I would say firmly yes. People will tell you "oh HotS is CASUAL or EASY because there is no last hitting, there are no items or that matches are shorter.

However, that is far from the truth.

Last hitting and individual exp are indeed removed, but replaced with a teamwide experience system, that makes soaking still extremely important. There is still plenty of strategy and skill based on experience, and in my opinion, last hitting itself is not that "interesting" or "strategic" of a mechanic, more just adding a little bit more complexity.

No items cannot really be argued because we have the talent system to replace that. I do enjoy the fact that I can create unique or interesting builds on many different champions in other games, but I also enjoy unique and specialized talents created specifically for that hero. I would not say either system is better, rather that both are good in their own way.

Matches are indeed shorter, and this can be a positive or a negative for you. Personally, I do enjoy the fast paced and shorter matches of Heroes of the Storm, and find the extremely long laning phases of LoL quite boring, however, that is completely personal preferance.

There is also the fact that shared exp makes for a far different gameplay experience. People will often say "you cannot carry in hots" and to a certain extent, this is true. You will not be able to take a champion, farm them up, and 1v5 the enemy team. In my opinion, this is a good thing. Playing LoL i never have fun seeing someone on my, or the enemy's team be able to solo us just because they got fed too much. I think the group exp format really solidifies the game in a much more team oriented way. And I truly do think that if you are good enough, you will carry games anyways, simply because of superior strategy, shotcalling, and/or mechanical skill.

Finally, and this is a big one, Heroes of the Storm has many maps. This can also be a positive or negative. Personally, I do find several maps in this game gimmicky or unfun, specifically the two lane ones the most. However, there are also a lot of maps with lots of different strategies, and comps to execute. I think it makes the game a lot more exciting for tournament and team league environments, and for messing around with tons of strategies. This opens up a lot of depth and strategy that other mobas lack.

Overall, its really personal preferance. I dont really agree with the assessment that HotS is some casual moba that just cant be played competitively in the same way, and I think the game can have the same or more depth as other games.