Heroes of the Storm European beta key giveaway

UPDATE 23RD JANUARY: Time's up. Thousands of you have put your name down for a key and we're sorting through them now, via magical and fair robot means, to pick our lucky recipients. Keep an eye on your inbox over the next couple of hours.

ORIGINAL STORY 21ST JANUARY: Warcraft 3 was the game that started it all, this MOBA stuff, this multiplayer online battle arena stuff. Not sure Blizzard intended to inspire a mod that spawned a genre that propelled eSports to new heights, but it did. And now the company that inadvertently started it all will wade back in with Heroes of the Storm. But will it be The One?

Now you can make your own mind up by bagging one of 1000 beta keys we're giving away. We're running a sweepstake, so to be in with a chance of getting one, enter your email address below (we won't use it for anything else) and we'll distribute you a key on Friday, 23rd January. If you're a lucky one, that is. And note that all keys are for European regions only.

Blizzard has a world-renowned knack for getting things right, for Blizzifying genres, for turning out fun, unputdownable toys. Can Heroes of the Storm entice newcomers to MOBAs as Hearthstone did competitive card games, and World of Warcraft did MMOs?

The basics in Heroes of the Storm are familiar: pick a hero to fight in a team against other teams, on maps with lanes leading to a base, and kill monsters to level up (as a team rather than individually) during the battle to increase power. But Battles in Heroes of the Storm are quicker than in other MOBAs - around 25 minutes - and Blizzard varies lane domination strategies with set pieces on the maps. Will it be enough to stand apart from the genre juggernauts?

You decide!

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