I don’t know much about this game but I can comment on three things.
Malfurion got substantial buffs to healing and some minor tweaks to Moonfire allowing him to sustain allies in lane better and able to do some damage to minion waves at least.
The Stun/Daze changes will affect a substantial amount of stuff in the long run. To early to tell how exactly it will play out I think.
Coming from other moba backgrounds it may take a while to see some of these characters fully explored post big patch. Moba players like familiarity and changing stuff significantly pushes them away.
As far as I can tell people just got back around to trying out a new Nazeebo build since his prior nerf, and Stitches is still MIA the majority of the time.
Rehgar got a bit overhaul, not really sure what to make of it honestly. I think his healing power was brought down a tad, to help bring others up to his level? He got cleanse added at 7, like the other healers, which is good, and it seems most of the stuff he had removed was around dpsing. Slight nerf on cast range of earthgrasp totem, but it applies faster so it should feel nicer. Big change is of course his ult going up to 70 seconds cooldown, which is still quick and won’t be that big of a deal. That and he gets less shield on his lightning shield now when talented. Will probably still be a solid hero.
Sylvannas has very little in changes, her possession got reworked so it can store up to 7 charges, meaning you can now potentially steal an entire wave of minions. At level 20 it can store up to 10 charges and they charge faster, and you can steal mercs for 5 charges. And Wailing Arrow got a pretty big damage nerf. I still dont see possession being super viable, though, but it should see some experiementation. Her big change, though, is the Unstable Poison talent where things deal damage when they die with unstable affliction on them. It now will not apply more than once at a time to players. So before, if a player was standing in a wave of minions, and you killed the whole wave, they would instagib because they got 7 stacks of this thing. Now it would only apply 1 stack to them.
Overall, it basically tones Sylvanas down SLIGHTLY while keeping what makes her good intact, and Rehgar is still going to be an awesome healer with the best heal ult in the game
Thanks for the insights! Does blizzard release a lot of balance patches btw? Have they generally done a good job? Just curious.
Another thing…would it be bad for hero league if I just purchase all the specialists? They are just so creatively done. Zagara releasing creep everywhere, Sgt Hammer siege mode and the insane range, the Lost Vikings actually being 3 heroes, and soforth. They seem like they will always remain relevant/unique even if Blizzard releases a ton more heroes.
His abilities make him feel a bit like a one trick pony, but he’s fairly fun to use.
Also, he was one of the first specialists in the game, since then specialist design have changed a lot imo.
Once every 4 to 6 weeks. Which is fast for blizzard, honestly. They intend to do a new hero every 3 weeks, thats their goal, and they have been patching in 2 heroes in a patch and just locking one of them until 3 weeks later. So one balance patch about every 6 weeks. Do they do a good job with it? Its interesting, people always have their biases, but basically they strive internally to have win rates as close to 50% as possible. Thats not just as the highest levels (like hero league) or at the lowest levels, so its hard for them to really balance things.
The game is also more fragile then people realize. Stitches had one of the highest win rates, then they overnerfed him (removed damage and his aoe 1/2 second stun) and now he has the lowest winrate. Anubarak had a change which literally only fixed his beetle AI (would constantly ignore ttings near you and push lanes) and made the windup time on his abilities more responsive, and boom highest winrate hero. So overall I’m happy with their balancing, though there are obviously standouts. Thrall was really powerful when he launched – too powerful, in fact, as he healed way too much – then he was overnerfed and now hes not that good. Theres so many heroes that have been ignored in the balance passes that are too weak. Then others – Like Kael’Thas – somehow manages to avoid the nerf bat this patch, which is good because I dont think he needs changes since the last ignite fix, and I dont want him overnerfed. But they’re still kind of finding their balance. They’re used to SC2 balance, and the changes there came out waaaaay slower lol
As far as just specialists, thats a bad idea. Specialists are the least needed job on a team. There are some that are first picks on some maps (Sylvanas on Haunted Mines), or TLV on something like Dragon Shire/Garden of Terror, and others that can fill in for a solid damage dealer (Zagara, Sgt Hammer with the right team comps), but overall you will probably get a lot of hate picking something like Gazlowe or murky in heroes league, even if its not justified. With the way you currently have to pick (in a random team order), its important to be able to fill any role. That being said, this game is about fun and its not that big of a deal, so if you really only have fun with specialists, so be it. Let your team know, and they can pick accordingly, its not that serious : ) And definitely get Sylvanas, shes the strongest specialist for sure.
Specialists are my favorite type to play, with assassins a close second, tanks are third, and support is last. That being said, I have at least 1 hero from each group I really enjoy (Specialists: Gazlowe is my fav though I suck with him, Assassin: Zeratul or KT are my favs, Tanks: Johanna and I miss Stitches, Support: Brightwing or Tyrande). Then again, I avoid Hero League because I have more fun just playing in Quick Match for funsies without the extra layer of hoping to not screw up my drafts!
Haven’t tried out Nazeabo yet, though likely will this week (part of hero rotation). I’ll definitely get Sylvanas, I’m just waiting for the June 30 release of the Butcher, on the unlikely chance her price drops. Anyways June 30, I’ll buy my first 1, 2, or 3 heroes.
It is all about fun to play, and specialists are my favorite thusfar, I just like all the thought put into them…they really stand out. Also while support, tanks, assassins all have some similarities…specialists really don’t with each other. I will end up getting some support and tanks and assassins also, however I think collecting all the specialists will be a goal for me.
From your list I did play Kael Thas (KT right?) and Brightwing. Really enjoyed them. Kael Thas…holy cow he is glass cannon personified. I get a ton of kills with him, but also die more frequently. I love the Pheonix, especially when you can redirect it later. Also ignite to spread living bomb is awesome. I also like the D button ability where he powers up his next attack. Brightwing…just being able to teleport to any character on the map is so much fun. No matter where a struggling teammate(s) are on the map, Brightwing is there in a flash. Maybe the ultimate support character, he also seems really tanky for some reason and does good damage.
As far as balance wouldn’t it be better to base it on Hero League legend rank and tournaments?
No, because 90% of people never reach that level, and those are the important 90%. If illidan is manageable at top level but super op at scrub level, those people are gonna be mad and stop playing. That’s the blizzard philosophy, for sure
That is understandable, particularly from a business standpoint. I just wonder though, it is more than just the top 10% and the rest. There are many levels of play, and people may struggle with different heroes dependent on their experience and level. Seems really tough to smooth it out to balance for all players.
About Illidan I thought he was supposedly really hard to play (or is listed as such), wouldn’t he suck at beginner level?
Illidan is what other MOBAs call a pubstomper, his weakness is that he can be shutdown by coordinated teams and becomes dead weight. If he chooses his battles right and is left unchecked, he will outduel and take out half your team (and this is why he remains a high value pick even when he’s manageable)
You sink or swim as Illidan, you never just do average. That’s why he seems hard to play.
Yeah coming from other moba backgrounds I picked him up well. His latest changes seem to be a gut reaction though, higher level games he doesn’t seem to be to much of an issue, but he dominates low tier games.
That’s the life of the assassin style though, just a coin toss.
I don’t understand why Illidan was nerfed if they are shooting for 50% win rate. He is in a perfect place, 49.5% according to hotlogs. Also what about all the low 40%, 30% win rate heroes? I’d figure it is much more important to make those viable, than tone down heroes that are slightly above average.
Illidan is one of the most hated heroes in the game, and his ult was nerfed to promote usage of the other ult. The fix on his moves being unbreakable is just to fix unintended behavior
this is one of those “blizzard balances for the 90%” cases willy was talking about.
the hunt is rarely taken in hero league, but it’s still great in quick match. you can’t really buff it without making it even worse for the players in QM who are struggling to deal with illidan as is.
Well Illidan is only 4000 gold so I may get him. I did try him out (though this is obviously pre patch version), and Metamorphosis was great. He is very mobile, and truly an assassin…but he dies really easy, so you have to use that mobility and his evasion ability to get out of trouble often. He was a lot of fun but with the nerfs I’ll wait.
Anubarak is also 4000 gold, I was hoping I’d love him. However I found him pretty boring and repetitive to play. Maybe its just me or I’m doing it wrong.
Nazeebo tried…maybe he is a one trick pony but he is a lot of fun. Love capturing people in the zombie circle of doom, the toads that grow bigger and bigger and more fearsome and the hilarious perhaps offensive accent of his voice.
Thrall…chain lightning reminds me of Reghar chain healing, just an offensive version. Thrall is alright, not too big on him but he is decently fun. Malfurion was real boring though, which is disappointing…I guess I won’t be a druid in heroes of the storm.
Anyways I have a bit more than 22,000 gold…I think I’ll wait til 24,000. Then purchase Sylavanas, Sgt hammer, and Zaegera.
Illidan and Sylvanas are either on every tourny team or banned, part of the reason they are getting slight nerfs. Illidan right now is probably the best Assassin and can completely wipe out an entire team and Sylvanas is usually argued as the best character in the entire game by Tempo Storm and Cloud 9. For pubstomping, Anub has by far the highest win rate teams and is the best Warrior in the game right now.
Please for the love of God do not pick Nova in any ranked match, just do not do it, she is not good.