Heroes of the Storm is one of my favorite games and most definitely my favorite moba (massive online battle arena game). However, the pro HoTs (Heroes of the storm) scene isn't doing so hot. Although Blizzard isn't necessarily a video game company underdog HoTs wasn't received so well. It wasn't that everybody hated the game its the fact that Blizzard is competing with League of Legends and Dota 2 (two of the biggest esports). They were bound to face a unwinnable battle in that regard.
A year since launch with improvements how does HoTs hold up? When the game launched in 2015 there was a mad dash to get in on the competitive aspect of it. "Big names—MVP.Black, Cloud9, and EDward Gaming—and teams of friends rushed into the queue. Even YouTubers got involved, with Jesse Cox (aka Shaboozey) putting a team together called Stellar Lotus." (Pc gamer) The success of Hearthstone as a casual and competitive game was a good sign that Blizzard would support the game for years to come.
However, HoTs didn't fit the esports fans' tastes. "One of the game’s core changes to the MOBA formula, replacing items with talents that are gained at level increments rather than through accumulating gold, was hard to demonstrate to a spectator—especially as some talents had nigh-identical images despite having dramatically different effects." (Pc gamer)
The accessibility of the game as an esport is where progress has been made. The game was on ESPN and the presentation is inspired by traditional sports broadcasts.
However, one of the most important parts of esports is players and their teams. That's where HoTs is struggling right now. The biggest prize pool for a HoTs tournament was $500,000 at Blizzcon 2015-where Cloud9 won 3-0 in a best of five. They carried on until 2016 and then went on some losing streaks and didn't qualify for the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship. So they disbanded the team entirely.
They weren't the first major team to call it quits either. Natus Vincere (known as Na'Vi) split in April 2016 after a period of losses. Other teams like compLexity, G2 Esports, and Edward Gaming have all thrown in the towel as well.
The reason for all these teams disbanding is poor performance but considering the game has only been out for a year is that truly the reason? Teams wouldn't disband after only one year in any other sport. Esports is an unstable field but some teams just don't have the stick-with-it or drive to keep playing. Another important factor is that teams aren't seeing a financial benefit to sticking with the game. This is a business with managers and for them this isn't a game-its a business.
All of this has lead to Heroes' professional scene full of amateurs. One of the games' defining moments was Heroes of the Dorm-a tournament series for regular people (not pros) that went to colleges around the United States. The prize was a scholarship worth up to $75,000. This showed how broad the community of players was instead of the usual pro player sponsored scene.
This is what makes Heroes' competitive scene great. Blizzard is honing new talent and that's a great thing to see. Heroes will do great as long as Blizzard continues to do that. Given the success of Heroes of the Dorm Blizzard would do well to keep fostering grass roots talent. The esports scene is still questionable and no one knows what it will be like next year. Until then I'll be playing in solo q.
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