14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard offers a few fresh details about the upcoming Heroes of the Storm closed beta stage that's set to kick off tomorrow, on January 13, including the fact that it will have a better matchmaking system, not to mention an all-new draft mode that's going to be employed in the competitive Hero League matches.
Heroes of the Storm is Blizzard's entry in the highly popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) title, offering a more streamlined experience than rivals like Dota 2 or League of Legends do, while bringing forth more varied maps called battlegrounds, each with their own neutral events and factions.
After organizing a closed technical alpha stage for Heroes of the Storm in 2014, developer Blizzard is preparing to launch a closed beta test tomorrow, January 13, on the PC platform. The studio has already detailed the competitive Hero League mode that's going to appear in the new version of the multiplayer title, and now a few more details are available, via the official website.
Better matchmaking is coming
In order to support the competitive mode in a better way, an improved version of the matchmaking system is coming. It will pit against each other players of similar skill in a more refined fashion, but as always, Blizzard emphasizes that the system requires a bit of time before it can accurately rate the player. As such, the first few days or even weeks of the closed beta might include some unbalanced matches because everyone begins at the same base level.
The matchmaking rank (MMR) is just an individual rating and Blizzard confirms that Heroes of the Storm won't have a separate party MMR, like Dota 2 does with players who regularly enter matches as part of a party.
However, the system will have preferences for a party to be pit against another party of the same size, in order to keep things as balanced as possible.
A Draft mode is also coming
Besides the better matchmaking, the Heroes of the Storm closed beta also includes an all-new draft mode, in which teams take turns selecting the heroes they would like to play as. The beginning of a match sees a virtual coin toss determine which team begins and then the pick progress starts.
Once a hero is drafted by a player, it won't be available to the other team, ergo the Hero League requirement that stipulates that players must own at least 10 heroes.
If a player quits during draft mode, the entire match is canceled and everyone will be sent back to the play screen. The quitter will be punished, however.
