Our next Heroes of the Storm patch has just arrived to the Public Test Realm and will be available for playtesting until May 15. During this time, we kindly request your assistance in trying out some of the new content it contains before we officially release the patch to the live version of Heroes. If you encounter any bugs or other issues during your PTR play sessions, please stop by the PTR Bug Report forum to let us know about your experiences.
Hana Song, also known as “D.Va,” is both a world champion professional gamer and a burgeoning global icon. As a member of South Korea’s elite MEKA unit, she fights to protect her homeland from the colossal omnic threat lurking within the East China Sea.
Trait
Mech Mode When D.Va’s Mech is destroyed, she is ejected after 0.75 seconds and can continue to fight in Pilot Mode. Destroying D.Va’s Mech only awards 50% of a normal Hero’s XP. Pilot Mode Each Basic Attack reduces the cooldown of Call Mech by 0.5 seconds. As a Pilot, D.Va only awards 50% of a normal Hero’s XP upon death.
Mount
While in Mech Mode, D.Va can shoot while moving, but her Movement Speed is reduced by 15%. D.Va can only use Mounts while in Pilot Mode.
Basic Abilities
Boosters (Q) Increases D.Va’s Movement Speed by 125% for 2 seconds. Enemies that are hit take damage and are knocked away. D.Va cannot be Slowed while Boosters are active. Defense Matrix (W) Channel a defensive field in the target direction for 3 seconds, reducing damage dealt by enemy Heroes inside it by 75%. The Mech can move while channeling, but cannot turn. Damage dealt to the Mech by enemies within Defense Matrix still grants the same amount of Self-Destruct Charge. Self-Destruct (E) Requires Mech Mode. Eject from the Mech, setting it to self-destruct after 4 seconds. Deals medium to massive damage in a large area, depending on distance from the center of the blast. Deals 50% damage against Structures. Gain 1% Charge for every 2 seconds spent using Basic Attacks, and 30% Charge per 100% of Mech Health lost. Call Mech (E) Requires Pilot Mode. Call a new Mech and enter Mech Mode. 45 second cooldown. While in Pilot Mode, each Basic Attack lowers this cooldown by 0.5 seconds.
Heroic Abilities
Bunny Hop (R) Requires Mech Mode. D.Va’s Mech becomes Unstoppable and stomps every 0.5 seconds, dealing damage and Slowing enemies by 40%. Lasts 4 seconds. Big Shot (R) Requires Pilot Mode. Deal damage to all enemies in a line. Call Mech’s cooldown is reduced by 8 seconds for each enemy Hero hit.
Questing Talents: Visual effects that appear upon completing a Talent Quest have received updates and should now be much more apparent. The following Heroes have received updated visual effects to coincide with Talent updates: Alarak Tyrande
Welcome Bundle Jumpstart your Collection with the Welcome Bundle, which contains a large amount of Gems, a Stimpack, a new Mount, and several Loot Chests —one of which guarantees a random Hero! The Welcome Bundle can be only be purchased once, and only using real money. 800 Gems Welcome Loot Chest – A special Loot Chest that guarantees at least one random Hero Rare Loot Chest Epic Loot Chest 7 Day Stimpack Zebra Mount D.Va Heroic Bundle Contains D.Va and all three Goliath D.Va skins. Available for a limited time.
D.Va Goliath D.Va Hazard Goliath D.Va Sharkmouth Goliath D.Va Major D.Va Fiery D.Va Pro D.Va Competitive Pro D.Va Elite Pro D.Va Kerrigan Dorm Cheerleader Kerrigan has been added in honor of UTA HOTS, the 2017 Heroes of the Dorm champions!
The Dorm 2017 Championship Banner has been added in honor of UTA HOTS, the 2017 Heroes of the Dorm champions! Zebra – Available exclusively by purchasing the Welcome Bundle.
In-game chat messages are now limited to 10 Emojis per message. A notification will display on-screen when attempting to enter more than 10 Emojis in a single message.
The “Role” column in the Stats tab on the in-game score screen has been split into “Healing/Shielding” and "Damage Taken" columns. Certain Heroes, such as Tyrael, Uther, and Zarya, as well as E.T.C. with the Prog Rock Talent, or Chen with the Enough to Share Talent, will display values in both columns.
Using Hearthstone (Default: B) will no longer automatically snap the camera back to the allied Hall of Storms unless Camera Lock is enabled (Default: L).
Sadism (Trait) New Functionality: Alarak now gains 3% Sadism per enemy Takedown, up to 30%. This bonus is lost on Death. Now also affects self-healing vs. enemy Heroes. Discord Strike (Q) Now has Double Cross functionality baseline. Mana cost reduced from 55 to 45 Lightning Surge (E) Mana cost reduced from 30 to 25 Damage reduced from 100 to 62 Adjusted Functionality: Enemies hit by the center of the beam now take 100% bonus damage Healing is no longer based on the amount of damage done to enemy Heroes Enemy Heroes hit now heal Alarak for 70 Health
Talents
Level 1 Power Conduit (E) Removed Without Effort (W) Removed Sustaining Power (E) Moved from Level 16 Bonus Healing reduced from 30% to 25% Extended Lightning (E) Moved from Level 4 Adjusted functionality: Reduce the damage bonus of Sadism by 10%. !Quest: Hit 5 enemy Heroes with the center portion of Lightning Surge. Reward: Increase the range of Lightning Surge by 20%. !Quest: Hit 15 Heroes with the center portion of Lightning Surge. Reward: Enemy Heroes hit with the center portion of Lightning Surge are slowed by 50% for 2 seconds. !Quest: Hit 3 enemy Heroes with the center portion of Lightning Surge in a single cast. Reward: Gain 10 Sadism and complete all quests on this talent. New Talent: Ruthless Momentum (Passive) While above 80% Health, your Basic Abilities cooldown 20% faster. Level 4 Double Cross (Q) Removed Reckless Strike (Q) Removed Cycle of Discord (Q) Removed Negatively Charged (E) Moved from level 16 New functionality: Increases the bonus damage from hitting the center portion of Lightning Surge to 200% Quest: Each time you hit an enemy Hero with the center portion of Lightning Surge, increase the center damage bonus by an additional 5% Chaos Reigns (Q) Moved from Level 7 New Functionality: !Quest: Hit 15 enemy Heroes with Discord Strike. Reward: Increase Discord Strike's damage by 60. !Quest: Hit 2 enemy Heroes with of Discord Strike in a single cast. Reward: Increase Discord Strike's damage by 60. !Quest: Hit 3 enemy Heroes with Discord Strike in a single cast. Reward: Increase Discord Strike's damage by 60 and complete all quests on this talent. New Talent: Show of Force (Passive) Hitting an enemy Hero with 3 abilities within 2 seconds causes them to take an additional 70 damage. Level 7 Endless Energy (E) Removed Thunderstruck (E) Removed Dissonance (Q) Moved from Level 13 No longer reduces Sadism by 10%. Hindered Motion (W) Moved from Level 13 No longer reduces Sadism by 10% Slow amount reduced from 40% to 25% Applied Force (W) Moved from Level 1 Added functionality: Reduce the damage of Sadism by 10% but Telekinesis’s range is increased by 20% and it pushes 20% further. Level 13 Psychokinesis (W) Removed Pure Malice (Passive) Sadism bonus reduced from 8% stacking up to 40% max to 6% stacking up to 30% max. Hasty Bargain can now reduce this Sadism bonus New Talent: Blade of the Highlord (Passive) Your Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes grant you 6% Sadism for 4 seconds, stacking up to 30%. New Talent: Rite of Rak’Shir (Active) Activate to mark an enemy Hero. Using Discord Strike on your marked target increases your Sadism by 3% Killing the enemy Hero gives you 6% bonus Sadism and sets the cooldown of Right of Rak’Shir to 10 seconds Dying removes all bonuses from this talent 300-second cooldown and duration Level 16 Projected Force (W) Removed Quick Mind (W) Removed New Talent: Lethal Onslaught (Q) For 4 seconds after hitting an enemy hero with Discord Strike, your Basic Attacks gain 50% of Sadism’s benefit. Attacking enemy Heroes refreshes the duration of this buff. New Talent: Lightning Barrage (E) If Lightning Surge hits an enemy Hero with its center portion, then it can be cast again with no Mana cost or cooldown within 2 seconds of being cast. This second cast cannot target the same enemy. New Talent: Mocking Strikes (Passive) Your Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes who are Stunned, Slowed, Rooted, or Silenced reduces your Basic Ability cooldowns by 2.5 seconds Level 20 Last Laugh (Active) Cooldown increased from 20 to 30 seconds Range decreased by 15% Adjusted functionality: Activate to remove all roots, slows, and damage over time effects and teleport to the chosen location After 4 seconds, reduce Alarak’s Health to 1 If Alarak damages 3 enemy Heroes with Basic Abilities within 4 seconds after teleporting, his Health is not reduced
Developer Comment: Your Highlord has returned! Alarak has received a large update that he has deemed “acceptable”, targeted at making him more rewarding for players who take the time to master him. Baseline changes include reworking his Sadism to be increased upon getting Takedowns and putting bonus damage into his Lightning Surge baseline for hitting enemies in its center beam. We’re also experimenting with some new talent ideas with Extended Lightning and Chaos Reigns, where players can gain huge benefits for the rarely accomplished feat of hitting 3 enemy Heroes with a single ability.
Level 7 Snipe Master (Q) Stacks are no longer lost when hitting non-Heroes. Anti-Armor Shells (Passive) Custom UI has been added to show the cooldown before your next attack
Level 1 Overpower (W) Reduced the damage bonus after Parrying a Basic Attack from 25 to 20% High King’s Quest (Passive) Increased the Basic Attack damage bonus from completing all 3 quests from 30 to 45 Level 4 Warbringer (E) Added functionality: Now also reduces the Mana cost of Charge by 50% Level 7 Live by the Sword (W) Increased the amount of Parried Basic Attacks needed to reduce the cooldown of Parry from 2 to 4
Cloud Serpent (W) Damage reduced from 29 to 25 Blinding Wind (E) Cooldown increased from 8 to 9 seconds Mana cost increased from 30 to 35
Talents
Level 1 Gale Force (E) Damage bonus reduced from 50 to 40%
Level 7 Lightning Serpent (W) Damage reduced from 15 to 14
Developer Comments: While we’re happy that we’re seeing more Lili due to her recent buffs, they have gone a bit far in making the hero too powerful, particularly in double-support compositions. We’re reverting part of her Blinding Wind buff, and reducing the power of her Cloud Serpent so that she is not putting out quite as much damage in games.
Light of Elune (Q) Adjusted functionality: No longer heals yourself while healing allies The cooldown is now lowered by 2 seconds every time you land a Basic Attack Heal amount reduced from 320 to 270 Cooldown increased from 8 to 12 seconds Mana cost reduced from 45 to 25 Sentinel (W) Added functionality: !Quest: Hit heroes with Sentinel Reward: Every 8 Heroes hit with Sentinel allows it to pierce one target and lowers the Mana cost by 10 Shadowstalk (R) New functionality: Tyrande gains stealth and 30% Movement Speed. When stealth is lost, she keeps her Movement Speed and gains 50% Attack Speed for 5 seconds Cooldown from 60 to 30 seconds Starfall (R) Radius reduced from 6 to 5
Talents
Level 1 Ranger’s Mark (D) New functionality: !Quest: Basic Attacks lower the cooldown of Hunter’s Mark by 1 second Reward: For every 60 Basic Attacks against Heroes, increase the duration of Hunter’s Mark by 1 second Lunar Blaze (E) Moved from Level 7 New functionality: !Quest: Every Hero hit by Lunar Flare increases its damage by 3% Reward: After hitting 10 Heroes, remove the Mana Cost Reward: After hitting 20 Heroes, increase the range by 40% Ranger (W) Moved from Level 16 Adjusted functionality: Sentinel deals up to 75% more damage based on distance traveled !Quest: Hit Heroes with Sentinel Reward: Every enemy hit with Sentinel increases the damage at maximum range by 3% Seasoned Marksman (Passive) Removed Level 4 Pierce (W) Removed Focused Attack (Passive) Removed Protective Shield (Active) Removed Healing Ward (Active) Removed Searing Arrows (Active) Removed Celestial Attunement (Q) Moved from Level 1 New functionality: Light of Elune removes stuns. If a stun is removed this way, Light of Elune can be recast for free within 3 seconds. New Talent: Moonlit Arrows (Q) Basic Attacks reduce the Cooldown of your Light of Elune by an additional .75 seconds New Talent: Kaldorei Resistance (Q) Light of Elune grants 15 Spell Armor for 6 seconds. This can stack up to 4 times Level 7 Trueshot Aura (Active) Moved from Level 16 Adjusted functionality: Nearby allies have 10% increased Basic Attack damage Activate: Double this bonus for 5 seconds Huntress’ Fury (Trait) Moved from Level 13 New functionality: Basic Attack’s against targets with Hunter’s Mark will damage all nearby enemies Lunar Momentum (Passive) Removed Calldown: MULE (Active) Removed New Talent: Darnassian Archery (Passive) Each consecutive attack against an enemy Hero deals 5% more damage. This lasts for 4 seconds or until you target a non-Heroic unit Level 13 Empower (W) Moved from Level 1 New functionality: Every Hero hit by Sentinel lowers its Cooldown by 4 seconds Quickening Blessing (Q) Moved from Level 7 Sprint (Active) Removed Shrink Ray (Active) Removed New Talent: Harsh Moonlight (W) Enemies hit by Sentinel are slowed by 30% and have their damage reduced by 30% for 4 seconds Level 16 Mark of Mending (Trait) New functionality: Tyrande’s Basic Attacks heal her for 2% of her maximum Health Allied Heroes Basic Attacks against targets with Hunter’s Mark will heal for 3% of their maximum Health Overflowing Light (Q) Moved from Level 13 New functionality: While above 60% life, Light of Elune heals for 30% more New Talent: Elune’s Chosen (Active) Target an allied Hero. For the next 5 seconds, you will heal them for 200% of the Basic Attack damage you deal Level 20 Celestial Wrath (R) New functionality: Enemy Heroes within Starfall have Hunter’s Mark applied to them Shooting Star (E) Moved from Level 16 New functionality: Increases Basic Attack range by 20% After every 10th Basic Attack against enemies, a Lunar Flare will fire at a nearby enemy Hero Hunter’s Swiftness (R) Removed Nexus Frenzy (Passive) Removed Storm Shield (Active) Removed Rewind (Active) Removed New Talent: Eyes of the Huntress (R) Casting Shadowstalk also reveals the enemy team for 2 seconds. New Talent: Iceblade Arrows (Passive) Gain 25% Attack Speed. Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes reduces all damage they deal by 5% for 3 seconds. This can stack up to 10 times
Developer Comment: During one of our design meetings many months ago, we came to the consensus that we wanted to swap the heal functionality between Tyrande and Uther. It felt like the self-heal mechanic was better suited on a front-line melee Healer, so we gave it to our favorite paladin in his latest rework. Instead of simply removing functionality from Light of Elune, we decided to add a large amount of cooldown reduction with every Basic Attack. This will reward players that can stay in combat and has allowed us to shift some of her power from healing output into more utility and offensive-based areas. Overall, we are extremely excited to see what our players can do with her new kit and look forward to hearing any feedback you have!
Dark Swarm (W) Damage increased from 30 to 50 Damage is now universal to all units (no bonus damage to Heroes) Cooldown increased from 9 to 10 seconds
Talents
Level 1 Primal Aggression (W) Removed Enhanced Agility (Trait) Movement Speed bonus per 50 Essence increased from 1.5 to 2% Added functionality: The duration of Brushstalker’s Movement Speed bonus after leaving brush increased from 1 to 3 seconds Tissue Regeneration (Trait) Added functionality: Regeneration Globes grant 10 Essence Level 7 Feeding Frenzy (Q) Cooldown reduction per attack increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds Essence Devourer (W) Removed Level 13 Swift Pursuit (Trait) Removed Ferocious Stalker (Trait) New functionality: Your abilities deal 25% more damage while you have the Brushstalker Movement Speed buff New Talent: Primal Rage (Passive) Gain 1% Basic Attack damage for every Essence you currently have
Developer Comment: These changes are based primarily on win and pick rates of some of Dehaka's talent tiers. We removed some unpopular talents and combined a few others to make them more attractive. Dehaka's talent tree should now be a little bit sharper and hopefully open a few new build paths for players.
Ghost Tracer: Recall visual effects will now correctly display on Ghost Tracer’s model when using Recall. Lúcio: Will no longer appear elevated on the Ranked screen. Prime Evil Diablo: Apocalypse visual effects will no longer persist on Prime Evil Diablo’s model when casting Apocalypse immediately after Hellgate.
Braxis Holdout: Fixed an issue that could cause players to receive an AFK warning while contesting a Beacon. Braxis Holdout: Beacon UI that appears below the minimap will now correctly appear neutral if they are not controlled by either team. Towers of Doom: Heroes can no longer clip into the edges of the terrain when moving near the edges of the allied Hall of Storms. Try Mode: The Refresh Forts button will no longer cause Malfurion to spawn when Allied Hero is set to None.
Abathur: Fixed an issue in which Networked Carapace provided a lower than intended Shield amount. Abathur: Secondary Shields granted by Networked Carapace will no longer benefit from Sustained Carapace. Azmodan: When Demonic Invasion is cast on an area of terrain that is not pathable, the Demonic Grunts will now be placed as close as possible to the casting location, rather than failing to spawn. Azmodan: Issuing a Move Command during All Shall Burn’s wind-up time will no longer cancel the Ability cast. Cassia: Inner Light’s tooltip now consistently states that range is increased by 25% before and after taking the Talent. Cassia: Martial Law will no longer apply bonus damage to slowed or stunned Minions and Mercenaries. Cassia: Fixed an issue that could cause Valkyrie to pull its target farther than intended if Cassia was Stopped. Dehaka: Basic Attacks will now correctly reduce Drag’s cooldown after learning Feeding Frenzy. Gall: Can now properly cast Shove while channeling Shadow Bolt volley. Gazlowe: Fixed an issue preventing Rock It! Turrets from being self-cast or placed beneath unit and Hero models. Kerrigan: Bladed Momentum will no longer grant cooldown reduction for secondary targets hit by Basic Attacks after learning Fury of the Storm. Leoric: Fixed an issue in which Renewed Swing dealt more damage than intended. Tracer: Can now correctly attack Minions who are affected by Sylvanas’ Possession.
Announcers: Will now play their “Prepare for Battle” voiceover lines during the opening moments of a match. Hero Select: Fixed an issue that could cause some heroes’ voiceover to echo after clicking Ready during Hero Select. Hero Select: Lúcio will now correctly play voiceover upon searching for a match in the Portuguese and Chinese game clients.
Collection: The Collection screen will no longer appear cut off when screen resolution is set to 1280x1024 or 1152x864. Collection: Hovering the cursor over a truncated item name in the Collection will now correctly display a tooltip that states the item’s full name. Emojis: Emojis whispered between Heroes of the Storm players will now display their shortcodes when the whisper is viewed in the Blizzard Launcher’s chat window.
Dva is gonna be cancer in QM like an ETC with high damage. Also theres something BM about bunny hop a pink hopping mech thats silly but devastating. Im liking the smoother reconnect and new hearthstone camera angles with lock off, balancing is also welcome trying to get more heroic diversity.
New Alarak looks interesting. He can get a serious sadism bonus now as long as you stay alive. The damage potential on his Q with the quest completed is quite high. I'm mixed about the forcing of the use of his E to hit targets between you and your E target. Bit unreliable and you won't always have a target. The damage if you do manage it looks good though. New tyrande is a bit more mixed. She doesn't have the health or mobility to constantly AA enemy heroes. The talent that buffs her AA damage by 5% stacks infinitely though. Will have to see how that goes in a team fight.
On May 10 2017 11:54 ETisME wrote: I haven't seen anyone landing a good self destruct yet. The denotation time and damage probably can need some adjustments
Think of it more as a zoning tool + forces enemy to retreat. Also can be comboed extremely well with VP.
On May 10 2017 11:54 ETisME wrote: I haven't seen anyone landing a good self destruct yet. The denotation time and damage probably can need some adjustments
Think of it more as a zoning tool + forces enemy to retreat. Also can be comboed extremely well with VP.
Just started playing this after a decently sized break. How often are the maps rotated? I understand the next one is coming on the 15th?
Can't stand Hanamura. Easily the worst map in the game. Don't mind it visually but the mechanic is really lame. Doesn't work at all in a game like this.
So I am interested in hearing some thoughts on someone kno whows what he is talking about (e.g. watching the esports-scene and playing the game at a reasonable high level).
But from spamming a lot of Genji (because he is fun as hell) and contrasting him to someone like Zeratul, I feel like Genji is a much better all-round hero. I also notice Zeratul has a much lower win/rate in quick-match which indicates he is more comp-reliant (?). But whenever I play zeratul I feel like I am so dependant on my team to be able to deal reliable damage because w/ Zera you are only dealing damage once every 10th second (or so).
Whereas with Genji you can also be the ranged auto-attacker as well as the clean-uper. In thank he is better than Zeratul at the latter. The only advantage I think Zeratul has is cloak and I guess the occational big VP.
So I wonder what type of comps does Zeratul actually fit in well with and what weakness's does Genji have? So far I only had trouble playing against mind control (sylvaanas). Everything else can easily be dodged (if your mechanics are on point). And in terms of damage-numbers I always find myself on top (or secnd) in my team.
The pool of Battlegrounds available in matchmaking game modes has increased from 6 to 9, and now includes the following:
Cursed Hollow
Sky Temple
Braxis Holdout
Hanamura
Battlefield of Eternity
Warhead Junction
Haunted Mines
Tomb of the Spider Queen
Infernal Shrines
Initially, we are planning to update the Battleground Rotation 3 times per Ranked Season, and can adjust this frequency, as well as the number of Battlegrounds per rotation, as needed.
Read our recent blog post to learn more about our reasoning behind bringing Battleground Rotations to Heroes of the Storm.
Alarak:
Sustaining Power (E)
Moved from Level 16 Bonus Healing increased from 25 to 40% PTR version:Bonus Healing reduced from 30% to 25%
Lvl1:
Extended Lightning (E)
Moved from Level 4 Adjusted functionality: Reduce the damage bonus of Sadism by 10%. !Quest: Hit 5 enemy Heroes with the center portion of Lightning Surge. Reward: Increase the range of Lightning Surge by 20%. !Quest: Hit 15 Heroes with the center portion of Lightning Surge. Reward: Enemy Heroes hit with the center portion of Lightning Surge are slowed by 40% for 2 seconds. PTR Version:Reward: Enemy Heroes hit with the center portion of Lightning Surge are slowed by 50% for 2 seconds !Quest: Hit 3 enemy Heroes with the center portion of Lightning Surge in a single cast. Lvl 4:
Negatively Charged (E)
Moved from level 16 New functionality: Increases the bonus damage from hitting the center portion of Lightning Surge to 150% Quest: Each time you hit an enemy Hero with the center portion of Lightning Surge, increase the center damage bonus by an additional 3% PTR Version:Increases the bonus damage from hitting the center portion of Lightning Surge to 200% Quest: Each time you hit an enemy Hero with the center portion of Lightning Surge, increase the center damage bonus by an additional 5%
Tyrande
Lvl 7
Huntress' Fury
Moved from Level 13 Reduced the splash radius by ~33% PTR Version:No reduced Radius New functionality: Basic Attack’s against targets with Hunter’s Mark will damage all nearby enemy Heroes and Mercenaries
Bug fix:
Quick Cast: Fixed an issue causing abilities to fail when quick-casted over the minimap with the "Right Click through Minimap" option enabled.
expert AI attacks the D.Va Mech, while its charging its explosion. You can go full explosion and one shot the AI over and over again. The AI team of Blizzard is definetly doing something else atm. X.x
And the might wanna fix D.Va attack animation vs 1 hp targets :x .
GG, WP is a win more talent. I prefer the slow and range on 16 when behind.
I am not a big fan of D.Va right now. She jumps in and out of the mech really quickly, so the windows of opportunity to kill her are way too small. Pilot Mode is honestly a lot scarier, but the mech mode is just really really annoying.
On May 18 2017 02:26 EsportsJohn wrote: I am not a big fan of D.Va right now. She jumps in and out of the mech really quickly, so the windows of opportunity to kill her are way too small. Pilot Mode is honestly a lot scarier, but the mech mode is just really really annoying.
Frankly, I'm not sure what is more BS: D'va or the fucking laser of azmodan. My view on both belongs in the QQ thread, so I'll keep it at a: I hope they fix 1) the infinite healthbars 2) remove her invulnerability frames.
On May 13 2017 08:56 Hider wrote: So I am interested in hearing some thoughts on someone kno whows what he is talking about (e.g. watching the esports-scene and playing the game at a reasonable high level).
But from spamming a lot of Genji (because he is fun as hell) and contrasting him to someone like Zeratul, I feel like Genji is a much better all-round hero. I also notice Zeratul has a much lower win/rate in quick-match which indicates he is more comp-reliant (?). But whenever I play zeratul I feel like I am so dependant on my team to be able to deal reliable damage because w/ Zera you are only dealing damage once every 10th second (or so).
Whereas with Genji you can also be the ranged auto-attacker as well as the clean-uper. In thank he is better than Zeratul at the latter. The only advantage I think Zeratul has is cloak and I guess the occational big VP.
So I wonder what type of comps does Zeratul actually fit in well with and what weakness's does Genji have? So far I only had trouble playing against mind control (sylvaanas). Everything else can easily be dodged (if your mechanics are on point). And in terms of damage-numbers I always find myself on top (or secnd) in my team.
You basically said it here:
"The only advantage I think Zeratul has is cloak and I guess the occational big VP."
The simple fact of Zera's cloak and escapes mean he can get picks quite reliably. Genji in competitive can and will be CC'd hard. The same can be true for Zera, sure, but Zera's insta E in, damage, wormhole out offers really secure and solid poke.
Zera has great waveclear. Genji has very poor waveclear.
But the most important thing is of course VP. VP can set up fights, or it can turn fights. It can secure bosses, it can save cores. It is one of the single most impactful heroics in the game.
Zera's relatively low QM winrate is likely impacted by the fact he is at his best when you can combo VP with other abilities like Ring of Frost, Apocalypse, Sulfuras Smash, and so on, which is less likely to be pulled off ideally in QM.
Man I wanna get my hands on D.Va, she seems like she could be really good. If they nerf anything I imagine they might nerf the boost speed and/or the speed at which she can reenter her Mech. I also wonder if they won't remove the Full Heal effect from the Self-Destruct.
Zeratul is a stealthy and get matched vs other stealthies in QM. Stealth games tend to go past 20 undecided. And the other stealther usually dont drop in kill potential later on. While Zeratul does, especially since people favor Void Prison in QM for the potential of having a great play, that usually happens after you killed your team several times with VP.
Zera is good in setup comps, and good vs solo flankers.
Zera and Genji are very different though. Zera opens a fight with burst. Genji finishes a fight with burst.
If you want to compare Genji to someone, compare him to Li Ming. Before all the nerfs you could play Li Ming like you play Genji now. He is a win more hero. Thats why if you are on the losing side in a Genji vs Genji, your Genji looks like the worst player of all time, while theirs look like a god. In that regard Genji relies alot on his team to create opportunities. Zeratul is all about creating opportunities for his team.
Weakness of Genji is good positioning and roots. The other weakness is shields. If you go in and your target invulns, you are in a real bad position. You still might get out as Genji if the enemy didn't position themself well. But shields make it way harder to get an opening. There are also heroes that can simply ignore a Genji. Like Chen and Mura. Or heroes like the Butcher and Xul that will force you to keep your mobility skills for getting out alive.
Who have you guys found is the best counter to D'va? So far "ignore her completely" seems to be the winning play for me, but after level 16 with GG WP it gets increasingly hard unless you absolutely stomp fights.
On May 19 2017 21:22 Ghostcom wrote: Who have you guys found is the best counter to D'va? So far "ignore her completely" seems to be the winning play for me, but after level 16 with GG WP it gets increasingly hard unless you absolutely stomp fights.
I would say they have to buff her cooldowns except defense Matrix. But thats more because I also tend to play her in Overwatch and I start to confuse the timings.
Mech also dies to fast and comes back to fast (when talented around it). Which can cause trouble in low damage compositions, that are not good enough to snipe D.Va. But same issue Overwatch had, Mech blocks for D.Va. I think they will nerf the get mech back talents and buff the others.
I personally would make her a bit slower when fireing. But for that the booster cooldown has to be lower. Or remove the takes damage restriction from her level 1 mobility talent.
I played alot of D.Va vs D.Va those games get funny at 13. Zarya or Tyrande do really well vs her though or anything that can speed boost teammates. Tyrande does well vs anything if the enemy team has 1 melee though.
I have mixed feelings about the Tyrande re-work. On the one hand, her dps talents feel better and Lunar Flare has been given a significant bump. On the other hand, her healing feels a bit weaker, it will be harder for her to keep up with some of the other heroes in terms of overall healing done.
I like some of the talent changes but for lvl 1 and 4 it feels like you'd almost always take Lunar Blaze and then Moonlit arrows, except maybe rangers mark and celestial attunement in very specific situations. A couple of the later ones seem just relatively bad as well,. like darnassian archery compared to trueshot aura, and elune's chosen compared to overflowing light.
Another thing I mourn is the loss of battle momentum, imo one of the best talents in the game. That combined with the radius nerf to starfall means no more starfall spam after grinding down it's cooldown.
Oh I totally forgot, they have to remove D.Va mech counting as kills. Makes some heroes really get value from having D.Va on the enemy team. Then again they probably wanted Li Ming to be her ultimate hardcounter. So there is 'Oh Li Ming ban, can it be a D.Va coming out'
Rangers mark on 1 is amazing as Tyrande, especially once you get Elunes Chosen at level 16. Which is a 5 second unkillable. But if you solo heal a bunch of heroes with no self healing, your more limited in your options. Otherwise you can adapt Tyrande really well.
And they phased out all the battle momentums affecting ult anyway, so that that would go was always expected. Now atleast battle momentum is not a must pick for Tyrande as its inbuild haha. And I love the damage debuffs for her.
On May 21 2017 19:45 FeyFey wrote: Oh I totally forgot, they have to remove D.Va mech counting as kills. Makes some heroes really get value from having D.Va on the enemy team. Then again they probably wanted Li Ming to be her ultimate hardcounter. So there is 'Oh Li Ming ban, can it be a D.Va coming out'
Rangers mark on 1 is amazing as Tyrande, especially once you get Elunes Chosen at level 16. Which is a 5 second unkillable. But if you solo heal a bunch of heroes with no self healing, your more limited in your options. Otherwise you can adapt Tyrande really well.
And they phased out all the battle momentums affecting ult anyway, so that that would go was always expected. Now atleast battle momentum is not a must pick for Tyrande as its inbuild haha. And I love the damage debuffs for her.
If D.Va mech doesn't provide anything she can literally throw herself endlessly at the enemy team at zero cost. Given how hard D.Va actually is to kill and turn it into a 4v5 it would make her overpowered. There'd pretty much be nothing you could against a diving D.Va and she could trade endlessly. She already gains strong value by not dying when the mech is destroyed and keeping the fight a 5v5. Keep in mind that she can already deny a kill by self destructing her mech at the last second.
On May 21 2017 12:17 TheFish7 wrote: Another thing I mourn is the loss of battle momentum, imo one of the best talents in the game. That combined with the radius nerf to starfall means no more starfall spam after grinding down it's cooldown.
Momentum talents stopped contributing to heroics ages ago :/
However the old owl CD reduction did reduce ult cooldown. Combined with battle momentum reducing owl CD, good aim, and then global Starfall at 20 you could spam a global 30% boosted starfall, a personal favorite strategy on cursed hollow
There were a few momentum talents that lasted a bit longer than the others. They switched most of them quite a while ago though. At this point I think only Illidan's trait is the exception.
I started playing Li Ming again, atleast when not D.Va ... my aim is terrible. But doesn't matter with all the D.Vas around. No need to aim if you don't have cooldowns. Just remember leave the D.Va for last. I know its tempting to just one shot her when she leaves the Mech, but thats just one reset !
Friend vows for Cassia against D.Va, because of 'the easiest hook of your life' against a D.Va. But same time D.Va Mech feels so good vs Cassia. And if the Cassia messes up she pulls an exploding mech into the team.
Really think she needs buffs to her downsides, and nerfs to the Titanfall talents.
But I think every hero that counts less then 1, needs to be buffed against kill resets/quests.
On May 24 2017 06:47 FeyFey wrote: I started playing Li Ming again, atleast when not D.Va ... my aim is terrible. But doesn't matter with all the D.Vas around. No need to aim if you don't have cooldowns. Just remember leave the D.Va for last. I know its tempting to just one shot her when she leaves the Mech, but thats just one reset !
Friend vows for Cassia against D.Va, because of 'the easiest hook of your life' against a D.Va. But same time D.Va Mech feels so good vs Cassia. And if the Cassia messes up she pulls an exploding mech into the team.
Really think she needs buffs to her downsides, and nerfs to the Titanfall talents.
But I think every hero that counts less then 1, needs to be buffed against kill resets/quests.
Heroes aren't meant to be without weakness. And as it stands D.va's weakness isn't all that great to begin with. She really doesn't need any buffs.
On May 24 2017 06:47 FeyFey wrote: I started playing Li Ming again, atleast when not D.Va ... my aim is terrible. But doesn't matter with all the D.Vas around. No need to aim if you don't have cooldowns. Just remember leave the D.Va for last. I know its tempting to just one shot her when she leaves the Mech, but thats just one reset !
Friend vows for Cassia against D.Va, because of 'the easiest hook of your life' against a D.Va. But same time D.Va Mech feels so good vs Cassia. And if the Cassia messes up she pulls an exploding mech into the team.
Really think she needs buffs to her downsides, and nerfs to the Titanfall talents.
But I think every hero that counts less then 1, needs to be buffed against kill resets/quests.
On May 24 2017 06:47 FeyFey wrote: I started playing Li Ming again, atleast when not D.Va ... my aim is terrible. But doesn't matter with all the D.Vas around. No need to aim if you don't have cooldowns. Just remember leave the D.Va for last. I know its tempting to just one shot her when she leaves the Mech, but thats just one reset !
Friend vows for Cassia against D.Va, because of 'the easiest hook of your life' against a D.Va. But same time D.Va Mech feels so good vs Cassia. And if the Cassia messes up she pulls an exploding mech into the team.
Really think she needs buffs to her downsides, and nerfs to the Titanfall talents.
But I think every hero that counts less then 1, needs to be buffed against kill resets/quests.
Yeah I saw that one as well earlier, crazy stuff. (starts at 4:20) D.Va needs no buffs and a mech kill needs to count for something or she can do that stuff literally for free. Being that hard to kill and soaking damage has a very strong value of its own.
yeah Ive played against D.Va's like that its really, really, really hard not to see why she doesn't need some real nerfs with regards to how easily she goes in and out of the Mech
On May 25 2017 03:24 Zambrah wrote: yeah Ive played against D.Va's like that its really, really, really hard not to see why she doesn't need some real nerfs with regards to how easily she goes in and out of the Mech
If anything I wish it was something like the mech had a longer cooldown, but self destructing it reduced the cooldown (like significantly so on both measures). That way you get a reasonable punish on a mech D.VA by locking her down for the mech kill (granted it's worth .5 kills anyways, but .5 kills means nothing if you lose the teamfight).
It's a bit weird as is because either she gets the self destruct she wants or she gets the chance to hop right back in and either scenario can cycle through more mechs. If self-destruct was a part of getting the mech back quickly then if she misplays the mech form it'd hinder her ability to keep cycling pilot & mech modes.
Basically it seems like both mech mode and pilot mode should require play to keep a cycle of mech-pilot-mech going rather than only the pilot mode play really mattering for the cycle.
So correct me if I'm wrong but D.Va has -invulnerable frames when getting out of the mech -invulnerable frames when calling down the mech -unstoppable with bunnyhop ult -unstoppable with the boosters
On May 25 2017 21:09 karazax wrote: TownHall Heroes Part 1 Bakery, Zoia, Dunktrain, and Jake discuss HCG Crucible, mid-season Brawl, and the meta.
TownHall Heroes part 2 Bakery, Zoia, Dunktrain, and Jake discuss NA roster-pocalypse, HOTS All Star game, NA pro unprofessional habbits/behavior.
Zoia consummately unprofessional while lambasting other teams for being unprofessional, if it is really that big of an issue to schedule sit on the other teams' management.
Email them constantly, so they don't forget. Admittedly Zoia bugs me, but Tempo Storm is the closest resembling a proper organization behind one of these HOTS teams in NA the rest are far more labors of love than cemented teams.
On May 26 2017 03:10 Holdenintherye wrote: So correct me if I'm wrong but D.Va has -invulnerable frames when getting out of the mech -invulnerable frames when calling down the mech -unstoppable with bunnyhop ult -unstoppable with the boosters
Correction:
I was stunned multiple times when call down the mech Pretty sure you can get stunned/ rooted / frozen with boosters
You can stun d.va in the early parts of the animation of call mech, but she definitely has invul frames from the middle of the animation and until the end. Just try playing against her as Illidan an auto her throughout.
Thats not my point you, its a boring hero in qm when the comp is without support. Just die and come back and continue doing that.
About the voice announcers, they feel really dissapointing. Its like they have no emotion, and just purely read what the scripts tell them to. Anyone else?
On May 25 2017 21:09 karazax wrote: TownHall Heroes Part 1 Bakery, Zoia, Dunktrain, and Jake discuss HCG Crucible, mid-season Brawl, and the meta.
TownHall Heroes part 2 Bakery, Zoia, Dunktrain, and Jake discuss NA roster-pocalypse, HOTS All Star game, NA pro unprofessional habbits/behavior.
Zoia consummately unprofessional while lambasting other teams for being unprofessional, if it is really that big of an issue to schedule sit on the other teams' management.
Email them constantly, so they don't forget. Admittedly Zoia bugs me, but Tempo Storm is the closest resembling a proper organization behind one of these HOTS teams in NA the rest are far more labors of love than cemented teams.
Remember that Zoia was once a part of Tempo Storm *shudders*
On May 30 2017 20:42 Foxxan wrote: Thats not my point you smucks. Its a boring hero in qm, period. You must have a talent for not understanding that.
About the voice announcers, they feel really dissapointing. Its like they have no emotion, and just purely read what the scripts tell them to. Anyone else?
You can try not playing QM if you don't want to play against Murky.
I can't really comment on the announcers, but I imagine those qualities make the Abathur announcer perfect .
On May 25 2017 21:09 karazax wrote: TownHall Heroes Part 1 Bakery, Zoia, Dunktrain, and Jake discuss HCG Crucible, mid-season Brawl, and the meta.
TownHall Heroes part 2 Bakery, Zoia, Dunktrain, and Jake discuss NA roster-pocalypse, HOTS All Star game, NA pro unprofessional habbits/behavior.
Zoia consummately unprofessional while lambasting other teams for being unprofessional, if it is really that big of an issue to schedule sit on the other teams' management.
Email them constantly, so they don't forget. Admittedly Zoia bugs me, but Tempo Storm is the closest resembling a proper organization behind one of these HOTS teams in NA the rest are far more labors of love than cemented teams.
Remember that Zoia was once a part of Tempo Storm *shudders*
On May 30 2017 20:42 Foxxan wrote: Thats not my point you smucks. Its a boring hero in qm, period. You must have a talent for not understanding that.
About the voice announcers, they feel really dissapointing. Its like they have no emotion, and just purely read what the scripts tell them to. Anyone else?
You can try not playing QM if you don't want to play against Murky.
I can't really comment on the announcers, but I imagine those qualities make the Abathur announcer perfect .
You mean the team proper? I was under the impression he was still involved with the org, but I'm short on time to follow too much esports drama.
On May 30 2017 20:42 Foxxan wrote: Thats not my point you, its a boring hero in qm when the comp is without support. Just die and come back and continue doing that.
About the voice announcers, they feel really dissapointing. Its like they have no emotion, and just purely read what the scripts tell them to. Anyone else?
Murky and Brightwing are pretty good imo. I'm with you on everyone else though.
Level 4 Chaos Reigns (Q) Damage bonus for hitting 15 enemy Heroes reduced from 60 to 50 Damage bonus for hitting 2 enemy Heroes with a single cast of Discord Strike reduced from 60 to 50 Damage bonus for hitting 3 enemy Heroes with a single cast of Discord Strike increased from 60 to 80 Show of Force (Passive) Damage increased from 70 to 77 Level 13 Pure Malice (Passive) Sadism gained per Ally death increased from 6 to 10% Maximum Sadism bonus increased from 30 to 40% Rite of Rak’shir (Active) Sadism bonus for killing the targeted Hero reduced from 6 to 5%
Level 1 Sulfuras Hungers (Q) Bonus damage upon quest completion reduced from 100 to 90 Level 4 Catching Fire (Passive) Health regen reduced from 1.5 to 1.25 Level 13 Cauterized Wounds (Q) Healing bonus reduced from 50 to 40%
Dark Swarm (W) Duration increased from 3 to 3.5 seconds Brushstalker (Z) Movement Speed buff duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds, and amount increased from 15 to 20%
Talents
Level 1 Enhanced Agility (Trait) Movement Speed buff duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds
Boosters (Q) Cooldown reduced from 10 to 9 seconds Cooldown before being able to cancel the ability decreased from 1 to .5 seconds.
Talents
Level 1 Hit the Nitrous (Q) Movement Speed reduced from 375 to 325% The tooltip was adjusted to reflect the Movement Speed bonus, instead of the total speed, which is why these numbers will now appear 100% lower. Pro Moves (Passive) Movement Speed duration increased from 1 to 1.25 seconds Level 13 Ablative Armor (Passive) Reduce the threshold where Ablative Armor is active from 5% to 4% of D.Va’s maximum Health. Level 16 GG, WP (E) Damage bonus reduced from 75 to 50%
Developer Comment: D.Va’s winrate has risen steadily since release, as most of our new Heroes do, and secured her position as “#1 Mech Nexus, GG NO RE”. These adjustments will help Boosters feel better to use, and also even out the viability of the Talents at level 1. Ablative Armor was triggering a lot more often than we thought it should, so D.Va decided that we needed to nerf this. Lastly, GG WP was really strong at the tier, so we’re tuning the damage down slightly so that it isn’t always the must pick option.
D.Va: Veteran and Elite D.Va A.I. will now use Call Mech more frequently.
Art
Alarak: Discord Strike’s visual effects now properly match its crossbar area of effect.
Heroes, Abilities, and Talents
Alarak: Extended Lightning’s tooltip now correctly states that quest rewards will be granted after hitting 3 Heroes with the center of Lightning Surge. Alarak: Fixed an issue in which Lightning Surge dealt less damage than intended to enemy Heroes hit between Alarak and his primary target. Auriel: After learning Resurrect, Misha and Rexxar will no longer generate separate Spirits when Rexxar is killed. D.Va: Players will now correctly earn takedown credit toward certain Hero Talents and Abilities, like Seasoned Marksman or Li-Ming’s Critical Mass, after destroying D.Va’s Mech. Tyrande: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes affected by a Hunter’s Mark that was applied by Celestial Wrath will now correctly splash to nearby Heroes and Mercenaries.
User Interface
Emojis: Fixed an issue in which unintended emojis could overwrite portions of long-hand emoji codes that were typed in manually. Loot Chests: Fixed an issue that could generate an error after opening a D.Va Hero-Specific Loot Chest.
The sentinal buff will be interesting, they touched on that in town hall heroes. Shadowstalk being on old mighty gust level cooldowns feels like it'll be dirty too.
I think it'll make her much more appealing on maps where the owl build got value back in the day.
On June 01 2017 03:35 karazax wrote: There is also a new image in the launcher, perhaps a spoiler for the next hero that I suspect will be revealed officially Friday.
On June 01 2017 06:55 Foxxan wrote: time to axe with zul jin...
As fun as the axe is, I don't see why anyone would take it. Taz'Dingo is simply better in every way when it comes to dishing out damage AND it can save you. The only advantage the other ult has is that it can't be CCed (and *maybe* you could snipe with it). Haven't seen Zul'jin at all in competitive play and rarely on QM/HL.
On June 01 2017 04:00 Fanatic-Templar wrote: They're nerfing Samuro?
I have no idea what's going on with that hero. Even at launch I never saw him do anything special, and he's been nerfed repeatedly since.
He seems to suffer from Artanis's original problem of his AA range being goofy. I'm not sure but he has such a hard time sticking to his target and living.
He should be able to chase/stick to a target then. When he aa a hero, he should get a fast acceleration boost for 1sec and unit walking for 1sec. Or something. Kinda easy change, no?
On June 01 2017 21:27 Foxxan wrote: He should be able to chase/stick to a target then. When he aa a hero, he should get a fast acceleration boost for 1sec and unit walking for 1sec. Or something. Kinda easy change, no?
I mean it seems like that to you too right? He gets one or two AAs in and either shades away, or pops bladestorm post 10. TBH, his kit is just kind of underwhelming for a moba all in all.
Haven't seen a Zuljin in comp, because they take taz dingo . And well because Tassadar was a bit on the weak side. Now he has Tyrande and Tassadar for super support. Still the ranged AA problem of having to stand relatively still, while standing still is the only thing that gets you killed in Heroes. They should remove the variable attack speed from Zuljin and pump it all into the damage, so kiting is easier.
They can make Samuros Mirrors baseline controllable and suddenly no more issues with not being able to stick, could also make it controllable where you go when summoning Mirros. He has alot of burst and gapclosing. Adding stick to that would mean they have to make him hit like Tassadar. But he will either get Nova treatment or they do a complete rework. Dont think they will try to fix him.
They should also remove Samuros double crit. It makes him unnecessary compliacted to play, but his damage is currently balanced around it.
On June 02 2017 01:13 FeyFey wrote: Haven't seen a Zuljin in comp, because they take taz dingo . And well because Tassadar was a bit on the weak side. Now he has Tyrande and Tassadar for super support. Still the ranged AA problem of having to stand relatively still, while standing still is the only thing that gets you killed in Heroes. They should remove the variable attack speed from Zuljin and pump it all into the damage, so kiting is easier.
They can make Samuros Mirrors baseline controllable and suddenly no more issues with not being able to stick, could also make it controllable where you go when summoning Mirros. He has alot of burst and gapclosing. Adding stick to that would mean they have to make him hit like Tassadar. But he will either get Nova treatment or they do a complete rework. Dont think they will try to fix him.
They should also remove Samuros double crit. It makes him unnecessary compliacted to play, but his damage is currently balanced around it.
I think that would be cool, I also think that they would need to incentivize going illusion master as an ult somehow as well. The ability to just jump into illusions would be pretty lack luster.
That trait looks nasty. 2.5% max health damage every second. No real burst damage but he can deal some serious sustained damage and heal himself doing it. Could quite a sustainable tank buster. Not sure though without seeing his talents.
On June 02 2017 13:03 Holdenintherye wrote: So Malthael is just aoe Lunara? lol
One of his ults looks just like Maelstrom from the little snippet they show on the landing page. Bugs me a bit if they just recycle and reskin so obviously. Even his wings looked a little kerrigan-ish.
I'm jumping the gun a bit obviously, but that was my first impression.
Am I the only one who doesn't want all these dumb meme skins in the game?
Reddit seems to be jerking so fucking hard at those two skins I think at least two dozen sets of balls have erupted more than once in the past 30 minutes...
I usually have trouble with melee supports, but Uther is finally clicking. Holy shock is okay, but giving up the ally healing feels risky when solo. Beacon of Light feels kind of gimmicky (especially because the two don't synergize). Too much has to align.
Wave of Light for the extra armor duration seems to be coming into favor. Still find Holy Radiance annoying to aim/line up, but WoL + Holy Fire feels a bit more consistently useful. The kill pressure from Benediction also has a better impact for me, in terms of a 16 talent power spike.
On a side note, is there a way to turn off skins in draft lobby? I just picked Tassadar as our team's main support because I was sure that Mystical Kingdoms Arthas or whatever was Kharazim.
On June 03 2017 18:46 BluzMan wrote: On a side note, is there a way to turn off skins in draft lobby? I just picked Tassadar as our team's main support because I was sure that Mystical Kingdoms Arthas or whatever was Kharazim.
Dunno, you could hover your mouse over it or look at the animarions...
On June 04 2017 23:36 Immersion_ wrote: There's a Valla skin I always think is Valeera in draft
And a Valeera that looks like Tyrande to me. And there are so many skins with helmets that look similar when you are just looking at the head in the draft. I always hover to confirm what hero it is.
BTW I hit Masters after 56 HL games! Still so much I don't know, had to relearn heroes that got reworked, learn new maps, new heroes, etc, but the basics of the game are still the same. I played 20 different heroes with heavy reliance on hotslogs for help drafting and choosing talents and I managed just above a 50% win rate with a high enough MMR to steadily rise through D2 and D1. Hitting GM would take so many more games at this point in the season and I'd have to continue to learn a lot more to climb against better players so I'm not gonna try.
Assassin win rate pretty trash from some horrible Chromie games (1-4 as Chromie). Don't know if her numbers changed or meta is harder for her, but I do know I was a lot worse at playing her. Sucks cuz she was one of my favorites and I had to stop even thinking about picking her ;( So many heroes that could really benefit from me grinding some QM to master the mechanics better.
Heroes seems to be in a pretty good spot right now. So many heroes to learn and master. So many maps that emphasize different things. The reworked heroes and talents seem like the design team is doing good work. And the new loot box and Collection system is great, giving me a lot of fun skins/mounts/etc to enjoy. I get a new skin for a hero I don't play and then I have to go play that hero.
My only gripe with HL is that sometimes you just lose and there is nothing you can do about it. Get a Hammer that spends 24/7 in the bottom lane ignoring every teamfight because 'specialist only push'. Or someone that just picks what they want to pick rather than what the team needs. First pick Nova or Illidan are just two examples and they then flame the team when the enemy team got to counter pick. No shit your Illidan's worthless when the enemy team got to counter pick with Muradin, Artanis, Li Li, Cassia and Sylvanas.
Have gone 2-5 so far in my placement matches and I'm fearful I'll go down a league after spending last season finally getting out of it. Two of the matches were straight up lost because most of the team spent more time flaming each other than working together, being more worried about reporting than winning. AFK also remains a scourge that needs to be penalized harder.
Not saying I don't make mistakes. Sometimes I don't jump in when I should or I jump in when I shouldn't but atleast there's the common sense not to fight vs 10 when you don't have 10, fight 1v5 on an objective because the team is ignoring it or just not accepting a lost teamfight and getting killed as a result. It sometimes amazes me that people are still surprised when they lose a 4v5 whilst they're a talent down because teammate #5 is randomly somewhere else. As if anything else was gonna happen.
Oh well...here's hoping I'll atleast go 5-5.
EDIT: Nope, two AFKers and Hanamura game decided to make 2-8, dropping me all the way back to Gold 3. I will not touch HL again until next season. There is literally zero point. I can spend weeks now getting back to Platinum and then just lose it again to another horrible placement match session. Fuck your matchmaking Blizzard.
I really don't think matchmaking is the reason there are stomps, in uncoordinated games it's easy to get behind and get rolled. It's probably true that your average HL player/team (definiteily even to low/mid masters) is very bad at playing from behind so early kills often mean a lot more than the would or should in a higher level game, things can fall to pieces very easily, I've still seen my fair share of crazy comebacks though.
I agree that Heroes is in a very good place, the game is just really fun to play at a basic level and in the meantime hero and talent design continues to improve.
Maps are the main stumbling block at the moment, since Towers of Doom which consistenly produces incredible games they have fallen short, Braxis gets an unfairly bad rap and is decent imo, but Warhead and Hanamura are pretty poor, the Haunted Mines rework was also trash.
the mentality in heroes is terrible, because people think they cant make a difference on their own or that one bad person is game over. People stopped calling early ggs and everything for the most part. But there are many people that just snap the moment the the first objective is lost and dont try hard anymore.
Thats why it feels like early kills matter, where they really don't since you just need one kill in the lategame to come back from being behind the whole game and not getting any objective in some cases.
On June 03 2017 02:44 SC2Toastie wrote: Am I the only one who doesn't want all these dumb meme skins in the game?
Reddit seems to be jerking so fucking hard at those two skins I think at least two dozen sets of balls have erupted more than once in the past 30 minutes...
I'm with you on this, never was a fan of these out of context skins. Wish I could turn them off to be honest, it hurts my game immersion. Not a big problem but definitely would rather not have them.
On June 05 2017 02:54 Thezzy wrote: My only gripe with HL is that sometimes you just lose and there is nothing you can do about it.
true of any team game. it's so frustrating for me that i can play team games only so much before i have to stop. and im surprised that team games are so popular. some people are able to achieve a perspective where they put more responsibility on their teammates for bad plays and claim more responsibility for themselves for good plays, so team games are actually easier for them to play than solo games, since in solo games they have to face the fact that they're totally responsible (until they start blaming balance in SC2 or luck in hearthstone etc)
the thing that's particularly weird about HL is that different people have different ideas about how to win or how to avoid losing (what pitfalls are truly dangerous and which ones aren't that bad). i try to keep an open mind and learn from other perspectives on the game but some people just have a weird conceptualization of the game that doesn't map to the reality of the game so their win rate suffers but they're incapable of seeing why. some of this pops up in hotslogs where you can see particular heroes are extremely popular pick/ban but have below average win rates.
for example if you look at haunted mines, master league, last month of stats, malf is one of the worst heroes you can pick. the only healer that's worse is morales. and i think it should be pretty obvious to any masters player why that is. and yet malf is the 3rd most popular hero. if you look at infernal shrines, greymane and sylvanas are both top 5 most popular heroes and yet both of their win rates are abysmal. it's pretty baffling to me. people see one infernal shrines game where a sylvanas's trait and kit get a ton of value and they think it's really important to have her even if she's a liability during a lot of other stuff that goes on on that map.
the thing is, right now, when you have situations like this of huge misconceptions about which heroes are actually making you more likely to win, it's SO easy to take advantage of. but you're teamed with four people buying in to those misconceptions so it's hard to actually do. like if you plan on your opponent taking sylv on infernal shrines and build a comp against that all along, your chance of winning skyrockets. her win rate is already bad without any special effort on your part, but you compound that by picking a great counter comp
at the same time, some heroes underperform because, although they would be good on a particular map, people don't know how to build a good team comp around them to actually make it work. or they know what heroes to pick but not how they're supposed to play them in that particular situation. i had that happen multiple times where i was captain and first pick, and then i was baffled by the decisions my teammates made in the draft after me and then baffled by how they played, and then they all blamed me for my "bad" first pick. meanwhile im thinking if i was playing with a team of my clones, we would have smashed this game. and while im trying to nicely and rationally engage with them so they can learn my perspective, they're 0% interested and 100% convinced im trash and there's nothing they can learn from me. and they're probably still stuck in diamond xD. is it so hard to imagine that in a game this complex, a higher MMR player might have a valuable perspective? i don't know why they play so much and yet have so little interest in such things
i watched a lot of replays where i was confused by how my team got behind or how badly we lost team fights. could never get any teammate to watch a replay with me, even people who were really disagreeing with me so we had a lot invested in figuring out who was correct. they not only don't care about winning the argument, they don't care about watching the replay to learn the truth of the matter!