heroes you get to choose from when you first start (the others are Jaina and Tyrande).
Actually, maybe just starting everyone with Muradin, Jaina, and Tyrande is fine.
Yes, everything is free if you grind. Yes, I grinded all the Heroes.
But do we want to raise the chance of the joining of new players or not?
The discussion is not about how easy/hard it is to reach a point where you have most the roster but about how can we make the game more appaeling to those who never played it yet.
![:sunglasses:](https://d3rakab8gpdsa3.cloudfront.net/en/heroes/images/emoji/twitter/sunglasses.png?v=6" ":sunglasses:")