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

[Gray Mage]

Anub and Arthas buffs, I like that.

Edit: Did they say anything about ETC's Prog Rock talent? It's of a similar functioning of Regeneration Master, and other talents like that such as Stitches' were changed to reflect RM being a quest talent now, but I didn't see any mention of ETC's.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Really cool bit of the Arthas buff: now that Immortal Coil is a lifesteal talent, Embrace Death became much, much, MUCH better. Let's say you're at half health and target a hero with Death Coil. Not only does it deal 300% damage (i.e., 513 plus 20 per level), but it also heals you for that much. WHAT. This is a basic ability on a 9s cooldown which you can talent into a 7s cooldown, and it damages an enemy for 1k in the lategame, and heals you for 1k when you're at half health. And it gets better if you're at lower health. I was getting to 1,400 healing past Level 20.

Worth noting, it returns health on a delay. So be careful using it.

[ChaosOS]

PTR Balance update: http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/20120029

TL;DR All CC in the game got .25 shaved off, weaker characters got damage and CD buffs on the affected abilities. Also, +4% HP to Tyrael/Chen/Leoric. Beyond that, nerf to the 16 Death Coil talent on Arthas and Kael's W attack buff at 16

[Gray Mage]

Chen is getting a health buff. Coupled with the extra HP he gets when completing Regenation Master talent quest and with his usual high shields, won't he become too tanky? And with stuns nerfed...
Well, I like playing Chen, but still.

[Gaelbert]

PTR Balance update: http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/20120029

TL;DR All CC in the game got .25 shaved off, weaker characters got damage and CD buffs on the affected abilities. Also, +4% HP to Tyrael/Chen/Leoric. Beyond that, nerf to the 16 Death Coil talent on Arthas and Kael's W attack buff at 16

I noticed they didn't touch ETC's, Rexxar's, or Kael'thas' stuns. Anyone know if that was just an oversight or no?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Chen is getting a health buff. Coupled with the extra HP he gets when completing Regenation Master talent quest and with his usual high shields, won't he become too tanky? And with stuns nerfed...
Well, I like playing Chen, but still.

Keep in mind that Regen Master's effect got nerfed from 1.5 regen per stack to 1.0 regen per stack, with the talent quest HP buff as somewhat compensation. So, Chen's regen actually got cut by 33%, and it's even more pronounced since he relies on Amplified Healing in one main build. The health buff is probably what he needs to actually be tanky.

I noticed they didn't touch ETC's, Rexxar's, or Kael'thas' stuns. Anyone know if that was just an oversight or no?

Tyrande's, too.

[Gray Mage]

Keep in mind that Regen Master's effect got nerfed from 1.5 regen per stack to 1.0 regen per stack, with the talent quest HP buff as somewhat compensation. So, Chen's regen actually got cut by 33%, and it's even more pronounced since he relies on Amplified Healing in one main build. The health buff is probably what he needs to actually be tanky.

He's getting a total of 700 extra HP at 20 (a little more, but let's round down). For the 0.5HP/(sec*globe) with 30 globes to heal 700 hp you need an uptime of 46 seconds. Even at 50 globes you need almost half a minute to cover the diference (28 seconds). Out of battle the lessened HP regen won't make a diference in most cases, and in most combat situations are resolved/determined in less than 30 seconds, unless a lot of poke and back and forth is being used. While it's not by that much, I still think he's ahead.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

He's getting a total of 700 extra HP at 20 (a little more, but let's round down). For the 0.5HP/(sec*globe) with 30 globes to heal 700 hp you need an uptime of 46 seconds. Even at 50 globes you need almost half a minute to cover the diference (28 seconds). Out of battle the lessened HP regen won't make a diference in most cases, and in most combat situations are resolved/determined in less than 30 seconds, unless a lot of poke and back and forth is being used. While it's not by that much, I still think he's ahead.

That sounds fine for Chen, since he relies so heavily on his brew for sustain. The increased health should let him build super-tanky, while also opening up other builds (since he doesn't need to use talents to sustain).

[Gaelbert]

Chen is getting a health buff. Coupled with the extra HP he gets when completing Regenation Master talent quest and with his usual high shields, won't he become too tanky? And with stuns nerfed...
Well, I like playing Chen, but still.

I've actually been thinking a lot about how these upcoming changes are going to effect Chen. On the one hand, I think Chen's one of the few tanks who will definitely benefit from the Regen Master changes. On the other hand, I think the stun-duration nerf is going to end up hurting Chen. The way I see it, Chen's problem isn't being stunned, it's getting stunned. With stun duration decreased but stun cooldowns decreased as well, I think this is probably going to be a net nerf for him.

[Gray Mage]

I've actually been thinking a lot about how these upcoming changes are going to effect Chen. On the one hand, I think Chen's one of the few tanks who will definitely benefit from the Regen Master changes. On the other hand, I think the stun-duration nerf is going to end up hurting Chen. The way I see it, Chen's problem isn't being stunned, it's getting stunned. With stun duration decreased but stun cooldowns decreased as well, I think this is probably going to be a net nerf for him.

Only Brightwing and Uther got stun cooldown reductions.

[Rosstin]

Hey guys, I wanted to get on your friends list thing. Rosstin#1609.

Thanks for the games yesterday, GrayMage. Sorry the game was bugging out >_>

Do we have a Discord channel?

[ChaosOS]

Rosstin, EU or NA?

Also, no we do not have a discord server

[CarpeGuitarrem]

So I just watched Dreadnaught's battleground breakdown (warning: some brief strong language), and then I played a game on Sky Temple, and wow.

It's not that I remembered the specifics of his breakdown, but there's just so much there in his video (and in the linked Dragon Shire guide) that has to do with the meta-level, and how to approach a map. It really, really puts things in perspective when you start to understand how everything a team does has to have a point. We wound up focusing down the bottom lane, then pushing a boss through for the win before 17 minutes. I was more or less a shotcaller for the team, and it felt great to actually be doing stuff with intention (in particular, I enjoyed not wasting time on ineffective focuses, and I also liked knowing what we should be doing at any particular time, rather than just randomly pushing lanes and going for objectives and trying to get kills).

The most important part was that, largely because of the way we approached the game, we landed a solid XP lead just for playing the strategic metagame competently (and not wasting time), and I think there's a strong correlation between having a level lead and having your teammates behave. Would-be AFKers don't get fussy, because you're constantly ahead on levels (and often ahead on talent tiers), you don't get the downward blame spiral, and people are enthusiastic about following the lead.

So I might try focusing on Hero League again. I think I'm starting to understand things that I need to know to get higher in rank.

[Gaelbert]

Hey guys, I wanted to get on your friends list thing. Rosstin#1609.

Thanks for the games yesterday, GrayMage. Sorry the game was bugging out >_>

Do we have a Discord channel?

As ChaosOS said, we don't have a Discord. I do have a Mumble server and I play a ton on the NA servers, so if anyone (or multiple people) ever want to group and use voice comms I'd be more than happy to share it.

So I just watched Dreadnaught's battleground breakdown (warning: some brief strong language), and then I played a game on Sky Temple, and wow.

It's not that I remembered the specifics of his breakdown, but there's just so much there in his video (and in the linked Dragon Shire guide) that has to do with the meta-level, and how to approach a map. It really, really puts things in perspective when you start to understand how everything a team does has to have a point. We wound up focusing down the bottom lane, then pushing a boss through for the win before 17 minutes. I was more or less a shotcaller for the team, and it felt great to actually be doing stuff with intention (in particular, I enjoyed not wasting time on ineffective focuses, and I also liked knowing what we should be doing at any particular time, rather than just randomly pushing lanes and going for objectives and trying to get kills).

The most important part was that, largely because of the way we approached the game, we landed a solid XP lead just for playing the strategic metagame competently (and not wasting time), and I think there's a strong correlation between having a level lead and having your teammates behave. Would-be AFKers don't get fussy, because you're constantly ahead on levels (and often ahead on talent tiers), you don't get the downward blame spiral, and people are enthusiastic about following the lead.

So I might try focusing on Hero League again. I think I'm starting to understand things that I need to know to get higher in rank.

That video is great and it works particularly well for Sky Temple. Temple is one of those maps where you can usually win the game based off of strategic choices, soaking XP at the right time, and getting mercs properly timed even if your teamfights are sub-par. You'd be amazed how much a simple decision like "getting top bruisers before the second temple phase" can pay off in XP and structural damage.

I recently purchased Kael'thas, after realizing that he'll always be a top tier character due to Blizz's love for him, and he's legitimately a ton of fun to play. I think I've played 30 consecutive matches with him, and I'm not one to spam characters over and over.

[Gandariel]

Also, no we do not have a discord server

Weeeell.

Technically, GolemsVoice, Frog Dragon and I do have a discord server called M4D $K1LLZ. But we are all EU.
Still, you're all welcome to join.

I can't put up an invitation link here because they only "work" for 24 hours or so; just PM me and I'll send you a link.


Also, random thoughts.

Anub now feels very strong, I hope they don't nerf him.

My best hero is officially Diablo. I consistently get top hero damage (in QM, at least) and land a ton of EQ kills. He is so fun and rewarding to use.

Really, people just need to understand that QE doesn't work. It positions you awfully, it still pushes the enemy away from your team.
90% times you should be doing EQ.

The Q nerf is not a big deal. You can't use it to escape anymore, but that was probably not intended anyways.

Not a fan of his trait, since lategame you're very weak.

My build is (I think) the most common one. Trait-W-trait- either ult- W-W- usually Lord of Terror.

I love playing Li Ming.
I'm very happy they nerfed her until she's fair, so I can play her with no problems :P

My build:
1) Astral Presence(usually) or Power hungry (some maps)
4) Triumvirate. Holy cow the mileage I get out of this talent. Shut up Dominance, I can OOM every healer by just spamming W.
7) Zel's vengeance. Because offensive Teleport doesn't really work if you don't have Dominance.
And because the W damage is very real.
And because I usually die if I'm close enough to use that thing.

10) usually BZZZZZ. The other one looks cool too, but BZZZZZ
13) Glass Cannon if I feel safe, illusionist otherwise.
16) Arcane Orbit. How do you like 1000+ damage balls, from a screen away, every 3 seconds?
20) more PEWPEWPEW. Tal Rasha is good too, but I like the slow.

I honestly just play this build because of the sound of W.
Seriously, that is so satisfying. Even if you don't kill them, you basically hear them say "Owch!"

Playstyle is just "stay away and poke forever". Get good at learning when they're coming to gank you, and learn to dodge stuns: one is often enough to kill you

[CarpeGuitarrem]

So, when I was playing Thrall earlier, I had one game where we faced off against a team that queued into Cho'Gall and Arthas.

I had immense pleasure talenting into Giant Killer and Blood for Blood. Lemme tell you, Blood for Blood against Cho'Gall is basically like having your own personal Ancestral Healing.

[Gaelbert]

So, when I was playing Thrall earlier, I had one game where we faced off against a team that queued into Cho'Gall and Arthas.

I had immense pleasure talenting into Giant Killer and Blood for Blood. Lemme tell you, Blood for Blood against Cho'Gall is basically like having your own personal Ancestral Healing.

I've been playing a lot more Anub'arak recently because I realized I'm not nearly as successful with Muradin as I thought (not bad, but not great). The funny thing is, I think I've played so many more games against Cho'gall as Anub than I ever did before, and it's so satisfying. The stuns, the Dampen Magic, the 10 sec stasis ult, Blood for Blood, Anub just crushes Cho'gall so hard. It's been a ton of fun to play.

[ChaosOS]

Big announcements! Unranked Draft incoming!

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/20131413


And then a patch today!

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/20131418/

[CarpeGuitarrem]

For all that people are enthused about Unranked Draft, I'm just solidly "meh" on it (I view drafting and banning as a sort of necessary evil, and would vastly prefer a pre-game blind pick lobby), and super-worried that Unranked + Arena will just split the playerbase even more. If QM gets to be too bad for queue times, I may switch to Unranked just because it's closer to ranked play, but it'll probably be largely populated by tryhards who flame people for making "bad drafts" anyhow. (I'm gonna be squarely in the camp of "whatever, it's not ranked play, it's not a serious game" and try out stuff like Abathur in-draft.)

That said, I'm happy to see some of the other stuff. The uncertainty boost is gonna be great for ranked play, and it'll offer me a chance to keep trying to shake off my early awful placement games, along with the ladder reset.

[turbo164]

For all that people are enthused about Unranked Draft, I'm just solidly "meh" on it (I view drafting and banning as a sort of necessary evil, and would vastly prefer a pre-game blind pick lobby), and super-worried that Unranked + Arena will just split the playerbase even more. If QM gets to be too bad for queue times, I may switch to Unranked just because it's closer to ranked play, but it'll probably be largely populated by tryhards who flame people for making "bad drafts" anyhow. (I'm gonna be squarely in the camp of "whatever, it's not ranked play, it's not a serious game" and try out stuff like Abathur in-draft.)

That said, I'm happy to see some of the other stuff. The uncertainty boost is gonna be great for ranked play, and it'll offer me a chance to keep trying to shake off my early awful placement games, along with the ladder reset.

Yeah if the QM queues slow down I'll probably end up in AI matches more often to knock out daily quests.

"Hi guys, I know I'm in Draft mode but I need StarCraft and Support so I'm picking Tassadar no matter what."

[Gray Mage]

Does anyone play PTR? Polybomb reminds me of the old living bomb that could chain endlessly, and not in a good way.

[Anxe]

Does anyone play PTR? Polybomb reminds me of the old living bomb that could chain endlessly, and not in a good way.

I don't do PTR, but I assumed it would only seem OP for the first few weeks of Medivh's release. Once people learn, "if you're hit by Polybomb, move away from the team," it should be a decent ultimate instead of a fight-winning one.

[Gandariel]

I don't play PTR, but from the trailer I actually thought Poly bomb was the WEAK ult .

The other one looks super strong:
Basically Void prison, but enemies can't jump into it if they're outnumbered, and enemies get released from the prison one at a time, so you are CONSTANTLY in numerical advantage

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I don't play PTR, but from the trailer I actually thought Poly bomb was the WEAK ult .

The other one looks super strong:
Basically Void prison, but enemies can't jump into it if they're outnumbered, and enemies get released from the prison one at a time, so you are CONSTANTLY in numerical advantage

I'm inclined to agree. Leyline Seal will have a lot more general utility.

That said, Polybomb will have hilarious application in a wombo comp. Picture an engagement where you cast Polybomb on someone right as Diablo casts Apocalypse on a bunched-up enemy group. The polymorph expires during their stun, and immediately spreads to the rest of the group. It also works well with Mosh Pit and Grav-O-Bomb, and even the Level 20 upgrade on Lamb to the Slaughter. Basically, it's an ult that needs combo to really wreak havoc.

Also saw an interesting suggestion that you can use it to disrupt a capture point. If you poly someone and your team dives in, the enemy team has to choose: defend their teammate (and the capture point) and risk getting mass-polymorphed, or get out?

Poly-bomb is going to be the premium ult for coordinated compositions, I think.

[Gray Mage]

If you can, I highly recomend viewing the Medivh trailer on youtube.

Spoiler

Show

That Gul'dan tease.

[ChaosOS]

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/...2016-6-14-2016 Patch notes!

Unranked Draft! Ranked play update! Season 1! Medivh! Tyrael Mana buffs! Performance fixes!

Also, Medivh Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXCbPBRMmiI

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Played around with Medivh a little, then switched to placement games since the Medivh cue is really long. Understandably so. I quickly learned that even Elite AI doesn't play around poly-bomb very well.

Placement matches not going the greatest, but I like my teams (on the whole) more than my usual rank, so I'm hopeful that this is my path to a better rank. Now watch me hit Bronze 3 or something.

[ChaosOS]

Anyone played with/against medivh? I've only been playing ranked and so I haven't seen him at all

[Gandariel]

Nope.
He seems hard to use though, so I'm not sure we'll see much of him in Ranked for a few days.

just played exactly ONE placement match, where we out-comp'd them and beat them soundly.

Li ming rehgar Sonya ETC Sylvanas on sky temple:

Sylvanas spent the whole game split pushing and racking up XP, I (Li Ming) did way more poke damage (poke = 1000-damage balls of death every 3 seconds) than their Uther could heal, and the rest of the team made sure their front line couldn't break ours.

Have I mentioned how much I love W build Li Ming lately?

[Either mana regen, W,W, pewpew,Glass Cannon(if possible)/illusionist(if you need), W, pewpew]

People keep telling me that "blah blah good people dodge orbs" but frankly I don't think it's so true.

At my skill level (barely rank 1) there seems to be no problem hitting my W (and getting the CD reduction) consistently.

Also, question.
Since I just want to get the best rank possible out of my placement games, would it be recommended to play placement ts ASAP or wait until it's settled?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I think what I can say about placement games is that MMR is more volatile the closer it is to a reset, which might afford you a chance to move up in rank if you consider yourself "stuck" at a low rank. Otherwise, I wouldn't fault people for waiting a bit until stuff settles.

I just went gung-ho and did my placements ASAP. 3-7, and...well...I wound up Silver 5. So, could be better. On the other hand, after 23 games this season, I've only lost one other Ranked game outside of placement matches, which brings me to a 65% winrate! I'm climbing ever-so-surely! (Silver 3 at this point, with just a couple games until I hit promotion to Silver 2...)

We'll see if I can get to Platinum this season for the mount. I'm not placing bets on it, but it'd sure be nice. I'm sure things won't always be going as smoothly for me as they are currently.