My first ever PC game? It was a rather fun little game where I’d go around as a barbarian and slay monsters. Alas, its name eludes me, as it’s been hidden within the darkest corners of my mind.
But the one after that one was Master of Olympus Zeus and Poseidon, followed by Pharaoh Gold, Emperor Rise of the Middle Kingdom and finally Caesar 3. 
Some hero design in HoTS is excellently innovative though, I will say that. Take for example my main boi since the game released; Abathur. His design of being a “hero who acts through other heroes” and focuses on the map, not the enemies per say was amazingly distinct compared to anything we’d seen in the genre before. In his early state a well-played Abathur could really affect games if your team knew how to work with him.
My 2nd favourite as well: The Lost Vikings. Micromanaging three characters at once to allow you to divide up your attention regarding objectives and jungling was again, a really bold step (even if other players tended to say you were trolling if you picked them). Particularly given each one has clear strengths and perks you can play around: Olaf for helping to peel for teammates and bodyblock opponents, Baelog for jungling and pushing lanes and Erik for scouting and trying to ninja objectives (but he could also be really really good at solo pushing if you take It’s a Sabotage! talent and spread your fire DoT over all of their buildings and run off if they come to gank you).
So i’m not going to say the game is overall more polished, as said earlier, I think it’s hard to judge because it’s not really in the same arena for me, so it fails to compete with the others on that alone. But the map designs and some of the hero designs in it are excellent compared to other MOBA games.
In my time I have played (and enjoyed) LoL as a Jungle/Support mainer (Tahm Kench is my boi but also I play a mean Kindred) but I will say I have never enjoyed playing them as much as I have Abathur in HoTS (although Kindred is close due to their passive behaving like a personal questing system)
Was it Titan Quest?
Unfortunately no. It was much darker and I remember going through some caves.
But pardon me, I’ve just remember my first ever game actually! It was Hercules, followed by that mysterious game.
I’ll probably be a bit biased since I currently have 9360 hours clocked in dota 2 according to steam, and likely another few thousand in wc3 dota, but I don’t think it’s even close.
As a quick comparision, here’s a list of deathwing’s (one of the more recent additions to hots, as far as I’m aware) voicelines: https://heroesofthestorm.gamepedia.com/Deathwing/Quotes
Doesn’t look bad by any means, at least until you realize that snapfire (one of dota’s more recent additions, released around the same time as deathwing) has more than twice as many: https://dota2.gamepedia.com/Snapfire/Responses
Then there’s also the voicelines that are tied to cosmetic items, not even a new hero: https://dota2.gamepedia.com/Compass_of_the_Rising_Gale_Bundle/Responses
Speaking of cosmetics, dota has SIGNIFICANTLY more, that are also much more customizable since hero models (which are also higher quality than the hots ones) are broken down into several equipment slots, so if I want to use a weapon from one set, a helm from another set, and a chestpiece from a third set for example, I can do that.
Some cosmetics in dota also change the appearance of spell effects, allowing for even more customization.
Then there’s also more options in dota, for example, having played a lot of the blizzard RTS games growing up, I’m used to having my minimap in the bottom left corner of my screen, and dota allows me to have that, and for players who prefer to have it in the bottom right, that option is also available. In hots it’s locked to the bottom right.
Dota also has a map editor that allows players to create their own modes or even own games, the autobattler craze that spawned games like teamfight tactics, hearthstone battlegrounds and dota underlords, started with the dota auto chess custom map, at the end of 2018.
I’m only just scratching the surface, but I can’t even put into words how many lightyears ahead in terms of polish, that dota is of hots.
Not many, I would say.
I think LoL, DOTA2, and HotS are triple A quality games. People will have preferences and one game might be somewhat better than the other two. But the margin is very small relative to the margin between these 3 and all the other games in the MOBA genre. Heroes of Newerth, Smite, Paladins, Battlerite, etc…
It’s the same with Diablo III versus Path of Exile. Even if one is more polished than the other, then they’re both way ahead of the remaining competition.
Blizzard don’t always produce the absolute best. But they always produce better than most. That’s their polish reputation; a high consistency of quality over a long time.
I’ve been itching for a good, modern RTS game. Sadly Warcraft 3 was not that because they decided to keep a lot of the elements of the game similar to how they where originally, just to appease the nostalgia crowd, and as a result the game feels very clunky and outdated.
Well I’m glad for people who are excited but…
You’re going to be disappointed…
Mike Morhaime will go the same way other people in his position have done.
Your legacy will only carry you so far.
Actually WoW something like free2play and b2win.
In my opinion, hots is much closer to something like smite than it is to dota.
That’s not what it used to be, though. Blizzard used to always produce the absolute best. The best RTS games around the turn of the millennium? Starcraft and warcraft 3. The best hack and slash dungeon crawler? Diablo 2. The best MMORPG? World of warcraft.
I hate to say it, but blizzard just aren’t what they used to be. They’re not bad by any means, but “not bad” is a far cry from “the best”, which is what I, and I’m sure a lot of other people as well, would’ve said about blizzard some 10-20 years ago.
Guarantee this studio will just do an Obsidian;
I don’t know. I think Blizzard are still giants in the genres they’re in. Most of the genres they’re in are just not in their prime anymore.
I guess the future will tell. Blizzard’s original portfolio of games was replaced by the current portfolio, which is dated and needs to be replaced by a new one.
StarCraft, Diablo II, Warcraft III → StarCraft II, Diablo III, WoW, Overwatch, HotS, Hearthstone.
That’s a good portfolio transition.
The next portfolio of games is, so far:
Diablo IV, Diablo Immortal, Overwatch 2.
And then we’ll see how well they will do, and what other games they’ve got planned.
But making another success as big as WoW? Not an easy task, even for Blizzard. But that is probably where the bar has been set for them.
League of Legends.
Magic the Gathering
Best of wishes to Mike and his new company!
And nothing for Starcraft, which is sad. Brood Wars was love at first sight for me.
So something like classic wow? Oh wait.
don’t wanna be that guy, but their recent client is far from polished.
yes we do. I love that Burning crusade classic is coming, but we need something new… that aint made by the new “game director”.
there is simply is not enough players for a new mmo no matter who makes it
there has been a lot of failed mmo they pop up every year competing for the few players this market has
Hope he’ll start again a small dev team of passionate people like the early days of Blizzard, and not corporate stooges.
I wish him the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGLXMKUWkJE
You didn’t even try…