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

[Kitten Champion]

I think its more likely they'll throw buffs on him because he's sitting in the mid 40s in terms of winrate right now.

Eh, I think he's going to be on the lower end of win-rates so long as his kit is tied to coordinated play like Medivh. Maybe he does need to be tuned upward, but it's so easy to screw over your Deckard by tunnel-visioning on your own needs - not really getting how to properly manage your resources across a team, not keeping your supports in mind with your positioning, and in the case of "Stay a While and Listen" how to properly follow up on CC - none of which would be resolved by upping his digits.

[Gandariel]

Guis? Are you there?

We are definitely here and still playing somewhat regularly :P

Diablo is the best. He's a bit overtured now, but he's so fun. I'm afraid they'll take away Devil's due

Btw, I just had a game where we went high level. Like, 25 I think.

They started by massacring us because they had stitches and artanis and kept getting great swaps / hooks on us.

Fortunately we managed to stay alive until 20, where our lategame really shone and we were able to make a comeback.

Our Chromie's Q was dealing over 2k damage (200 stacks + the echo). We had a nazeebo with 200+stacks too.
I was Falstad, my Gathering storm Q was dealing.. I think around 1.5k, and I had a few nice hero moments with my gusts, even though Hanzo's Qs were hitting me so flippin hard.

Several wipes on both teams, very tense match. We won in the end, but it was surely memorable.

[Spore]

Several wipes on both teams, very tense match. We won in the end, but it was surely memorable.

I had one thing like that too. Seeing what you and your group is doing wrong and still going down that road is frustrating. But that is Bronze league QM for you. We won because we sucked a bit less (25/25 game but we could have won on 20 if people just pushed with minions for once.

[Kitten Champion]

I had the longest game I've ever experienced in HotS yesterday-ish - well, the day ended while playing - that went for an hour and three minutes. It was on Haunted Mines, with both teams down to just their core around the 25-minute mark and then from there it was like a really drawn out capture-the-flag match.

Basically, both sides had pretty strong PvE Heroes like Hanzo and Malthael - while I was playing Lunara - and we just kept getting near-equivalent Golems and then shredding them down before they managed to breach the core's shields. Every time there was a kill it was met with a counter-kill, and while we had PvE no one had any bloody siege to make a core dive palatable. Plus everyone was preoccupied killing minions which kept both sides from having a comprehensive team fight.

Eventually the frustration mounted, there was over-aggressive move by my team, and we lost. Which vexed me to no end, particularly as it would've been my first win of the day, and playing with Lunara in normal length matches is already pretty exhausting with her being composed primarily of glass and all.

[Spore]

Eh, I think he's going to be on the lower end of win-rates so long as his kit is tied to coordinated play like Medivh. Maybe he does need to be tuned upward, but it's so easy to screw over your Deckard by tunnel-visioning on your own needs.

I have had the pleasure of being a walking learning experience today. It just clicked with people. "Stay with the healer and you get healed. Protect the healer and he can CC your enemies for you. If you are extra nice he can even tank a boss camp if you are quick enough in killing it.

Seriously, Safety in Numbers gives 20 permanent armor, along with a potion every 1,5s that potentially even shields you can make Deckard a vicious tank. the main problem. If people flee before you do, suddenly you are the squishie backline healer without armor amidst the enemy.

[Draken]

I had the longest game I've ever experienced in HotS yesterday-ish - well, the day ended while playing - that went for an hour and three minutes. It was on Haunted Mines, with both teams down to just their core around the 25-minute mark and then from there it was like a really drawn out capture-the-flag match.

Basically, both sides had pretty strong PvE Heroes like Hanzo and Malthael - while I was playing Lunara - and we just kept getting near-equivalent Golems and then shredding them down before they managed to breach the core's shields. Every time there was a kill it was met with a counter-kill, and while we had PvE no one had any bloody siege to make a core dive palatable. Plus everyone was preoccupied killing minions which kept both sides from having a comprehensive team fight.

Eventually the frustration mounted, there was over-aggressive move by my team, and we lost. Which vexed me to no end, particularly as it would've been my first win of the day, and playing with Lunara in normal length matches is already pretty exhausting with her being composed primarily of glass and all.

The real question is, did you get to level 30?

[Kitten Champion]

The real question is, did you get to level 30?

Yeah. I'm not sure when, as there's no real reason to care about your level past 20 so I stop looking.

We just got caught in a mix of anemic party composition and decision paralysis on both sides. Plus it's Haunted Mines, which doesn't have the best win-conditions. If you can deal with the Golem as well as the other team, it's not hard to turtle up and offer no clear avenue to attack.

[Kitten Champion]

Oh~

A Diablo rework . I legit didn't see that coming.

I don't know how it's going to pan out balance-wise, I like Flame Stomp as something you need to aim and they finally implemented the feature to see the map geometry for his charge mechanic to make him feel more in line with the modern Heroes as just gameplay and quality of life improvements.

[Spore]

On a side note: Did Luchador "El Diablo" get hinted at with the hero update title card?

https://twitter.com/BlizzHeroes/stat...98324586528769

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Oh~

A Diablo rework . I legit didn't see that coming.

I don't know how it's going to pan out balance-wise, I like Flame Stomp as something you need to aim and they finally implemented the feature to see the map geometry for his charge mechanic to make him feel more in line with the modern Heroes as just gameplay and quality of life improvements.

Flame Stomp looks really boss now. The charge reset talent for it is gonna be super fun. Also, they increased the baseline charge range, apparently.

[Kitten Champion]

On a side note: Did Luchador "El Diablo" get hinted at with the hero update title card?

https://twitter.com/BlizzHeroes/stat...98324586528769

I assume so. They had a similar Luchador-esque image with Sonya and (I think) Li-Ming on before. That Diablo would be in on that seemed natural, and there that is.

Flame Stomp looks really boss now. The charge reset talent for it is gonna be super fun. Also, they increased the baseline charge range, apparently.

It'll be a success from my standpoint if they have actual competing builds for him.

I really like the new Flame Stomp. always hated the way it just felt like a superfluous third talent before. I mean, you could use it to interrupt channelled objectives and knock Heroes off of their mounts, but it feels like it was mostly there to have a button to touch.

Edit: Lunara's rework is here too, so they're doing them two at a time like with Sonya/Medivh. I like what they did with the wisp in general, but just moving Siphoning Toxin to an earlier talent tier doesn't change that it's a pretty underwhelming heal all-told.

Also, the Luchador-esque image was probably Lunara and not Li_Ming.

[Gandariel]

Lunara rework looks pretty underwhelming. Honestly I was more interested in KT's latest changes, and they didn't give him a video.


Diablo.. all I can say is <3. Hope his plays
Style doesn't change too much.

[Kitten Champion]

Oooh~

Finally a Draenei Hero. I never played WoD, though I am generally familiar with Yrel, particularly as they've apparently moved her from an innocent Jeanne d'Arc character into a fanatical tyrant of some kind because WoW has interesting ideas of what a morally grey universe is.

Still, I played the hell out of a Draenei Paladin when I was little and... objectively pretty bad at the game. It was kind of disheartening to see every Orc in the known universe show up in HotS - along with at least a member of every other racial faction (except Gnomes, technically) - and yet no love for Space Goats. Though, I was assuming Velen like a lot of people. Two old men with bearded prophet archetype in a row would've been odd. Plus, they presumably wanted another Tank for their release schedule and it had to be Warcraft-related to coincide with the new map's release, and Velen's not a tank. So it checks a number of boxes off.

Anyways, I want another tank for my Hero pool.-The two I play comfortably are Muradin and Johanna really, and Yrel has qualities of both in her kit as well as the fact that a solid Tank with healing abilities would do well in a QM universe. Though, her two weakness are being CC'd out of her abilities and high mobility heroes apparently. So I'm pretty... concerned for her, shall we say.

As to the new map, I like the use of boss-like lore characters as their Cores. Otherwise it's a mix of mechanics from other maps that I generally enjoy playing.

I am curious if MULE works on them, and how fast the Hero/Cores heal once leashed. Also, do minions still attack them after the Keeps are down? Because it doesn't seem that way. It looks more like you have to go in with your Heroes like its a raid.

Edit: Wait, no, they show them attacking with the Hero players at the very end. It doesn't look like you get catapults though or that the minions can win on their own.

[Gandariel]

I know nothing of Wow, so I'm not particularly attached to Yrel. Except both her name sounds different than what I would have thought (Ee-rel)

Kit wise... she's muradin.
Which is good, because I love Muradin :)

Map looks ok, nothing ground-breaking.. the objective seems weak.. but maybe if you draft super split pushy?

[Kitten Champion]

I know nothing of Wow, so I'm not particularly attached to Yrel. Except both her name sounds different than what I would have thought (Ee-rel)

Warcraft is heavily Norse flavoured, or became so over time. They like Germanic/Norse pronunciations, also Tyr shows up a lot.

Map looks ok, nothing ground-breaking.. the objective seems weak.. but maybe if you draft super split pushy?

Looks like a bigger version of Tomb of the Spider Queen, at least in terms of win conditions.

[Spore]

I know nothing of Wow, so I'm not particularly attached to Yrel. Except both her name sounds different than what I would have thought (Ee-rel)

The average Wow player doesn't know much about her either. She was introduced in one expansion, then her character defining raid was cancelled and then they let a 25 year time skip evolve her from benevolent ruler of Draenei to tyrannical inquisitor.

They CALL her Exarch. But she is lacking the insignia that she got when Velen promoted her to one. So it's likely a more good-hearted but stern paladin. (The spec's name is Retribution after all).

[Gandariel]

So I got into a discussion:what's Yrel's best level 7 talent? They all seem sick, but I think the E CD one is the best, a friend prefers Insta mount. Thoughts?

[Kitten Champion]

Her release alternative skin has a Harley Quinn-esque theme to it, which an interesting choice. Though, a little less obvious than Junkrat's.

...looking at it again, pig-tails and a hammer, I see the sense.

So I got into a discussion:what's Yrel's best level 7 talent? They all seem sick, but I think the E CD one is the best, a friend prefers Insta mount. Thoughts?

Insta-mount will probably be the best in most situations. You've got her version of Dwarf Toss to exit any battle immediately and then BAM you're on a mount and making trails. Plus you can cycle just that much quicker between lanes from 7 on.

I also like the speed upgrade for her hammer-swing (W) talent. I could easily see activating that then zooming in with a few allies for a ganke.

What I'm surprised about is just much healing/support abilities she has. She has a talent which functions like Li Li's heal with it automatically targeting the lowest health ally when she pops her Divine Purpose trait, combined with a later CD reduction talent for it and you could actually be quite useful in that role. Which, including that with her mobility options, CC, fairly useful Heroic Abilities - I think she may just be the ideal QM Tank.

I'm also surprised she has no Quest talents, that's the first in... I don't know how long.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I've heard that the core bosses will be treated as buildings, so MULE yes, %damage no.

[Spore]

Her lack of a quest talent is good because in my Bronze experience it encourages and rewards an incredibly greedy playstyle that often ruins my experience because of feeders.

Also heroes like Chen tend to be unplayed because theyre walking quest stacks.

[Keltest]

Her lack of a quest talent is good because in my Bronze experience it encourages and rewards an incredibly greedy playstyle that often ruins my experience because of feeders.

Also heroes like Chen tend to be unplayed because theyre walking quest stacks.

The only quest I can think of that really dramatically alters the way I see people play is convection, and that's unusual for a quest in that you can completely restart it, so it creates an unhealthy dynamic for Kael where he tries to be super aggressive and everyone tries to kill him. Otherwise, I might see Muradin chuck a storm bolt at somebody when neither side can really engage, but I don't see people doing stupid things to build quest stacks too often.


Chen is unplayed because he cant peel for crap and there are better heroes to pick for going after a back line, not because he's a big quest target.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Every so often, I get greedy and chase regen orbs for a quest, and it gets me killed.

Unrelated: had a Diablo quest, so I played Li-Ming to level her up, got back to back 0-death MVPs. That was really fun. Her teleport build is still a fun style of play, I love jumping on people and watching them explode!

[Keltest]

Every so often, I get greedy and chase regen orbs for a quest, and it gets me killed.

Unrelated: had a Diablo quest, so I played Li-Ming to level her up, got back to back 0-death MVPs. That was really fun. Her teleport build is still a fun style of play, I love jumping on people and watching them explode!

Theres a certain satisfaction in watching a really well executed Calamity ming.

[Gandariel]

Otherwise, I might see Muradin chuck a storm bolt at somebody when neither side can really engage, but I don't see people doing stupid things to build quest stacks too often.

That is my one guilty pleasure.

I'm otherwise a pretty decent player (currently Plat, but I barely play 20 ranked games per season - I usually play with friends), but spamming abilities for quest completion (or pure number padding) gives me such unhealthy pleasure :P

[Keltest]

That is my one guilty pleasure.

I'm otherwise a pretty decent player (currently Plat, but I barely play 20 ranked games per season - I usually play with friends), but spamming abilities for quest completion (or pure number padding) gives me such unhealthy pleasure :P

For quests like Muradin's storm bolt, there is merit to completing it earlier. the piercing makes it harder for allies to protect an important channel or hide behind someone while they try to evade a dive, and if you took the damage talent it builds that much faster.

[Gandariel]

Theres a certain satisfaction in watching a really well executed Calamity ming.

I have that feeling with Kerrigan.

She feels so fragile and weak when I play her, and frankly most of the times I see her played by someone else.

But when a *GOOD* Kerrigan is around...

[Spore]

I have that feeling with Kerrigan.

She feels so fragile and weak when I play her, and frankly most of the times I see her played by someone else.

But when a *GOOD* Kerrigan is around...

I think she stops being frail with that lv 7 talent that doubles shields.

[Gandariel]

That's at 16.

At 7 she has battle momentum, or increased life+mana Regan while trait is up, or... something else. I usually take momentum, but I'm hardly a good Kerrigan

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I have that feeling with Kerrigan.

She feels so fragile and weak when I play her, and frankly most of the times I see her played by someone else.

But when a *GOOD* Kerrigan is around...

Oh man that reminds me of the 5v5 Kerrigan brawl we had on the Volskaya deathmatch brawl thing.

[Kitten Champion]

The only quest I can think of that really dramatically alters the way I see people play is convection, and that's unusual for a quest in that you can completely restart it, so it creates an unhealthy dynamic for Kael where he tries to be super aggressive and everyone tries to kill him. Otherwise, I might see Muradin chuck a storm bolt at somebody when neither side can really engage, but I don't see people doing stupid things to build quest stacks too often.


Chen is unplayed because he cant peel for crap and there are better heroes to pick for going after a back line, not because he's a big quest target.

It does brighten up my day to see a Kael who knows what Mana Addict is.

I mostly see players occasionally overextend for Regen Globes - particularly early on to the 2018 changes with the two globes and some question as to how powerful cannons/towers are. Usually Quests are pretty synergistic with good gameplay - especially for base quests like Jaina's or Chromie's - although they also push me off Heroes I'm not good at, like Alarak,

Also - going over it in my head - I think Li-Ming is the last hero to not have a Quest of any kind.