What do you think they should have done or change to make this game better?
The game is pretty good tbh. It âdidnât blow outâ not because of the game itself, but how poorly Acti-Blizz handled it, and due to the company getting many (deserved) backlashes.
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Alot of dying games still got a hardcore fanbase that will play it. Also Amature tournements sponsered by Hots fans are still taking place.
Blizzard may have forgotten this game but its community has not.
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This game was hurting before the backlashes.
Honestly, I think it was because they tried to be like everyone else, instead of doubling down on what made this game unique (in particular, the team dynamic).
Looking at the game itself, I have a feeling that pressure to conform was driven by the leadership at the top, not the devs themselves.
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Publicity.
No game can succeed if no one knows it exists. No matter how good it is.
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This game had its peak in 2019. Every major misstep by Acti-Blizz happened, or took effect after.
HotS was the third among the mobas and it brought in more money than what it cost.
The only issue it had prior to 2019 -iirc- is the Lootchest issue, but thatâs on the company as well.
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Their jobs.
20 characters.
Iâd argue they tried many things over the years to improve the game. Some have said they tried too hard to appeal to both ultra casual players and pro players, but in the end didnât please any of these groups enough to make Hots sustainable.
Itâs worth noting that according to an old Blue Post, Hots was profitable, but not profitable enough to justify the huge team of Devs and time needed to make new content like such as brand new heroes.
I believe the HGC (this is my personal belief) was supposed to substitute as the advertising for Hots. Whether Iâm right or wrong on that point, it sure didnât work out.
I disagree, I think Hots did (still) have a unique emphasis on team play and other areas like no item shop, no last hitting (shared exp) and a large map pool that made it very different to LoL or Dota.
Personally I love that Hots is so team focused, but so many of the complaints on the forums over the years were from players complaining about that lack of solo âcarryingâ potential of Hots compared to LoL or Dota.
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Third at most popular and most played, only after LoL and Dota, beating Smite till HotSâ abandonment.
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You mean the peak in 2019 is after they cancelled HGC in 2018 and largely cut down the devs? ⌠What?
I think I simply misremembered the date.
The Blizzcon with Orphea was the end of the peak. HGC cancelation happened after. I said the wrong number.
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TBH the breakneck pace of updates/new heroes was kinda bad i believe, cost a lot with not much to gain, they probably should of HALVED the pace of new heroes (it was like what? 1 new hero a month?) It had a cycle of New hero releases, they are OP for 1-2 weeks until the next balance patch arrives they get nerfed a long with many other changes and then 2 weeks to see if the hero is balanced and another patch arrives along with teasers/trailer of the next new hero to be added.
I really think that they should of reduced the dev team of new heroes down to reduce the cost yet keep the constant balance patches (but maybe only 1 every 3-4 weeks, let things settle) and have a new hero release every 2 months AT MOST maybe 2-3 months
Probably would of made the game more profitable due to less upkeep cost
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How could you Karabars! Never, never, never admit you were wrong on the internet!
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I always admit my mistakes 
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Then I hope whoeverâs idea it was to advertize the game excusively to blizzard fans didnât keep their job.
Though, as crazy as it sounds, the HotS tournament organizers had to plead and convince their bosses to show hero releases during the events. ( Probius was announced during Western Clash, and it was the first time)
The Dev team and U.S. team had to tell them âLook, weâre already paying for a broadcast, letâs use it to promote the game weâre showingâ So as bad as it is to do it exclusivel there, if they hadnât been convinced, there would have been nothing at all. Fabien Serot said that Blizzard generally was resistant to announcing things live.
(And yes, Iâm aware of the irony of Diablo Immortal)
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As Iâm not privy at all to the behind the scenes, like you I can only speculate. It does seem like the the left hand didnât know what the right was doing in terms of promotion/direction/advertising of Hots.
There were so many contradictory elements that I do wonder if Hots was just a beautiful beast that those in control of it, had decidedly opposing ideas of its direction and potential.
Out of my respect for my passed husband who was a massive Diablo fan, I will continue to deny this exists!
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pfft, lies, heresy, and treason. Cardinal, fetch me the soft cushions! We shall see what Karabars truly has to confess.
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I didnât expect the Spanish Inqusition!
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quoting since I diverted the topic for Monty PythonâŚ
- initial game announcement came too early.
People donât want to wait 4+ years for something then expected ânowâ - Lack of PVE elements
While there is AI, many stable and support players want something more to do in the game than a couple of pvp matches a week. Without other aspects of the game to keep players invested in the game, there isnât much to keep them around for those that think they already âmasteredâ the game, esp if thereâs a lack for actually challenging mastery - Bad monetization.
Granted, costs were probably a bigger hurdle for the game (easier to highlight resources going out than coming in to leadership and investors) But I do think that players werenât going to hold this game up with the poor selection of skins coming out. beta/release suffered from the âmastery skinsâ and the game generally only encourages a single load-out for heroes, so the collection isnât as compelling to complete. If the game staggered heroes releases into thematic expansions to release particular teams then I think things could have been more sustainable for the game.
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Stop moving devs away from thier games and into new projects. Every game should have its own dev team that are hired to only work with that one game and nothing els.