Heroes of the Storm: The best MOBA if you don’t have time for League

I get it- you’re a hardcore gamer who plays Dark Souls and beat the hardest track (Through the Fire and the Flames- as if you could ever forget) in Guitar Hero on hard. News flash: it’s been 10 years since you did those things. Seriously, look at a calendar. It’s alarming as hell- believe me, I’ve woken up to that realization. You’ve got a career now, and maybe a tiny terror yelling in the background. Time to adjust your bar of gaming skill and MOBAs are a great place to start. Heroes of the Storm is a lot like League of Legends except far, far more forgiving, which if you don’t have time to learn the most current meta is probably a good place to start.

Let’s first focus on the most profound difference between league and Heroes. League has individual character leveling within a match, and in Heroes you level as a team. Think about that for more than 2 seconds. it’s huge- it’s practically a different game just because of this. It means you can stink it up for the first 2/3 of the match and still claim the win for your team. It means you can believe you’re the one carrying your team even if you aren’t. it’s wonderful, and gives you a confidence in your play that you wouldn’t have otherwise. I get depressed when in my terribleness I end up feeding the opposing player in League and he or she becomes a juggernaut of doom. In Heroes, it’s pretty rare that one player can swing a match that much simply because the experience is spread among the entire team.

The second major difference is that there is no gear. Which makes the game drastically more approachable. More importantly, it means you don’t have to spend hours reading on the best gear to counter specific characters and builds. You just pick your character, and play. Focus on improving your skill and selecting the right abilities (they’re all decent, you won’t get hurt too bad for choosing wrong) and have fun.

Finally, you can earn a loot box in about 2 minutes. Yes, there are way too many items and most of them are junk. Yes, you won’t get much that you actually care about. But! You will get a small reward basically just for logging in- which is incredibly addictive and means even a short 20 minute gaming session can still feel productive.

None of this is a rip on League- League is a great game that requires a ton of skill and knowledge to even be okay at. Which is incredibly cool! However, it also makes the learning curve pretty steep, and if you’ve already got a lot going on it can feel like a treadmill set a little too fast- all you’re trying to do is not fall off. If you feel that way about League, give Heroes of the Storm a try. You won’t regret it.

Originally published at www.thebusygamer.com.