15 Ways League of Legends Is WORSE Than Heroes Of The Storm

The first time I came across the nascent modification to _ Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos _ that would eventually become the template for all MOBAs to come I was in my first year of college. _ Warcraft III _ hit my dorm like a bomb, and I know more than one student who dropped out to pursue a life of gaming (much to their parent’s chagrin). Then _ Defence of the Ancients _ came out, and it was like that bomb never went off at all and was merely biding its time to truly cause mayhem. Assignments were forgotten. Midterms were missed. Some students stopped leaving their rooms, never to be seen again. To this day there are ghost stories of long lost undergrads, roaming the halls in search of food they’d forgotten to eat in life.

Fast forward a decade and a half and MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas for those not in the know) aren’t just killing academic careers - they’re at the very forefront of E-sports. All the biggest stables, like Fnatic, Team Liquid, and Cloud 9, all field teams that play in _ League of Legends _ , the biggest Moba gaming hub of them all.

While Blizzard (the makers of _ Warcraft III _ ) had their hand in giving birth to MOBAs as a genre, they’ve been strangely behind the times while MOBAs took the E-sports world by storm. It wasn’t until 2015, with the release of _ Heroes of the Storm _ ( _ HotS _ for short), that Blizzard took these multiplayer battle arenas seriously enough to warrant a game of their own. And while _ League of Legends _ (or _ LoL _ for short) is still top dog, it has a lot to learn from Blizzard’s upstart MOBA game tips.

Here are 15 ways _ League of Legends _ is worse than _ Heroes Of The Storm _ .

15 A Toxic Community

via Kotaku

_ League of Legends _ is a big deal. At peak periods there can be over 7 million players on Riot’s servers. Having this many gamers playing at once can make policing player behaviour a little tricky. The result is a community that is famous for its snark, saltiness and general unfriendliness to new players - and that’s putting it lightly.

_ Heroes of the Storm _ , on the other hand, is managed by Blizzard, who take player experience very seriously. Not only is there a swear filter and a 'report player' feature that can get a player banned for such infractions as griefing, but in _ HotS, _ each team doesn’t even have the option to speak to their opposite in competitive matches. It’s hard to spew toxic vitriol when you can’t get through to the enemy team.

14 No Map Variations

via Heroes Of The Storm

_ League of Legends _ is also pretty famous for having a serious lack of map variety. _ LoL _ has one map, Summoner’s Rift, and if you don’t like it, that’s too bad. Go find another game.

_ Heroes of the Storm _ , on the other hand, has a colossal _ thirteen _ maps, each meticulously balanced to give each team a fair chance at victory. Each map has its own variations in terms of size, lane separation, and jungle encampments (called mercenary camps in _ HotS _ ) that all feel very different, making each game fresh and exciting.

This variation also makes certain heroes more attractive to play on certain maps. You may want to opt for global presence of Dehaka on larger maps, allowing you to quickly be where your team needs you during team-fights, no matter how far you wander. Or on maps with tighter lanes, you may go for a slower assassin like Valeera, who can roam around to get quick kills on unwary players.

13 Lack of Map Objectives