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Heroes of the Storm hype thread - Now Fully Released

#1

Bowielee

Bowielee

This thread is a preemptive placeholder for Blizzard's MOBA type game.

You can register for the alpha/beta here: http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/

I've been in the alpha for a few months now and I'm having an absolute blast with it. They have recently moved into the final alpha phase, which means that the closed beta shouldn't be very far behind.

They've recently added Chen Stormstout, Anub'Aruk, and Azmodan to the roster.

Abathur and Murky for life yo!


#2

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Sure wish I could play this... I've turned to DOTA2 in desperation.

Still don't like it that much.


#3

CrimsonSoul

CrimsonSoul

Message me, @Ravenpoe


#4

Necronic

Necronic

idgi. Isn't DOTA the Blizzard MOBA? Seems like they are competing against themselves


#5

Bowielee

Bowielee

I'm fairly certain that Blizzard doesn't get paid for a free mod.


#6

Terrik

Terrik

Necronic said:
idgi. Isn't DOTA the Blizzard MOBA? Seems like they are competing against themselves
Click to expand...
DOTA 2 is run by Valve.


#7

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Necronic said:
idgi. Isn't DOTA the Blizzard MOBA? Seems like they are competing against themselves
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Blizzard lost the court case against the DOTA creators and no longer have any rights to DOTA, which was then purchased by Valve who created DOTA2. So yeah, Blizzard has nothing to do with DOTA anymore, other than that it was born out of a fan-made custom starcraft map, and then the eponymous Warcraft 3 map.


#8

Necronic

Necronic

Huh. Huge mistake on Blizzards part not to snatch that IP up full and clear when they could have. Anyways, went and looked the lawsuit up. It might be a bit strong to say that Blizzard lost. Looks like Blizzard and Valve settled out of court. In other words Valve bought whatever part of the DOTA IP may have belonged to Blizzard and DOTA-Allstars.[DOUBLEPOST=1412787685,1412787365][/DOUBLEPOST]
Bowielee said:
I'm fairly certain that Blizzard doesn't get paid for a free mod.
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Also, this is not a straightforward issue. It was (originally) a free mod of Blizzard's software. Determination of ownership of mods is an incredibly grey area that really hasn't been sorted out. For instance I can't sell 3rd party add-ons to many popular MMOs. If I can't sell it, could I argue sole ownership? I doubt it. In some cases I can if I pay a licensing fee, but how the licensing arrangement is set up may give carte-blanche to the mod-developer or may not. I'm not a lawyer by any means, but I don't think a mod developer actually fully owns his mod.

The complexity of this issue (I couldn't find a definitive answer with google) may be the reason Valve chose to settle.


#9

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I think Blizzard was really at a disadvantage there, at least when up against Valve. Valve has a long history of recruiting popular modmakers into the fold and making full fledged games out of them, whereas this was the first blizzard game mod that ever gained really big popularity.


#10

Necronic

Necronic

Wasn't there a sort of single-player RPG style thing in Warcraft 3?


#11

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Necronic said:
Wasn't there a sort of single-player RPG style thing in Warcraft 3?
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I'm not sure, there were tons of custom maps like that, but none of them got the kind of popularity that DOTA got. In its heyday, DOTA games made up more than 50% of the WC3 games being played on bnet.


#12

Necronic

Necronic

Huh, reading up on MOBA history is cool. Apparently the inspiration for AOS came from a certain playmode of Future COP: LAPD.

I remember that game, and that playmode. I played a ton of it.[DOUBLEPOST=1412788663,1412788394][/DOUBLEPOST]
Ravenpoe said:
I'm not sure, there were tons of custom maps like that, but none of them got the kind of popularity that DOTA got. In its heyday, DOTA games made up more than 50% of the WC3 games being played on bnet.
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This wasn't a custom map, it was included in the game itself. Maybe it was in the Frozen Throne one. The reason I ask is that the version I remembered had some stuff that was very Dota-esque. Actually, reading up on it, the whole concept of Heroes that came into being in WC3 seems like a very obvious predescessor for Dota. From the wiki (bolded for emphasis):

In addition, Warcraft III adds powerful new units called heroes. For each enemy unit killed, a hero will gain experience points, which allow the hero to level-up to a maximum level of 10. Progressing up a level increases the heroes attributes and also allows the hero to gain new spell options (bringing role-playing video game elements to the series).[10] Certain hero abilities can apply beneficial auras to allied units. All heroes can equip items to increase skills, defense, and other abilities. At level six, the hero can obtain an "ultimate" skill that is more powerful than the three other spells that the hero possesses. Heroes can also utilize the various natural resources found throughout the map, such as controllable non-player characters, and markets in which the hero can purchase usable items.[11] Often, hero units become the deciding factor in determining a winner.
Click to expand...

X


#13

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Necronic said:
Huh, reading up on MOBA history is cool. Apparently the inspiration for AOS came from a certain playmode of Future COP: LAPD.

I remember that game, and that playmode. I played a ton of it.[DOUBLEPOST=1412788663,1412788394][/DOUBLEPOST]

This wasn't a custom map, it was included in the game itself. Maybe it was in the Frozen Throne one. The reason I ask is that the version I remembered had some stuff that was very Dota-esque. Actually, reading up on it, the whole concept of Heroes that came into being in WC3 seems like a very obvious predescessor for Dota. From the wiki (bolded for emphasis):




X
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Oh, I know what you're talking about then, it was a side story that starred Rexxar.


#14

filmfanatic

filmfanatic

All I want to know is if the Lost Vikings are going to turn up at all in this?


#15

Bowielee

Bowielee

Regardless of the whole DOTA thing, Heroes of the Storm is by far my favorite MOBA style game. Basically take how they streamlined the CCG genre for Hearthstone and apply it to traditional MOBAs and you have HotS.

Personally, I love that they cut out all the things I hate about the genre. No more fifteen to twenty minute lane phase that lets one hero power level over everyone else and snowball the enemy. No more having to worry about a shop, instead you have talents that take their place. No more kill hogging. Assists with kills and kills are lumped together, so support heroes don't get bitched out for having low kill ratios while doing their intended job. It all makes for a faster, more streamlined, and more engaging experience, IMO.

It's also based largely on teamwork. Objectives are important and can sway the tide of the game, and the variety of different types of maps are great with unique objectives on each one.

My absolute favorite thing is that they have an entirely new classification of hero type in Specialist heroes. These are heroes that have unique mechanics that focus on full on lane pushing, or just plain unique mechanics. For example Gazlowe is built for jungling with a turret system, Murky has an egg that he can place on the map that becomes his spawn point that gives him a 1.5 cooldown. He's basically a suicide bomber assassin. Abathur is by far my favorite. He doesn't even directly enter combat, instead infesting friendly creeps or heroes with a parasite that allows him to attack through the infested unit and when not doing that he lays down toxic mines that can slow or poison damage enemies that walk over it.

I just straight up love this game.


#16

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Been playing the alpha off and on, it's definitely my favorite MOBA in production since the original DOTA.


#17

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, Blizzcon is here, and with it a few cool announcements.

Closed Beta begins January 13th.

New heroes coming up:

Jaina Proudmoore
Sylvannas Windrunner
Thrall
The Lost Vikings

The lost vikings look like they will be interesting, I think they may be playing with how you can micromanage multiple characters to tweak some of the other heroes' summons because things like Raynor's banshees and Kerigan's ultralisk are nigh useless because you can't direct them once their summoned.

Two new battlegrounds, one with an objective beacon that, if you capture it, it bombards the enemy heroes, but not only will the enemy heroes be pushing you off the objective, but it also spawns AI minions that try to clear everyone off the beacon. The other is a desert map, looks like it's going to work kind of like the golem map now.


#18

Terrik

Terrik

The Lost Vikings

Seems like we have a contender for Blizzard's version of DOTA's Meepo.


#19

Bowielee

Bowielee

Additional heroes announced from the Diablo Universe

The Skeleton King
The Butcher
The Crusader


#20

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Bowielee said:
Additional heroes announced from the Diablo Universe

The Skeleton King
The Butcher
The Crusader
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Don't think those were "new" heroes. Crusader might be since the rig was not done and she was just in the t-pose, but the frame of Skeleton King looks a lot like Lich King, and same for Butcher with Stitches. I am pretty sure they will be alternate skins.


#21

Bowielee

Bowielee

Jaina just came out today. She's pretty fun.


#22

Dei

Dei

Just got an invite for HotS! :aaah:


#23

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

So, apparently I've been in the alpha since the start of December, and I just never noticed the email. Huh.


#24

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, I've unlocked all the heroes I did purchase a lot of them through the packs, but that was money that I'd already spent prior to the final alpha wipe, so I don't consider it spending new money :p . Thank god there are no more wipes. Now I have to work on leveling them all up so I can unlock the talent gates.


#25

Dave

Dave

I have this and have yet to open it. Not a fan of LoL or things of that ilk, but I've never really given them a chance because the players are all dicks. Should I pop it open and give it a chance?


#26

Bowielee

Bowielee

It's free, no point in not trying it. If you don't like it, no loss. While I enjoyed some of the other MOBA games, none has hooked me nearly as much as HoTS has.


#27

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Dave said:
I have this and have yet to open it. Not a fan of LoL or things of that ilk, but I've never really given them a chance because the players are all dicks. Should I pop it open and give it a chance?
Click to expand...
Dying in this game isn't as big a detriment to your team as it is in LoL, so that should get rid of a lot of toxicity. Honestly, this game is DRASTICALLY different from LoL or DOTA, to the point that comparing them is pointless.


#28

Dei

Dei

I don't know if drastically is correct, and I would hazard to say that alpha community != live community.


#29

Bowielee

Bowielee

It's drastically different in that you can't solo your way through. It takes quite a bit of teamwork to win.

This may lead to a better or worse community.

For the record, for some reason, people playing Nova tend to be a-holes.


#30

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
It's drastically different in that you can't solo your way through. It takes quite a bit of teamwork to win.

This may lead to a better or worse community.

For the record, for some reason, people playing Nova tend to be a-holes.
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Well, it's Nova's job to be an a-hole.

Nova (and Valla, a little) is the hero most like LoL style carries, where their role is to get in and gank someone. However, in LoL, this becomes the entire game, whereas in HotS it's not really a huge benefit to sneak in and kill someone unless you can coordinate it to do so before a team objective spawns and limit their group to 4 for the teamfight. In LoL, killing someone gives you a big boost in gold and experience, and more importantly denies the slain enemy experience while they're dead. HotS it just removes them for a short time.


#31

Bowielee

Bowielee

I meant in being a-holes in chat, not playstyle. Novas are some of the most negative douchebaggy people.

Also, you do get experience for hero kills.


#32

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I meant in being a-holes in chat, not playstyle. Novas are some of the most negative douchebaggy people.

Also, you do get experience for hero kills.
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You do, but you don't -deny- the enemy experience, which is the big thing in LoL and DOTA.


#33

Bowielee

Bowielee

Well, Nova's a bit OP at the moment, so she's the most popular assassin. She can instakill half the roster right now if she's talented correctly. Now I know that she's supposed to be an assassin and do a ton of damage, but she's gotten a little unbalanced as of the last patch. But this is Alpha, it's all about readjusting. I'm fairly certain she's the first one on the nerfing block next patch.

Valla, on the other hand, well, she's just about as deadly, but with even more survivability. I think they need to nerf her hatred stacks with healing on hits. She can literally tank entire merc camps and regenerate all her health of auto attacks alone. But still, she doesn't feel as cheap as Nova.


#34

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

We need to get together everyone on HF that's in the alpha and get some groups going together.


#35

Dei

Dei

I need to get Nova because she has a roller derby skin. So, yeah. PRIORITIES!


#36

Bowielee

Bowielee

One of the packs comes with the derby skin for Nova.


#37

Dave

Dave

I was going to play last night, but this was me yesterday:

http://www.ketv.com/news/windrelated-outages-reported-across-omaha/30604552


#38

Bowielee

Bowielee

filmfanatic said:
All I want to know is if the Lost Vikings are going to turn up at all in this?
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I should have quoted you in on this a while back. The Lost Vikings have been announced as a hero to be released in the near future.[DOUBLEPOST=1421098976,1421098919][/DOUBLEPOST]Closed Beta starts tomorrow. So many of those who haven't gotten into the Alpha have a much better chance at playing now if they signed up for the beta.


#39

Bowielee

Bowielee



Lots of big changes coming tomorrow. I love the change to the Pajamathur Abathur skin. Can't wait to send out my choo-choo swarm.
However, the trailer implies that Abathur will be doing direct melee... not sure what to think about that.


#40

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I was wondering when the hell Thrall would show up.


#41

Bowielee

Bowielee

The heroes have been coming out pretty quick after their official announcement. That means the Lost Vikings aren't far behind.


#42

Bowielee

Bowielee

They completely overhauled two of my favorite heroes, Abathur and Falstad. So, looks like I'll have to re-learn them. Not sure how I feel about the new Abathur ultimate. I HATE that they removed the Ultimate Evolution ability to use the clone's ultimate ability, but I can see how that could be OP.


#43

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Think we'll ever see Overwatch characters appear? I'd like to see Tracer.


#44

Bowielee

Bowielee

I'd bet that there will be when Overwatch is released, but that's going to be a while.


#45

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I just discovered that not only does Tassadar's trait give you awesome increased vision, but it ALSO sees through stealth. Stealth like Nova and Zeratul.

Ha... haha.. mwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha


#46

Telephius

Telephius

I am really enjoying Sgt. Hammer. What is this? Neither team can get dragon knight or turn in dubloons? Well while both teams stop turn in I can just drive up to towers and obliterate them. :)


#47

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Telephius said:
I am really enjoying Sgt. Hammer. What is this? Neither team can get dragon knight or turn in dubloons? Well while both teams stop turn in I can just drive up to towers and obliterate them. :)
Click to expand...


#48

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
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That's a MFPallytime quote. Best HoTS streamer there is.[DOUBLEPOST=1421390533,1421390367][/DOUBLEPOST]I haven't had a chance to play with Thrall yet. I don't think he's going to fit my playstyle.

I did get a chance to play with the Abathur changes. The new ultimate is useless. I do love my Pajamathur Abathur choo-choo strain.


#49

@Li3n

@Li3n

Necronic said:
Actually, reading up on it, the whole concept of Heroes that came into being in WC3 seems like a very obvious predescessor for Dota.
Click to expand...
Where you actually arguing that more powerful units with special ablities in a RTS is a concept one can copyright? Heh... it that was true WC3 would have never gotten made.


Bowielee said:
The Lost Vikings have been announced as a hero to be released in the near future.
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Yay....

Now let convince Blizz to make another LW game as a promotion for HOTS...


#50

Bowielee

Bowielee



Best troll ever.


#51

@Li3n

@Li3n

So... you got anymore of dem beta keys?



#52

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Arthas is an interesting character to play as. He's a tank, and can get really tanky, but is also slow as molasses. ETC is my favorite warrior to play as, so the lack of mobility is a bit of a drag, but his roots and slows are great. He also is able to burst surprisingly well, and can really catch people by surprise when all of a sudden the tank you're trying not to target is hitting you like a truck.


#53

Bowielee

Bowielee

Arthas has so much health regen potential, he can become virtually unkillable.


#54

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Arthas has so much health regen potential, he can become virtually unkillable.
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Using a full tank build, I was able to stand underneath a fort and a tower and tank them both with minimal hp loss. They tickled.


#55

Officer_Charon

Officer_Charon

Goddammit... y'all are gonna get me hooked on yet ANOTHER game that I can't play on my rig...


#56

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Officer_Charon said:
Goddammit... y'all are gonna get me hooked on yet ANOTHER game that I can't play on my rig...
Click to expand...
It's using the Starcraft 2 engine... I mean, I don't know what your rig is, but unless it's a toaster, it might work.


#57

Officer_Charon

Officer_Charon

Being that they're probably gonna make it based off of Windows 7/8(.1), I won't be able to run it. :D


#58

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Holy crap, Kerrigan is a goddamn murder machine.


#59

Bowielee

Bowielee

She's a'ight. As far as assassins go, my favorites are still Falstad and Zeratul.


#60

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
She's a'ight. As far as assassins go, my favorites are still Falstad and Zeratul.
Click to expand...
Zeratul is my man. Bombs all day long. I just can't get into Falstad* though.


*isn't Falstad dead?

Also, even though Kerrigan is listed as a melee assassin, I think she's more of a bruiser. Her adaptation ability makes her deceptively tanky.


#61

Bowielee

Bowielee

I don't know what it is about Falstad, but his playstyle just clicks with me. Though, since the patch, apparently Barrel Roll is interruptable now, which makes him kind of useless.


#62

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

His global presence is really nice, it's one of the things I like about ETC and Illidan.


#63

Bowielee

Bowielee

I personally hate ETC, but I think he just doesn't mesh with my playstyle.

Hell, might as well list my best heroes.

Support:
Brightwing- Talk about global presence, Brightwing is so good for getting anywhere your allies need help.
Uther- He's the goddamn lightbringer.

Specialist:
Abathur- I've talked extensively about this hero. I just absolutely love his playstyle.
Murky- Like Abathur, he gets a really bad rap from people not playing him well in general. You have to be bold with your egg placement and be prepared to die. dying is his core mechanic and people try to treat him like a regular assassin. That being said, he can have some awesome harass and sustain with a full life bubble build.

Assassin:
Falstad- As was stated, the global presence can be really great. Areal Blitzkrieg still remains a useless ultimate, though. "Hey, lets put a melee distance ultimate on a ranged character that can be easily interrupted." so dumb. He's also considerably squishier since the last patch.
Zeratul- Stealthed goodness.

Tank:
Muradin- The most straightforward tank in the game. He has sustain up the wazoo if you build him up with a tank build.
Arthas- Health regeneration for days.


#64

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I find ETC to be fantastic. Tanky as a mofo, he's got good mobility with his powerslide able to slide in to engage and stun, or slide out if he needs to disengage. Face melt combos great with this, powerslide onto the opposite side of someone, wait a moment to get the full effect out of the stun, and then facemelt them backwards into your team. I've found that abilities that move the enemy are really powerful. And then you've got guitar solo, which not only keeps him healed up, but with his passive allows you to spam it and keep your team buffed or buff minions to push down lanes even better. And both of his ultimates are great, with one providing stuns for days and the other allowing you to split push a lane and then teleport to your team should a teamfight break out.

My favorite assassin character is by far Tychus. He's got the minigun putting out some hurtful aoe, he's got the grenade that can be built to decimate minions/monsters/structures and even without talents has great pushback (again, anything to move the enemy) and with the right build he can stay in the fight a long time. First aid to heal up, commandeer odin for an extra lifebar, he even gets access to stoneskin, which is usually only for tanks.


#65

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Falstad- As was stated, the global presence can be really great. Areal Blitzkrieg still remains a useless ultimate, though. "Hey, lets put a melee distance ultimate on a ranged character that can be easily interrupted." so dumb. He's also considerably squishier since the last patch.
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Didn't they remove Areal Blitzkrieg? They replaced it with mighty gust, a more utility-oriented aoe push/slow.


#66

Bowielee

Bowielee

That's right, they replaced it with the pushback. Still not as good as Shock and Awe. Or whatever the hell they renamed it to. Also, the new lightning rod thing is just terrible compared to his old W ability.


#67

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

Gonna let this one install and see how I like it. Anything is better than LoL.


#68

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I thought @Bowielee might like this gif



#69

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

Hah. SUHPRISE, MUTHAFUCKA

So, played through the tutorial junk and then did a Practice. I like Muradin, which makes me happy as I've always liked him as a character (and Mountain Kings are fucking awesome). I'll definitely have to keep an eye on who else goes free in the coming weeks, there's a few characters that look like they'd be fun. I'll probably give Rehgar a go tomorrow, and then take a look at the rest.

Also, count me into the group looking forward to Lost Vikings.


#70

Bowielee

Bowielee

Now if that Abathur was playing properly, he wouldn't have been sitting in the "safety" of the towers. Be bold in your placement, damn it!!!!!!!!!


#71

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

CynicismKills said:
Hah. SUHPRISE, MUTHAFUCKA

So, played through the tutorial junk and then did a Practice. I like Muradin, which makes me happy as I've always liked him as a character (and Mountain Kings are fucking awesome). I'll definitely have to keep an eye on who else goes free in the coming weeks, there's a few characters that look like they'd be fun. I'll probably give Rehgar a go tomorrow, and then take a look at the rest.

Also, count me into the group looking forward to Lost Vikings.
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You should add your battletag over to this thread https://www.halforums.com/xenforo/t...storming-it-up-better-than-halle-berry.31099/


#72

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Playing as Uther with an Illidan. "STAND STILL SO I CAN HEAL YOU!"


#73

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I managed to get enough gold to unlock Uther. I like playing tanks, I like playing support, he seemed like a nice mix of the two. I've been loving him so far. He's got heals for days (though not to the extent LiLi has) and can also stun and bodyblock with the best of them.


#74

Bowielee

Bowielee

With his HoJ and his stun ult, he's got some of the most CC in the game.


#75

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
With his HoJ and his stun ult, he's got some of the most CC in the game.
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The level 20 upgrade to Divine Storm is CRAZY. Just CC the entire enemy team.


#76

Bowielee

Bowielee

Thrall's Earthquake ultimate is pretty crazy too. It's like a guaranteed hit March of the Murlocs.


#77

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

All the heroes in this week's free rotation happen to be all the heroes I own. :(


#78

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

My best hero so far is Illidan. Took a bit of practice to get good with him, but I really love his style.

It's a great feeling to join a game, have your team bitch at you for picking what they think is a terrible hero, and then just rock the game hard.


#79

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
My best hero so far is Illidan. Took a bit of practice to get good with him, but I really love his style.

It's a great feeling to join a game, have your team bitch at you for picking what they think is a terrible hero, and then just rock the game hard.
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I get that feeling with Abathur. After having a chance to play him a little more with his changes, he's a BEAST. Especially when you get the double symbiote talent. I was able to wreck face by parasiting both tanks. With the talent, when you cast your spike or spine burst, it comes from both heroes that you have infested. Unfortunately we lost that game after I cleared ALL their towers straight to the core, but the DPS decided that they were going to flog the dog while we were pushing the core and lost us the game. But MAN, his new ultimate combined with the locust swarm can just destroy a fort like nothing.


#80

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I get that feeling with Abathur. After having a chance to play him a little more with his changes, he's a BEAST. Especially when you get the double symbiote talent. I was able to wreck face by parasiting both tanks. With the talent, when you cast your spike or spine burst, it comes from both heroes that you have infested. Unfortunately we lost that game after I cleared ALL their towers straight to the core, but the DPS decided that they were going to flog the dog while we were pushing the core and lost us the game. But MAN, his new ultimate combined with the locust swarm can just destroy a fort like nothing.
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The only thing I don't like about his new ultimate is how squishy it is. It can ramp up if left alone, but a smart enemy isn't going to leave it alone. And because it's treated like a minion, it draws fort/tower aggro and can be burst down pretty quick.

I think they need to either give it more starting health, or treat it like a hero rather than a minion.


#81

Bowielee

Bowielee

It's fine the way it is. When you parasite on it, you gain full control of it so that solves the drawing tower aggro problem. The one thing I learned about the new ult is that it is NOT meant to deal with heroes, it's meant to assist with pushes, and in that it accomplishes its purpose in spades. Plus, if you have the double symbiote I mentioned above, you can take control of the monstrosity AND cast with a member of the team.

Abathur should always be split pushing and tearing down lanes when the enemy is occupied with other stuff. Too many Abathurs focus on one lane only until they push it down to the core and the only way you can keep the enemy off balance enough to deal with them is to be using burrow to get all over the map and push multiple lanes simultaneously.


#82

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
It's fine the way it is. When you parasite on it, you gain full control of it so that solves the drawing tower aggro problem. The one thing I learned about the new ult is that it is NOT meant to deal with heroes, it's meant to assist with pushes, and in that it accomplishes its purpose in spades. Plus, if you have the double symbiote I mentioned above, you can take control of the monstrosity AND cast with a member of the team.

Abathur should always be split pushing and tearing down lanes when the enemy is occupied with other stuff. Too many Abathurs focus on one lane only until they push it down to the core and the only way you can keep the enemy off balance enough to deal with them is to be using burrow to get all over the map and push multiple lanes simultaneously.
Click to expand...
Even when you're controlling it, the towers still treat it as a minion.


#83

Bowielee

Bowielee

All it takes is to pop out of tower range and then back in. Towers always prioritize the nearest minion.

But regardless, I've found that with a full swarm push, you can destroy buildings before that even becomes an issue.


#84

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

The only problem with Abathur is that, while he's great at split pushing, having him on your team turns nearly every teamfight into a 4v5. And teamfights seem far more important at the moment than the ability to split push.

I think he still needs a lot of work, or the game overall needs to be tweaked to allow split pushing to be more viable. It's why Azmodan is so weak at the moment as well.


#85

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
The only problem with Abathur is that, while he's great at split pushing, having him on your team turns nearly every teamfight into a 4v5. And teamfights seem far more important at the moment than the ability to split push.

I think he still needs a lot of work, or the game overall needs to be tweaked to allow split pushing to be more viable. It's why Azmodan is so weak at the moment as well.
Click to expand...
Again, I think that's due to bad players, not the character itself. You should be split pushing and assisting. Abathur's designed to do both at the same time, but is stronger than one over the other based on what talents are chosen.

What that means is the map you're on and the enemy team comp should completely determine what talents you select. You can build Abathur for pure team fights.


#86

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe



#87

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

While looking at pictures of the new lunar tiger mount, I noticed something... Jaina rides side saddle.


Jaina is a classy lady

That will obliterate you with frost magic


#88

Bowielee

Bowielee

Yeah, I noticed that too. She rides side saddle on every mount.

CLASSY. AS. FUCK.

One thing that kind of irks me is that one of the level rewards are mount variations and most of the heroes I love, Falstad, Abathur, Anub'arak, etc, don't use mounts, so no reward for that level :(


#89

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Yeah, I noticed that too. She rides side saddle on every mount.

CLASSY. AS. FUCK.

One thing that kind of irks me is that one of the level rewards are mount variations and most of the heroes I love, Falstad, Abathur, Anub'arak, etc, don't use mounts, so no reward for that level :(
Click to expand...
Not every mount, I've noticed she rides astride on the big lizard.


#90

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Being an Illidan player, I always like to see Illidan getting played. A lot of people think he sucks, just because he's hard to use. Today while leveling up Tyrande, I was up against an Illidan player that was pretty good, and was becoming a terror to our team.

Until I picked up shrink ray.


YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!

Also, is there anything more satisfying than getting an owl kill from halfway across the map? Message from Hogwarts: fuck you!


#91

Telephius

Telephius

Bowielee said:
Yeah, I noticed that too. She rides side saddle on every mount.

CLASSY. AS. FUCK.

One thing that kind of irks me is that one of the level rewards are mount variations and most of the heroes I love, Falstad, Abathur, Anub'arak, etc, don't use mounts, so no reward for that level :(
Click to expand...
Yeah Sgt. Hammer has a jet boost CD instead of a mount. Would be nice if non mount heroes could get a bonus colour scheme instead or something of that nature.


#92

Bowielee

Bowielee

Telephius said:
Yeah Sgt. Hammer has a jet boost CD instead of a mount. Would be nice if non mount heroes could get a bonus colour scheme instead or something of that nature.
Click to expand...
If they were really creative, they'd have variants of the unique modes of transport, like different flame effects for Azmodan's fire feet, different color wings for Anub'arak and Zagara, Different thrusters for Hammer, Flight animations for Falstad, etc...


#93

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
If they were really creative, they'd have variants of the unique modes of transport, like different flame effects for Azmodan's fire feet, different color wings for Anub'arak and Zagara, Different thrusters for Hammer, Flight animations for Falstad, etc...
Click to expand...
Just let hammer's mount ride on top of the tank.

Also, Azmodan can ride the flying carpet. He even puts his arms out... all that's missing is him making airplane noises.

Azmodan is Aladdin confirmed.

I can show you the world... IT WILL BURN.


#94

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe



#95

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Lost Vikings incoming Tuesday (Feb 10th)


#96

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Abathur is on sale right now, so I decided to pick him up. I'm still of the opinion that he's bad right now, but they'll buff him eventually, and he's fun, so why not.

While leveling him up to 5, I had an interesting game on Dragon Shire. Team seems focused on chasing after the enemy and refuses to capture the shrines.

*sighs*

You guys are gonna force me to do this, aren't you?

*starts burrowing* the shit I put up with.

......


DRAGONTHUR! Come to save the day!


#97

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
Abathur is on sale right now, so I decided to pick him up. I'm still of the opinion that he's bad right now, but they'll buff him eventually, and he's fun, so why not.

While leveling him up to 5, I had an interesting game on Dragon Shire. Team seems focused on chasing after the enemy and refuses to capture the shrines.

*sighs*

You guys are gonna force me to do this, aren't you?

*starts burrowing* the shit I put up with.

......


DRAGONTHUR! Come to save the day!
Click to expand...
I've captured the shrine many times with Abathur. You just have to be prepared to run away before the timer runs out, or you're dead meat.

Abathur can also take merc camps, but you have to rely on timing it right with your locust spawn and placing mines at the camp. He used to have bribe and I think removing that removing that talent was one of the things that really nerfed him. I think if they moved his symbiote copy ability further up his talent tree, it would go a long way to making him more powerful.


#98

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I've captured the shrine many times with Abathur. You just have to be prepared to run away before the timer runs out, or you're dead meat.

Abathur can also take merc camps, but you have to rely on timing it right with your locust spawn and placing mines at the camp. He used to have bribe and I think removing that removing that talent was one of the things that really nerfed him. I think if they moved his symbiote copy ability further up his talent tree, it would go a long way to making him more powerful.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was jungling with him. Pretty easy once you get the spawn three locusts ability.

So, I'm still reading the patch notes, but damn did they nerf Chen. This surprises me, did anyone think Chen needed a nerf? They've taken away a lot of his damage potential and returned him to basically just a shielding tank.

Brightwing and Arthas nerfs were expected. Anub'arak got a slight buff in that he gets rewind again, but rewind has been moved to level 20.

Illidan loses executioner. This makes me sad, I had fun duo-queuing with a Jaina or Thrall and obliterating people with that slow/extra damage combo.[DOUBLEPOST=1423587134,1423587033][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, wow... Murky nerfs? He now grants 1/4 hero experience when killed, loses killstreaks when killed even without an egg death, and loses gathering power.

Well thank god that Murky threat has been taken care of...


#99

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
Yeah, I was jungling with him. Pretty easy once you get the spawn three locusts ability.

So, I'm still reading the patch notes, but damn did they nerf Chen. This surprises me, did anyone think Chen needed a nerf? They've taken away a lot of his damage potential and returned him to basically just a shielding tank.

Brightwing and Arthas nerfs were expected. Anub'arak got a slight buff in that he gets rewind again, but rewind has been moved to level 20.

Illidan loses executioner. This makes me sad, I had fun duo-queuing with a Jaina or Thrall and obliterating people with that slow/extra damage combo.[DOUBLEPOST=1423587134,1423587033][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, wow... Murky nerfs? He now grants 1/4 hero experience when killed, loses killstreaks when killed even without an egg death, and loses gathering power.

Well thank god that Murky threat has been taken care of...
Click to expand...
To be fair, standing and drinking was kind of what Chen already did best.[DOUBLEPOST=1423587361][/DOUBLEPOST]
Ravenpoe said:
[/DOUBLEPOST]Also, wow... Murky nerfs? He now grants 1/4 hero experience when killed, loses killstreaks when killed even without an egg death, and loses gathering power.

Well thank god that Murky threat has been taken care of...
Click to expand...
DAFUQ? Murky was already almost dead last in the MMR rankings according to HOTSlogs. WTF?

Blizzard said:
Hey, let's design a character entirely on a death and respawn mechanic, then make it so that it's detrimental for that character to do exactly what we designed his mechanics to do.
Click to expand...


#100

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Tyreal loses cast aside!? There goes my reason to ever play him.

Tychus gets a rather big nerf to his odin. It now has the same health % that Tychus has when he casts it, and Tychus dies if its destroyed while he's in it. Guess it's time to try using the laser.

Zeratul can no longer prison-steal merc camps.[DOUBLEPOST=1423587654,1423587552][/DOUBLEPOST]
Bowielee said:
To be fair, standing and drinking was kind of what Chen already did best.
Click to expand...
True, and I like that mechanic, but without the damage he has no reason to stand and drink, because the enemy has no reason to target him.


#101

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
True, and I like that mechanic, but without the damage he has no reason to stand and drink, because the enemy has no reason to target him.
Click to expand...
They do once he gets the talent that gives his shield to everyone around him, which, really is the only talent from that tier people ever take.


#102

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I had said this morning that I wasn't going to get the vikings, because their play style is too weird.

...

So, I got the vikings.

My brain hurts now.


#103

Bowielee

Bowielee

I got them too. Haven't played an actual game with them yet.


#104

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

They sound super complicated, which makes me sad and intrigues me at the same time.


#105

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I've played two games with them so far. Won both! I've been keeping two together (Olaf and Baelog, the big and medium ones) while the third (Erik, the fastest) is used to soak xp lanes that are empty or aid with some added range dps other heroes. And bringing all of them together for team fights. When all together, they actually are pretty formidable, with Olaf hopefully tanking and Baelog and Erik damaging from range. They can put out some surprising hurt when concentrated on a single hero. Their lack of a mount means positioning is all the more important, though Erik is faster than other heroes on foot and is decent at chasing.

Also, the viking longboat is just too cute. They even sing a little shanty while piloting it. It also has its own life bar, similar to Tychus's Odin pre-nerf.



#106

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

Yeah the intro video was awesome and reading through the history on their page was a nostalgia bomb. If I get into playing again I'll probably buy them.


#107

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe



#108

Bowielee

Bowielee



#109

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe



#110

Bowielee

Bowielee

I love MFPallytime's videos so much. I don't miss a single one.

Speaking of youtubers who play blizzard games, did anyone else notice Day[9] in that cell phone commercial?


#111

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Brace yourselves... Murky free week is coming.[DOUBLEPOST=1426573968,1426573843][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, Harrison Jones found!


#112

Bowielee

Bowielee

I wish they would have just left Murky as he was. No one was looking for any changes in him. He was a decent mid-range character. Now people rage quit if you even pick him.


#113

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I wish they would have just left Murky as he was. No one was looking for any changes in him. He was a decent mid-range character. Now people rage quit if you even pick him.
Click to expand...
The devs have stated that Murky is not in a good place right now and will be receiving some love. When they changed Nova, the put her on free week right before the change, this is likely what is happening here.


#114

Bowielee

Bowielee

Yeah, he went from smack in the middle of the rankings on HOTSlogs to dead last in the space of a day.


#115

Bowielee

Bowielee

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog...=external-sso&utm_medium=other&utm_source=App


#116

Terrik

Terrik

Finally got some time in.

First impressions: Really cool system, the heroes play well, and it feels streamlined. Typical Blizzard.

Bad First impressions: Buy this hero: $9.99 ....typical Blizzard.


I'm going to pretend that's not a thing, as far as how the game plays and feels, but as someone who has played DOTA/DOTA 2 forever and has spent real money on nothing but skins EVER (since you know, they give you ALL THE HEROES FROM THE START), it makes my heart sink. Maybe those who are coming from LoL can look at it and be "meh", but come on now.

But that said, PRETENDING I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT AT ALL....it's still a blast to play.


#117

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Terrik said:
Finally got some time in.

First impressions: Really cool system, the heroes play well, and it feels streamlined. Typical Blizzard.

Bad First impressions: Buy this hero: $9.99 ....typical Blizzard.


I'm going to pretend that's not a thing, as far as how the game plays and feels, but as someone who has played DOTA/DOTA 2 forever and has spent real money on nothing but skins EVER (since you know, they give you ALL THE HEROES FROM THE START), it makes my heart sink. Maybe those who are coming from LoL can look at it and be "meh", but come on now.

But that said, PRETENDING I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT AT ALL....it's still a blast to play.
Click to expand...
You have to realize that DOTA2 is the outlier in their pricing system, and really Valve did that as a way to try to further spread their steam platform, and it worked. That said, the next patch they're rolling out is increasing the gold rewards you get for player level milestones, making it much easier to obtain the heroes you want using only in-game currency. There's also a generous free rotation, and every hero can be tried in the shop if you're on the fence about how one plays before putting down gold or cash.

I stopped being angry at monetization in free to play games a long time ago.


#118

Terrik

Terrik

I am Sonya, destroyer of worlds.


#119

Bowielee

Bowielee

I finally got all my heroes up to at least level 4 so I have absolutely no talent gates until Sylvanaas comes out.


#120

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I finally got all my heroes up to at least level 4 so I have absolutely no talent gates until Sylvanaas comes out.
Click to expand...
I think it's the sylvanas patch that will change how talent gating works. There should be no more talent gates if your account level is 30 or higher, regardless of hero level.


#121

Bowielee

Bowielee

Eh, either way, mine are unlocked in the mean time :p

Literally the first 3 games I've ever played as Tyriel.


#122

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Eh, either way, mine are unlocked in the mean time :p

Literally the first 3 games I've ever played as Tyriel.
Click to expand...
Aw man, you didn't get to play him when he had cast aside. That shit was dope.

He's not bad as he is now, but he's on the list for a rework. The devs have said they don't like his passive, and think his overall kit needs some love.


#123

Bowielee

Bowielee

In general, talents and abilities that require you to die are usually not a good idea. I think that's one of the reasons that they struggle with Murky. He was a split pusher, but they reworked him around his egg, ten proceeded to punish you for dying. Which they just made his main focus.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


#124

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
In general, talents and abilities that require you to die are usually not a good idea. I think that's one of the reasons that they struggle with Murky. He was a split pusher, but they reworked him around his egg, ten proceeded to punish you for dying. Which they just made his main focus.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
From what I've been able to tell, they didn't really change Murky's death mechanics. He always gave quarter xp on death, it just never displayed on the stats chart before. The biggest nerf he received was his loss of gathering power, which he used to be able to stack super high and keep thanks to the way his death and egg worked.


#125

@Li3n

@Li3n

So... anyone got any of them Beta invites?

Or are they region locked so they won't help even if you did?


#126

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
From what I've been able to tell, they didn't really change Murky's death mechanics. He always gave quarter xp on death, it just never displayed on the stats chart before. The biggest nerf he received was his loss of gathering power, which he used to be able to stack super high and keep thanks to the way his death and egg worked.
Click to expand...
The gathering power nerd was what I was referring to.[DOUBLEPOST=1426874993,1426874946][/DOUBLEPOST]
@Li3n said:
So... anyone got any of them Beta invites?

Or are they region locked so they won't help even if you did?
Click to expand...
I do, but it is just for the NA beta.


#127

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
The gathering power nerd was what I was referring to.[DOUBLEPOST=1426874993,1426874946][/DOUBLEPOST]
I do, but it is just for the NA beta.
Click to expand...

Removing gathering power doesn't punish him for dying, it just no longer rewards him with super AP bonuses. I still look forward to seeing what they come up with to help him out, though.


#128

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
Removing gathering power doesn't punish him for dying, it just no longer rewards him with super AP bonuses. I still look forward to seeing what they come up with to help him out, though.
Click to expand...
But it really does, though. Most other assassins (and let's face it, Murky's more assassin than specialist at this point) have a bigger health pool on top of escapes to balance the bonus given by Gathering Power. It was a must pick for Murky, and if the enemy team is good at all, they will not let a Murky run around without hunting for his egg. He was absolutely fine prior to the nerf. Not to mention the nerf to Regenerating Bubbles. He can already pretty much be one shot by assassins, now he can also be one shot by warriors.


#129

@Li3n

@Li3n

Bowielee said:
I do, but it is just for the NA beta.
Click to expand...
Stupid region lock...


#130

Bowielee

Bowielee

@Li3n said:
Stupid region lock...
Click to expand...
I double checked the Blizzard forums, and apparently it is region locked.

Sorry.


#131

@Li3n

@Li3n

Bowielee said:
I double checked the Blizzard forums, and apparently it is region locked.

Sorry.
Click to expand...
Oh, i knew already, back in the SC2 beta i got a key for my account from someone in Europe, but for some reason it was an NA key... had to write support to get it changed...


#132

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Murky did indeed get some love this patch. He gets gathering power back, but in a new form. New level 4 talent "Living the Dream!" grants 10% bonus ability power, and an additional 1% ability power for every 5 seconds that Murky is alive, up to a total of 25% bonus ability power. Resets upon death.

Egg cooldown lowered to 15 seconds (from 20) so he can be even -more- aggressive with it.

Egg no longer grants xp upon being killed.

Egg health increased from 105 (+15 per level) to 110 (+30 per level)

Slime's stacking bonus now applies to unstoppable units like grave golems.

Pufferfish cast time reduced by 75%


Also, bam, I called it. Murky free week meant he was getting updates in the next patch.


#133

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
Murky did indeed get some love this patch. He gets gathering power back, but in a new form. New level 4 talent "Living the Dream!" grants 10% bonus ability power, and an additional 1% ability power for every 5 seconds that Murky is alive, up to a total of 25% bonus ability power. Resets upon death.

Egg cooldown lowered to 15 seconds (from 20) so he can be even -more- aggressive with it.

Egg no longer grants xp upon being killed.

Egg health increased from 105 (+15 per level) to 110 (+30 per level)

Slime's stacking bonus now applies to unstoppable units like grave golems.

Pufferfish cast time reduced by 75%


Also, bam, I called it. Murky free week meant he was getting updates in the next patch.
Click to expand...
I am pleased.[DOUBLEPOST=1427217143,1427216705][/DOUBLEPOST]Honestly, this is the change I'm most excited about:

- Stats
-The stats tab now mirrors the in-game TAB screen, and includes details for Siege Damage, Hero Damage, Healing and overall XP contribution during the previous match.

I've wanted this since the game started.


#134

Terrik

Terrik

Nice, I'd like to give that a shot. Also discovered "dude on a gryphon" is not my playstyle.


#135

Bowielee

Bowielee

Falstad is hands down my favorite assassin.


#136

Terrik

Terrik

Bowielee said:
Falstad is hands down my favorite assassin.
Click to expand...
I keep wanting to charge into combat with him, and end up getting destroyed.


Also, is it just me or is illidan's damage way off the charts.


#137

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Terrik said:
I keep wanting to charge into combat with him, and end up getting destroyed.


Also, is it just me or is illidan's damage way off the charts.
Click to expand...
Only enemy illidan's :p

I love Illidan. He excels at being able to stick on a target, but he folds quicky to concentrated fire. He's going to try to stay on the edges and pick off stragglers, a good team won't let him.

Falstad is powerful because of his map presence. His ability to fly near anywhere gives him a big edge when it comes to responding to team fights and objectives. He's a squishy ranged assassin, so you don't want to charge in and face tank an enemy group.


#138

Terrik

Terrik

Illidan was the first hero that I went up against as Sonya where I felt "welp, time to run or die" because I didnt feel I could tank or outdamage him. Completely outclassed. Maybe its supposed to be that way, I dunno.


#139

Bowielee

Bowielee

Yeah, his dash is an escape ability unless you're chasing down a single target. He should always stick to the back of fights.

But yeah, his map presence is INSANE. I still haven't tried an Epic Mount build with him.[DOUBLEPOST=1427217989,1427217862][/DOUBLEPOST]
Terrik said:
Illidan was the first hero that I went up against as Sonya where I felt "welp, time to run or die" because I didnt feel I could tank or outdamage him. Completely outclassed. Maybe its supposed to be that way, I dunno.
Click to expand...
Illidan is super mobile, but his damage really is just average. It's the fact that he can stick to you like glue that makes him dangerous. It's usually better to exchange with an Illidan than to run from him, generally. He's built to chase down stragglers. In team fights, he dies pretty fast.


#140

@Li3n

@Li3n

Terrik said:
Also, is it just me or is illidan's damage way off the charts.
Click to expand...
Nah, he's just very good at staying in a fight if the other team doesn't understand to only hit him after he uses those dodge skills, so he can get off more dmg then most squishy assassins.

Once you (and a few other team-mates) know when to hit him he's a lot less of a problem...


#141

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ah, gotta love quick match. Toxic Valla telling everyone to uninstall. End of game, check her hero level... 14


#142

@Li3n

@Li3n

Bowielee said:
End of game, check her hero level... 14
Click to expand...

Yeah, i saw some guy that played awful, never helped and basically did no objectives tell me off because he had a higher level...

Account lvl doesn't mean much when DotA is like 10 years old...


#143

Bowielee

Bowielee

@Li3n said:
Yeah, i saw some guy that played awful, never helped and basically did no objectives tell me off because he had a higher level...

Account lvl doesn't mean much when DotA is like 10 years old...
Click to expand...
I would have taken that into account if:

A) We didn't end up winning the game, which we did.

B) She wasn't constantly solo diving into 1v4 fights.

Are Vallas the new Novas?


#144

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Sylvanas might be their best hero release yet. This isn't to say I think Sylvanas is the best hero, but her kit and talents are very well designed, and overall she feels versatile and well balanced. Compare this to Thrall, who was launched completely OP and then had to be nerfed in the following patch. I'm sure Sylvanas will receive some tweaks as all heroes do over time, but right out of the gate she feels like she's in a good place.


#145

Bowielee

Bowielee

I think she'll be right up there with Nazeebo and Hammer for most used specialist. I haven't tried out Possession because it seems like a useless ultimate. There's probably some super great use for it that I'm not grasping, but the arrow just seems so good.


#146

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I think she'll be right up there with Nazeebo and Hammer for most used specialist. I haven't tried out Possession because it seems like a useless ultimate. There's probably some super great use for it that I'm not grasping, but the arrow just seems so good.
Click to expand...

Possession only has a 4 second cooldown, so it's not useless, it's really good for pushing with a minion wave. But yeah, arrow is just so good for team fights.


#147

@Li3n

@Li3n

Bowielee said:
I would have taken that into account if:

A) We didn't end up winning the game, which we did.

B) She wasn't constantly solo diving into 1v4 fights.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but that has nothing to do with the account level, some people are just bad at the game...


#148

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

You know, I mentioned on here before how neat I thought it was that Jaina rode side-saddle, you know, since she is a princess and all. But take a look at how Sylvanas rides.



She's got one foot on the horses back, the other is up and controlling it with her knee, and she looks ready to pounce off that thing and fuck someone up! Badass.


#149

Terrik

Terrik

So I bought Azmodan. This is the kind of hero I was looking for. A strong pusher and good long range support. I love how I can build him as some sort of Minion/Merc master.

I also picked up Tychus with my gold and I'll try him out later.


#150

@Li3n

@Li3n

Ravenpoe said:
But take a look at how Sylvanas rides.


She's got one foot on the horses back, the other is up and controlling it with her knee, and she looks ready to pounce off that thing and fuck someone up! Badass.
Click to expand...
Ranger-General style biatches...


#151

Terrik

Terrik

Ok, so I'm really clicking with Tychus too. He's goes down pretty fast, but he's an assassin type, so of course he will. I really like his skill set and his laser beam ultimate. He plays a bit more short range than I had expected. I find it difficult to actually mow down anyone who is determined to go away, but in team fight clashes, I rake out the damage like nobody's business. He's also great for taking down structures. It was a good gold purchase.

Speaking of gold purchase, I picked up Illidan too. Maybe @Ravenpoe is a fantastic player because I get mowed down mercilessly as Illidan. I'm still trying to pinpoint his combat flow style. Every time I jump in to make a hit, I lose half my health in less than a second. The times where I feel like I'm pretty guaranteed to make a kill is with the charge ultimate. I actually like like his play style but I clearly need to be more cautious

Also: Thrall wrecks my shit.


#152

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Terrik said:
Ok, so I'm really clicking with Tychus too. He's goes down pretty fast, but he's an assassin type, so of course he will. I really like his skill set and his laser beam ultimate. He plays a bit more short range than I had expected. I find it difficult to actually mow down anyone who is determined to go away, but in team fight clashes, I rake out the damage like nobody's business. He's also great for taking down structures. It was a good gold purchase.

Speaking of gold purchase, I picked up Illidan too. Maybe @Ravenpoe is a fantastic player because I get mowed down mercilessly as Illidan. I'm still trying to pinpoint his combat flow style. Every time I jump in to make a hit, I lose half my health in less than a second. The times where I feel like I'm pretty guaranteed to make a kill is with the charge ultimate. I actually like like his play style but I clearly need to be more cautious

Also: Thrall wrecks my shit.
Click to expand...
Illidan takes practice. Your DOTA experience should help to pay off, here. Let's start with a build. Spoiled for length (that's what she said).

Level 1 - take the evasion grants a shield talent. All of the level 1 talents are good for different situations (except for regen master) but as you're learning, you're going to want the extra survivability. Evasion is a key skill for you, and this will not only let you dodge auto attacks (which is evasion's default ability) but will also put a shield on you to help absorb other damage. It doesn't shield for a lot, but as you can pop this several times during a fight, it adds up.

Level 4 - Immolation. This will give you a damaging fire aura for a few seconds every time you use sweeping strike. Sweeping strike is your bread and butter and should be used almost always when off cooldown, so adding extra aoe damage to it is great. This lets you clear waves of minions much faster, gather skulls in the haunted mines, and give passive damage against heroes since you're really good at sticking to them. Easily the best talent of the group at this level.

Level 7 - First aid. There are other options, but you're learning, so you'll want the sustain. You use this -during- a fight. Once you've dropped to about half health, if you plan on staying in the engagement, pop first aid and let it heal you while you're fighting. This combined with your natural health regen on auto attacks can greatly increase your survivability. It's on a relatively low cooldown, too, so you should be able to use it once per teamfight.

Level 10 - Both are good. Metamorphosis is better for team fights. Remember that Meta gives you bonus health for every enemy hero inside the circle when you activate it, this can give you a ton of bonus health. It also increases your attack speed, which also increases your health, because you heal on every auto-attack. The hunt is good for being able to split push and have global map presence. Choose this if you need to be the jungler for your team, as illidan is pretty good at fighting mercs, too. But most times go with metamorphosis.

Level 13 - Giant killer, usually. It's more damage, and more damage is always good. Also helps you melt those pesky diablos or muradins that like to try to peel you off of the enemy squishies. If you feel like you need more survivability, you can also pick up sixth sense, which will make you take 50% reduced damage from enemy ABILITIES while evasion is active. Helpful if an enemy Jaina is ruining your day (though, really, just jump to her and kill her...) but won't help you more against auto-attack damage, so keep that in mind.

level 16 - Stoneskin is a great talent. Gain 30% of your CURRENT MAX HEALTH as shields for 5 seconds. Incredibly powerful synergy with Metamorphosis, which temporarily increases your current max health. Pick this if you've scared the enemy team enough to make them want to focus you down. Blood for Blood is probably a better pick, and definitly what you should take if you feel like you don't need the added survivability. Blood for blood instantly steals 15% of a target enemy's max health and heals you with it, while also slowing their movement speed for 3 seconds. Synergizes well with THE HUNT, as you can dive on top of someone for a stun, and then instantly blood for blood for some pretty good burst. They will not be prepared.

Level 20 - Anything in this tier is good. Bolt of the Storm is OP. It's a blink dagger, you should know how powerful this is. If you feel comfortable without it, nexus blades makes you even more of a killer, and upgrading whatever ultimate you picked up is also a possibility. Upgraded THE HUNT becomes global cast, you can dive on anyone from anywhere. Useful if you're still needing to split away from the team, or diving to objectives, but most times you should probably be with your team anyway. Upgrading Metamorphosis increases the attack speed bonus from 20% to 30%, gives you 50% reduced disable status, and also makes demonic form last forever (you can still recast it on cooldown to try to hit more enemies for better bonus health, or as a short range teleport). By this point, you should have a good feel for which of these you need, and pick accordingly. You really can't pick wrong here.

Playstyle: Illidan is a character who starts off relatively weak, but gets very strong later in the game. Being good with Illidan means learning how to use his Passive. BETRAYER'S THIRST: Auto-attacks heal you (you have built in life steal) -and- lower all of your ability cooldowns per hit. You have no mana, your survivability is purely related to your cooldowns, meaning the more you are auto-attacking, the more often you can sweeping strike, the more often you can cast evasion, and the more often you can use your ultimates. This gives you far more sustain than you might think. It also means you can trade with enemies in lane, and even if they take you down to 50% health, you'll get that back just by attacking their minions.

When laning, you'll want to use your increased mobility to harass the enemy as much as possible. Sweeping Strike (W) is your best attack. Use it whenever possible, as it gives you a nice little dash and, if you hit any enemy hero or minion or merc with that dash, gives you bonus attack for a few seconds on your auto-attacks. Avoid using Dive (Q) unless you need the mobility, it does less damage than sweeping strikes, and you'd do more damage just auto-attacking. Dive is a mobility tool, use it to get behind an enemy to body-block them, or jump over a tower/gate to finish off an enemy, or use it to dive to an enemy minion to get some space away from an enemy hero. When you engage a hero, wait until they actually start to attack you before popping evasion, which will greatly lower the amount of damage you take by dodging all of their auto-attacks. If you can kill them, great, but your goal really is just to push them back so you can dominate the lane.

EVASION WORKS AGAINST TOWER SHOTS. Evasion lasts for 5 seconds, this is enough time to dodge TWO tower shots (or FOUR if both towers in a lane are targeting you). This is great for diving an opponent, you don't have to fear their towers. Just make sure you back up before it wears off.

You basically want to hit and run until mid game, when your damage starts to pick up and you can melt people. Remember that your power comes from two sources. One is constantly attacking, this will give you hp and lower your important cooldowns, which you should be using as often as you can. The other power is body blocking, using your Q to jump over someone and then positioning yourself to block them from moving so that your team can kill them. Between doing this and picking off stragglers, you'll start racking up the kills.


#153

Bowielee

Bowielee

The build that Poe posted is really the only viable Illidan build. IMO, that's his only real weakness right now, lack of versatility. I'm never a fan of a hero who I can't have any sort of variation with.

And as Poe stated, Illidan is a body blocking master.


#154

Terrik

Terrik

Ravenpoe said:
Illidan takes practice. Your DOTA experience should help to pay off, here. Let's start with a build. Spoiled for length (that's what she said).

Level 1 - take the evasion grants a shield talent. All of the level 1 talents are good for different situations (except for regen master) but as you're learning, you're going to want the extra survivability. Evasion is a key skill for you, and this will not only let you dodge auto attacks (which is evasion's default ability) but will also put a shield on you to help absorb other damage. It doesn't shield for a lot, but as you can pop this several times during a fight, it adds up.

Level 4 - Immolation. This will give you a damaging fire aura for a few seconds every time you use sweeping strike. Sweeping strike is your bread and butter and should be used almost always when off cooldown, so adding extra aoe damage to it is great. This lets you clear waves of minions much faster, gather skulls in the haunted mines, and give passive damage against heroes since you're really good at sticking to them. Easily the best talent of the group at this level.

Level 7 - First aid. There are other options, but you're learning, so you'll want the sustain. You use this -during- a fight. Once you've dropped to about half health, if you plan on staying in the engagement, pop first aid and let it heal you while you're fighting. This combined with your natural health regen on auto attacks can greatly increase your survivability. It's on a relatively low cooldown, too, so you should be able to use it once per teamfight.

Level 10 - Both are good. Metamorphosis is better for team fights. Remember that Meta gives you bonus health for every enemy hero inside the circle when you activate it, this can give you a ton of bonus health. It also increases your attack speed, which also increases your health, because you heal on every auto-attack. The hunt is good for being able to split push and have global map presence. Choose this if you need to be the jungler for your team, as illidan is pretty good at fighting mercs, too. But most times go with metamorphosis.

Level 13 - Giant killer, usually. It's more damage, and more damage is always good. Also helps you melt those pesky diablos or muradins that like to try to peel you off of the enemy squishies. If you feel like you need more survivability, you can also pick up sixth sense, which will make you take 50% reduced damage from enemy ABILITIES while evasion is active. Helpful if an enemy Jaina is ruining your day (though, really, just jump to her and kill her...) but won't help you more against auto-attack damage, so keep that in mind.

level 16 - Stoneskin is a great talent. Gain 30% of your CURRENT MAX HEALTH as shields for 5 seconds. Incredibly powerful synergy with Metamorphosis, which temporarily increases your current max health. Pick this if you've scared the enemy team enough to make them want to focus you down. Blood for Blood is probably a better pick, and definitly what you should take if you feel like you don't need the added survivability. Blood for blood instantly steals 15% of a target enemy's max health and heals you with it, while also slowing their movement speed for 3 seconds. Synergizes well with THE HUNT, as you can dive on top of someone for a stun, and then instantly blood for blood for some pretty good burst. They will not be prepared.

Level 20 - Anything in this tier is good. Bolt of the Storm is OP. It's a blink dagger, you should know how powerful this is. If you feel comfortable without it, nexus blades makes you even more of a killer, and upgrading whatever ultimate you picked up is also a possibility. Upgraded THE HUNT becomes global cast, you can dive on anyone from anywhere. Useful if you're still needing to split away from the team, or diving to objectives, but most times you should probably be with your team anyway. Upgrading Metamorphosis increases the attack speed bonus from 20% to 30%, gives you 50% reduced disable status, and also makes demonic form last forever (you can still recast it on cooldown to try to hit more enemies for better bonus health, or as a short range teleport). By this point, you should have a good feel for which of these you need, and pick accordingly. You really can't pick wrong here.

Playstyle: Illidan is a character who starts off relatively weak, but gets very strong later in the game. Being good with Illidan means learning how to use his Passive. BETRAYER'S THIRST: Auto-attacks heal you (you have built in life steal) -and- lower all of your ability cooldowns per hit. You have no mana, your survivability is purely related to your cooldowns, meaning the more you are auto-attacking, the more often you can sweeping strike, the more often you can cast evasion, and the more often you can use your ultimates. This gives you far more sustain than you might think. It also means you can trade with enemies in lane, and even if they take you down to 50% health, you'll get that back just by attacking their minions.

When laning, you'll want to use your increased mobility to harass the enemy as much as possible. Sweeping Strike (W) is your best attack. Use it whenever possible, as it gives you a nice little dash and, if you hit any enemy hero or minion or merc with that dash, gives you bonus attack for a few seconds on your auto-attacks. Avoid using Dive (Q) unless you need the mobility, it does less damage than sweeping strikes, and you'd do more damage just auto-attacking. Dive is a mobility tool, use it to get behind an enemy to body-block them, or jump over a tower/gate to finish off an enemy, or use it to dive to an enemy minion to get some space away from an enemy hero. When you engage a hero, wait until they actually start to attack you before popping evasion, which will greatly lower the amount of damage you take by dodging all of their auto-attacks. If you can kill them, great, but your goal really is just to push them back so you can dominate the lane.

EVASION WORKS AGAINST TOWER SHOTS. Evasion lasts for 5 seconds, this is enough time to dodge TWO tower shots (or FOUR if both towers in a lane are targeting you). This is great for diving an opponent, you don't have to fear their towers. Just make sure you back up before it wears off.

You basically want to hit and run until mid game, when your damage starts to pick up and you can melt people. Remember that your power comes from two sources. One is constantly attacking, this will give you hp and lower your important cooldowns, which you should be using as often as you can. The other power is body blocking, using your Q to jump over someone and then positioning yourself to block them from moving so that your team can kill them. Between doing this and picking off stragglers, you'll start racking up the kills.
Click to expand...

Wait, evasion lasts for 5 seconds? I could have sworn the tool tip said 2....I think the shadow shield from the talent lasts 5 seconds.


#155

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Terrik said:
Wait, evasion lasts for 5 seconds? I could have sworn the tool tip said 2....I think the shadow shield from the talent lasts 5 seconds.
Click to expand...
It might be two, I'm going from memory. It definitely is enough time to block two tower shots if you pop it while the shot is in the air.

And there is room for variation in that build. Many games I'll skip first aid in favor of follow through, or take seasoned marksman or the sweeping strike buff at level one, since I'm comfortable with living dangerous and using positioning, but all of the variations do play pretty much the same. Some of his other options could use buffing or changing to offer more unique variation.


#156

Terrik

Terrik

Ravenpoe said:
It might be two, I'm going from memory. It definitely is enough time to block two tower shots if you pop it while the shot is in the air.

And there is room for variation in that build. Many games I'll skip first aid in favor of follow through, or take seasoned marksman or the sweeping strike buff at level one, since I'm comfortable with living dangerous and using positioning, but all of the variations do play pretty much the same. Some of his other options could use buffing or changing to offer more unique variation.
Click to expand...

By the way, your build kicks ass.


#157

Bowielee

Bowielee



#158

Terrik

Terrik

So I picked up Zagara, and on @Ravenpoe 's advice, I did a full creep build. Holy cow did I feel OP. At the end of the last game, I had more hero damage than the next 3 heroes combined, and died once. This hero just skyrocketed into my most played.


#159

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Terrik said:
So I picked up Zagara, and on @Ravenpoe 's advice, I did a full creep build. Holy cow did I feel OP. At the end of the last game, I had more hero damage than the next 3 heroes combined, and died once. This hero just skyrocketed into my most played.
Click to expand...
There are better builds. I first saw the creep build on one of Pallytime's videos, and after trying it thought it was hilarious. It is pretty fun.


#160

Terrik

Terrik

Ravenpoe said:
There are better builds. I first saw the creep build on one of Pallytime's videos, and after trying it thought it was hilarious. It is pretty fun.
Click to expand...

I like it because it seriously increases my ability to stay in the fight and get where I need to go.


#161

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Terrik said:
I like it because it seriously increases my ability to stay in the fight and get where I need to go.
Click to expand...
And you didn't like Falstad?


#162

Bowielee

Bowielee

I didn't get a chance to play the big head mode yesterday :(


#163

Terrik

Terrik

Ravenpoe said:
And you didn't like Falstad?
Click to expand...
Eh, to be fair I tried Falstad in my literal second hour of playing. Now that I know how the game works, I'd bet id like him better


#164

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Terrik said:
Eh, to be fair I tried Falstad in my literal second hour of playing. Now that I know how the game works, I'd bet id like him better
Click to expand...
Fair enough. I didn't like him early in playing either, but his flying mount is just sooo useful. Whenever I play him, I always pick up Epic Mount at 20, which cuts the cast time and the cooldown on flight mode by half.

He just zips everywhere so damn quick.

I like brightwing for the same reason. Instead of a mount, she just teleports to any of her team mates.


#165

Bowielee

Bowielee

I think I already mentioned earlier in the thread that Falstad is my favorite assassin. He'll probably be my first or second master skin. The thing is, I think that the paid skin and the master skin should have been swapped. The purchasable armor looks more like other character master skins instead of a stupid mohawk :p


#166

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I think I already mentioned earlier in the thread that Falstad is my favorite assassin. He'll probably be my first or second master skin. The thing is, I think that the paid skin and the master skin should have been swapped. The purchasable armor looks more like other character master skins instead of a stupid mohawk :p
Click to expand...
Hey.. mohawks are a traditional sign of the wildhammer warriors!


#167

Bowielee

Bowielee

Seriously, though, which of these looks more like a master skin?

falstad-master.jpg
falstad-storm-lord.jpg
[DOUBLEPOST=1428025265,1428025206][/DOUBLEPOST]The black tint in all his skins, though is super awesome. DARK IRON FALSTAD!!!!


#168

@Li3n

@Li3n

And i gots my beta!!!!!!!!

No more playing on others accounts.


#169

Dei

Dei

I have one more beta key if anyone wants, as long as I know who you are. [emoji14]


#170

Bowielee

Bowielee

I still have 2 as well. I would have given one to @@Li3n, but he needed a non NA one.


#171

@Li3n

@Li3n

Well, my brother has 4 (found out i got the beta when trying to use one), if anyone wants EU ones i could give 2, maybe even more, still need to talk to some people.


#172

Terrik

Terrik

I think I've fallen in love with sgt. Hammer


#173

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Terrik said:
I think I've fallen in love with sgt. Hammer
Click to expand...
She'll break your heart, her first love is her big gun.

She don't want none unless it's got guns, hon.


#174

@Li3n

@Li3n

Anyone else getting teamed up with people that have clearly never played before?

Twice today the Uther clearly had no idea that he could use abilities after being dead... and didn't learn it even after we kept telling him about it (although they might not have spoken english, that's always a problem EU side).


#175

Telephius

Telephius

@Li3n said:
(although they might not have spoken english, that's always a problem EU side).
Click to expand...
For Mobas it is also a problem on the NA side.


Also Uther is on free week. Any heroes on free week will have a high chance at having someone play them horribly wrong. Uther is probably just more noticeable because his trait is more obvious if he isn't doing something. Reddit was up in arms last week over free Nova week because that is the week where ever match as a Nova on their team, and the team that wins is the team with the less terrible Nova.


#176

Bowielee

Bowielee

Lately in the NA beta, I've been getting quite a few people who speak spanish. Also, Pay attention to goddamn pings, people. I think I may start diving into the ranked matches so I can get some better teammates. Though, that's not a guarantee either.


#177

@Li3n

@Li3n

Telephius said:
Also Uther is on free week. Any heroes on free week will have a high chance at having someone play them horribly wrong. Uther is probably just more noticeable because his trait is more obvious if he isn't doing something. Reddit was up in arms last week over free Nova week because that is the week where ever match as a Nova on their team, and the team that wins is the team with the less terrible Nova.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but this was such basic stuff that one game practising with him should have been enough to learn...

Then again one guy did admit it was his first game ever...


#178

phil

phil

One thing they may not realize is just how quickly his healing cool down is when dead.

The free hero I'm having a blast with right now is Sonya. I can spec for capping merc camps and just keep going around the map and grabbing them. Granted I'm still just playing practice mode so I don't know how well this will be viable in a quick match.


#179

@Li3n

@Li3n

phil said:
One thing they may not realize is just how quickly his healing cool down is when dead.
Click to expand...
Standing there doing nothing disagrees with you...

Or, after a while, just moving the hero around aimlessly like they had no idea what was going on.


#180

Telephius

Telephius


This was on ESPN2 on Sunday. I don't normally watch game streams but apparently the casting was impressing some vet ESPN staffers who don't know what defines a MOBA. I watched the finals and it was a fun watch. Also highlights how different strats differ from QM to high level tourney play. The first game had some poor cut choices but later games improved I found. I just found it amusing having a more traditional sports casting set-up as opposed to what I am used to watching in online videos of games.


#181

phil

phil

Telephius said:

This was on ESPN2 on Sunday. I don't normally watch game streams but apparently the casting was impressing some vet ESPN staffers who don't know what defines a MOBA. I watched the finals and it was a fun watch. Also highlights how different strats differ from QM to high level tourney play. The first game had some poor cut choices but later games improved I found. I just found it amusing having a more traditional sports casting set-up as opposed to what I am used to watching in online videos of games.
Click to expand...
I totally get that it was basically just advertising for HoTS but it still feels like a really cool leap for E-sports in general. Some of the tweets were cool to see. Sure some people raged at the idea of video games being shown on ESPN2 and one of ESPN's dudes went on a big rant on his show about how if they ever make him cover video games he'd just quit, BUT that fine because it just isn't for them, you know?



#182

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Telephius said:

This was on ESPN2 on Sunday. I don't normally watch game streams but apparently the casting was impressing some vet ESPN staffers who don't know what defines a MOBA. I watched the finals and it was a fun watch. Also highlights how different strats differ from QM to high level tourney play. The first game had some poor cut choices but later games improved I found. I just found it amusing having a more traditional sports casting set-up as opposed to what I am used to watching in online videos of games.
Click to expand...
That's a damn good commentary crew. Artosis and Day9 are old pros at this, Trikslyr is always good at streaming and promoting blizzard, and... I don't know who the other guy is. Related to Day9 somehow? He has the Plott last name...


#183

phil

phil

Day [9]'s older brother.


#184

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

phil said:
Day [9]'s older brother.
Click to expand...
I honestly didn't know his brother was in the esports scene.


#185

phil

phil

Ravenpoe said:
I honestly didn't know his brother was in the esports scene.
Click to expand...
He was a prominent protons player in SC1. He lost to Sean during a big tournament back in the day and during the finals noticed that the caster was having a hard time keeping up and wasn't super familiar with the game. Tasteless offered to help out and really improved things. Now he's actually the first western caster for the Korean games.


#186

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

phil said:
He was a prominent protons player in SC1. He lost to Sean during a big tournament back in the day and during the finals noticed that the caster was having a hard time keeping up and wasn't super familiar with the game. Tasteless offered to help out and really improved things. Now he's actually the first western caster for the Korean games.
Click to expand...
Well, that would explain it, I don't watch SC games.


#187

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe



#188

Bowielee

Bowielee

Sweet!

I wonder how many heroes will be here before retail. I hadn't heard anything about Kael'Thas coming.

We definitely need more Diablo Heroes. The game seems way too Warcraft heavy. There was also talk of the possibility of Blackthorne showing up at some point. He was during the Blizzard era that the Lost Vikings appeared.


#189

@Li3n

@Li3n

Bowielee said:
I wonder how many heroes will be here before retail. I hadn't heard anything about Kael'Thas coming.
Click to expand...
Really?

Because i remember his icon being mistakenly leaked by Blizz a while ago.


#190

Bowielee

Bowielee

@Li3n said:
Really?

Because i remember his icon being mistakenly leaked by Blizz a while ago.
Click to expand...
The only leaked stuff I saw was Butcher, Skeleton King, and the Crusader. People told me at the time that they were just alt skins, but I'm fairly certain that there will be a big push for Diablo heroes next. I also believe they are going to have them coincide with the Heaven vs Hell map.


#191

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
The only leaked stuff I saw was Butcher, Skeleton King, and the Crusader. People told me at the time that they were just alt skins, but I'm fairly certain that there will be a big push for Diablo heroes next. I also believe they are going to have them coincide with the Heaven vs Hell map.
Click to expand...
We sure could use a Starcraft Warrior. Kerrigan doesn't count.


#192

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
We sure could use a Starcraft Warrior. Kerrigan doesn't count.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... Starcraft warrior...

Maybe one of the Primal Zerg, or Praetor Fenix.


#193

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Hmmm... Starcraft warrior...

Maybe one of the Primal Zerg, or Praetor Fenix.
Click to expand...
Fenix would be my best guess. I would say his trait could be coming back as a dragoon for a time on death, except on-death traits tend to be lackluster.


#194

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
Fenix would be my best guess. I would say his trait could be coming back as a dragoon for a time on death, except on-death traits tend to be lackluster.
Click to expand...
Eh, Tyreal's trait is really good, but as a rule, yes. Uther's used to be good until they nerfed it :p


#195

PatrThom

PatrThom

You know who they should add from the Diablo stable? Marius.

--Patrick


#196

Bowielee

Bowielee

Diablo is missing a support class. Most people are calling for Deckard Cain as the first support.


#197

phil

phil

Deckard Cain, Fenix as a dragoon and the necromancer from D2. That's all I want. Everyone else can go to hell.


#198

Bowielee

Bowielee

New skins and mounts a-comin'



#199

@Li3n

@Li3n

phil said:
Deckard Cain
Click to expand...

Book tornado!!![DOUBLEPOST=1431443726,1431443661][/DOUBLEPOST]
phil said:
Fenix as a dragoon
Click to expand...
And as a Zealot... 2x the Fenix.

And Artanis as a Scout... make it happen.


#200

Terrik

Terrik

Im getting pretty sick of Hero league and seeing Diablo, Valla and Illian every fucking game.


#201

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, immediate impression of Kael'Thas. Squishy as hell and his escape isn't all that great. A single Diablo renders you pretty much useless and unlike Jaina, he doesn't have the slow to escape with. Good for lane clearing, though.


#202

Dei

Dei

But does he yell that this was merely a setback when he dies?!


#203

phil

phil

ETC and Diablo got some big changes. I'm not sure how much I like them. ETC's echo pedal was moved to 16 from 4, which I don't like but the damage was increased so it's something. It just sucks that the movement speed bonus was also placed at 16 so you can't get both. Sonya and Muradin got mostly buffs to their DPS output. I would have liked to see some more tankyness on Sonya though. Still though, this build for Muradin will be even better now!


Oh and Raynor got a few buffs mostly to his W so his auto attack build will be a little better. I'm not sure if that'll make him a bigger threat before lvl 16 though since post that is the only time I feel like I'm really doing work with him.


#204

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

phil said:
ETC and Diablo got some big changes. I'm not sure how much I like them. ETC's echo pedal was moved to 16 from 4, which I don't like but the damage was increased so it's something. It just sucks that the movement speed bonus was also placed at 16 so you can't get both. Sonya and Muradin got mostly buffs to their DPS output. I would have liked to see some more tankyness on Sonya though. Still though, this build for Muradin will be even better now!


Oh and Raynor got a few buffs mostly to his W so his auto attack build will be a little better. I'm not sure if that'll make him a bigger threat before lvl 16 though since post that is the only time I feel like I'm really doing work with him.
Click to expand...
That Muradin build is fun for yoloqueue, I've used something similar before, but is terrible for team play. If the enemy team just sticks together (which they should) all your damage drops off to nothing, and you don't have the awesome sustain talents to be a tank.

I like the never die crowd control type muradin builds better.

As for Raynor, he's just a solid character. He probably feels weak because he doesn't have the extreme burst of other assassins, but he puts out some nice constant dps, and his healing makes him significantly harder to push out of a fight than other assassins, so he's always there plinking away.


#205

Telephius

Telephius

Ok I like this patch, went from Arthas being the tank I played to Anub. The beetle ai change+ less delay on spikes is such a buff so nice


#206

PatrThom

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
As for Raynor, he's just a solid character. He probably feels weak because he doesn't have the extreme burst of other assassins, but he puts out some nice constant dps, and his healing makes him significantly harder to push out of a fight than other assassins, so he's always there plinking away.
Click to expand...
Hmm...

--Patrick


#207

Bowielee

Bowielee

Telephius said:
Ok I like this patch, went from Arthas being the tank I played to Anub. The beetle ai change+ less delay on spikes is such a buff so nice
Click to expand...
Anub already was my favorite tank, now I can play him without people bitching :)


#208

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Heroes of the Storm is now in open beta. Anyone that wants to play can sign up at http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/


#209

Bowielee

Bowielee

Given that no one bit at my closed beta keys, I think we're not getting anymore halforum folks :p


#210

PatrThom

PatrThom

Bowielee said:
Given that no one bit at my closed beta keys, I think we're not getting anymore halforum folks :p
Click to expand...
Not until I get more than 30-40min avg playtime/day, nope.

--Patrick


#211

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Given that no one bit at my closed beta keys, I think we're not getting anymore halforum folks :p
Click to expand...
Might want to edit the thread title to show it's in open beta now. A lot of people probably don't read this thread just because they don't have access to the game (and so wouldn't know there were beta keys)


#212

PatrThom

PatrThom

Looks like he heard you.

--Patrick


#213

phil

phil

Doing a party of all random selects is fun.


#214

Bowielee

Bowielee

I could end up with literally any hero doing that.


#215

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I could end up with literally any hero doing that.
Click to expand...
You may have cracked the code of random select.


#216

phil

phil

It lead to a fun game where I had to learn how to play kerrigan pretty damn quick! Thank goodness my account is over 25 and I at least had all my talents unlocked.

Also was nice that the bright wing who was a PUG was good humored about it.


#217

Bowielee

Bowielee

Speaking of which, thank god they finally adjusted talent gating based on account level.


#218

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Can we all just take a moment to admire how awesome Sonya's new "Super" skin is?

Third tint is clearly the best.



#219

Bowielee

Bowielee

Heroes of the Storm as designed by Rob Liefeld.


#220

phil

phil

SOOOoooooo with 2 or 3 games with Kerrigan she's already on my top 3 takedowns list


WELP! Guess I'll buy her with all this gold I didn't know what to do with!


#221

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

phil said:
SOOOoooooo with 2 or 3 games with Kerrigan she's already on my top 3 takedowns list


WELP! Guess I'll buy her with all this gold I didn't know what to do with!
Click to expand...


#222

phil

phil

Just watched it after posting that. Great timing on Mr. time's part.

God these were fun games. I feel like I'm getting a little better at not over extending and knowing when to pull back. My Murry game had me at like 20 takedown and only 2 or 3 deaths I think. That's probably my best ratio ever.


#223

@Li3n

@Li3n

Bowielee said:
Heroes of the Storm as designed by Rob Liefeld.
Click to expand...
Nah, she actually has legs...


#224

PatrThom

PatrThom

I have died so many times because I tried to run away towards the lower right but instead accidentally clicked on the mini-map causing me to run off in some significantly more dangerous direction. Hey, Blizzard! How about requiring a modifier key or something in order for clicks on the mini-map to actually mean anything?

--Patrick


#225

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
I have died so many times because I tried to run away towards the lower right but instead accidentally clicked on the mini-map causing me to run off in some significantly more dangerous direction. Hey, Blizzard! How about requiring a modifier key or something in order for clicks on the mini-map to actually mean anything?

--Patrick
Click to expand...
Options - Gameplay - Right click through minimap


#226

PatrThom

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
Options - Gameplay - Right click through minimap
Click to expand...
Thanks!

--Patrick


#227

PatrThom

PatrThom

Huh. Didn't realize there's a limit to daily exp.
How am I supposed to rank everyone to 5 for practice if you limit my daily gain? I don't know as I'm ready to be thrown to the public yet.

--Patrick


#228

Bowielee

Bowielee

PatrThom said:
Huh. Didn't realize there's a limit to daily exp.
How am I supposed to rank everyone to 5 for practice if you limit my daily gain? I don't know as I'm ready to be thrown to the public yet.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
I never heard of this daily limit, but I jumped right into PVP. I think that's there to encourage you not to level your heroes solely by PVE matches. It only takes a few matches to pass the cap and once your account level gets high enough, you don't have any skill cap at all.


#229

phil

phil

I think it's like in the neighborhood of 2 million when you do VS AI games.


#230

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe



#231

PatrThom

PatrThom

So that's DH, Barb, WD, & Crusader. All we need is the Wizard and Monk and we'll have the whole set.

--Patrick


#232

Bowielee

Bowielee

The next 3 heroes are Diablo based characters. Johanna, the Crusader, The Skeleton King, and The Butcher, last I heard. About time they moved on from Warcraft heroes. They're way to over represented right now.


#233

PatrThom

PatrThom

Bowielee said:
The next 3 heroes are Diablo based characters. Johanna, the Crusader, The Skeleton King, and The Butcher, last I heard. About time they moved on from Warcraft heroes. They're way to over represented right now.
Click to expand...
If they're going to be scraping more characters from Diablo, they absolutely NEEEEEEEED to bring Kulle.

--Patrick


#234

Bowielee

Bowielee

PatrThom said:
If they're going to be scraping more characters from Diablo, they absolutely NEEEEEEEED to bring Kulle.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
The main Diablo character that people are really clamoring for is Deckard Cain.


#235

PatrThom

PatrThom

Cain may be the most enduring character, but Kulle is unquestionably the best.

--Patrick


#236

Bowielee

Bowielee

I updated the thread title to reflect that the game is now in full retail release.


#237

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
The next 3 heroes are Diablo based characters. Johanna, the Crusader, The Skeleton King, and The Butcher, last I heard. About time they moved on from Warcraft heroes. They're way to over represented right now.
Click to expand...
The next map is also going to be Diablo based. Johanna is obviously a warrior, and while I would imagine Leoric and the Butcher being the same, I wouldn't be surprised if Leoric was some sort of summoning specialist, and the Butcher was a bruiser/assassin.

They really need a diablo themed support though. Deckard Cain or the Monk would be the most likely candidates. Maybe even Kulle, to appease @PatrThom, though is he really that popular?


#238

Bowielee

Bowielee

Personally, I'd like to see Baal.


#239

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Personally, I'd like to see Baal.
Click to expand...
Eh, I don't see Baal as being different enough in theme from Azmodan. Maybe a Baal skin for Azmodan.

If we're talking Diablo characters that -need- to be in there, then we gotta mention the best Diablo character of all time.



... ok, they could maybe update his visuals a little.


#240

PatrThom

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
even Kulle, to appease @PatrThom, though is he really that popular?
Click to expand...
2013VilPoll.png

source

--Patrick


#241

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
View attachment 18414
source

--Patrick
Click to expand...
My money would have been on Siegebreaker Assault Beast


#242

PatrThom

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
My money would have been on Siegebreaker Assault Beast
Click to expand...
Gameplay-wise, they already have Stitches, who could stand in for either SAB or Ghom.

--Patrick


#243

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Just a reminder, because Blizzard has done a terrible job advertising it, if you go here and sign in with facebook to play the little game where you assemble a team, you get a code for a free mechanospider mount.


#244

phil

phil

Got my spider mount, so I've really upped my game.


#245

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Pro Kael'thas player in this match...



#246

Far

Far

Not really sure if this is the appropriate place for this but my battlenet name is Faraltz#1487. I haven't played too much, and only vs ai for now but I've been enjoying it so far.


#247

phil

phil

we need to get a team going!


#248

Far

Far

Also, I went through and added everyone that was in the first post of the other Heroes thread.


#249

PatrThom

PatrThom

phil said:
we need to get a team going!
Click to expand...
Everyone has to hit level 40 first!

--Patrick


#250

Terrik

Terrik

I'm level 40 :)


#251

PatrThom

PatrThom

I'm...21 I think?
I think I probably play 3-5 matches per day. I try to level another hero to level 5 each day or two.
Why does Li-Li suck so much with AI teammates? Whyyyyyy?
--Patrick


#252

phil

phil

30 day stimpacks were on sale for 5 bucks, plus there's an EXP boost for the rest of the month so we could all get there in no time, really. I just dinged 34 today.


#253

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
I'm...21 I think?
I think I probably play 3-5 matches per day. I try to level another hero to level 5 each day or two.
Why does Li-Li suck so much with AI teammates? Whyyyyyy?
--Patrick
Click to expand...
Most supports are best at... well, support, meaning you need a team behind you to help you.

Though, if you want to play against AI, why not play with actual people? Even the worst are going to be better than your bots.


#254

phil

phil

The VS AI bot teammates are the worst. I can't win a game in VS AI with all AI teammates. Even when I ping them all to follow me around they still don't actually do it. The enemy was on our core so I ran back to defend while they took an objective, so I got killed in a 1v5 while they were still walking over. After I died they just went back to the objective while our core was at like 20% and falling.

The only time outside of my first week or two where I've lost in VS AI is because our sonja was under the impression that "the curse is a crutch" so she never left her lane even while the enemy team was on our core.


#255

phil

phil

I'm starting to think a friend of mine isn't as good as I thought he was. He seems to have tendency to go off on his own a lot when we should be grouping up, especially if he disagrees with whatever play someone called. I get that it sucks for someone to make a bad play call but still though, better to go as a team and maybe make it work than separate out and get ganked.

I also wish he wouldn't argue with nay-sayers quite so much. Again I get that it sucks for people to be calling GG early or chastise the team for doing something they disagreed with (like getting a sure thing kill in mines instead of going strait for big skull camps) but just ignore or give a quick reason for why we did what we did! We don't have to get into big arguments about it.


#256

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

phil said:
I'm starting to think a friend of mine isn't as good as I thought he was. He seems to have tendency to go off on his own a lot when we should be grouping up, especially if he disagrees with whatever play someone called. I get that it sucks for someone to make a bad play call but still though, better to go as a team and maybe make it work than separate out and get ganked.

I also wish he wouldn't argue with nay-sayers quite so much. Again I get that it sucks for people to be calling GG early or chastise the team for doing something they disagreed with (like getting a sure thing kill in mines instead of going strait for big skull camps) but just ignore or give a quick reason for why we did what we did! We don't have to get into big arguments about it.
Click to expand...
Yeah, HotS is very much a team game, and you have to commit to the team, even if you disagree with their tactic. Better to all commit to a bad plan than go it alone on a good one.


#257

Bowielee

Bowielee

There is really no such thing as a "carry" in Heroes of the Storm.


#258

PatrThom

PatrThom

Bowielee said:
There is really no such thing as a "carry" in Heroes of the Storm.
Click to expand...
It's very difficult if the other team has any sort of skill at all.
Just like it's probable suicide for any one team member to try and "go it alone" without some specific tactic in mind.

--Patrick


#259

phil

phil



#260

PatrThom

PatrThom

Tee-hee-hee!
That there is the definition of "specific tactic."

--Patrick


#261

Bowielee

Bowielee



#262

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, looks like Monk and Skeleton King are confirmed. New map looks interesting.

Also, suck it whoever told me I was wrong about Butcher and Leoric being new heroes during blizzcon. :p


#263

Bowielee

Bowielee



#264

PatrThom

PatrThom

I wish I could play video games again.

--Patrick


#265

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, servers are a total lagfest right now. I've never seen it this bad. Hard to get out a precision strike when you have a lag spike. Speaking of which, I LOOOOOVE imposing presence against a Nova because everyone takes the talent that increases attack but makes it slower. If she can't take me out in one ambush, she's not taking me down. Of course, it only really works if other heroes on the team rely on auto attack damage.


#266

PatrThom

PatrThom

I always take the talent that increases attack speed and distance.
I mean, I can take on entire mercenary camps solo with the DH that way.

--Patrick


#267

Bowielee

Bowielee

I played a few bot matches on the PTR on the new map. Looks like it's going to be interesting. Lots of hidey holes for Abathur and Murky.

Conjecture is that the map will be released tuesday.


#268

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I played a few bot matches on the PTR on the new map. Looks like it's going to be interesting. Lots of hidey holes for Abathur and Murky.

Conjecture is that the map will be released tuesday.
Click to expand...
The actual play servers are currently down. No one can play. Too many Murkys.


#269

phil

phil

just dinged 40 and made my Team League team!


just gotta find some folk to fill the spaces.


#270

Bowielee

Bowielee

Butcher feels WAAAAY overpowered, like Thrall when he was first released overpowered.


#271

PatrThom

PatrThom

FYI 100% extra XP until Mon, for those who didn't know.

--Patrick


#272

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Butcher feels WAAAAY overpowered, like Thrall when he was first released overpowered.
Click to expand...
The Butcher isn't that bad if you cc him. He's actually very squishy, he only feels like beastmode because he can brand a target and get huge health regen by attacking them. All you have to do is wait for the brand and then CC. If he can't attack, he can't heal.


#273

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
The Butcher isn't that bad if you cc him. He's actually very squishy, he only feels like beastmode because he can brand a target and get huge health regen by attacking them. All you have to do is wait for the brand and then CC. If he can't attack, he can't heal.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm seeing his weaknesses now. He is also kinda useless if he doesn't have stacks of fresh meat.


#274

PatrThom

PatrThom

Omigoodness but support characters are SO much more useful and fun to play when the rest of your team is made up of real people and not bots.

--Patrick


#275

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Welp, maphacks are officially a thing now. And since they're never been able to get rid of them in sc2, and this uses the same engine, it's likely not going away.


#276

PatrThom

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
Welp, maphacks are officially a thing now. And since they're never been able to get rid of them in sc2, and this uses the same engine, it's likely not going away.
Click to expand...
This might explain why I've seen people run up to me and shoot me even when I'm hiding in the weeds even when I was pretty sure I didn't have the red eye graphic over me.

--Patrick


#277

Bowielee

Bowielee

PatrThom said:
This might explain why I've seen people run up to me and shoot me even when I'm hiding in the weeds even when I was pretty sure I didn't have the red eye graphic over me.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
Weeeelllll.... I blind shot into weeds all the time because I know people hide in them.


#278

PatrThom

PatrThom

Bowielee said:
Weeeelllll.... I blind shot into weeds all the time because I know people hide in them.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm talking things like having a Tychus char just run up and start winding up the minigun on me, not area stuff.

--Patrick


#279

phil

phil

I'd never suspected it but then again I have a hard time following movement all the time. The video posted had some pretty damning evidence though so now I'm worried that people are going to be paranoid about it.



#280

Bowielee

Bowielee

PatrThom said:
Yeah, I'm talking things like having a Tychus char just run up and start winding up the minigun on me, not area stuff.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
Do you mean Run and Gun? It's completely a normal tactic to jump into bushes with it. If you're referring to overkill, that's impossible as you can't be targeted directly in stealth or in the bushes. I'm not saying that it's not possible to have someone using a maphack against you, but many tactics for flushing out people in hiding spots have been around since alpha. Any skill shot can be directed into an area where you think someone may be hiding.


#281

PatrThom

PatrThom

Bowielee said:
Do you mean Run and Gun? It's completely a normal tactic to jump into bushes with it. If you're referring to overkill, that's impossible as you can't be targeted directly in stealth or in the bushes. I'm not saying that it's not possible to have someone using a maphack against you, but many tactics for flushing out people in hiding spots have been around since alpha. Any skill shot can be directed into an area where you think someone may be hiding.
Click to expand...
No, I don't mean someone coming into the bushes, discovering me, and then starting to shoot at me. I mean someone who runs from somewhere quite far away directly towards my position until they get within firing range. Definitely not any kind of "I'll just pop into these bushes and see if I find anything," but making a direct beeline towards my exact location.

--Patrick


#282

Telephius

Telephius

PatrThom said:
No, I don't mean someone coming into the bushes, discovering me, and then starting to shoot at me. I mean someone who runs from somewhere quite far away directly towards my position until they get within firing range. Definitely not any kind of "I'll just pop into these bushes and see if I find anything," but making a direct beeline towards my exact location.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
Not hiding in bushes by a watchtower? Or enemy didn't have a farsight or scout drone talent character? Or enemy Abathur?


#283

PatrThom

PatrThom

Telephius said:
Not hiding in bushes by a watchtower? Or enemy didn't have a farsight or scout drone talent character? Or enemy Abathur?
Click to expand...
When that happens, you usually get the red eye graphic over your head to let you know you've been revealed (or no eye to let you know that you are not hidden).
I don't remember seeing the red eye (just the white one indicating "stealthed").
I don't have the replay (auto-save is turned off) and I didn't think to save it, but I'll be sure to do so if it happens more often.

--Patrick


#284

Bowielee

Bowielee

PatrThom said:
No, I don't mean someone coming into the bushes, discovering me, and then starting to shoot at me. I mean someone who runs from somewhere quite far away directly towards my position until they get within firing range. Definitely not any kind of "I'll just pop into these bushes and see if I find anything," but making a direct beeline towards my exact location.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
Again, I'd be more apt to attribute this to knowing maps and areas where people usually hide. I know that there are some areas where I always know to go to find people hiding away. Also, the red eye only appears if you've been tagged by something that directly allows vision to the enemy team like Tyrande's mark.

I'm not saying map hacks don't exist, because they totally do, but I want to make sure that people aren't automatically jumping to that conclusion when people are actually using their knowledge and skill.


#285

PatrThom

PatrThom

Well, I've played exactly ONE game against/with real humans so far, so we'll see if it becomes a trend (now that I know what to look for after the fact).

--Patrick


#286

phil

phil

Anyone have any interest in a team league team? I'd like to do some ranked but I think having a team is more fun.


#287

@Li3n

@Li3n

phil said:
Anyone have any interest in a team league team? I'd like to do some ranked but I think having a team is more fun.
Click to expand...
You know you can just play hero league with a team, right.


#288

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

phil said:
Anyone have any interest in a team league team? I'd like to do some ranked but I think having a team is more fun.
Click to expand...
I'm not really any good, and my availability can sometimes be sparse, but I'd be game.


#289

PatrThom

PatrThom

I would be interested in having some intelligent teammates as well, though it's gonna take me a while to climb to 40. I haven't been able to play more than an hour or so this entire +100% weekend.

--Patrick


#290

phil

phil

@Li3n said:
You know you can just play hero league with a team, right.
Click to expand...
Yes


#291

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
I'm not really any good, and my availability can sometimes be sparse, but I'd be game.
Click to expand...
What the Edgar Allan said.


#292

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

It has been confirmed that the maphack allows players to use targeted abilities through the fog of war. You can see an example in this clip. The replay is following the butcher's POV, and he uses charge on falstad while not having vision on him.



#293

phil

phil

Reddit is saying that what happened is that the butcher selected him for the charge with the limited vision he had, then it went off when the butcher was in range of it. Most likely a bug I'd imagine.


#294

Bowielee

Bowielee

It conveniently doesn't show Falstad when the charge is initiated. Also, Falstad is there on the minimap, clear as day when the charge is initiated.


#295

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
It conveniently doesn't show Falstad when the charge is initiated. Also, Falstad is there on the minimap, clear as day when the charge is initiated.
Click to expand...
Falstad doesn't appear on the minimap until the butcher's charge animation begins. That's when the butcher puts a mark over the target (which grants vision) and starts to charge. Prior to that, the only time vision of Falstad is had is when he briefly moves past the wall. Though, if you watch the Butcher's skillbar, you can see the charge icon grey out during that brief moment of vision, making it appear that the butcher then auto-pathed until in-range and then started the skill.

So the question then is whether or not the butcher will continue moving ahead to get in range even after having lost vision of the target. If so, then that's obviously a bug.


#296

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Arfas and Butcher. Two man gank squad, ft MFPallyTime



#297

phil

phil

Ravenpoe said:
Arfas and Butcher. Two man gank squad, ft MFPallyTime

Click to expand...
I saw this yesterday and really want to do it now.


#298

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, Leoric is out. Played a quick bot game with him. Trying to figure out how to use his E ability. At first glance, it appears to be an escape, but it's the opposite, it's to chase down or initiate.

His death mechanic is interesting, you are able to roam freely while dead, and you can still apply slows, so you're essentially immortal with intermittent losses in your ability to damage. I'm not sure if enemies can see you while dead or not. I assume so, or there could be some serious back door shenanigans with him.


#299

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
So, Leoric is out. Played a quick bot game with him. Trying to figure out how to use his E ability. At first glance, it appears to be an escape, but it's the opposite, it's to chase down or initiate.
Click to expand...
It can also be an escape, since the shade can walk through anything. Your body you leave behind still takes damage, but the talent that makes you take reduced damage during helps to negate that.

Also, I found out that while you are unstoppable and cannot be stunned out of it, Zagara's maw cast on your body will still eat you and cancel it, and I assume void prison will as well.


#300

Bowielee

Bowielee

I didn't know you could walk through terrain with it. Good to know.


#301

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe



#302

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, I decided to move the hero league because I figured I'd get people who are better at the game and at the very least more seasoned seeing as you have to be level 40 before even unlocking it.

HELL NO. The teams I've been stuck with have been the scrubbiest of scrubs, with at least one person leaving the game in the middle of it in each match. They're not soaking lanes at the start, solo chasing kills, ignoring objectives.... just a horrible experience for me. At least in QM that's not my general experience, but in league it's been EVERY SINGE GAME.


#303

Bowielee

Bowielee

New Heroes and a new map announced.

We already knew the monk was coming. His name is officially Kharazim.
New heroes to follow are Rexxar and Artanis, two heroes that I know people have been clamoring for.

Still no Deckard Cain yet.[DOUBLEPOST=1438796058,1438795901][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, Screw you, Blizzard for putting Overwatch on my Bnet client and not having me in the beta.


#304

phil

phil

So excited for Artanis. I think a double plasma blade zealot would be just about the coolest thing to play.

Also pretty excited that Rexxar is a ranged warrior. If it works out well it could open some cool doors. But of course one of his ultimates is to summon huffer


#305

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

phil said:
So excited for Artanis. I think a double plasma blade zealot would be just about the coolest thing to play.

Also pretty excited that Rexxar is a ranged warrior. If it works out well it could open some cool doors. But of course one of his ultimates is to summon huffer
Click to expand...
His ultimate should be GO FOR FACE!


#306

phil

phil

Ultimate is to deal 2% to the enemy core. 30s cool down.


#307

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

If the face pushes our core we still go face.


#308

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe



#309

Docseverin

Docseverin

After some time spent with Dota i've been looking at this....is it an easy transition?


#310

PatrThom

PatrThom

Docseverin said:
After some time spent with Dota i've been looking at this....is it an easy transition?
Click to expand...
Except for preconceived notions on how things work, probably.

--Patrick


#311

Bowielee

Bowielee

Yeah. It helps that you already know the basic concept of lane pushing and such.
There are a few things to keep in mind when transitioning from LoL or DOTA.

1) Heroes of the Storm is a team focused game. XP is shared between the whole team, so there is no solo snowballing to outlevel everyone else and roll over the enemy.

2) Never ignore objectives. Every map has a mechanic that you need to become familiar with. This is probably the biggest difference between HOTS and all other MOBA style games. If your team ignores these objectives and just chases kills, you will lose the game, plain and simple.

3) early game XP farming. Until level 10, for the most part, stay in all three lanes. You just need to be near minions for your whole team to get XP for their death, so the best way to get to 10 first is not to chase kills, it's to farm your lane and pick safe kills as they come.


#312

PatrThom

PatrThom

Like Bowie says in point 1 above, it is (generally) dangerous to go alone. There are certain specific reasons why you might want to run off and go all maverick, but if you are not doing one of those, going YOLO is a great way to get yourself killed and thereby give the opposing team a big chunk of XP for doing so. As you(r team) levels up, you more and more become a juicy piñata full of XP, and the opposing team will very much enjoy working to catch you alone and harvest it.

--Patrick


#313

Docseverin

Docseverin

DarkwingDuck#1690 friend me bitches


#314

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Docseverin said:
DarkwingDuck#1690 let's get dangerous, bitches
Click to expand...
FTFY


#315

Bowielee

Bowielee



Looks like Imposing Presence is going to be a must for tanks in the future meta.


#316

PatrThom

PatrThom

Interesting. And very Monk-y.

--Patrick


#317

Bowielee

Bowielee

Too many hero changes to count. This patch is going to be a big change for a lot of stuff.


#318

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, I've had the greatest win streak with Leoric. I'm really enjoying him. He may supplant Anub'arak as my go to tank.


#319

Bowielee

Bowielee

I'm just KILLING it with Leoric.

All hail the Skeleton King!!!


#320

PatrThom

PatrThom

I thought you liked Arthas better?

--Patrick


#321

Bowielee

Bowielee

I actually stopped play Arthas a while ago, he's still a strong tank, but Leoric is so much fun. Muradin is still my favorite tank, though.


#322

@Li3n

@Li3n

Bowielee said:
We already knew the monk was coming. His name is officially Kharazim.
Click to expand...
C'mon, all that eastern european imagery and names, and he does get a slavic sounding name... colour me disappoint.


Bowielee said:
New heroes to follow are Rexxar and Artanis, two heroes that I know people have been clamoring for.
Click to expand...
Who are you people that want Artanis as a Zealot over Fenix?

Full nme and addresses pls, so i can Jay and Silent Bob you... you bastards.


#323

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

@Li3n said:
C'mon, all that eastern european imagery and names, and he does get a slavic sounding name... colour me disappoint.




Who are you people that want Artanis as a Zealot over Fenix?

Full nme and addresses pls, so i can Jay and Silent Bob you... you bastards.
Click to expand...

Blizzard was actually upfront as to why they chose Artanis. Fenix was the original idea, and they decided early on that they wanted to include his lore of coming back as a dragoon as a mechanic for him. But they were in the middle of developing Leoric, and didn't want to have so many death/resurrection mechanics coming out at once and feeling stale, so they changed their idea to Artanis, who will also have a big role in legacy of the void.

tl;dr Fenix is coming, he's just on hold for now.


#324

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

Looks like the HotS devs are open to pulling from Activision properties for more characters.


#325

PatrThom

PatrThom

That means Master Chief can't be far behind.

--Patrick


#326

Bowielee

Bowielee

With very few exceptions, the day they start pulling all those other properties is the day I quit playing.


#327

PatrThom

PatrThom

Bowielee said:
I'm just KILLING it with Leoric.

All hail the Skeleton King!!!
Click to expand...
Tried him out now that things are installed. I can see why I might like him. He has about 20 different ways to heal and he stays on the battlefield when he's dead. I had to stand in the enemy fire of a keep and 2 forts + minions before he started receiving enough damage to actually kill him before the structures would run out of ammo.

--Patrick


#328

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
Tried him out now that things are installed. I can see why I might like him. He has about 20 different ways to heal and he stays on the battlefield when he's dead. I had to stand in the enemy fire of a keep and 2 forts + minions before he started receiving enough damage to actually kill him before the structures would run out of ammo.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
He's not quite -that- tanky, unless he has a hero nearby that he can leech off of. Or unless you were in try mode, with malfuriobot healing you.


#329

PatrThom

PatrThom

I was in try mode, but I was all by myself behind the enemy gate (wraithed through it). I was level 20, they were level 18.
I had eaten a number of regen globes, though.

--Patrick


#330

Bowielee

Bowielee

In real combat, he can take a decent beating, but still isn't as tanky as Muradin, but his slow is great and if you can land your Drain Hope, you can take some punishment.


#331

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
I was in try mode, but I was all by myself behind the enemy gate (wraithed through it). I was level 20, they were level 18.
I had eaten a number of regen globes, though.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
Oh, at level 20 just about every character can absorb quite a few tower shots. They're not really meant to be the big scary deterrent by that point anymore, and the more levels past 20 you go the more irrelevant they get. This is by design, it forces the game to end.


#332

PatrThom

PatrThom

I know, it's just that I was trying to see what his death mechanic was like at lvl20, except that I was having so much difficulty actually killing him.

--Patrick


#333

@Li3n

@Li3n

Ravenpoe said:
Blizzard was actually upfront as to why they chose Artanis. Fenix was the original idea, and they decided early on that they wanted to include his lore of coming back as a dragoon as a mechanic for him. But they were in the middle of developing Leoric, and didn't want to have so many death/resurrection mechanics coming out at once and feeling stale, so they changed their idea to Artanis, who will also have a big role in legacy of the void.

tl;dr Fenix is coming, he's just on hold for now.
Click to expand...
I'll believe it when i see it...


#334

Bowielee

Bowielee

@Li3n said:
I'll believe it when i see it...
Click to expand...
I'm fairly certain after the next few heroes, they're going to do the same thing with Starcraft that they did with Diablo recently. There are absolutely NO Starcraft themed maps yet, and I'm sure that they will have a series of starcraft heroes, including Fenix who will come along with it. I'm kind of surprised they didn't do that before the Diablo thing to cross promote Legacy of the Void.


#335

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I'm fairly certain after the next few heroes, they're going to do the same thing with Starcraft that they did with Diablo recently. There are absolutely NO Starcraft themed maps yet, and I'm sure that they will have a series of starcraft heroes, including Fenix who will come along with it. I'm kind of surprised they didn't do that before the Diablo thing to cross promote Legacy of the Void.
Click to expand...
There are -no- game themed maps currently, except for the diablo themed ones now being added. All other maps are a part of a new 'nexus universe' that they're establishing, and it's where some of the skins come from. Anubis Tassadar, for example, is from the sky temple universe.


#336

Bowielee

Bowielee

Yeah, but honestly, look at the current maps and tell me they're not heavily inspired by WoW. They have Scifi heroes, they should have some sci fi themed maps.


#337

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Yeah, but honestly, look at the current maps and tell me they're not heavily inspired by WoW. They have Scifi heroes, they should have some sci fi themed maps.
Click to expand...
I have no idea why Blackheart's Bay isn't Booty Bay.

It is surprising that they don't have any sci-fi themed maps though, when "The Nexus" itself has a sci-fi aesthetic.


#338

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

My initial thoughts on the new patch: Blizzard really doesn't like the gathering power talent.


#339

PatrThom

PatrThom

Yay we get difficulties now in AI games!

--Patrick


#340

Bowielee

Bowielee

Damn it, now I have to level a character up to 70 next season in Diablo 3[DOUBLEPOST=1439936189,1439936150][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, i was literally 2 damn wins away from getting the Hearthstone mount when that ended.


#341

PatrThom

PatrThom

Bowielee said:
Damn it, now I have to level a character up to 70 next season in Diablo
Click to expand...
Really, it's not that hard, so long as the season is longer than a week.
You could easily do it in a day, if you really push it.

--Patrick


#342

phil

phil

"Man, so DPS monk has some surprising burst potential," he said while waiting to respawn.

I haven't played him yet, except for try mode on the PTR, but he can be a real pain as an opponent. Receiving a solid dash+attack speed boost combo can hurt a lot if he takes the "your Q has a bunch of punches also" talent. And lord help you if you're even a little bit away from your team and he gets a 7 sided strike off.

He feels like a powerful opponent early on if he's going DPS. Later in the game though when me and my team were catching up we were able to take him down easily enough if he started to get separated from his team.

My buddy was playing monk on our team tonight and lemme tell you that support ult is amazing. It's basically an ancestral healing but doesn't have to worry about burst as much. There was an interesting interaction I noticed in our first game though. I was playing Uther and had just died. While dead Monk started taking a knight camp, but the rest of the team didn't come help. I made my way over after I rezzed and he used divine palm on himself right as my Q heal hit him. So my Q healed him, saving him from death but not as much as his divine palm would have healed him for. We were almost in a bad spot just because my basic heal only really delayed his probable death slightly. Luckily we finished the camp without him going down but it was actually pretty close. That'll be something to consider when going with a double support comp. So with this I feel like he actually wouldn't mesh well with the other top tier healers who all have AOE healing.


#343

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Divine palm is awesome, but a good team will switch targets once they see someone get it, meaning you have to wait as late as possible to get the most out of it.

DPS monk is a thing, but it shouldn't be. Sure, he's strong early on, but he falls off when it counts. Besides, support monk is just so much better, the constant heals he puts out are amazing.


#344

PatrThom

PatrThom

He complements Raynor nicely.
Ravenpoe said:
support monk is just so much better, the constant heals he puts out are amazing.
Click to expand...
He's like LiLi, except that instead of throwing bottles, he heals you while hitting the other guy.

--Patrick


#345

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
He complements Raynor nicely.

He's like LiLi, except that instead of throwing bottles, he heals you while hitting the other guy.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
That's just from his passive. Breath of heaven is also a decent aoe heal that can be talented to heal even more and heal twice, add movement speed, as well as a dash that can jump to a friendly to apply that heal with -and- talent to give move speed as well. Support monk saves lives, disengages like a pro, and can boost teammates to secure kills.

But yeah, like LiLi, he's mostly wasted if going damage. Though a hybrid may do well.


#346

PatrThom

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
a hybrid may do well.
Click to expand...
So far I've been doing just that. Take all the heals but go 7-sided for his ultimate, and he becomes a fairly useful healer who can also effectively participate in defending temples, protecting tributes, etc.

--Patrick


#347

Bowielee

Bowielee

I feel like seven sided strike is going to be one of those ultimates that gets picked for a while, but eventually the shine will wear off, whereas his other ultimate is infinitely useful. Especially if you upgrade it so that the cooldown gets greatly reduced if it doesn't proc.


#348

PatrThom

PatrThom

I dunno. I feel like the ability rates with Zagara's Devouring Maw at picking off a straggling enemy hero. There's still enough other healing for when you're in a posse, pushing down a lane, but the ability to pop off an 11-sided strike when one of your teammates stuns/slows a retreating hero is too good an idea to pass up.

We'll see how things go in play, of course.

--Patrick


#349

Bowielee

Bowielee

Eh, too easily avoidable, unlike the maw. Also, Maw is best for group CC and setting up wombo combos, not individual stragglers. Also, the more targets there are, the more useless it becomes, so all the enemy team needs to do is stay grouped together to make it nearly useless.

The ability to cheat death, however, is infinitely more useful in a higher level of play.


#350

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Eh, too easily avoidable, unlike the maw. Also, Maw is best for group CC and setting up wombo combos, not individual stragglers. Also, the more targets there are, the more useless it becomes, so all the enemy team needs to do is stay grouped together to make it nearly useless.

The ability to cheat death, however, is infinitely more useful in a higher level of play.
Click to expand...
Seven sided strike isn't of any use in group play, which is when most of the game matters. And even if using it to pick off a straggler, it's far too easy to simply walk out of it and avoid most of the damage.


#351

PatrThom

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
it's far too easy to simply walk out of it and avoid most of the damage.
Click to expand...
Agreed!
Just saying that if you're on the ball, you can quickly turn from healing your own guys into unhealing the other guys.
It might just be me, but I absolutely can't stand having a character who is locked into one and only one role.

--Patrick


#352

phil

phil

Let's get a game night going sometimes soon. When is good for everyone? I'm assuming weekend at some point?


#353

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Hehe, I was looking through the different skin tints for the monk, and noticed these.



#354

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
Hehe, I was looking through the different skin tints for the monk, and noticed these.

Click to expand...
That was the first thing I noticed while looking at the skin tints. I was flipping through them and I stopped all of a sudden... Ang??


#355

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
That was the first thing I noticed while looking at the skin tints. I was flipping through them and I stopped all of a sudden... Ang??
Click to expand...
And Roku![DOUBLEPOST=1440123189,1440122913][/DOUBLEPOST]Though, I suppose the Aang one looks more like Tenzin



#356

Telephius

Telephius

I am enjoying the Azmo changes, being able to spec into mana reduction for any of the basic abilities is a hell-forged blessing. Also the new Storm talent is nice having two charges of generals is much more useful than Storm Shield I find on Azmo.


#357

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Telephius said:
I am enjoying the Azmo changes, being able to spec into mana reduction for any of the basic abilities is a hell-forged blessing. Also the new Storm talent is nice having two charges of generals is much more useful than Storm Shield I find on Azmo.
Click to expand...
I love new pushmo. He can just tear through shit with his giant army of rampaging demons.


#358

@Li3n

@Li3n

Bowielee said:
I'm fairly certain after the next few heroes, they're going to do the same thing with Starcraft that they did with Diablo recently. There are absolutely NO Starcraft themed maps yet, and I'm sure that they will have a series of starcraft heroes, including Fenix who will come along with it.
Click to expand...
Yeah, i mean Fenix particularly, they certainly will be bringing in SC maps and things once LotV comes out...


#359

Bowielee

Bowielee



Rexxar looks pretty fun, but I don't think I'll be that into him.


#360

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:


Rexxar looks pretty fun, but I don't think I'll be that into him.
Click to expand...
Always Huffer...


#361

phil

phil

I think he's going to be interesting. I'm curious as to how powerful each half will really be. It kind of sounds like Misha will be more bruiser-y and rely on healing from both the team support and Rexxar. I'm also curious as to how much EXP each will grant. Maybe 25% from Misha and 75% from Rexxar? 50/50?


#362

Docseverin

Docseverin

I am enjoying Zagara


#363

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Docseverin said:
I am enjoying Zagara
Click to expand...
SPAWN MORE OVERLORDS.

That's all I can think of while playing her. That, and I sometimes miss a teamfight because I'm busy building that creep highway.


#364

Terrik

Terrik

I'm almost @ 10k gold and am wondering if I shouldn't pick up the monk.


#365

Bowielee

Bowielee

I'm saving up my gold for that sweet, sweet doubloon mount.


#366

Terrik

Terrik

Bowielee said:
I'm saving up my gold for that sweet, sweet doubloon mount.
Click to expand...
11889991_10207717036713167_3834312475709354221_o.jpg


#367

Docseverin

Docseverin

Game is broke


#368

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Docseverin said:
Game is broke
Click to expand...
Are you getting the version mismatch bug? Here's how I fixed it. When you get the error, it'll kick you to the default login screen (which you normally never see if launching from the launcher). Go ahead and log in, start the game, it'll be kinda slow and wonky and will eventually give you an error. Exit the game, make sure hots is set to run as an administrator (don't know if this is required, but I did it) and relaunch the game. It should launch as normal and allow you to play.


#369

PatrThom

PatrThom

Dangit, forgot to log in before today to get Diablo for free and get my treasure demon portrait.
EDIT: Oh wait ha ha it looks like I did get Diablo or else had already bought him.

--Patrick


#370

Bowielee

Bowielee

Woah, that seemed fast, Rexxar is out already.


#371

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Woah, that seemed fast, Rexxar is out already.
Click to expand...

It's been three weeks, and blizzard said the hero release schedule should be every 3-4 weeks.


#372

Docseverin

Docseverin

I just uninstalled and reinstalled, it works now.


#373

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

So, after some testing, I've come to the conclusion that Rexxar isn't as horrible as everyone thought. All he needs is some bug fixes and some quality of life changes to be on par with the other heroes.

Initial reaction: omg he's so bad ffs

Aside from bugs (like not getting credit for hunter-gatherer globes if someone else picks up the health regen globe... and that includes Misha) the main problem he has is the Misha AI. Controlling the bear can be frustrating, because you have very limited control of where she will go. D toggles her between aggressive and passive, and while aggressive she will rush towards your target to attack, while passive she will run back to you. Unfortunately she won't run -behind- you, which is often where you want her to go when pulling her back to keep her from getting killed, so you're forced to run back to get her to follow and get her out of danger. What I'd love to see is to have D changed from a stance toggle to an attack-control, the same other minions are controlled like Kerrigan's ultralisk or Jaina's water elemental. Pressing D on an enemy will order her to attack that enemy, d on the ground will issue a move command, etc.

Pros:
- He can jungle like a boss, taking the easy prey talent at level 4 allows you to take bruiser camps early, and you can even solo boss if you really want to.
- Misha's stun is amazing. Especially if talented to have lower cooldowns. She can stun whole teams, several times during a fight, and is a force to be reckoned with. With the right talents she's also hard for the enemy team to take down, just make sure they don't take down Rexxar instead.
- He makes Duran Duran references and looks like Batman.

Cons:
- If the enemy team walks past Misha to attack him, he's super squishy. He has less hp than Thrall, and his only form of escape is if Misha is in range to land her skillshot charge stun, or if you hit with your skillshot bird slow and limp away. Positioning is important.
- Speaking of positioning, his attack range is way too short.
- Misha AI is dumb. She once spent 10 minutes of a game stuck on a wall. They also really need to add an icon for her on the minimap, because I didn't know where the hell she was.
- He can't bypass forts and go straight for core. This really should have been his passive. If the base plays taunt we still go face.
- Refuses to trade


#374

Bowielee

Bowielee

Goddamn it Blizzard, why don't you just take ALL my money.

heroes-uther-judgement-skin-header.jpg


#375

PatrThom

PatrThom

Ooo, shiny.

--Patrick


#376

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Goddamn it Blizzard, why don't you just take ALL my money.

View attachment 19180
Click to expand...
Me too, man... me too.

I even want to dust off my WoW paladin now and rock that set.


#377

Terrik

Terrik

I take advantage of the sales every where. I don't mind dropping 5 on a hero once in a while. Time to add thrall to my collection


#378

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Oh my god blizzard take all my money



#379

Bowielee

Bowielee

OUCH, right in the wallet. That Medic Metroid master skin? perfect. Also, I HAVE TO HAVE that new Falstad skin, and a freakin VULTURE???? GOD YES.
my body is ready.gif


#380

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
OUCH, right in the wallet. That Medic Metroid master skin? perfect. Also, I HAVE TO HAVE that new Falstad skin, and a freakin VULTURE???? GOD YES.
View attachment 19205
Click to expand...


#381

PatrThom

PatrThom

You guys and your disposable incomes.

--Patrick


#382

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
You guys and your disposable incomes.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
I'm actually just wildly irresponsible.


#383

phil

phil

So with the NA championships they announced that the winning teams comp would all go on sale. The winning team?

Malfurion
Muradin
Jaina
Sonya
Tyrande

All of whom I own, and even for everyone else only one of them is 10k gold I think.

And the team that lost had Karazim, leoric, johana whom I'd love to get.


#384

Bowielee

Bowielee



She looks kinda boring, but will probably be a must have due to her being a full on healer.


#385

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:


She looks kinda boring, but will probably be a must have due to her being a full on healer.
Click to expand...
I think she looks really fun, but I disagree she will be a must have. She has very strong single target, sustained heals, has a displacement tool, single target mitigation and either a single target steroid or party map movement. She lacks mobility, burst healing, aoe healing or any kind of cc. This means she will work in very specific comps, but doesn't have the versatility of, say, Uther or Malf. She's also very squishy, and has no self healing outside of her passive.

With melee assassins coming back into style, I think she'll find a place, but won't become the defacto must have healer.


#386

Bowielee

Bowielee

Witness the power of the Medivac



The backdoor strats.


#387

Bowielee

Bowielee

If you pre-ordered Legacy of the Void, Artanis is now available.


#388

Telephius

Telephius

He is interesting. People compare him to Sonya a lot but he feels even squishier than her. Also his prism ability is the most disappointing ability ever hehe. Not so much the range but how much of an easy skill shot it is to dodge for the range it has.


#389

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, Pre-Purchase of Overwatch is available now. If you pre-order it, you get a bunch of extra stuff, INCLUDING Tracer for Heroes of the Storm, so that's official now, They WILL be incorporating heroes from Overwatch into the Nexus. Can't wait for Winston.


#390

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
So, Pre-Purchase of Overwatch is available now. If you pre-order it, you get a bunch of extra stuff, INCLUDING Tracer for Heroes of the Storm, so that's official now, They WILL be incorporating heroes from Overwatch into the Nexus. Can't wait for Winston.
Click to expand...
Well, that at least tells us what they're pricing structure is. It's a full retail title, instead of free to play and buying heroes.


#391

phil

phil

World Championship just wrapped up!

Cloud 9 beat out Dignitas
USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!


#392

Bowielee

Bowielee

The next three heroes have been officially announced. Cho'gal, Lunara (basically the dryad from WC3), and Genn Greymane.


#393

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

So, Cho'Gal is pretty weird... and amazing. Leave it to blizzard to take an april fools joke and make it something awesome. For anyone that doesn't know, Cho'Gal is the two-headed ogre mage, and requires TWO people to play as him, one person controlling Cho and the other controlling Gal.

Only people who attended blizzcon or had a virtual ticket (me!) have him, but you can unlock him yourself by playing with people that use him. I will happily lend my services for this.


#394

Dei

Dei

I might want to try just to unlock it, never mind that I have played the game all of three times. ;)


#395

Terrik

Terrik

Ooo I want.


#396

Dei

Dei

If you share Cho with Terrik, I can pester HIM needlessly until I get it. ;)


#397

Bowielee

Bowielee

Ravenpoe said:
So, Cho'Gal is pretty weird... and amazing. Leave it to blizzard to take an april fools joke and make it something awesome. For anyone that doesn't know, Cho'Gal is the two-headed ogre mage, and requires TWO people to play as him, one person controlling Cho and the other controlling Gal.

Only people who attended blizzcon or had a virtual ticket (me!) have him, but you can unlock him yourself by playing with people that use him. I will happily lend my services for this.
Click to expand...
/raises hand excitedly


#398

Bubble181

Bubble181

Man, I wanted to say I loved Cho'Gal in WCII, but not wanting to make a fool of myself, I thought I'd check it was him before commenting. The wiki doesn't even list WCII appearances or story! I had to go look deep and far to find that, yes, the guy I was thinking of is well and good the same guy. Pfft.

Anyway, hurray for WCII charactres making an appearance.


#399

phil

phil

Ravenpoe said:
So, Cho'Gal is pretty weird... and amazing. Leave it to blizzard to take an april fools joke and make it something awesome. For anyone that doesn't know, Cho'Gal is the two-headed ogre mage, and requires TWO people to play as him, one person controlling Cho and the other controlling Gal.

Only people who attended blizzcon or had a virtual ticket (me!) have him, but you can unlock him yourself by playing with people that use him. I will happily lend my services for this.
Click to expand...
Hey there Poe, ol' buddy, ol' pal. Man I was just thinking about all the great times we've had together. Like that one time! Or that other!

Say, friend, what are you doing later?


#400

Bowielee

Bowielee

I actually unlocked him today as well.

Honestly, I never would have even gotten him if you couldn't get him for free.


#401

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
I actually unlocked him today as well.

Honestly, I never would have even gotten him if you couldn't get him for free.
Click to expand...
I've been in the middle of a 14 hour long overnight shift, and then sleeping all day to recover... can someone that doesn't own him play him with someone that does? I'll happily let people ride along.


#402

Dei

Dei

Ravenpoe said:
I've been in the middle of a 14 hour long overnight shift, and then sleeping all day to recover... can someone that doesn't own him play him with someone that does? I'll happily let people ride along.
Click to expand...
That's how you spread him. Someone who has him play with someone that doesn't. Sooo...


#403

phil

phil

I just got him last night. If anyone needs him I'm down to clown. Laughingboy#1117


#404

Bowielee

Bowielee

Goddamn you, Blizzard. The Vulture bike was one of my most looked-forward-to mounts and it's locked behind a recruit a friend scheme. Any friend I have who would play HOTS already is.


#405

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Bowielee said:
Goddamn you, Blizzard. The Vulture bike was one of my most looked-forward-to mounts and it's locked behind a recruit a friend scheme. Any friend I have who would play HOTS already is.
Click to expand...
This is my problem with WoW right now. I want the new mounts like the fancy hippogryph and the Cindermane Charger, but I don't have anyone I know that does not play or has had an account before. :( I will also probably never get that bike in HOTS, lol.


#406

Telephius

Telephius

Apparently it takes 10 hours to level a smurf account in Vs Ai. Sucks but Vulture mount!


EDIT:

Also for those who also play WoW.
Mrgrgrlrl


#407

phil

phil

D2 necromancer!

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/he...ancer-and-w/1100-6433968/?ftag=GSS-05-10aaa0b


#408

phil

phil

Apparently muradin's avatar ult doesn't stun on Auto attacks anymore.

Azula joined the nexus and the avatar goes down a peg. Well played fire nation.


#409

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

My life is now complete.



#410

Terrik

Terrik

Oh my god give it to me.


#411

PatrThom

PatrThom

I don't know if that's because March, or whether it's actually a month early.

--Patrick


#412

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
I don't know if that's because March, or whether it's actually a month early.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
It's going to be released as a prize to everyone that attends the Heroes of the Dorm event, and the final color option on it will depend on the winning team. It's also available for the top 500 winners in the Heroes of the Dorm brackets, or for everyone else if they are willing to pay for it.

And it's based on this:



#413

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

It's finally real!



#414

PatrThom

PatrThom

Wow. Lotta changes today.
I know they come out with patches for HotS just about every 2-3wks, I hope this amount of reworking is not the norm.

--Patrick


#415

phil

phil

PatrThom said:
Wow. Lotta changes today.
I know they come out with patches for HotS just about every 2-3wks, I hope this amount of reworking is not the norm.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
Not typically. Usually the weekly/bi weekly patches are small adjustments to characters. Massive reworks are like a 3-6 month cycle.


#416

Bowielee

Bowielee

So, Chromie is pretty fun, and I can't wait for Medivh to drop.


#417

Dei

Dei

Bowielee said:
So, Chromie is pretty fun, and I can't wait for Medivh to drop.
Click to expand...
Chromie is one of my favorite WoW characters, it ALMOST makes me want to actually play HotS.


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