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

[Frog Dragon]

New Muradin is basically a nerf for pubs and a buff for coordinated play. The nerf to thunder burn reduces his wave clear and he has less damage. He has a stronger CC chain and better vision control potential but these things require the team to be on the same page to really make use of.

E build seems pretty great, at least in team league (E on 7 and 16). Give em the axe basically received a double nerf since it's less of a buff on less damage.

[Gandariel]

I am extremely sad that they gutted his damage. "Normalise Tanks damage" is something truly sad to see.

I loved anub playstyle when he had more damage and less survivability, and I loved Muradin when you could go totally ham on the enemies.
I guess I will have to change my style with him and get used to being a stun machine.

With the level 7 E talent I feel like Haymaker could actually be viable. EQ gives you the time to catch even a small mispositioning, position correctly and chuck them into your team.

Oh, also, Froge opinion wrong opinion. :P

[Keltest]

I am extremely sad that they gutted his damage. "Normalise Tanks damage" is something truly sad to see.

I loved anub playstyle when he had more damage and less survivability, and I loved Muradin when you could go totally ham on the enemies.
I guess I will have to change my style with him and get used to being a stun machine.

With the level 7 E talent I feel like Haymaker could actually be viable. EQ gives you the time to catch even a small mispositioning, position correctly and chuck them into your team.

Oh, also, Froge opinion wrong opinion. :P

Personally, I haven't had a lot of problems playing aggressive damage muradin still. You lose out on healing static, so you need a strong healer, but grabbing reverb at 4 and bronzebeard rage at 13 (7 can be a flex pick, but I don't like using his E offensively if I can help it) makes him exceptionally difficult to ignore, and Avatar gives him the HP to take it.

I do wish there were a couple more anti-spellcaster tanks besides Anub though. Muradin can do the job, but it leaves him mostly unable to handle the enemy frontline and dive.

[Gandariel]

"Lose out on Healing Static" is very, very big.

Just to give you an idea, the combo was:

Double W on 4
Momentum on 7
Avatar on 10
Healing static on 13
Give em the axe on 16
Rewind on 20
Result: you can jump in, press your buttons, and essentially keep the W debuff up constantly, throwing out stuns, dealing significant damage, and basically getting a full heal over a few W casts.
At 20, it's pretty much impossible to die, as rewind +WQE almost guarantees an escape against anything.

Regarding anti-spell Tanks.. Chen is good, but not a full tank.
Johanna does *fine*.
Stitches is probably your best bet after Anub'arak, although he has other weaknesses (such as being useless at peel and defending a dive)

[Grytorm]

Maybe Tyreal? He has around 15 spell armor. Not huge but enough to take the edge off and he is pretty good at diving.

Also, what would the best ludicrous raid boss team be. Where you bundle as much power into one body as possible, ideally while having at least some lane presence. Cho'Gall and Abathur would be the main part of this. Three heroes fighting from one body. But who else would be involved. Maybe Brightwing for the global presence and reasonable damage. And simulates ads from MMOs.

[Keltest]

Maybe Tyreal? He has around 15 spell armor. Not huge but enough to take the edge off and he is pretty good at diving.

Also, what would the best ludicrous raid boss team be. Where you bundle as much power into one body as possible, ideally while having at least some lane presence. Cho'Gall and Abathur would be the main part of this. Three heroes fighting from one body. But who else would be involved. Maybe Brightwing for the global presence and reasonable damage. And simulates ads from MMOs.

Cho'gall, Abathur, Morales (for enrage via stim), and the Lost Vikings (for minions).

Alternatively, instead of Morales, get Anna for Nanoboost.

[ChaosOS]

Anyone else been watching HGC groups?

[Draken]

Anyone else been watching HGC groups?

I tried to on Thursday but twitch kept pausing the stream and being generally annoying to watch so I decided to just wait and watch the matches on Youtube.

[ChaosOS]

Blizzcon is tomorrow, and I've been busy writing. Transpose of my top 10 items for "What's Next"

1. Official API
2. Third Ban
3. Hero Swaps
4. Voice Comms
5. Hero Role Update
6. Raynor/Kerrigan/Tyrael Reworks
7. Stealth Rework/Big Gameplay update
8. Improved Tutorials
9. Shop Changes
10. Group Finder Update

Oh and I've been a busy bee writing articles if you'd like to check up on that.

Also, according to some leaks that were posted apparently we're getting Hanzo, Firebat, and Alexstraza tomorrow

[Keltest]

Blizzcon is tomorrow, and I've been busy writing. Transpose of my top 10 items for "What's Next"

1. Official API
2. Third Ban
3. Hero Swaps
4. Voice Comms
5. Hero Role Update
6. Raynor/Kerrigan/Tyrael Reworks
7. Stealth Rework/Big Gameplay update
8. Improved Tutorials
9. Shop Changes
10. Group Finder Update

Oh and I've been a busy bee writing articles if you'd like to check up on that.

Also, according to some leaks that were posted apparently we're getting Hanzo, Firebat, and Alexstraza tomorrow

Is that list actually things you have indications will be there, or just things you are hoping will be there?

[ChaosOS]

It's a bit of a mix to be honest. I explain a bit more in the article, but top 5 is pretty solidly things I have reasons for, while bottom 5 are much more speculative in their nature

[GolemsVoice]

Forgive my ignorance, but what's API?

[ChaosOS]

Application Programming Interface. Basically, a way for people to "hook in" to a system you've built to grab data that they can come up with their own methods of display.

[Gandariel]

Welp, at least two new heroes are confirmed from Reddit...

[Sholos]

Welp, at least two new heroes are confirmed from Reddit...

Link? For those of us who don't trawl Reddit on the regular.

[GolemsVoice]

Haters gonna hate.

Though I actually already had the two epic skins in different colours.

[Draken]

Well, someone needs to either pay up for the new hosting plan or try something else.

[GolemsVoice]

Damn, I forgot, does that work?

[Gandariel]

Link? For those of us who don't trawl Reddit on the regular.

Didn't want to spoil.

https://m.imgur.com/r/wow/0mvEnAo

[Sholos]

Nice. I played Varian the other day for the first time, and man is the two-sword style fun. I love diving with it.

[GolemsVoice]

Yugo-waka-teki-screw you. Oh boy, not looking forward to that one. Alextrasza, now that's a hero I wanted a long time. Any word on her skills?

[Gandariel]

Nice. I played Varian the other day for the first time, and man is the two-sword style fun. I love diving with it.

Sadly that style isn't used much.
Most people go taunt because he's the strongest with a very good engage.
Some go Twin Blades because they like Sonya but they think waiting 20 levels for Ignore Pain is way too long.

GYAAAAARGH! Varian is certainly fun to play, and frankly terrifying to face. In a coordinated team his engage pretty much spells the death of anyone with a point and click.

Regarding the new heroes... reveal should ne in less than 24 hours, no point in speculating. :)
I heard things about swapping between assassin and support (deagon/human), I've heard about Fireball making it in the game (although I'd be SO much happier with a Hellbat!!!)

[Kitten Champion]

Yugo-waka-teki-screw you. Oh boy, not looking forward to that one. Alextrasza, now that's a hero I wanted a long time. Any word on her skills?

She's a ranged support (looks like aoe healing with a moderate delay) who can go full dragon, which looks awesome.

[ChaosOS]

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/game/...#dragons-event


So far I'm 2/10 on predictions, with more possible to be announced at the "what's next" panel in 4 hours. I do think I struck out on the hero role changes unfortunately

[Grytorm]

Sadly that style isn't used much.
Most people go taunt because he's the strongest with a very good engage.
Some go Twin Blades because they like Sonya but they think waiting 20 levels for Ignore Pain is way too long.

GYAAAAARGH! Varian is certainly fun to play, and frankly terrifying to face. In a coordinated team his engage pretty much spells the death of anyone with a point and click.

Regarding the new heroes... reveal should ne in less than 24 hours, no point in speculating. :)
I heard things about swapping between assassin and support (deagon/human), I've heard about Fireball making it in the game (although I'd be SO much happier with a Hellbat!!!)

I usually went Taunt while playing him to level 5 because I was usually solo tank.

[Keltest]

I usually went Taunt while playing him to level 5 because I was usually solo tank.

I think taunt is what people typically grab him for, with Colossus Smash being the second pick for the burst. Twin blades doesn't really offer anything that another more specialized hero doesn't do better now.

[Grytorm]

Hooray, I've been playing this game a lot again. Acquired all heroes below 10,000 gold. Reached Level 5 on Malthael, discovered I am awful at Malthael. Still need to work on Ana.

Then I decided to play Kael'Thas and somehow did well. Won three games in a row without feeding. Sucesfully resisted the temptation to go Pyroblast. I kind of wish Mana Addict was part of his base kit because it is cool and would help with his mana later in the game.

[GolemsVoice]

Ana is shaping up to being one of my favourite healers, though she is really tricky and requires teammates to be mindful of positioning, because otherwise some teammates become more or less unhealable if blocked.

[Gandariel]

Played Ana with a Samuro ally. Horrible experience xD.

Overall I'm rather optimistic about the changes they discussed so far. Not sure on that performance based MMR, I can see a TON of ways it could backfire.

Will post with more detail when I have time

[shadow_archmagi]

Thoughts on Murky's level 1 talents:

Decoy Eggs: The power to deploy decoy eggs is not the real strength of this talent. The real strength is that you're granted stealth after respawning, allowing you to place your eggs on the front line and then mercilessly force enemies to kill you again and again. The decoy eggs just help make your dangerously-close egg a little safer. Overall, this is my least favorite talent, but there are certain maps where being able to contest a point is very useful. I'd consider taking it on maps like Spooky Cannons or Sand Lasers.

Vision Egg: This gives a BIG vision radius, and it's truesight. This is like Tassadar's oracle power, except permanent. When you're on a map like Immortal Showdown, Russia Robots, or Zergling Rush, having vision of half the map around the control point is a great power move. Many enemies heroes hate being visible, and allied heroes like Sgt. Hammer become dramatically more powerful when they're never denied vision.

Bribery: This is a really good talent because mercenaries are good and killing minions with your pufferfish is what you love doing. It's my default.