Perhaps DOTA players will be able to immediately grasp the multiple lane gameplay, but it looks unnecessarily complicated to me. I'm hardly an authority on these, but it feels like making the gameplay simple but the card interactions complex for variety is the way to go.
The game phases sound interesting how they are talking about cards being more or less powerful in early/late game. We’ll see. Still think it’s daft not having a free base game.
A man who could tell more truth and eat fewer pies.
Valve have said there will be chat available which is a terrible idea and Valve of all people should know how toxic it will be. Right now they have no plans to moderate it in anyway. They also announced that the only way you will be able to get cards is through buying or trading, you wont be able to earn them in-game or buy them through an in-game currency. There will also be no ladder at launch, just tournaments that you can enter.
I have to say that it isn't really striking me a something I want to play right now. If it wasn't for the DOTA name attached to it I don't think I would even be giving it a second glance.
I find the notion of the game having chat amusing when Blizzard had to remove all of the "Sorry" emotes from Hearthstone because they felt it was only ever being used sarcastically.
I don't get why they're setting a buy-in price for the game itself and then making additional paid card packs the only means of acquiring new cards. Sure, it'll maximise profits, but that's got to put a lot of people off buying at all.
Blizzard have got the right idea with how they moderate their communities. You can't even speak to the opponents in Heroes of the Storm, and you see a fair few people who are muted and can't communicate at all because enough of their teammates have reported them for being abusive in the past. Give people a voice online and they will almost always use it negatively, just take those features away and you remove that problem.