Heroes of the Storm II: Thread. Augmented. Logical Decision

[Gray Mage]

Love Artanis lorewise but his kit and viability in the game is currently mediocre at best. Having to play on half health for his trait to kick in severely hampers his ability to mitigate damage and his Q is either too risky (if interrupted) or just no real engage (if not interrupted). Everything else is very nice but these problems make almost every other tank hero more desirable.

His trait now kicks in at 75% health. He's getting huge changes.

[Gandariel]

Love Artanis lorewise but his kit and viability in the game is currently mediocre at best. Having to play on half health for his trait to kick in severely hampers his ability to mitigate damage

That is.. exactly what they fixed

and his Q is either too risky (if interrupted) or just no real engage (if not interrupted). Everything else is very nice but these problems make almost every other tank hero more desirable.

QE is now a thing. Be very scared.

[Gray Mage]

I'm liking being able to play Team League without having to find 4 extra people. Played some cool matches.

Anyone played the revamped Haunted Mines yet?

[Gandariel]

Yeah! It's. .. Well...

I mean i only played it once.

The map is cool, the four entrances definitely put a stop to those cheesy traps / enter-exit-enter-exit things that used to be common.

Still, entering the mines gave me the same PTSD for when you're splitting and you just hope 3 enemies won't show up at the corner.

Also, I was Diablo with the new Q talents (Q on 1 4 13, and "E resets Q" on 16). I randomly met a full HP Brightwing in the mines and literally one-shot him with my combo (QWEQ).

Diablo is so fun. Happy he's still good.

(Also, Ragnaros looks pretty awesome. Stupid high winrate, but I've come to accept it. Lava wave and his Trait are very, very cool.)

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I am sadface because A: my Windows install seems to have issues with my graphics card, B: Heroes crashes on startup in my Linux install, although Hearthstone for whatever reason works fine, C: I've been nonstop working or sleeping this week. Ugh. So I don't get to be the Firelord, or to try out new Dibbles.

[Binks]

I really do not understand the mindset behind this new event. It's ridiculously rare (20+ games today and I saw it twice), poorly explained (no actual explanation of what to do is given, depends on players figuring it out and explaining it), and the timer is so brutal that even with people who understand it's easy to fail. Just had the first game of HotS I have ever intentionally quit (vs. AI, so wasn't hurting the other players) because this event is so frustrating. Who thought this was a good idea?

[Gandariel]

Haven't tried it yet but I hears the same complaints. They'll fix it soon. They fixed all the events to be super duper easy, they'll do the same here.

Also really looking forward to trying Valeera and new Tassadar. Will check tonight.

In other news, our team in Heroes Lounge isn't faring really well, BUT the League itself is gaining a lot of traction and popularity.

I highly advise checking out the new and revamped website heroeslounge.gg and the youtube channel, where casted games are uploaded along with highlight reels and weekly recaps.

Also very active on twitch ( twitch.tv/heroes_lounge)

[Keltest]

Apparently valeera and new tass are both lagging in the winrates right now. Valeera's is probably a combination of being new and her super hard counter also having just gotten a rework, but I think Tass probably needs a numbers tweak.

[Binks]

Haven't tried it yet but I hears the same complaints. They'll fix it soon. They fixed all the events to be super duper easy, they'll do the same here.

Fair play to you and the others who said it would be fixed, looks like it was. Of course, there wasn't really any announcement of the fixes (outside of an easy to miss set of patch notes that didn't show up in the HotS feed for me), but that's a minor complaint. Event now always spawns (as long as anyone has it, AIs always have it) and has enough duration to be completed.

Still missed it once due to bugging out and not spawning enough of the items (Rooster asked for 2 firecrackers in a row, only 1 spawned in our area), but it's a lot more tolerable now. I would not call this event super easy, even now, but it is certainly doable without having to play 200-300 games now, which is nice.

[Keltest]

Fair play to you and the others who said it would be fixed, looks like it was. Of course, there wasn't really any announcement of the fixes (outside of an easy to miss set of patch notes that didn't show up in the HotS feed for me), but that's a minor complaint. Event now always spawns (as long as anyone has it, AIs always have it) and has enough duration to be completed.

Still missed it once due to bugging out and not spawning enough of the items (Rooster asked for 2 firecrackers in a row, only 1 spawned in our area), but it's a lot more tolerable now. I would not call this event super easy, even now, but it is certainly doable without having to play 200-300 games now, which is nice.

The second one probably spawned behind a building. They do exist, but they don't get highlighted or anything so you cant see them very easily.

[Gandariel]

Apparently the newest hero in the nexus is Sonya!

They looked at the abundance of half tanks in the game, which were rendering her obsolete, and gave her some number fixes. Apparently now her Whirlwind is super strong, especially against teams who clump up. Melee Kael Thas, basically.

But more seriously, rumor is Stukov will be next! Woo!

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Looks like Stukov will have to wait--he probably got pushed back so they could move in our next release...



Full hero writeup here

Okay, I'm pretty hyped.

[Gandariel]

He seems really easy to play. Like, Li Li Easy to play.

AoE buffs, button to push away enemies if you're in danger, speed boost to run away. Ults are also AoE, and no stutterstepping

But still, looks fun. I don't play Overwatch but I'm happy to see a new support into the mix

[GolemsVoice]

Hmm, Lucio actually was a pretty obvious, and I think good, choice. Wall ride looks super goofy, though

[ChaosOS]

In Development Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KTsPR2oeSE

PTR Patch Notes, Featuring Lucio and the Murky Rework: http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/...-2017-2-6-2017

[Gandariel]

Lucio and new murky are out on PTR, but I refuse to play PTR so I can't know whether they're good or not yet.

I confirm my feeling with Lucio is that he's gonna be really easy to play, and that the shield ult is much better than the other.

It's just a better Storm Shield, which is actually pretty insane.

I mean, the slowing debuffs is OK, but it puts you in a bit of danger, and Earthquake does that better anyways.

I don't like playing Murky (too much time spent alone, I like teamfighting and dueling), but I enjoy playing against him, so I'm actually happy about the rework. Well, unless he's super duper OP.

[Spore]

Oh I think I like the current meta. Valeera is keeping me on my toes, my fav. healer Malfurion is a beast and my man Artanis is also wrecking house.

[Gandariel]

Yeah, me too.

I actually play a very diverse range of heroes, so something's always good usually.

Lately, Diablo, ETC, and Anub'arak are just so fun to play. Love me some CC-heavy Warriors.

Li Ming's winrate has plummeted, but i keep spamming Arcane Orbs from half screen away and things keep dying, so I can't complain.

Valla stutterstepping is fun as ever. Raynor's too, but he doesn't make quite the same catchy *click click*.

The only healer I enjoy is Auriel, but boy do I enjoy her.

Oh, and if I feel I want to PvE i just pick Azmodan and rain slam dunks on people
Quote from a game:
-Friend on voice chat "Hey, go mid and kill that Falstad, he's pretty low on HP!"
-Me: "... Go mid?"
*proceeds to snipe him with a Q from the bot lane*
-Me:

[Keltest]

Apparently Uther has found a niche in substituting for a second warrior in otherwise warrior-heavy compositions. Replace the off tank with Uther, and he can fill both the off tank and off heal roles pretty well, providing a lot of durability to the team and some decent crowd control to boot.

I still cant say I'm entirely satisfied with where he is right now, but "uther the warrior" is definitely something I can get behind.

[Spore]

His trait now kicks in at 75% health. He's getting huge changes.

I tried Artanis today again and I must say if he isn't hard countered (by Stuns or Polymorph) he is a real powerhouse.

[Keltest]

I tried Artanis today again and I must say if he isn't hard countered (by Stuns or Polymorph) he is a real powerhouse.

The swaps are real.

[Spore]

The swaps are real.

My favorite situation is when the enemy warrior is swapped into a circle of assassins. "Hard engage you say? Here you go!"

[EthanKelly1988]

I really like the new "Overwatch" characters. Both Lucio and Tracer have that walk and shoot mechanic which might be a little cheesy, but is easily counterable.

[ChaosOS]

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

New hero is Probius. Yes, a Probe. That can build Pylons. And Photon Cannons.


In other news, new features include updated "On Fire" system, and talent overhauls for Anub'Arak, Arthas, Cho'gall, and Gazlowe.

[Gandariel]

That's a lie and you know it.

The next hero is Wall-E and there's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise.

I mean LOOK AT THAT TRAILER!

But yeah, looks cool.

Any news on the reworks? I really really hope they don't kill Anub. He's probably my favorite hero

Also, if anyone used to play Unreal Tournament Probius will give you Shock Rifle nostalgia!

[Keltest]

On the starcraft forums, I am known as the Probe Emperor. not because I'm good at starcraft, but because I'm vocal and use the probe portrait. I got yelled at the one time I changed it.

Darn it, I liked being allowed to play other heroes.

[GolemsVoice]

Seems like, just for once, somebody didn't need additional pylons.

[Spore]

Seems like, just for once, somebody didn't need additional pylons.

Blasphemy!

I enjoy the fluff of Probius but I am not entirely sure if the Pylon mechanic is fun. It sounds like hardcore Gazlowe. Does anyone know if it is a melee or ranged hero?

[Keltest]

Blasphemy!

I enjoy the fluff of Probius but I am not entirely sure if the Pylon mechanic is fun. It sounds like hardcore Gazlowe. Does anyone know if it is a melee or ranged hero?

I would assume he's ranged, because there aren't any primary spellcasters without at least a token ranged attack to keep them out of trouble.

[Gandariel]

He is ranged, yeah.

In other news, I randomly hopped in at game 5 between Tempo storm and Team 8, which just finished (quarter finals). Pretty fun, I recommend watching.


Also, since the Starcraft thread is long dead, I've watched a couple games which were all super fun!
Caught the last 2 games of Stats vs Byun, very entertaining!

Also I watched Innovation get kicked out by Alive in a pretty tense game.

My favorite matchups to watch are probably PvZ, TvZ and PvP.
This IEM seems to have a lot of TvT, which is not my favorite, but marines ragdoll physics after being blown up by tanks is always fun to see.