Heroes of the Storm (Closed Beta Begins 13 Jan)

[Olinser]

Starting to learn the Vikings by playing them against bots. As expected, my biggest problem is not switching fast enough to stay on top of all of them. That said, I have consistently wound up being a fantastic XP farm for my team. I expect this is a massive advantage of the Vikings, since I can have all of them off killing minions in their own lanes, then bring them together for the midgame and endgame to combo them up.

It's also nice to be able to solo camps.

This is one of the major reasons I believe the Vikings will be received a sizeable nerf in the next patch. They are currently 100% pick/ban in pro play for exactly that reason. The ability to have 1-2 of their Vikings sitting in a lane farming XP while the remaining Vikings and the rest of the team fight over an objective is simply too good. Any team with Vikings on it is nearly guaranteed a sizeable XP lead barring a major curb stomp in the early game (and even then the Vikings keep the gap very close).

Then in the mid and late game the individual Vikings simply have too many HP and regenerate too fast. Every individual Viking has significantly MORE HP than an equal leveled Murky, and there is only 1 of him. Vikings are as hard to kill in a teamfight as any individual non-tank hero, and yet the payoff for picking off a Viking is nearly nonexistant.

I feel like they need to make one of any of the following major changes to the Vikings:

1) Either prevent individual Vikings from farming XP (a Viking only gets XP if all living Vikings are in range, just like all living Vikings have to be in range to use their ult), or cut the amount of XP earned by a solo Viking by a significant margin (logically 1/3 would make sense).

2) Cut the HP of the individual Vikings by about 25-35%, or make them take increased damage from all non-AOE sources (i.e. Vikings will ALWAYS take 25% extra damage from single-target abilities or autoattacks)

3) Shared HP bar for the Vikings while close together, and all 3 of them die at the same time. Basically, give people a REASON to target a Viking. Right now they are almost totally ignored because it is equally difficult to kill a Viking as a normal squishy hero, and killing a single Viking is almost worthless.

4) Prevent the Vikings from using any ability other than autoattacks if all living Vikings are not together. They already do it for the ult - a major reason the Vikings are so effective individually is because they can still use things like Spin 2 Win and Jump while on their own.

I feel like individually, any of those 4 changes would bring them back down to the level where they are good, but not stupid like they are now.

[Olinser]

For those of you perhaps not paying attention, today is the last day to submit your Heroes of the Dorm bracket.

Even if you know nothing about the teams, just entering the bracket gets you the unique Azmodan portrait and a chance to get lucky and win something.

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/...acket-4-7-2015

And of course the games themselves are a chance to see some good teams in action.

[Weimann]

Anyone else having trouble logging in to EU today? I'm trying to figure out if it's Blizzard's fault or my new firewall.

[huttj509]

For those of you perhaps not paying attention, today is the last day to submit your Heroes of the Dorm bracket.

Even if you know nothing about the teams, just entering the bracket gets you the unique Azmodan portrait and a chance to get lucky and win something.

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/...acket-4-7-2015

And of course the games themselves are a chance to see some good teams in action.

Aw man, do I go for IU (current state I'm in), or UC-I (Worked on my Masters there, ZOT!)? And which UCI?

[Shishnarfne]

I should add myself to the list (I've been playing enough to hit level 31, but I've still just barely dipped my toes into playing versus humans).

Battletag: Gruschenka #1375

North American servers. I've preferred supports (especially Li Li) so far.

[Olinser]

I should add myself to the list (I've been playing enough to hit level 31, but I've still just barely dipped my toes into playing versus humans).

Battletag: Gruschenka #1375

North American servers. I've preferred supports (especially Li Li) so far.

Added you in. Li Li is solid, but she's basically all healing with a bit of damage reduction, she doesn't have any utility or CC except for Shrink Ray at level 13, so she is a very passive support, you can't really initiate anything with her or make plays, you're very reliant on your team (and keeping them alive).

[Olinser]

So I'm feeling pretty froggy today.

Without any knowledge of the teams players or their matchups and from only their base statistics, I managed to correctly pick 23 out of 32 winners in the first round (sadly then only 7 out of 16 in the 2nd round, but that's still pretty good).

[Gandariel]

Ha! I'm clearly a better player. I got 8 out of 16 right :P (Seven of which from the lower bracket)

[Grytorm]

Currently I am 20/8 and 3 of my favorites for the final four are still in the running including my favored to win.

[huttj509]

On the heroes of the dorm site I can see my bracket, and I can see the winner bracket, outside of tabbing back and forth is there an easy way to compare my "you were right" count?

[Gandariel]

I opened both in different windows, ignored the first matches and just checked the top 16 :P

Also I noticed I, too, have 3/4 of my finalists still in the game, including my winner.

[Olinser]

Out of curiosity, who did the rest of yall pick to win?

My pick was Arizona State, they have absolutely bulldozed everybody they've come up against.

[huttj509]

Out of curiosity, who did the rest of yall pick to win?

My pick was Arizona State, they have absolutely bulldozed everybody they've come up against.

UCI-Blue. ZOT!

[Grytorm]

Also have my hopes running on Arizona State.

[Olinser]

Also have my hopes running on Arizona State.

I'm really not seeing anybody that comes close.

In the group stage they went undefeated and their AVERAGE game time was 13.25 minutes over 14 games, with an average number of deaths 1.4 and average number of kills 14 (average kill-death ratio 10 to 1). That is just a series of ridiculous curb stomps.

[Gandariel]

i'm now 3 / 8

(My winning team is Cal Berkeley)

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I'm really not seeing anybody that comes close.

In the group stage they went undefeated and their AVERAGE game time was 13.25 minutes over 14 games, with an average number of deaths 1.4 and average number of kills 14 (average kill-death ratio 10 to 1). That is just a series of ridiculous curb stomps.

Yup. I didn't single them out from the start, but I just kept looking at their stats in every matchup, and...yeah. They check off every single one of my boxes: quick games, lots of wins, lots of kills, few deaths.

[Maryring]

I was honestly not interested in this game at all. I've loved and lost a good MOBA before, so I didn't see the need to try to branch into a new one. Especially one that's closed to me anyway.

And then I learned that the Lost Vikings are in the game.

Has anyone here played them? Do they maintain the awesome humour from their original game? Are they fun to play as? Do they remain hilariously quirky? Are there cameos or references to Fang and Scorch? Will there be a Lost Vikings 3?!

I'm a huge Lost Vikings fan, so... any indulging of my curiousity will be muchly appreciated.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I was honestly not interested in this game at all. I've loved and lost a good MOBA before, so I didn't see the need to try to branch into a new one. Especially one that's closed to me anyway.

And then I learned that the Lost Vikings are in the game.

Has anyone here played them? Do they maintain the awesome humour from their original game? Are they fun to play as? Do they remain hilariously quirky? Are there cameos or references to Fang and Scorch? Will there be a Lost Vikings 3?!

I'm a huge Lost Vikings fan, so... any indulging of my curiousity will be muchly appreciated.

They've got a pretty fun slew of little quips here and there. Erik says "Where will we end up this time?" when you start looking for a game, and I've also heard him say "Hey, I can fight in this game!" Olaf mostly talks about food. "Got donut for Olaf?" I don't remember Baelog saying much, but you have a Starcraft-esque dialogue line each time you switch to one of the Vikings, to remind you which one you're controlling.

Gameplay style, they're tricksy to manage but really good. In keeping with the original game, you can control them separately and switch between them by hitting 1/2/3 (or control them all at once with 4). This means that you can actually send them to different lanes, which is very important in the early game--they soak up lots of XP that way! If they're together, you can still control them separately in order to coordinate their movement and attacks; I've had great success vs. mercenary camps by rotating Vikings around so that different ones draw aggro.

In terms of abilities, Olaf has a charge attack and heavy out-of-combat regeneration, Baelog has strong melee/short ranged attacks and deals splash damage to targets behind his primary target, and Erik is the fastest Viking and has a slingshot. As you level up the hero, you can choose upgrades for one member of the trio or the other, or you can pick up normal QWE moves and upgrades.

Their two Heroic abilities are: a Viking Longboat that fires a cannon and has a Q-targetable mortar...and a "play again" ability (inspired by what happens when you lose a level in Lost Vikings) where one of the Vikings can revive and summon dead Vikings nigh-instantly at their location.

I've really been enjoying them (see the post at the top of this page, and the one previous), but they definitely require a particular gameplay style. You have to remember to keep flipping through all of them, so that none of them are standing around uselessly or running under the tower and dying.

The most hilarious bit, in my opinion, is how I can send a Viking (like Erik) to stand on a map objective while I'm doing other things with my other Vikings. I'd love to try out the Vikings in the Haunted Mines; I bet they could clear them out lickety-split!

[FyreByrd]

Hey all,

got into the beta a couple of weeks ago, and just about finding my feet! (my first MOBA!) Enjoying it so far, although keep changing my mind on which hero I want to main with.

Battletag is: FyreByrd#2962 (ON EU)

feel free to add me to the list, and if anyone else wants to team up on EU, and doesn't mind someone that's just starting out, that'd be great!

I also have some more EU beta keys if anyone wants one, just PM me here or add me on Battlenet!

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Is there a convenient way to track your correct picks in the Heroes of the Dorm brackets? I'm sitting at 660 points but can't be bothered to see how many correct picks that translates to.

[Gandariel]

Aw, i'm at 580 points

[Buckethead]

Yo everyone I'm level 34, battletag is Venompool#1452, I've actually got 2 closed beta keys if anyone wants. I mainly play Uther, Illidian, Chen and Muradin. PM me for a betakey or just invite me on bnet to group! :D

[Olinser]

Is there a convenient way to track your correct picks in the Heroes of the Dorm brackets? I'm sitting at 660 points but can't be bothered to see how many correct picks that translates to.

No easy way that I'm aware of - and points do not directly translate into correct picks. If it follows general bracket guessing points that initial correct picks will be worth the least, and as rounds progress point counts increase for individual correct picks but overall value of a round remains relatively static. This is held out when you can clearly see that the top picks have a large fluctuation in win % despite relatively even point values - the top score has 1050 with a correct % of 75, yet the person below him has 1020 points with a much higher correct % of 82 - clearly the #2 picked more correct first rounders, where point values were low, but missed on a couple big late round picks.

Given that the highest current point total is just over 1000, my guess is that first round picks are worth 10 (320 points possible for 32 correct picks), 2nd round picks are worth 20 (another 320 possible for 16 correct picks), 3rd round picks worth 40 (320 points possible for 8 correct picks), 4th round picks are worth 80 (320 points for 4 correct picks), 5th round picks are worth 160 (320 points for 2 picks), and so on.

So if it follows that pattern there have been 1600 points possible and the top pick has gotten 1050 of them with a 75% correct pick - sounds about right, and is actually a pretty high top score, given how few people filled out this bracket versus the NCAA bracket, as an example.

[Olinser]

Yo everyone I'm level 34, battletag is Venompool#1452, I've actually got 2 closed beta keys if anyone wants. I mainly play Uther, Illidian, Chen and Muradin. PM me for a betakey or just invite me on bnet to group! :D

Added you.

[Maryring]

I finally got my Betakey for the game. My handle is Pollux#2450 but I'm stuck on the European server.

I tried out the Lost Vikings, and they're just as hilarious as expected. They're probably gonna be my first buy.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I finally got my Betakey for the game. My handle is Pollux#2450 but I'm stuck on the European server.

I tried out the Lost Vikings, and they're just as hilarious as expected. They're probably gonna be my first buy.

Personal recommendation: don't make them your first buy. Focus on grabbing a couple of much easier heroes, and get used to them, unless you're super-confident in your ability to play MOBAs. Which I don't know.

[Maryring]

I managed to climb to Platinum in Dawngate before EA pulled the plug on it, so I should be able to fumble my way around.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I managed to climb to Platinum in Dawngate before EA pulled the plug on it, so I should be able to fumble my way around.

ooooh, yes, that changes things, haha.

[Maryring]

I can understand the concern though. Lost Vikings are... different. Different from anything I've ever played in a MOBA before. I recall when I played the original Lost Vikings, I attempted to multitask to make the levels go as fast as possible.

They... haven't really become any easier to control with age.

They're fun though! But not having any abilities at all to start out with makes em tough... gonna be interesting to see when I can finally use them in a real match. But first, gotta earn 10 000 gold.