Heroes of the Storm (Closed Beta Begins 13 Jan)

[Draken]

Yeah, i really like the fact that kill stealing doesn't exist. Like, if i do jump in and help secure the kill, nobody will ever complain. We both get the "takedown" if that even matters, both get the XP.

I am not sure the exp double dips like that.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I am not sure the exp double dips like that.

Not double-dipping. Gandariel was referring to the fact that XP doesn't go to individual characters, so it doesn't matter who earns the XP; it's spread to everyone equally. So kill-stealing isn't a thing.

[Manticoran]

Been playing again, after playing in early tech alpha, I'm Manticoran#1771

[Olinser]

Been playing again, after playing in early tech alpha, I'm Manticoran#1771

Added you in.

[Happy Gravity]

Zeratul Free Week.

Quick Match sucks this week.

[Olinser]

Zeratul Free Week.

Quick Match sucks this week.

Huh, kind of glad I'm out of town for at least another week then. Last time he was free it was absolutely laughable how bad some Zeratul were.

[Gandariel]

I had some time to play Azmodan after i got high level enough to unlock it. It's so fun!!! feels really solid, and there's nothing like winning a game with a horde of minion snowballing to the other side. Too bad he's so expensive :/

[Surrealistik]

Azmodan is fun, but his vulnerability to CC and complete lack of escapes makes him a pretty bad pick vs lots of good, well coordinated comps. Definitely think he needs a rework.

Personally I would do the following:

Allow him to move at half speed while channeling All Shall Burn; if ASB is interrupted either by its beam being broken, or by CC, its next cooldown is reduced to 1 second. Allows him to contribute more meaningfully to team fights, and makes March of Sin a much less obligatory option.

Allow him to reactivate the Orb of Annihilation while it's in flight to detonate it and teleport to its position if it's over a pathable area, albeit at the cost of increasing its next cooldown by 10-20 seconds or so.


That should rescue him from being T4 at least.

[Draken]

So. For the first time in all my experiences playing Abathur, some nincompoop accused me of being afk. And then proceeded to tell me to go back to LoL.

This is gold.

[Olinser]

So. For the first time in all my experiences playing Abathur, some nincompoop accused me of being afk. And then proceeded to tell me to go back to LoL.

This is gold.

Bonus points if he claimed to be Diamond and there is a LoL profile in low Bronze with the same name.

[Talesin]

I've had the game for a while, mainly played over christmas as i've been far too busy recently to drop proper time into it.

I was mainly playing Gazlowe and Nova (though I have a bunch of heroes at level 5, this was just after her nerfs. I like both characters though Gazlowe feels so incredibly clunky as a hero and I think if he had access to a few of his powerful talents he would actually be a playable character. While I guess it's 'interesting' because you have to pick the playstyle you want to align yourself to, either turrets or lazer/bombs, I actually find it's very restrictive rather than a fun choice.

Saying that though I can think of a game or two where i've won it simply because I landed a great ult into a bomb (or 2) stuns on 3-4 of the enemies and then have turrets shredding while the rest of my team did a number on them.

Anyone else had a go with the Goblin?

[Surrealistik]

Clunky and weak are the two things that chiefly come to mind with respect to Gazlowe; at this point he is pretty undertuned and in desperate need of buffs alongside Murky and Diablo.

Basically he doesn't really have a use except in gimmick compositions that exploit his grav bomb and securing arenas in Sky Temple.


Would really like to see how this theorycraft comp works out:

Hunt Illidan + Felstadt + Brightwing + Abathur + Tassadar/Nydus Zagara

Felstadt flies to a Merc camp, Brightwing teleports to him, double bribe. Abathur burrows in, drops Locust Brood and Nest if he has it then Hearthstones back. When Mercs and Locusts are about to hit the enemy Minion wave, Illidan Hunts in, Zagara Nydus' in while Abathur drops Ultimate Evolution/Monstrosity (now that it's been buffed) and runs Symbiote support.

Basically instant 5 man push/force projection pretty much anywhere on the map with Merc support. Do lots of damage fast, then GTFO.

[Surrealistik]

It's funny because it's true:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCIo_JihpXU

[Happy Gravity]

They gave Zeratul Rewind and barely touched him.

They gave Anub'arak Rewind and nerfed his entire kit besides scarabs.

Mmk.

[Surrealistik]

Zera is basically considered god tier at this point.

Quadrabomb doublecleaves means he novas better than well... Nova and has AoEs and escapes to boot. Seriously this hero has gone full super saiyan; I can't believe this update; it may literally be the worst, most astonishing patch I've ever seen Blizzard author in any game.

[Gandariel]

So I've been trying out this week's new heroes, and i'm having troubles with Chen. Is he so poor or am I just terrible at using him? I have no problem with other Warriors like Tyrael and Muradin.

Also. Tassadar best support ever. Only support guy i ever tried and actually enjoyed using.

Oh, last bit. Yesterday me and Draken played a game as Zagara and Azmodan. We pushed one of the lanes in Haunted Mines so hard that we just won by that, while the opposing team was occupied with the golem

[Draken]

So I've been trying out this week's new heroes, and i'm having troubles with Chen. Is he so poor or am I just terrible at using him? I have no problem with other Warriors like Tyrael and Muradin.

Also. Tassadar best support ever. Only support guy i ever tried and actually enjoyed using.

Oh, last bit. Yesterday me and Draken played a game as Zagara and Azmodan. We pushed one of the lanes in Haunted Mines so hard that we just won by that, while the opposing team was occupied with the golem

Your other folks were so surprised at the 16 minute win that I was amused.

People just get too hung up on stuff sometimes and forget to look at the state of the map. Specially on Haunted Mines where you can in fact just skip behind the enemy and ruin their day.

----

And Chen is pretty damn hard to use, I think. Your problem was likely inexperience.

[Surrealistik]

Not sure how I feel about Chen since the patch hit.

Tassadar is one of my fav heroes easily; as I've said before, verges on impossible to kill with Deep Shift + Prescience + Dimensional Warp and his shields/Archon. If you're willing to sacrifice your L20 for Rewind, he becomes even more of a pain to take down with a third super Dimensional Shift and second shield.

[Careless]

So I just got into Heroes of the Storm beta, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for someone who's played tanky supports in LoL for years and around... 2 or 3 games of DotA 2? I like CC, tanks, and I have no need to get the kill or the credit, just the win. Also, I like simple characters. I don't feel good about myself for playing a complex character, rather than a simple one.
Also, I'm IGotCareless #1137

[Happy Gravity]

So I just got into Heroes of the Storm beta, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for someone who's played tanky supports in LoL for years and around... 2 or 3 games of DotA 2? I like CC, tanks, and I have no need to get the kill or the credit, just the win. Also, I like simple characters. I don't feel good about myself for playing a complex character, rather than a simple one.
Also, I'm IGotCareless #1137

Uther: Tons of heals, stuns on a skill and one of his ultimates.
Stitches: Broken good, basically has Blitzcrank's hook with Skarner's ultimate. Has stupid high damage for a tank, and is naturally one of the bulkiest characters in the game. He's ugly and deserving of a beating with the nerf-bat though.
Muradin: A stun-bot.

[Surrealistik]

Would recommend Tassadar as he is the definition of 'tanky support', since he's effectively impossible to kill with the correct build.

Psi Infusion > Healing Ward > Deep Shroud > Archon > Prescience > Dimensional Warp > Twilight Archon/Rewind

I lean Twilight because it allows you to contribute offensively in team fights/pushes which is something Tassadar lacks at, or even assassinate a vulnerable target you sneak up on with Dimensional Shift. Rewind gives you additional survivability and AoE. Stormshield also has appeal and might be the better pick on maps that are especially heavy on team fights, and versus comps with lots of AoE and focus fire.

Sadly Tass doesn't have much in the way of CC though.


Lastly, it should be noted that there are no 'kill steals' in HotS; XP gained is divided evenly between all heroes and there is no gold; this is in part why it has a less toxic community than most other MOBAs.

[ChaosOS]

I'd suggest Uther and ETC, both are team team oriented supporting tanks that are big, beefy and have a lot of cc. They also have the noted distinction of being very strong in the current meta.

[Surrealistik]

I wouldn't call Uther a tank at all; granted he's beefy as supports go and has plenty of CC while being probably the best at his role in the game next to Tassadar though and is definitely the best heal bot, so I approve of him and would echo that recommendation.


ETC I don't really like; much more tank than support and extremely team dependent while not bringing nearly as much to the table as Arthas and Stitches, either of which I'd handily recommend over him. The only thing ETC really has going for him is Mosh Pit which basically requires that you build your team around it to get the most out of the thing, and even then it won't work worth a damn versus good compositions run by experienced players who know to look out for and counter it with CC and proper positioning. Pre-patch he was unpopular at high level play for this reason, post-patch I would be surprised if anything changed; even with their nerfs (more of a slap on the wrist for Stitches which fixed nothing that made him broken) Arthas and Stitches are still handily better.

[Olinser]

ETC's problem is that his ults simply aren't good enough to overcome his rather lackluster non-ult skill set.

Mosh Pit CAN be very good, but it is extremely difficult to land a good one without good coordination from your team, and even then it can be instantly shut down by a single CC.

His definitely-not-Pantheon ultimate would be good... except he's just not particularly effective once he arrives at location.

His problem is somewhat similar to Diablo, in that he is pretty tanky, but his damage is laughable and his CC just isn't good enough to overcome that. Power Slide is a pretty decent ability, but it is very hard to use his pushback effectively without actually being counter-productive.

He's definitely not the worst tank, but right now he is very inferior to Muradin, Stitches, Arthas, Tyrael and even Chen in his weakened state (although after his latest round of nerfs Chen may be trash tier, we'll have to see how it affects him).

[Draken]

Interesting random fact I just learned. You get the play with friend bonus if the game randomly matches you with someone on your friends list. Even if that person pops on the enemy team.

[Gray Mage]

So yesterday I got a key from a stream, any good newbie guides I could check out?

My tag is GrayMage#1723, NA, btw.

[Gandariel]

Oh, btw.

Moved to EU, i am Ciabatta#2958


Thoughts on free heroes of this week:

Falstad is really fun and strong. Love the fly thing. Pretty solid in both AoE, single target, dash. Not as squishy as you'd think too. His ult is pretty bad, i guess.

Sgt Hammer: Fun indeed, and incredible firepower. Really, really powerful autoattacks. I mostly focus on those and pretty much ignore his other abilities, it's that good.
Has the bad habit of getting bodyblocked.
His BFG ult is weak but fun, the other one is effective but boring.

Note: The damage of hammer is really crazy, i found myself being insta focused at EVERY teamfight after a certain level. In a game, i had opposing Tyrael and Illidan shoot their ult on me just as the fight started, like 4 times in a row (Illidan had the "Hunt" ult).

Li Li is surprisingly good (for the horrible things i had heard of her). Heals very well and consistently, pretty hard to kill thanks to her E.
She *DOES* feel really stupid to use, though. qeqeqeqeeqeqeqeeqe
Even her Ult (while decent) can't be targeted!!!

ETC: Not bad! Pretty consistent healing, OK damage and everything else. Also, pretty fun character. Mosh Pit is really useful!

Uther: boring but effective. The "stay alive after you die" thing is usually underwhelming, because you never get to do anything important with it.

Illidan: No comment on that one: It was hard to learn, but obviously very strong.

Sonya: I feel she's.. bad? I really didn't enjoy playing her, and nothing in her arsenal felt unique or particularly good. her upgraded ult is really thematic though

[Surrealistik]

The main reason Li Li is considered 'bad' is because you have relatively little control over what her abilities do; that and Uther just totally outshines her, being as he's easily the best healer in the game.


Uther's Eternal Devotion can actually be a game changer in fights because of his CC. He will _always_ get his AoE stun off, and he will _always_ get at least two hammers off. Beyond that, he's basically an unstoppable force that can just focus down someone on death's door, and thus secure a kill.


Sonya's actually pretty good with a Seismic Spam build; Shot of Fury > Furious Blow > Shattered Ground > Wrath of the Berserker > Aftershock > Stoneskin/Imposing Presence > Hardened Shield. Top up your rage with Shot of Fury and Spear. HP sustain with Whirlwind as needed, spamming Seismic in the meanwhile. When you're going to get the boss, mercs, pushing or team fighting, put your rage face on with Wrath, then face tank while spamming the hell out of Seismic (686 Ability damage in a line every second at L20 with +40% damage Basic Attacks in-between) and periodically resupply Fury via Spear/Shot as you output ludicrous sustained damage to multiple targets, using Stoneskin and Hardened Shield as necessary.

[Gandariel]

So, new weeks, new heroes.

Nazeebo: I was happy to finally try him, and he's just as awesome as I imagined. I'm especially impressed with his mana sustain, and all of his abilities are really, really strong.

Muradin: same old, already tried. Powerful stun, durability, jump. Solid.

Raynor: I'm liking these changes: he feels nice to use, and reasonably powerful.

Arthas: love him! Really nice utility skills, feels strong, I like all of his skills. His dragon ult is probably not so strong, but really awesome looking.

Tyrande: ...I really don't like her. It's no secret. But eh. I'm probably not good enough to make good use of her owl, and her other abilities are a bit underwhelming (especially when you compare her heal and stun to Uther's, for example)

Still have to try Thrall and brightwing. (they both look really strong and I have high expectations of both )

[Xefas]

I got into this beta last week, and I've been able to play some. I'm enjoying the cooperative mode a lot. On my days off, competitive and otherwise stressful games are fine, but after work I want to be able to relax, and HotS can deliver that in moba form, so that's cool.

One thing that kinda puzzles me is how the gold cost for particular heroes is determined. At first, I thought it might be difficulty-based, but Illidan is listed as 'Very Hard' and costs 4,000g, while Azmodan is listed as 'Easy' and costs 10,000g. So, then I thought it might be based on popularity, either making the easily recognizable and popular characters the cheapest to get people invested early, or make them the most expensive to cash in on fans wanting to play their favorite character. But, that doesn't seem to be the case either - Raynor and Kerrigan were both main protagonists in their own games, both with ~17 years of seniority, and they cost 2,000g and 7,000g respectively - a big gap.

Is it just kinda random? Do they make a hero, then roll a die to see how much they'll cost?

(I bought Zagara with m' noob golds. So fun.)