Is Heroes of the Storm worth playing in 2022?

Is Heroes of the Storm still worth getting into in 2022? Well, that's one complicated question and that's why we are writing this article in order to give you a thorough overview of the current state of HotS so that you can make an informed decision.

The development history of Heroes of the Storm was full of troubles, from the very beginning when Blizzard failed to secure the name "Dota" for their MOBA game as they lost the case against Valve. What started as Blizzard DOTA later became Heroes of the Storm.

Even with all the problems and mismanagement, HotS ended up being a huge success at launch. But, despite the popularity, Blizzard didn't manage to properly monetize the game and that eventually resulted in the abrupt discontinuation of the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) in 2018, and subsequently to infamous "change of cadence" in the future content production for the game.

More than three years have passed since then, and if you are maybe tired of League of Legends or Dota 2, and you are considering trying some other game, maybe HotS crossed your mind? But you are not sure if it makes sense to start playing HotS in 2022?

Well, we are here to answer this question! In order to do that, we will break this dilemma into three aspects:

• Is Heroes of the Storm a good and fun game?
• Is HotS a dead game or people are still playing it?
• Is HotS receiving new content?

So, without further ado, let's jump right into it!

Is Heroes of the Storm a good and fun game?

One of the main criticisms you will often hear from MOBA purists when they talk about HotS is that Heroes of the Storm is "simple and casual MOBA", but the truth is that HotS is just a different type of MOBA.

Unlike Dota 2 and LoL, where one good player can "carry" the whole team, HotS is heavily focused on team play and coordination, as there is shared experience across the whole team instead of individual levelling for each hero.

Also, unlike all other MOBAs, Heroes of the Storm has not one, but 15 unique battlegrounds with different objectives, layouts, camps, gimmicks, cores, and so much more! 

Combined with unique and greatly designed heroes, this makes each match different, and you will never feel like you are doing the same thing over and over again.

Simply put, Heroes of the Storm is fun, dynamic, and engaging MOBA, with non-stop frenetic action and very little downtime, but with both micro and macro play equally important.

Ultimately, you will have to try the game for yourself in order to find out if you like what it has to offer, but we can assure you that you will most likely have fun while learning new heroes and maps.

Is HotS dead or still alive in 2022?

Many people who are interested in starting to play Heroes of the Storm are afraid that the game is dead and no one is playing it anymore. This couldn't be further from the truth.

While not as popular as it was at its peak, Heroes of the Storm is still played by a lot of people, and if you play in big regions such as North America or Europe, you will be able to find a quick match in less than a minute in almost at any time of the day.

The same goes for ARAM (All Random All Mid), where finding matches is almost instant, while for Ranked play you will usually need to wait in queue for a few minutes or more, depending on your rank.

All in all, the player base is still huge and healthy, as HotS has a dedicated fan base that is playing the game regardless of what is currently happening with the game or with Blizzard. One of the biggest appeals of HotS is the fact that Blizzard fans have a chance to play with all those characters they grew up with, and that's why you have countless Diablo, Warcraft, Overwatch, and Starcraft fans still playing the game.

At its peak in 2017, HotS was almost as popular as Dota 2, and while those days are long gone, HotS would still easily be among the top 20 most played games on Steam if the game was available there.

Is HotS still getting updates and new content?

Now we've come to the part that is probably the least optimistic one. 

Unfortunately, since January of 2019, the production of new content has been reduced drastically. Prior to this change, HotS had been getting new heroes every three weeks and at least two new maps every year, but over the last three years, Heroes of the Storm has got 5 new heroes in total and no new maps. And in 2021, not a single new hero has been added to the game.

The development team that works on Heroes of the Storm has been brought down only to the core crew which maintains the game's balance and servers, though it also releases some new cosmetic content from time to time.

The game does receive some new content periodically, but that's just a tiny amount compared to the support the game had a few years back when over 100 people worked on HotS actively.

While HotS is not completely deprived of new content, what you can expect in 2022 are balance updates every 4 or 5 weeks, occasional hero reworks, and new cosmetics every few months. At this point, a new hero would be a true miracle but could still happen.

What will 100% not happen is for servers to shut down, as Blizzard is known as a company that supports its games for decades no matter how small the player base is. So that's one thing you don't need to worry about.

Conclusion - Should you start playing HotS in 2022?

Heroes of the Storm is a fun and unique MOBA that offers fast, action-packed matches on 15 distinct maps with 90 heroes to choose from.

The player base is still large and you can easily find matches in big regions, and servers will be up for decades to come.

The only real issue is that the game is receiving a very small amount of new content, as Blizzard is slowly stopping production of new content for the game, but as a new player, you don't need to worry about that because you will have a lot of already existing heroes to play and master, more than enough for years of playing the game and exploring all the already available content.

So don't worry, try the game, and if you like it, enjoy and have fun!

• Read more: Mei from Overwatch is coming to Heroes of the Storm

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Featured image courtesy of Blizzard.