Dragon’s Arrow (R) •Damage increased from 100/200/350 to 130/260/390
Talents •Level 20
Play of the Game (R) •Damage increased from 120 to 132
Bug Fixes Heroes & Talents
Sgt. Hammer: The Hyper-Cooling Engines talent will no longer grant cooldown reduction from basic attacks against non-Heroic targets while in Siege Mode.
Tychus & Stitches: Tychus can now be affected by Stitches’ Gorge while in Commandeer Odin.
A bit unrelated to anything else here, but just wanted to give my thoughts on stuff I realized about heroes of the storm, and maybe someone else can relate to it. (long rant incomming).
I historially have prefered QM as it made it just easier to spam the heroes I like. And when I found out that Samuro illusion build was really fun that was all I did.
While I wasn't doing super wel in terms of win/rate I kept thinking "oh I just need to be better mechanically", and gradaully I did get better and after around 100 games I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of how to play him.
And yet I kept on losing, and at one point in time i had a 6 game losing streak despite actually playing very well throughout all the games. But my "stupid" teammates just kept on feeding.
Thus I decided to watch the replays and expect to see horrendous mistakes from my teammates, however what I noticed was that they actually weren't that bad. Instead they made small errors that just snowballed hard against them. And then it hit me how extremely draft reliant a hero like Samuro is. If he is playing together with a 4-man core that cannot hold their own --> you lose the game regardless of how well you play.
So I decided to try out some ranked games and only pick samuro when it fit the comp. And then after a while I also started to discover which maps he was good on and which he wasn't (something smarter people probably would have figured out within a 100 games).
And slowly as I tried to get to diamond rank, my attitude changed. Rather than reflecting after a loss in terms of "how could i play better mechanically or who fucked up on my team" I started to think "was there something I could have done differently in the draft to win?".
Recently I had a game where I might have played the best mechanically ever but our team's tank (stiches) just kept on feeding like shit and as a consequence my teammates hard lost the 4v4. If it had been a QM game I would have blamed Stiches for the loss and had not thought any further about that game.
And while Stiches definitely didn't play well the truth was probably also that he isn't a good tank to go with Samuro. You probably need a tank that can survive and escape on its own.
Another another thing I noticed about Samuro Illusion but he is probably the most unappredicated hero by your teammates. You can be everywhere at once and annoy 2-3 opponents, then instantly take camp, then push 2 lanes at the same time all within 40 seconds. And noone on your team is gonna notice anything you are doing.
Comparably whenever I play LV and our team wins, I usually get MVP and tons of votes despite the fact that I might have made a ton more errors and contributed a lot less to teamfights than with Illusion master. But the teammates are just impressed when you can control 3 vikings at 3 different locations.
Anyway, that was a long rant and I made diamond 5 earlier this night which was my goal. Not really sure I will continue playing atm since most of the good "safe" picks in hero mode just aren't that fun. And the more I play the more I feel like Samuro Illusion is just a niche pick that you can pick on certain maps late in the draft when you have seen most of the comps from both teams.
I probably wish that drafting mattered less and mechanically execution had more importance. The idea that it is better to play a strong hero in the meta that you played 10 games of than a hero you mastered through hundreds of games doesn't motivate with me to keep on refining with my skill.
For instance I was doing extremely well whenever I picked Muradin despite not feeling like I was doing anything that took any resemblance of skill. That said, there is admittelly a charm to the strategic aspect of drafting and Heroes is very fun regardless. Further, the new patch does look interesting - definitely gonna try out reworked zeratul.
Just to give some "evidence" to your teammates not noticing your plays. This is a great example:
Like this is an amazing outplay, and yet teammates are completely quiet. Most likely because they don't see anything of what's the Samuro player actually doing. Hence my theory on Samuro being the least appreciated hero in the game.
Like this is an amazing outplay, and yet teammates are completely quiet. Most likely because they don't see anything of what's the Samuro player actually doing. Hence my theory on Samuro being the least appreciated hero in the game.
Insane Fan Theory: people don't say anything, because they don't queue games to chat.
Like this is an amazing outplay, and yet teammates are completely quiet. Most likely because they don't see anything of what's the Samuro player actually doing. Hence my theory on Samuro being the least appreciated hero in the game.
Insane Fan Theory: people don't say anything, because they don't queue games to chat.
it's quite normal when someone make a big plays a teammate or two will say "nice". You get multiple big resets with li ming or genji and that's gonna happen occationally.
And this was literally one of the biggest outplays you ever are gonna see in your heroes of the storm playing career, most would have said something. But chances are they had no idea what he actually did because like 80% of your actions goes unhidden for the untrained eye.
Also people definitely do like chatting when it comes to pointing fingers.
Anyway, I also just watched a lot of this Onetrickpony guy on his Twitch channel. He has absolutely amazing teamfight mechanics and dodges a ton of damage during teamfights. In contrast if you watch someone like Grubby he mostly just uses clones to escape.
But his play has made me more realize how you can have an impact on your team even when they aren't doing that well. Definitely still has lots to learn and I doubt there is any other hero in the game with a similar skillcap.
as long as Vikings exist, no one will be able to claim least appreciated hero spot over Eric. Visual Indication for Samuro isn't the best either if you are on his side.
Heroes brings in individual rating as Overwatch removes it at high level because of issues in that region with it haha.
Btw does anyone know of other small streamers who just mass spams (and has "mastered") one hero. I much rather watch such a stream than someone who is a good player that plays everything.
Their hope is that stealth heroes will be easier to counter at lower levels where they might as well have been completely invisible, but stronger at higher levels where stealth was spotted 99% of the time. In general the intention is that they will be stronger as heroes, but stealth itself will be weaker.
Celebrate Winter Veil this year by with a stocking full of in-game treats that you can earn by playing Heroes of the Storm! The event kicks off Tuesday, December 12, and lasts until the week of January 8, so be sure to complete the quests below before they disappear!
4 Part Quest Chain Part 1: Play 2 Games Reward: Nostalgic Reign-Deer Spray Part 2: Play 5 Games Reward: Winter Veil Warbanner Part 3: Play 8 Games Reward: Red Nosed Reign-Deer Portrait Part 4: Win 5 Games Reward: Arctic Reign-Deer Mount
2018 Ranked Season 1 Begins
Our new ranked season has begun! Find out more about rewards and requirements here.
Terrain Outlines
Outlines will now display on terrain when playing Junkrat or Lúcio. This should allow for a more accurate view of what can be used for Frag Launcher bounces and Wall Rides.
Walls will now be destroyed if their connected Towers and Gate are also destroyed. Walls can still be attacked normally.
After reviewing community feedback, we’ve decided to revert this change. Destroying the Gate and Towers will no longer automatically destroy connected Walls.
Gingerboard Blueberry Gingerboard Frosted Gingerboard Moldy Gingerboard Strawberry Gingerboard Reign-Deer Arctic Reign-Deer – This Mount will be awarded to players who complete the Winter Veil 2017 event quest chain.
On December 10 2017 09:08 Hider wrote: Btw does anyone know of other small streamers who just mass spams (and has "mastered") one hero. I much rather watch such a stream than someone who is a good player that plays everything.
there used to be a lot of streamers like this, but this is an age for flex players since the game has turned into rock/paper/scissors in the draft. You could probably spam something like sonya or ETC all day though.
As an aside, I tried out the new patch in hero league today.
Matchmaking is a mess, as expected at the start of a season--- according to hotslogs I am playing against people 400-600 MMR below my account now, and it really shows. Games are super easy and I'm seeing stupid comps like double stealth/double support. Bliz really really really needs to stop with the loosening of confidence at the start of seasons. It's just leads to unfun games for a quarter of the season.
Some games are snowballing out of control in really unsatisfying ways. For instance, if you cap a bruiser and boss and push as 5, it is really hard to stop. The mage minion in the bruiser camp is difficult to kill from afar (I can't even see him when there are enough creeps everywhere), which means everything has spell armor. Small firebats give buildings vulnerability, so you have to defend them when they are pushing on your core almost like they are a boss. With a few catapults they will just Kill You. Immortals on BoE are crazy powerful now--- my first game on the map we pushed a keep on the first immortal. I think the loss of the second tower means diving over the fort and into the enemy team is much easier now.
In case it wasn't clear--- I really really really hate the merc changes. Merc camps should not be this powerful.
Stealth changes are OK I guess. So far it has made stealth heroes extremely easy to play against, as they sacrifice waveclear and mercing for high burst, but are easy for tanks to guard against. I've heard valeera is really good, but every time she went in on someone I just poison speared or power slid her and she was dead. Doesn't seem very good from the perspective of an opposing warrior in the context of an actual teamfight. But maybe that's not the real power of her.
Hard to comment on performance based MMR when we're still in the awfulness of early season matchmaking hell. So far the screen caps on reddit have not impressed me. I thought it would be like a +/- 10 thing, but it looks like it can go as much as +/- 40-50. A quarter of your games points in bonus or deduction is simply not right and doesn't align with what I would envision when bliz says things like, "the most important thing is winning"
On December 14 2017 21:08 karazax wrote: Placement bug means your probably better off waiting to do hero league until they patch it.
unless the bug that post is talking about has affected the last two seasons as well, waiting for it to be fixed isn't going to help very much. People being wildly misplaced at season starts is old news.
there used to be a lot of streamers like this, but this is an age for flex players since the game has turned into rock/paper/scissors in the draft. You could probably spam something like sonya or ETC all day though.
Yeh that's probably true. I guess Greymane is a pretty strong allrounder as well. But that was also kinda why Samuro was so interesting because after you learned to teamfight with illusion master he was insanely strong against everything and could fit into most comps. This was ofc quite difficult to do well however.
However, he is useless postpatch since he doesn't deal any damage over time meaning he is just a worse version of a burst assasin. Kinda sad, had otherwise planned to get into master league within a 100 games or so.
there used to be a lot of streamers like this, but this is an age for flex players since the game has turned into rock/paper/scissors in the draft. You could probably spam something like sonya or ETC all day though.
Yeh that's probably true. I guess Greymane is a pretty strong allrounder as well. But that was also kinda why Samuro was so interesting because after you learned to teamfight with illusion master he was insanely strong against everything and could fit into most comps. This was ofc quite difficult to do well however.
I think Rehgar also fits into this mold of "generalist hero who can fit into most comps quite well"
Hider
However, he is useless postpatch since he doesn't deal any damage over time meaning he is just a worse version of a burst assasin. Kinda sad, had otherwise planned to get into master league within a 100 games or so.
I have long felt a little bad for samaro. It feels like they just can't balance his kit right. I've also always felt like the controls on illusion master are clunky, but maybe they have changed that now. There was a bit of a delay when switching between illusions with my keyboard which led to frustrating instead of feeling like I was microing 3 illusions.
I have long felt a little bad for samaro. It feels like they just can't balance his kit right. I've also always felt like the controls on illusion master are clunky, but maybe they have changed that now.
He was amazing before for people who can control multiple units at once (probably need RTS background). Besides a few small situations, I don't think he was clunky.
However, with illusion master you would usually rely on your images to wear your opponents down, while microing the images around so they appeared as if they were the real samuro. Then sneak behind a target, hit it a bit to wear it down, then make 3 new images in anticipation of a skillshot being targetted at you.
Spread them around and find a new target you could potentially kill. Sometimes you had to go for the squishy. Other times you would help kill down the enemy tank/frontliner.
It was a ton of decisions you could take at any given point in time during a teamfight and you had to take a lot of variables into account very very fast. It was very fun because there was always something you could learn.
People who say you only use images to poke from a safe distance doens't know illusion master because if you only play it like that while being safe with real Samuro you don't do enough in teamfights. To play it well means you had to take risks which creates for interesting gameplay.
The mistake I previously made with Samuro was trying to play him as a splitpusher. However, while he is great at soaking, he isn't good at pushing due to images dying to towers. Instead, you need to always be there when your team fights, because his potential DPS output is unmatched.
With new Samuro your images don't do anything basically. This means that throughout the entire game your damage will usually be around 40% lower of what it was previously.
Further, he can't engage as well as previously due to stealth-change. And you are not rewarded for teleporting into a teamfight because (a) you can't escape with stealth and (b) the teleportation cooldown increased from 6 to 8 seconds.
And how was he compensated? he got more damage on the real samuro, he can now use his Q to pointdirection on where he wants to go, and images don't die to towers.
However, those buffs are nowhere near to compensate for the image damge nerf alone. I don't think there has ever been a bigger nerf to an ultimate in the history of heroes of the storm. It went from amazing in the hands of a skilled player to probably useless. Even without taking stealth-changes into account, the ultimate was nerfed!
The Onetrickpony guy used to have a 64% win/rate in masters on Samuro over a 300 game sample size. When he streamed placement matches on the new Samuro he went 1-3 and basically did nothing all games. I watched 30+ games of him with old Samuro and I put all those 4 games as the absolute bottom in terms of how much he did for his team.
I've seen some argue that the way to play samuro now is by taking less risks and using images from a safe distance, so you just go into a fight, poke a bit and then teleport back. From a game-design perspective that is much less interesting and skill-based and balance-wise just makes him a worse zeratul.
Bladestorm might be viable but that ultimate is kinda boring. For me it's illusion master or nothing. Honestly, I think Blizzard didn't really think about Illusion master or understand how it worked when they made this change.
If I have to guess I think they look at your individual performance over the last 30-60 games and then try to estimate a rank before on that performance. That's obviously a very dangerous method and it's perhaps why some platinum players could get masters mmr --> Because they had a few recent insane performances.
And thus if you checked out some of the accounts of the players who were heavily promoted, I bet that they were trending upwards.
From my experience, I was doing very well on Samuro and generally on any hero I played I was outputting good numbers while rarely dying, and thus felt like I could continue jumping ranks relatively fast if he had not been nerfed. But it was obviously super frustrating to play the placement matches because suddenly I had no champion pool.
One thing that surprised me negatively was that the players still made shitty drafts. I had 2 games where I had an early pick and my teammates effectively counterpicked themselves later in the draft.
I am obviously no draft-expert but prior to the games I thought "we have no real range here, they can poke us easily down and engage/kill us if we get to close." And as a consequence we got stomped without me feeling that anyone on the team played that badly.
Perhaps I was just unlucky, but I expected experienced master league players at that level to have big enough champion pools so that those who pick late in the draft can adapt well.
Is anyone else having difficulty adjusting to the new laning dynamics? I feel like I'm being overly aggressive to get health globes and the minion timings are so much different. I end up taking way too much damage.
Any advice? I consider myself flex but I'm usually running tank or support.
On December 15 2017 07:04 DudeMan260 wrote: Is anyone else having difficulty adjusting to the new laning dynamics? I feel like I'm being overly aggressive to get health globes and the minion timings are so much different. I end up taking way too much damage.
Any advice? I consider myself flex but I'm usually running tank or support.
It feels like everything is in flux right now. Hard to tell since matchmaking is up in the air(somehow yesterday I was hard winning a lane as etc vs junkrat), but I expect laning meta to shift pretty majorly on many maps as people figure out what they are doing. How quickly that meta settles depends on whether Bliz nerfs the merc camp buffs or not.
Clearly dominating a lane when you have a globe quest(like ETC) is really powerful in the early game. I think regen globe quests in general might need to be re-jiggered too.
My stealth experience has been funny. People make mistakes much easier now when you lurk around them, adding that you are true invis when standing still its a nightmare for some heroes without easy unstealth skills. Alongside the buffs it makes it really easy to play stealthies now. But after people realise that stealth heroes are aware that you see them when you move, people will stop throwing their lifes away thinking the stealthy isn't aware that they are seen.
Thought Valeera would be the best, but Nova's changes make her a nightmare to be up against.
I like that regen globe control gets rewarded. Before it was an annoying quest binding you to a lane. Now if you do good you get a huge powerspike. Had Jaina regen globe talent done sub 6 minutes on braxis. Paired with a Zagara. Enemy just exploded.