Heroes of the Storm

Malfurion is growing on me.

How is the overall hero diversity in ranked play - does it still seem like most players own the basic cheapest 10 more or less? Its one of the things I'm most curious about if anyone has an opinion or data. Even just anecdotal is good enough for now.

Dandain_sl said:

How is the overall hero diversity in ranked play - does it still seem like most players own the basic cheapest 10 more or less? Its one of the things I'm most curious about if anyone has an opinion or data. Even just anecdotal is good enough for now.

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I think it'll be like the other mobas where there will be staples until some high level players pick those heroes and change the meta.

Maps will make a big difference. Blizzard plans on making a lot more maps and probably rotating them. Gazlowe is a sub par hero, but he can actually be good on Sky Temple where he can lock down a piece of land.

It will just take time and people at the higher levels proving that some heroes are better than popular perception. Just like Dota and LoL, imo.

Draegan_sl said:

I have a feeling that the overall effect of a well played Abathur makes up for a body. Soaking up two lanes of xp while a shitty teamfight is going on, or one lane + being in the team fight is a little extra. The increased passive lane pressure with a well placed body for locusts helps over time. I think the cumulative effect over all makes up for it and could win you the game sometimes.

Dude does need some tweaks though, that's for sure. He isn't perfect or god tier, but I don't think he's useless either.

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I wouldn't spend much time on Abathur this patch. The nerfs hit him way too hard. That being said, if you do play him you'd probably want to pair it up with a Zeratul (zeratul + abathur hat is still decently strong roam), or a Kerrigan (clone Kerrigan is the best use of ultimate evolution in the game). Problem of course being that both Kerrigan/Zeratul are two of the highest skill cap heroes in the game, and in Kerrigan's case the Abathur player would also have to be competent at everything Kerrigan does.

On a side note, the one thing that can't be overstated enough is that Valla is far and away the best hero for new people in the game to play. Provided you go the multishot build, she's almost impossible to screw up. Spam W on cooldown, mix in safe auto attacks, and press R when 3 heroes are barely within max range of your strafe. It's not that there isn't a big difference between a top tier Valla and an average valla (there is), but an average Valla gets way more contribution out of her play than an average anything else.

Multishot build for reference -Heroes of the Storm (Heroes) Builds Guides, wiki, database and forums. Heroes Hero Build Guides on HeroesFire Wiki!

Urlithani_sl said:

It will just take time and people at the higher levels proving that some heroes are better than popular perception. Just like Dota and LoL, imo.

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I wouldn't underestimate top level players and how much we actually test stuff out. Lots of people want shitty heroes like Gazlowe/Murky to be useful because they're still favorite niche picks of players when they're fucking around. Unfortunately, there is a decent portion of heroes that are simply complete shit regardless of the map. Gazlowe is ass because Heroes is a game of mobility and rotations - even on maps like Sky Temple.

Draegan_sl said:

Malfurion is growing on me.

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Huehuehue

@Zp caught a couple streams, good games man learned a few things watching.

Man i suck ass at this game, whenever i look at the tabs i have more take downs but waaay less of everything else. I'm really not use to the moba playstyle of games yet. Zeratul seems like hes a harder character to play though and i can't find a build that i really love yet.

I'm trying to find a void prison build thats more defensive/annoying and then a full on dps burst build but having issues figuring them out heh

I really enjoy this game though, very fun and can't wait for the actual release

It feels like overall toxicity is way, way up in the game. Ranked is ok'ish for non-toxic players but hoooooly shit. QM is rough these days. Much worst than the past. Since QM is the new casual mode I just go in there generally to test out builds and try out low-tier heroes but everyone is try harding so bad and screaming their heads off to AFK after minute 3 it is unbearable.

That's every online game basically.

ZProtoss_sl said:

I wouldn't spend much time on Abathur this patch. The nerfs hit him way too hard. That being said, if you do play him you'd probably want to pair it up with a Zeratul (zeratul + abathur hat is still decently strong roam), or a Kerrigan (clone Kerrigan is the best use of ultimate evolution in the game). Problem of course being that both Kerrigan/Zeratul are two of the highest skill cap heroes in the game, and in Kerrigan's case the Abathur player would also have to be competent at everything Kerrigan does.

On a side note, the one thing that can't be overstated enough is that Valla is far and away the best hero for new people in the game to play. Provided you go the multishot build, she's almost impossible to screw up. Spam W on cooldown, mix in safe auto attacks, and press R when 3 heroes are barely within max range of your strafe. It's not that there isn't a big difference between a top tier Valla and an average valla (there is), but an average Valla gets way more contribution out of her play than an average anything else.

Multishot build for reference -Heroes of the Storm (Heroes) Builds Guides, wiki, database and forums. Heroes Hero Build Guides on HeroesFire Wiki!

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You must not group with the same bad Vallas I play with and against. So many offensive vaults and getting caught completely out of position. Initiating team fights. You name it. I find playing her even at an average level if you don't actually grasp the fundamentals of how to play a super squishy ranged assassin is still rough.

Also I'm really starting to like Hammer. To the point I may bust her out if the proper situation arises in hero league. I still need to work on figuring out when I need to get my ass to a team fight and when I should hold my ground and soak minion XP and push towers instead. She's so fucking slow it feels like if I commit to team fighting I need to make that decision sooner rather than later.

Basically in our highlight videos you'll see us doing whatever we can to get or keep an advantage. Sometimes we just say fuck the first objective and maximize lane xp for an early lead.

The same is said when we're disadvantaged we look for a pick that will lead us into either an objective or a more fair fight.

With Dreagan on abathur in the first match against Broman this saturday we had to really count on Arthas to make teamfights work. In cases where he wasn't confident we had to adjust the strategy.

This game and decisions to teamfight are all about gaining an advantage. There were times where I would get a pick or keep a murky egg down and make it a fair 4v4 for the other guys and sit in lane to get an xp advantage while they fought in mines.

Some of those choices are harder, but in that particular matchup I was able to keep 2 of their specialists off the map for a considerable amount of time while getting lane xp.

I think hammer doesn't quite play that role though and needs to show up to fights more often than not (like a valla would for instance).

If you're responding to ZP (or me? I don't know) he is oft referring to high level matches not QM matches that involve a Murky. You can make almost any combination of any heroes work if you're just plain better than the other team.

Tenks_sl said:

If you're responding to ZP (or me? I don't know) he is oft referring to high level matches not QM matches that involve a Murky. You can make almost any combination of any heroes work if you're just plain better than the other team.

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Right and being better than the other team means knowing when to teamfight. Which was my point in regards to your hammer comments.

My scenario was more like on Dragon and the game is sub-10. I'm bot as hammer and we own the bot shrine. 4 of my team is top battling 5 of their team for top. Should I stay and push these towers down or should I make the journey north to engage in the team fight. I'm not sure if there is a really clear-cut answer. Getting the lane XP and towers is nice but if they trounce my team because I wasn't there to help it doesn't really matter. This is an actual real-world scenario in a game from yesterday. I stayed and pushed towers and (luckily) my team won their team fight up there as well. But we rolled them pretty hard regardless so unfortunately I still don't know the right response. I'm sure it is more gray than black/white.

If your lane opponent leaves for the top shrine you should probably follow. Real risky to leave your teamates outnumbered when you're one of two ranged damage sources (most often than not)

If your team gets an early kill in the fight you're fine to stay.

Dragon Shrine is a hard one to make those calls on .

**Just my opinion without knowing your team-comp or the enemies team comp.

I disagree somewhat that it is always required to have everyone present for every team fight. Not every teamfight has to end with everyone dying on one side or the other. I know this game isn't DOTA but it is common to never rely upon your #1 to be present for fights early in the game. It is better to have him just get fat elsewhere. Obviously this game isn't about an individual getting fat but you can fatten up your team by tactically choosing to just push players back and stall a team fight while you are getting XP in a lane that is currently unoccupied. It just seems in this game if there is a chance for blood the team fight always breaks out without full regard for weighing the cost and benefit.

Like I've said before I still feel the laning phase (mostly sub-10 ... probably more like sub-13) is still relatively unexplored especially in the pug scene. I think there are a few reasons for this: 1 -- Unpunishing death mechanics early in the game. 2 -- Short end-to-end distances on maps due to size and mounts. 3 -- Nebulous and gray-zone answers due to non-individual farm mechanics. But with Hammer #2 is somewhat taken away. She can short burst her Z but simply cannot traverse the map as easily as most. So the question comes up as to if you want to spend a long time simply walking and doing nothing or staying put and accomplishing something. Most heroes can see a team fight about to happen and just Z up and get there rapidly. It seems you have to predict them a bit better on Hammer which is often times difficult with 4 randoms.

You're right in more cases than you aren't for sure.

In the pug scene though especially at lower skill tiers, your teamates (more often than not) are going to go head first into a team fight when they're outnumbered and then blame you for not showing up to the fight if it goes wrong.

Even if tactically you're attempting to get your team ahead by getting lane xp.

In your specific case you got it right by saying luckily they won, had they not, they would've probably went on tilt to some degree and shifted some blame on you for not rotating.

This game dishes a fair amount of punishment for the 4/1 split on a 3 lane map.

In all honesty, it was probably a mistake of their team to shift 5 to the shrine when they didn't control the bottom one. Opens you up to get an XP advantage early. Really depends on the matchup comp wise though.

Needless_sl said:

Man i suck ass at this game, whenever i look at the tabs i have more take downs but waaay less of everything else. I'm really not use to the moba playstyle of games yet. Zeratul seems like hes a harder character to play though and i can't find a build that i really love yet.

I'm trying to find a void prison build thats more defensive/annoying and then a full on dps burst build but having issues figuring them out heh

I really enjoy this game though, very fun and can't wait for the actual release

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Decent guide on Zeratul. A little dated in that cloak was changed to 3 seconds rather than 2 seconds. Another thing is that Zeratul's talents can be pretty situational. For example, level 1 talent, Greater Cleave is okay, but Block can be good depending upon your opponent's composition. Zeratul's talents kinda depend on the situation and there really isn't a clearcut build, imo. The build in the vid is a good start though.

The only talent that's a must pick is Void Prison.