Last year, Heroes of the Storm entered BlizzCon as a fledgling game still in development. There were no particular strategies, and the esports scene as we know it had not yet emerged. The competition held at BlizzCon was merely an exhibition tournament between the four most stable teams at the time -- Team Liquid, Fnatic, Cloud9, and Evil Geniuses -- and none of the team rosters even remotely resemble the teams we know today. Ten Heroes hadn’t even been conceived yet, including now-staple picks like Johanna, Jaina, and Kael’Thas. The future of Heroes of the Storm was unclear and uncertain, but we trusted Blizzard to produce a fantastic game, stuck with it, and ultimately, we’ve been rewarded.
Over the past year, there’s been slow but steady growth in Heroes of the Storm both in terms of players and viewership as Blizzard has continually added more features like Hero League and Try Mode as well as supported the professional esports scene directly with a few major tournaments. Blizzard even launched an official Heroes esports Twitter earlier this year in anticipation of the growing competitive scene.
Even in the casual department, Blizzard has released tons of new, interesting skins and mounts for players to buy and has continually worked to make sure playing on a team is pleasurable for all. They’ve done an excellent job of releasing ten new Heroes and four new Battlegrounds since last year, all with widely differing mechanics that offer a variety of gameplay to all players. The latest patch even drastically improved the UI with changes like adding the ability to watch replays with others, an updated in-game interface, and brand new loading screens. Dustin Browder, the Game Director, has been patient with our complaints and responded quickly and adeptly to our concerns via Twitter, showing us that the designers really do care about making the game fun for everyone. There’s been tremendous progress.
But we’re not at the end of the road yet. There are still plenty of issues that need to be addressed, several Heroes and Battlegrounds yet to be released, and the potential of esports is still largely untapped. BlizzCon is a time for the designers to level with us -- get right in front of us and show us what the future looks like -- so let’s take a look into the future and see what Blizzard has to offer.
Panels
Aside from the Heroes World Championship, the largest Heroes tournament of the year as well as the largest one to date, a big focus of BlizzCon will be three panels talking about new Heroes, Battlegrounds, and the future of the game. Only online viewers with a virtual ticket will be able to watch the panels live, but information will be gathered and updated here as the event progresses.
Based on the upcoming Warcraft movie by Legendary Pictures and the WoW expansion, Legion, it’s very likely that Heroes of the Storm will take a turn into the Warcraft universe for a while to promote Blizzard’s other franchise, much like the Eternal Conflict event a few months ago. Likewise, with the launch of Legacy of the Void at BlizzCon, some StarCraft-related features may also be revealed in the course of the weekend.
For now, here is a preview of the panels and what they likely hold in store.
Heroes Deep Dive
Join the Heroes of the Storm development team to take a closer look at all the new Heroes coming to the Nexus.
Heroes of the Storm Deep Dive panel is scheduled to begin at 2:15 PM PST on the main stage. There, the developers of the game will reveal upcoming Heroes that will soon join the Nexus and talk about them in detail.
The list of candidates is endless, and any Hero could be added to the game. That being said, there are a couple of candidates more likely to show up than others. In fact, there have been several hints at character models hiding all along.
First of all we have Cho’Gall, a powerful two-headed Ogre from the WarCraft franchise. We first saw his model when Blizzard announced Heroes of the Storm at BlizzCon 2013, but so far there has been no further info about him. As an apprentice of Gul’Dan, we expect Cho’Gall to be a powerful spellcaster focused on using dark magic.
Then there’s Zul’Jin, chieftain of the Amani Troll tribe. This fearsome Troll was determined to restore the glory of the Trolls and destroy the Blood Elves who had took their lands from them. We have seen Zul’Jin’s model in the BlizzCon 2014 features video, cheering alongside other heroes that also were unannounced at the time, such as King Leoric, Rexxar, and The Butcher.
Kel’Thuzad, once a mage of the Kirin Tor, is now a servant of the Lich King and a powerful necromancer. It is known that Blizzard the intention to add him since 2011, but apart from an early model, not much is known about this Hero.
Our last speculation comes from the newly released Overwatch beta. It’s only natural that the development of introducing heroes from that game into the Nexus has already begun. The obvious first pick is Tracer, the cheerful British girl that everyone seems to love. With the recent leaks, it’s basically confirmed that Tracer is going to be the first Overwatch hero to be released, and we’re willing to bet she will be showcased in this panel.
Bonus: Even though it is unlikely, some heroes we would love to see are Fenix from StarCraft and Malthael from Diablo 3. We know Fenix is one of the heroes that people ask for the most and that Blizzard developers have been toying with the idea of bringing Malthael into the Nexus for a while. Taking into account the amazing back story and support these two characters, we know everyone would be eager to try them. The release of Grom Hellscream, Maiev Shadowsong, and Emperor Mengsk have also been in question and have been widely accepted as potential good additions to the game.
State of the Game
The Heroes of the Storm development team discusses how the game’s evolved and where it’s going next, including upcoming changes for Heroes, Battlegrounds, and talents.
Arguably the most important Heroes of the Storm panel, State of the Game is scheduled to take place on Saturday at 11:30 AM PST.
Expect to hear a lot of info about upcoming balance changes and talent re-works to make the game more fair and fun to play, but let's not forget about the upcoming changes for hero scaling and snowballing prevention Blizzard has been talking about which are currently being tested in the PTR.
Apart from that, a major topic of the panel will likely be improving the matchmaking and everything that surrounds it, such as leagues and ladders. The matchmaking in both Quick Match and Hero League has been a major point of discussion in the community for a while now, and Dustin Browder has teased about some of the changes they are planning to make, so expect to hear more in detail this Saturday. There will probably be more info about ranked seasons and how the long-promised Grand Master League will work in the game.
Even though it is less likely, topics such as bans in Team League as well as a redesign of the ranking system are not entirely out of the question since they are two of the most popular discussion topics in the community. For a relatively new game like Heroes of the Storm, we can be sure Blizzard will still have a couple of surprises in store for us.
Battlegrounds
Journey into the Battlegrounds of the Nexus with an in-depth look at the new locations and objectives you’ll conquer in Heroes of the Storm.
The final panel for Heroes of the Storm will be held Saturday at 4:00 PM PST on the Main Stage to talk about upcoming Battlegrounds.
One of the defining characteristics of Heroes of the Storm in the team brawler genre has always been its unique maps with widely ranging objectives that change and affect in-game strategies. The Battlegrounds discussion will open our eyes to two new Battlegrounds with brand new objectives. They will be most likely Warcraft themed, but the community has been wanting a Starcraft specific map for a long time, so there is still a chance for that, especially with the launch of Legacy of the Void at BlizzCon.
With the newest additions, there is potential that, in combination with more regular ladder seasons, Blizzard may start doing Battleground rotations in order to accommodate the larger map pool and keep the maps fresh, so keep an eye out for any mention.
Heroes World Championship
Day 2 - Elimination Matches
In addition to multiple panels discussing the future of the game, The Heroes of the Storm World Championship continues this weekend at BlizzCon with eight of the best teams in the world. Last week, we saw the first few matches of the group stage take place at the ESL studios in Burbank, California.
Group A, consisting of giants like Cloud9 and Dignitas matched against relatively unknown teams, Logi GIA from Taiwan and Team YL from China, played out mostly as expected. Cloud9 was able to win convincingly against both Team GIA and Dignitas, securing the first place of the group and a spot in the playoffs. Group B, however, was much more interesting and procured one of the best Heroes of the Storm professional matches to date. Na’Vi, representing Europe, created a huge upset by beating Team DK from Korea, the favorite to win the whole tournament, and securing first place in the group.
The rest of the group results are still in the air though. The last six matches from the group stage will take place today at 4:00 PST and will be a fight for tournament survival.
The first match of the day will feature Team YL vs Team GIA. The winner will go on to face Dignitas to compete for a spot in the playoffs, but whoever loses will be the first to be eliminated from the tournament. The matches will be close, but based on everything we’ve seen so far, expect a clash between Team YL and Dignitas, with Dignitas barely coming out on top.
Following Group A, we will see Tempo Storm fight for their tournament life against Brave Heart. Even though Tempo Storm’s spirit might be broken, let's not forget who they are. Everyone on the team is an outstanding player, and they dominated the North American scene for several months without any trouble. On the other hand, Brave Heart is has had lukewarm results, and due to visa issues, they aren’t even bringing their full roster. Tempo Storm should come out on top and face Team DK in the deciding match, where they will be tested yet again.
Group A: Logi GIA < Team YL Dignitas > Team YL
Group B: Tempo Storm > Braveheart Team DK > Tempo Storm
Dignitas and DK advance to the semifinals
Day 3 - Final Bracket
Going into the semifinals, things will get interesting, as Cloud9 will most likely be playing against Team DK. Even though haven’t looked as dominant as MVP Black back at the MGA, Team DK is still a team that could easily win the whole championship. Cloud9 is having a strong showing so far only losing one game against Dignitas before qualifying to the semifinals, but this good run could very well be cut short by the Koreans. Cloud9 players pride themselves in knowing they are some of the most mechanically skilled players in North America, but how their mechanics -- and most importantly, their decision making -- will stack up against the Koreans is yet to be seen.
On the other side of the bracket, a European Championship Finals rematch between Dignitas and Na`Vi is the most likely scenario. In their last encounter, Na`Vi stomped Dignitas 3-0 in the finals, so it wouldn’t be wise to bet against them. This time around, though, it will be a much closer series of games, as the teams have had more time to prepare new strategies. With a 500k prize pool, there is much more on the line. Prediction: we believe the non-Koreans have a real chance of winning BlizzCon. Maybe the only real chance they will have.
Greymane - ranged human/melee worgen, seems to be able to transform.
Lunara - ranged dryad
towers of doom - new map. when you destroy enemy towns, they become your towns.
arena - new game mode - can even be 5 of the same hero, very small pvp map, looks like it can be aram, 10 murkys, etc.
cho'gall - mage, 2 players control 1 hero. Cant buy with gold, only get with blizzcon/virtual ticket, and some lucky accounts. Everyone else goes on a quest, have to party with someone who does have chogall and play 2 games to unlock him. Someone who owns him can play 4 games with those who don't own chogall and they get tons of gold.
EDIT: If Kel'Thuzad comes anytime soon Im going to be super disappointed because I'm tired of WarCraft Mages, can we get a god damned Warlock, or Elemental Shaman, or really just not another Mage?
On November 07 2015 06:24 FeyFey wrote: Towers of doom is what I always wanted in a dota style game. And I never expected heroes would get that with their 30 minute limitation.
I love that we're getting a map that changes the PvE / push-pull dynamic. From the preview video there are cannons shooting the grim reaper core, so that could bey how they're going to accelerate the end game to keep it from dragging out.
BTW, if you guys didn't notice Blizzcon invited streamers to play Cho'gall on the new map with a partner. Chu8 just finished and it's Pamcakes and Voyboy right now: http://www.twitch.tv/pamcakes
I think Mewnfare will be next (with Chu8).
The new map looks pretty neat, it doesn't look like you can assault the core directly. Rather you convert towns to give you breathing room. And you'll have to capture objectives in the middle of the map that shoot the core for you. No keeps on this map either, just a single layer of defense which makes sense since you can convert towns.
Edit: They're playing all the new heroes it looks like.
Deep dive panel starting. I'll update this post with any really interesting stuff for those without the ticket.
Lunara:
Z -- Always on 20% MS Passive -- Nature's Toxin, adds a stacking DoT Q -- Noxious Blossom. GTAOE. Applies trait. W -- Crippling Spores. If the trait is active on an enemy it slows the enemy. Can slow multiple enemies if multiple have the Dot E -- Wisp. Slow moving vision grant. Can control the wisp.
Ult1: Thornwood Vine -- 15s cd 3 charge skillshot. Pierces. Ult2: Leaping Strike -- Targets an enemy, leaps over, throws a spear. 2 charges so you can jump over and back.
Lunara has strong anti-magic traits. Stronger spell shield at 13.
20 has an ability to mega-cleanse. You get the cleanse and your target and all DoT is wiped.
Greymane:
E -- Darkflight / Disengage. As a human he leaps to his enemy. As a worgan leap away. Switches forms. Q(human) -- Cocktail. Initial impact does little damage. Enemies behind the intial impact receive 300% damage. Q(worg) -- Swipe. Short charge and cleave. W -- Inner beast. They didn't talk about that one.
R(human) -- Marked for Kill. Fires a bullet and makes target vulnerable (25%) R(worg) -- Go for the Throat. Leap and do 3 strikes. If the target dies the CD goes to 10 seconds.
Not 100% sure if that is the same R but different forms or different R's.
Cho'gall, Lunara, Greymane, Towers of Doom, etc. all look good, but I can't believe that they stole the "Prepare for trouble, make it double!" line from Pokemon's Team Rocket and gave it to Cho'gall lol.
:< they will block stuff they will find unfun though ... let us have 5 hour games ! if we really do a 5 muradin vs 5 muradin we knew what we signed up for ! A fricking dwarf brawl !
Just came back home, wow man... they are creating new standards for MOBAs! :D Damn Cho'Gall sounds fun as hell! I think that no MOBA has that, amazing.
Quick notes from the panel yesterday. There are more exhaustive resources elsewhere on the Internet that seemed to have early access, but I took notes, so...oh welp.
-Add more ranged assassins? -17 weeks of Hero design before release
-Wergon (werewolf) character from WC -Changes form, very mobile -Ranged/melee assassin
Q Gilnean Cocktail (H): Ranged attack that hits first enemy and splashes in a cone behind for 300% initial damage. Q Razor Swipe (W): Dashes forward and deals damage. W Inner Beast: Increase attack speed, basic attacks reset effect. E Darkflight/Disengage: Dash in/out and change form. R Marked for the Kill: Marks target for 25% more damage + Wergen can jump on enemy to finish. R Go for the Throat: Dashes to a target to deal massive damage. Allows you to use it again for free for 10 seconds if it kills Hero.
-Evasive Dryad, ranged assassin -Weird galloping motion - no mount 20% perm MS Trait: Nature's Toxin: Poison attack DoT Q Noxious Toxin: Deals damage on the ground after a short delay W Crippling Spores: Activates and slows heroes affected by trait E Wisp: Scouting tool R Thornwood Vine: Long range poke and lockdown with 3 charges. R Leaping Strike: Leaps over a target. 2 charges.
Greater Spell Shield: All Inc damage by 75% (13) Abolish Magic: Cleanse CC on both ally and yourself (20)
-Unique design - 2 players will play a single hero -Completely exclusive - Will not be in shop -BlizzCon viewers/attendees and a few raffle accounts get him for free -In order to get him, you have to play with someone who has him - 2 game minimum. -Someone who owns him can play 4 games with those who don't own chogall and they get tons of gold - spread the virus. -Mount is Cho carrying a horse <3. -Two players will select either Cho or Gall; if one readies up, both players will lock in as Cho'Gall. -Cannot be first or last picked in HL - must be on a double pick turn. -If Cho disconnects, you're fucked. AI will try to listen to pings, but Gall cannot control the movement.
Cho -Controls basic attack and movement -Trait: Two-Headed - I imagine this is just an explanation of how it's possible for two players to play Cho'Gall at the same time. Q Surging Fist: Winds up a punch for one second and then dashes in target direction, displacing enemies and dealing damage. W Consuming Blaze: Ignites nearby enemies for 4 seconds. Gains health. E Rune Bomb: Rolls a bomb out in a straight line. R Hammer of Twilight: Incrases AD by 25%. Activate to deal massive damage, push enemies away, and stun for 0.75 seconds. R Upheaval: After 1 second, pull enemies and slow by 25% for 3 seconds.
Gall -Can push Cho in a certain direction?? Q Shadow Flame: Ranged attack that deals high damage. W Dread Orb: "Bouncy Ball of Pain" - Bounces along 3 times dealing damage. E Runic Blast: Detonates bomb R Twisting Nether: After charging up, nearby enemies are slowed by 40% for up to 5 seconds, activate to deal massive damage. R Shadow Bolt Volley: Unleash 20 Shadow Bolts over 4 seconds guided by your mouse cursor.
Tracer -First Overwatch Hero -In the process of development right now
Potential character models that they showed:
Blademaster Gyrocopter Something else I couldn't recognize
Maps:
Towers of Doom -Cannot attack Core directly -When you kill a fort, it becomes yours -Teams fight over altars which allow bell towers (forts) to attack core[/spoiler]
The Arena -Small, single-objective maps -Reminiscent of ARAMs
Lots of back and forth action. Zuna works some Zeratul magic in the early game, but in the end Bheart shows up with some really good late game fights to take a series that was really close. In addition, this is really a series where we got to see Bheart improve and evolve on the fly...you could literally see them getting better in every single game.
Dignitas vs YL Game 2 Battlefield of Eternity
Really close game. Dignitas plays patiently until the very end, baiting out Muradin's Stoneform before engaging time and time again. Again, this is a prime example of how good the Chinese teams are.
Braveheart vs DK Game 2 Dragon Shire
Awesome game, rivals the DK vs Na`Vi games in terms of tip top, edge-of-your-seat play. Braveheart started looking like champions, and Boo is really good at Tassadar...some of these fights are straight up unbelievable. The rest of the games in this series are also really good (OH BTW STITCHES GOT PICKED TWICE), but this one stands out as the best.
First match will be Cloud9 vs DK Second is Na`Vi vs Dignitas
GET HYPED
Stream starts at 9:45am PST, so the games will end fairly early today.
Two more panels today as well!
State of the Game and Battlegrounds
State of the game will cover some of the upcoming changes they're planning to make, including stuff like matchmaking, talent reworks, and big balance implements.
Battlegrounds will hopefully go into more depth on how Towers of Doom works and give us a better preview of the Arena.
Some of the VoDs are up on BlizzCon.com if you have a Virtual Ticket, but for some reason, they're lagging pretty far behind...all of Group B bracket is still missing.
-We listen to feedback -Hero balance is a complicated process based on win rates, talent choices, and community feedback.
Uther getting nerfed -Uther picked 100% of the time. -Shines in disrupting coordination between teams. -Divine Shield (R) 70s--> 90 second cooldown -Eternal Devotion (Trait) - 10s-> 8 second duration -WHY
-Cho'Gall design process -Reveals a bigger problem -> snowball issues -Lower levels mean more than higher levels; the difference between 7-9 is greater than 23-25. -Power is comprised of base stats, level stats, and talents, with levels affecting differences in power the most. -Balance of power smoothed out so that base, level, and talents have more or less equal influence. -Base power level much higher with less difference between levels. -Goal is to sharpen roles and allow comebacks. -Side Effect is that early game takedowns didn't mean much -> increased death timers in the early-mid game.
Gazlowe -"Why are we looking at Gazlowe?" -Potential changes: -Talent: Deth Lazer also charges up from turrets -Talent: Gazlowe starts raining scrap around him, allowing him to throw down more bombs/turrets for a period of time.
Nova -Nova does too much burst damage in casual play -> let's give her more burst damage. -More straight damage talents in the same tier??? Blizzard likes to have tier options that your calculator can determine is the best option. -Snipe talent: Every time Snipe hits, it does more damage, up to ~10 times. Loses all bonuses upon missing. Similar in function to Gathering Power -> get more ahead.
Tychus -Potential to be a tank breaker -Something about Tychus having Giant Killer...(?)
Matchmaking -Matchmaking system rebuilt from the ground up. -Old system tries to match up people quickly by setting up a group of matches and swap players between matches before
finalizing games. -Increased parameters on matchmaking causes problems with swaps. As a result, the "360 YOLO" problem can't be solved by increasing queue time. -New system creates a queue instead. Players sitting for longer periods of time are prioritized for best matches. -Improve MMR accuracy - MMR adjusted by performance in-game rather than just wins/losses (vague). -Per Hero MMR - MMR adjusted by how new you are to different Heroes. -Mirror team compositions in quick match. *Opinion: The system more or less does this already, but this is just a quality of life fix for wonky compositions like 3 specialist/two warrior compositions or something stupid.* -Ranking system is inaccurate, upcoming changes but nothing specific right now. Ranked 3.0 soon. -Ranked Seasons upcoming once ranking system is fixed. -Death Recap screen soon. -Grandmaster League coming soon(tm)
Bans - YES -Standard double ban system used in pro games.
Talent Gating CUT Hero rotations - 7 up to 10 free per week
Questions weren't that exciting.
Battlegrounds Panel
Towers of Doom -New idea to create a map entirely based on map control -Maps started to feel "generic" -Do maps need a Core?
Early ideas -No forts - destroying towns would give you points, most
points would win. -Circular 2-lane map -(Similar to LoL's Dominion mode) -Started very exciting, but no epic conclusion. Unfair advantage for players in the lead. -Failed experiment
Final product -Turned into a three lane map with 6 "Bell Towers". Bell Towers are essentially forts which, when you destroy them, become your own. -Cores reintroduced. Cannot attack core directly. Neutral altars are captured to fire upon enemies core and deal damage based on how many Bell Towers your team controls.
-Unique mercs -Sapper camp (siege camp) - Siege and then suicide into towers -Headless Horseman (boss camp) - Does not push lane, instead just hits the Core.
A bunch of artwork discussion. Something about spooky Fall artwork.
Arena -Basically ARAMs -Players get to choose from a random group of 3 heroes, and redundant Heroes are allowed (e.g. 3 Novas or 2 Zeratuls on one team) -Focuses on a single objective like collecting 100 seeds or capturing a tribute. -No talents/leveling (RIP some talent-dependent Heroes). -15 second respawn time - "dying is no big deal" -This is going to be either really fun or really bad.
Bad questions. People don't seem to realize that these guys just make maps. That's their only job; they don't make heroes or do balance design.
On November 09 2015 01:51 KrytosSR wrote: So is arena going to have a unique que or be custom games only? I would hate to have arena games randomly thrown into HL
It's an entirely different game mode, like QM or HL.
As far as the questions go, I think there were only two about upcoming heroes. The rest of them were not questions, though--- they were suggestions and feedback to which the developers could only say "uh, yeah, we'll 'bring that back to the team' and 'definitely consider it in the future'", which is a phrase repeated by so many people over the convention that there must have been an internal memo that that is how they should respond to fans giving advice.
On November 09 2015 02:42 [Phantom] wrote: One of the most important points of arena though is that not all heroes will be available.
Really? But didn't they say in one of the videos that you can choose from every hero even those you don't own (depending to the random list that appears to begin with of course)? Or is to that part that you are referring?
On November 09 2015 03:19 Pwere wrote: Arena has a 10x single hero mode, and some heroes just don't work in that mode. AFAIK, all heroes are available in the normal mode.
Warriors? That seems weird, I can see why Johanna and Medic would be a problem because noone would ever even come close to dying but would a team of warriors have that same problem?
Maybe ETC team full of Groupies build?
Eh, the more I think about it the more I can kind of understand. >_>
when it comes to the 10x mode they only explicitly said johanna and medic but they implied that there are other heroes that are also "banned" from the 10x mode.
importantly, they did not say that all supports are banned from 10x or that all warriors are banned from 10x.
they did say that the max 2 warriors and max 2 support rules only apply to normal mode, not 10x mode.
In the Q&A they said, if they think something is unfun for people they will disable it. The example they used were 5 tanks vs 5 tanks that would never die.
And Arena is without talents (you choose your ult only), no groupies ETC.
I want it to be possible to make a custom game for the arena and basically check an option to allow all talents and any picks so a premade/community group can really have some fun.
I think I would preffer instead of not having talents thatyou had all talents available isntead and you just picked them. For example, I wouldn't pick Artanis ever with his current kit, however if he had charge...
On November 09 2015 08:11 Zambrah wrote: Without talents wouldn't an arena be pretty imbalanced towards heroes that have plenty of early game power? That sucks. ;_;
Well technically without the greater game structure balance is out the window anyway.
On November 09 2015 08:11 Zambrah wrote: Without talents wouldn't an arena be pretty imbalanced towards heroes that have plenty of early game power? That sucks. ;_;
Well technically without the greater game structure balance is out the window anyway.
It's still hard when you have Heroes that are defined by their talents like Illidan (Immolation/First Aid), Artanis (Zealot Charge), or Valla (everything). A lot of other heroes are just lukewarm versions of themselves because basically everything is a powered up Level 1 fight; Heroes like Sonya, Thrall, and Nova will still be effective but less effective than their Level 10 talented counterparts. I'm worried that it actually won't be that fun because many Heroes that you may LOVE normally will lose a lot of their identity without talents or a power curve.
Ofc, it may just be that some Heroes emerge as being more fun than in standard play, and that could make up for deficiencies elsewhere. We'll have to see ^^.
On November 09 2015 08:11 Zambrah wrote: Without talents wouldn't an arena be pretty imbalanced towards heroes that have plenty of early game power? That sucks. ;_;
Well technically without the greater game structure balance is out the window anyway.
It's still hard when you have Heroes that are defined by their talents like Illidan (Immolation/First Aid), Artanis (Zealot Charge), or Valla (everything). A lot of other heroes are just lukewarm versions of themselves because basically everything is a powered up Level 1 fight; Heroes like Sonya, Thrall, and Nova will still be effective but less effective than their Level 10 talented counterparts. I'm worried that it actually won't be that fun because many Heroes that you may LOVE normally will lose a lot of their identity without talents or a power curve.
Ofc, it may just be that some Heroes emerge as being more fun than in standard play, and that could make up for deficiencies elsewhere. We'll have to see ^^.
My point is not that blizzard will balance this game mode, but that it's inherently imbalanced since core game mechanisms are gone. Will a character like Abathur really get his full potential without lanes to cross-soak? Probably not. So it's also not a concern that some characters that are severely underpowered if they can't take particular talents. (this is a baby-bathwater kind of thing in my mind)
Then again, there are some heroes--- like the lost vikings and the monk--- that actually get their basic abilities through talents. These heroes are basically boned.
On November 09 2015 08:11 Zambrah wrote: Without talents wouldn't an arena be pretty imbalanced towards heroes that have plenty of early game power? That sucks. ;_;
Well technically without the greater game structure balance is out the window anyway.
It's still hard when you have Heroes that are defined by their talents like Illidan (Immolation/First Aid), Artanis (Zealot Charge), or Valla (everything). A lot of other heroes are just lukewarm versions of themselves because basically everything is a powered up Level 1 fight; Heroes like Sonya, Thrall, and Nova will still be effective but less effective than their Level 10 talented counterparts. I'm worried that it actually won't be that fun because many Heroes that you may LOVE normally will lose a lot of their identity without talents or a power curve.
Ofc, it may just be that some Heroes emerge as being more fun than in standard play, and that could make up for deficiencies elsewhere. We'll have to see ^^.
My point is not that blizzard will balance this game mode, but that it's inherently imbalanced since core game mechanisms are gone. Will a character like Abathur really get his full potential without lanes to cross-soak? Probably not. So it's also not a concern that some characters that are severely underpowered if they can't take particular talents. (this is a baby-bathwater kind of thing in my mind)
Then again, there are some heroes--- like the lost vikings and the monk--- that actually get their basic abilities through talents. These heroes are basically boned.
TLV aren't so bad, they still have tons of micro potential. Playing TLV without Spin to Win! or Jump! is viable, and actually fairly common in QM. I actually think they're probably going to be the most overpowered hero without talents, especially if you can grab Play Again!
The Battlegrounds panel for Heroes of the Storm is happening right now, and we're going to recap it live. Check it out below! Update: the panel has now concluded. A screenshot gallery has been added at the bottom of the post.
Quote from Blizzard »
Core Goals
Clean Design Conflicts Finality
Battleground Gameplay
Complete objectives Get rewarded for those
Layout
They like to avoid specific Map Rules and layouts. Determine the Map Mechanics first, and then do a design to support that. Sky Temple: the objective already creates that "teamfight" scenario for the developers. Tomb of the Spider Queen: objectives in lanes, split players. The map layout being really small incentivizes the teamfights. Mercenaries: they cause small conflicts in specific places of the map - make them interesting. Cause big impact by pushing lanes.
Towers of Doom
Battleground where two Nexus Lords are fighting for control - tug of war and area control type of map. They wanted to create something really unique - all previous maps still have 2/3 lanes, mercenaries and a core. Devs asked themselves "do maps really need a core?" First layout of Towers of Doom did not have a Core - there were 5 forts, sort of circular float to it. The towns themselves were the map's mechanics. Whoever owned more towns first would get more points. It was a failed experiment - it was kinda anti-climatic. Intense at first, but with mostly non dramatic endings. Current maps have that epic feeling! They went back to a more standard design - Towers of Doom has unique mercenaries however! Grave Golem - replaced by the Headless Horseman from World of Warcraft. Completely different mechanic - when you cap this mercenary, it shoots volleys of spirit energy towards the enemy bases. Altars - places on neutral positions along the battleground, a hybrid control territory on the map.
The Art of Towers of Doom
They feel it's kinda boring playing on the same battleground over and over again, so it's all about creating unique and varied gameplay experiences. They wanted it to have the mood of a Dark City. Color is very important for that. Inside the structures they want "warm" colors to make the outside feel cold. Victorian like architecture, lots of dark iron and foreboding structures. Lots of textures in this map (ancient stones, dilapidated wood, rusty stuff). Ancient town feeling. Dark... but not depressing! Bell Towers (of Doom) > Necromancer Tower. When destroyed it will explode but will rebuild belonging to the opposite team. Town Structures - Armory Town / Farm Town / Blacksmith Town. Personality to each town.
Arena Design
Devs are always trying to find new ways of making the game mode challenging and fun for players. Lots of them were super excited about a fighting arena mode for a while now. Great for players who want something completely different from Quick Match and Hero League. Random hero selection (from a pool of 3 - based on an archetype). Focus on fast-paced action around a single objective. Quick and easy to jump into. They wanted the mode to be even more action packed than the standard Heroes match, and even shorter. They wanted players to be able to form new creative strategies. They tried "all random" at first, but it didn't work. Players need some control and choice. 10x Hero Mode - randomly chosen by the matchmaker; gives everyone the same hero choice. A game with 10 Johannas in internal playtesting took 30~ minutes. That's why they added some rules to their team compositions. Heroes with very little damage cannot be chosen in this 10x mode (Medic, Johanna, Abathur). In other Arena matches, cannot roll more than 2 warriors or more than 2 supports. Players start at level 10 and do not level up. No talents as well, all they choose is the Heroics. Benefits: low learning curve when playing new Heroes (since they are all available). Focus on moment-to-moment action. No falling behind in power. Hero respawn timer is 15 seconds. Behind the scenes they're already adding new Arena battlegrounds, and expanding mechanics. Breaking even more rules.
Art of Arena
Garden Arena (daylight version) > Tournament grounds, to make it feel like a renaissance fair. Jousting arena with knights fighting each other. Spectators behave differently depending on how much action is happening. In a multi-kill they all cheer for you! Garden Arena (night version) > population winding down, sitting around a campfire. Garden Arena (underground) > glowing plants! Really claustrophobic, not man-made like the Haunted Mines. Temple Arenas (bizarre, oasis, desert).
Q&A
They absolutely want a WoW based battleground. It's just a matter of time and they're aware of what players want. Teleporter in Towers of Doom is meant to give players a quick-travel tool to contest points on the other side of the map. It's meant to fight snowballing. They want to release maps for all franchises (like the Diablo one for Eternal Conflict), they just want to make sure they nail it. They allow Lost Vikings in Arena mode, but are still trying to figure out how to allow Cho'Gall. Is it possible to make completely destructible maps? The idea is awesome, but they don't know if that's feasible. The more feedback they receive on this end, the more likely it is to happen in the future.
We are recapping the State of the Game Panel live! Check it out below.
Quote from Blizzard »
Who's considered Overpowered right now?
Lili and Murky have the highest win ratios. Lili has seen increased win ratio due to heroes like Thrall and Raynor being picked more often. Murky has had a high win ratio for a year now. So even though he isn't picked often in competitive, he isn't the highest priority right now.
Recap 2015
Technical Alpha > Beta > Launch on June First year for E-Sports on Heroes - Heroes of the Dorm (nationally broadcast and vert big) and Road to Blizzcon Tournaments 11 new heroes added this year - 43 total heroes! 4 new battlegrounds - 9 total!
Balance Tools & Their Uses
The win ratio they strive for Heroes to have is 45-55%. Heroes like Lost Vikings are at the top, while Abathur and Stitches are more towards the bottom. Talent pick and win ratio are also an important indicator of hero balance. Tournaments and E-Sports serve to identify the future meta beforehand - very important to determine necessary balance changes! Player Feedback is another tool for game balance - Forums, Reddit, Twitter. So keep sending your feedback!
Big Issues
Kerrigan - melee assassin, initiator for her team, all-in aspect getting in the middle of enemies and bolstering her survivability. She had an extremely low talent diversity - with even low win rates for less picked talents. Improved Talent Diversity - by sharpening her role, giving her build options, and making her viable in competitive play. Changed 8 talents, cut 4 previous ones, created 3 new ones - much improved talent diversity! Uther - melee support, has lots of burst healing, very strong and complete kit. Very stable win rate (across most skill levels) at 50% win ratio. BUT he's always picked or banned in competitive games. They believe his strongest trait is to "disrupt coordination". Which is what competitive play is about. Divine Shield - cooldown from 70 to 90 seconds. Eternal Devotion - ghost duration decreased from 10 to 8 seconds. They are meant to be minor changes, to bring him down a notch. They don't want to overdo it! Cho'Gall Two-headed hero, controlled by two players. One player is the warrior Cho, who controls the movement, and the other is the assassin Gall, who's responsible for the damage and combo'ing his abilities for maximum impact. They cannot balance based on a previous template like with Greymane or Lunara. They don't have a "two heroes in one" template. Playtesting games with Cho'Gall often ended in a snowball, either in favor and against him. Early game advantage / lead grows out of control. Really hard to balance because he's 2-in-1. If he's ahead then he can wreck havok really easily, and if he's behind he can be picked off and the team immediately loses TWO heroes! Scaling Changes 65% of the games are really close! (only decided towards the end) ... they wanted more of this. Cho'Gall helped them realize that scaling was an issue, and what lead to snowballs - hence why they implemented the "Test Map" released on Morales patch. Benefits Players can still fight while behind! Roles were sharpened. Your character feels like what they're supposed to be from the start. Wins feel more meaningful. It doesn't feel like you're stomping other teams. Consequences Early game matters less - which lead to "increased death timers". Takedowns should be a "power play", which gives you map control and allow you to take objectives more easily. This is all coming with the Cho'Gall update in a couple weeks!
Future Balance Updates
Gazlowe Updates Improve E-Sports viability. Enhance his zone control. Couple crazy ideas (not sure if they will make it): talent that makes your turrets shoot a laser while you're charging yours; another crazy idea is an active that he starts throwing scraps around and he has to run around and pick them up. Nova Updates Improve talent diversity. She walks a thin line (balance) between casual vs competitive. Increased skill cap on her skills/talents - one of the ideas being analyzed is "if you land a Snipe, it increases the dmg of your next Snipe by a %". Tychus Updates Increase his win rate - it's kinda low now. If they're only going to make him stronger (flat buffs) he might simply push aside other assassins (Valla, Raynor). They want him to be a Unique assassin on his own. Might become a "tank buster" assassin.
Matchmaking & Online Updates
80% of their games are "even" on their matchmaker. That means the MMR numbers are at least well paired. 65% of the games are at least close on levels. 20%~ are launched with the matchmaker knowing that the match is not very well paired. These are averages, but may vary from player to player. Some player might experience a 95-5% variation, while another experiences bad matches 50% of the time. Improvements in 2015 Early on for New Users, MMR was inflated (slightly more than "bottom"). They didn't get matched by games played. Now both factors are fixed! New User win ratio was 38%, which is bad. Now after changes, it's 48%. Rank was a combination of skill and games played - now there are more placement matches, where rank reflects player skill. Rebuilding the Matchmaker The original matchmaker came from Starcraft 2 - but the two games are very different! It's much harder to put together a "fair" match in Heroes due to variation. Old system builds games quickly, takes into account the thousands of players searching for a match, then starts swapping players to find a "good match". Complicated system that doesn't work when they add rules (similar matchups, parties, not having a support). The new 10 minute limit (up from 6) does not help that scenario! That's why people are still experiencing bad matches. New System Builds games to be good. Relies less on player swapping around. Creates a queue! On simulations the new system looks much better. They WANT to release it over the next couple weeks. They cannot promise it, but that's the plan. It's their TOP PRIORITY right now! 2016 Goals / Fixes Improve MMR accuracy. Mirror team composition in quick match (not same heroes, but same categories). They have months of data for calculating "Team MMR". Use match performance to adjust MMR. Per Hero MMR adjustment. Ranked Play Their original system was a mix of Starcraft + Hearthstone. The current system is a little bit too harsh. If they want to be accurate (MMR), you're always prone to dropping in ranks. Right now there's not enough transparency for players (why they ranked up or dropped in ranks). Death Recap Screen - likely coming early next year! Will contain heals and shields too!
Bans were tested throughout this year on competitive, and the devs loved it. Also coming very soon! Grandmaster League Talent Gating (requiring hero or account level to unlock talents) = removed. Free Hero Rotation from 7 to 10 heroes.
Q&A
They don't really manipulate players' perception on things. If the community tells them a hero is weak or strong, they might wait to either see if the community figures it out, or wait for the community to just PROVE the devs wrong. Both cases are a win-win scenario for them. The decision to remove 3-4 parties from Hero League was based on the intention to improve the matchmaker - sort of a defensive stance from them. Ideally they want such a good matchmaker that they can re-add 3/4-player parties back to Hero League. Or maybe do an unranked draft. On Twitch viewership and sheer game popularity - the devs are aware of that, and everything they do (new features, heroes, matchmaker changes) is with the intent of improving the game and making it better.
We've put together a recap of the Hero Deep Dive panel. Check it out below!
Quote from Hero Deep Dive »
Hero Design Process
They have a list of heroes with 200+ characters that they would like to add as soon as possible. They choose and then ask themselves "how excited are we about this hero?" The answer to that question leads them to the hero production cycle: Paper Design (2 weeks) Tech Design (2 weeks) AI Playtest (1 weeks) Design Playtests (8 weeks) Dev Team Playtests (2 weeks) Vision Sync Meeting - when they "put the ring on it", and decide that a hero will make it to the game. This is when they gather artists, engineers, sound designers, balance team - to make the hero happen!
Lunara
Warcraft 3 was a low polygon game, so Dryads did not have a lot of detail to draw from. Artists had to come up with a new look for her. Fragile Ranged Assassin with very high mobility. Dryad's Swiftness (Z) - she cannot mount but hops around the battlefield, with roughly 20% permanent bonus movespeed. Allows her to dodge aoe and skillshots much easier. Nature's Toxin (Trait) - applies a DoT with her basic abilities and auto-attacks, that can stack to maximize damage. Noxious Blossom (Q) - ground target aoe that applies Nature's Toxin. Crippling Spores (W) only available when her trait is active on an enemy. Slows down all affected enemies. Wisp (E) - can send a Wisp out to a specific location, and relocate it multiple times before it expires. Great for scouting/vision. Thornwood Vine (R1) - long range, fast moving skillshot. 15 second cooldown with 3 charges. Good for a team that's built around long range poke or against enemies that can lock you down. Leaping Strike (R2) - targets an enemy, leaps over them, dealing high damage to them. Unconventional but great for repositioning (2 charges). Has two "anti-magic" thematic talents. One at level 13 (Greater Spell Shield) that reduces all magic damage by 75%! At level 20 she has a Storm talent that removes debuffs and damage over time effects from an allied hero and herself.
King Genn Greymane
When you think of shapeshifters, both Druids and Worgen come to mind. Transforms into a Worgen. Visually they had to sync the two forms so that he's easy to identify. He also needed a unique design in Heroes of the Storm, that gave him a unique silhouette relative to his origin world/games. They discussed a very unique mechanic for the character, that would define his entire playstyle and design! He starts poking you off from afar (like Falstad) and then transforms to finish you off from melee range (like Zeratul). Every single aspect of the hero has to ooze from that core idea. Darkflight / Disengage (E) - Human Greymane leaps at his target while transforming into a Worgen. Meanwhile, Worgen Greymane disengages and leaps away from his enemy while shooting them. Gilnean Cocktail (Q / Human) - hurls a cocktail that deals little damage to the first target but massive damage to an area behind them. Razor Swipe (Q / Worgen) - dashes forward and sweeps at enemies in front of you. Marked for the Kill (R1 / Human) - shoots a skillshot bullet that deals damage and makes the first enemy hit vulnerable, you can then activate it again to leap towards the enemy from very far while transforming into a Worgen. Go For the Throat (R2 / Worgen) - leaps towards a target dealing massive damage. If it kills, can be used once again for free (10 seconds). Level 20 Talent - Unleash: resets on kills (can chain indefinitely).
Cho'Gall
Design-wise ever since he was implemented he had a massive silhouette. The art team had to choose which version of Cho'Gall would be represented in Heroes. They're going back to the roots for the basic visual, but will borrow some art from his other iterations (like the Twilight's Hammer and his Armor). The dev team asked themselves when presented with the idea of 2 players and 1 hero - we can't do this, can we? ... "he will be a riding shotgun" ... "one team will have 4 heroes?" Cho is the Ogre Brute playstyle of the duo, he controls both the movement and auto-attacks of the Hero. Gall is the caster, constantly using low cooldown + high impact skills, so he can stay active throughout the game. Rune Bomb and Rune Blast - very important skill that embraces the idea of two players cooperating for maximum efficiency. One casts the bouncing bomb, the other explodes it. They are constantly working together.
Q&A
Cho'Gall on competitive matches and drafts > he cannot be last or first picked, he has to be "double picked". If one is banned, so is the other. Arena - things like 5 Warriors, or 5 Abathurs (and other weird comps) will be avoided by the hero randomizer. For gameplay and technical reasons. Gnomes, trolls and other big/important races are coming soon! They are working on Gul'dan... so, soon! Cho'Gall skins and mounts - both players choose a skin and a mount, then the game makes a roll and each "head" wins one of those. So one player will choose the skin, and the other will choose the mount... randomly.
It's pretty cool how in-depth they got into how match-making works and how honest they were about the current limitations.
The stuff about Cho'Gall effecting balance was neat too. I'm not 100% caught up on the Blizzcon matches, and in case someone's even further behind me...
I wonder how much the new scaling would have influenced C9 - DK, the game on Dragon Shire, they were getting wooped on early but minimized structure damage so effectively which let them even up the game off just a single good engagement. Would the new scaling exacerbate or neuter this playstyle? Like-wise their comp on Cursed Hallow didn't do much at all early, but seemed really well designed to punish over-extensions, which DK did a lot. Both games feature C9 holding on until the late game, if they change scaling will that still be viable?
Also, it has to be said that with the current meta/balance it's really scary to have them completely rework stats / scaling since that's basically a brand new game!
I don't know how everyone managed to overlook the reveal about how fans in the bleachers on the arena map get excited as your kills go up, even doing "the wave" for some secret trigger. The guy talked about it for like ten minutes, so it was clearly a very important message bliz wanted to get out
Personally I was waiting for all his buildup to pay off: like once you get up to 20 kills all the fans jump out of their skin and turn into skeleton fans or something.
On November 10 2015 02:04 Wuster wrote: It's pretty cool how in-depth they got into how match-making works and how honest they were about the current limitations.
The stuff about Cho'Gall effecting balance was neat too. I'm not 100% caught up on the Blizzcon matches, and in case someone's even further behind me...
I wonder how much the new scaling would have influenced C9 - DK, the game on Dragon Shire, they were getting wooped on early but minimized structure damage so effectively which let them even up the game off just a single good engagement. Would the new scaling exacerbate or neuter this playstyle? Like-wise their comp on Cursed Hallow didn't do much at all early, but seemed really well designed to punish over-extensions, which DK did a lot. Both games feature C9 holding on until the late game, if they change scaling will that still be viable?
Also, it has to be said that with the current meta/balance it's really scary to have them completely rework stats / scaling since that's basically a brand new game!
I think that they'll have to tinker with hero balance in general with the flattening out of stats. There are some characters that are chosen specifically because their stats are more powerful in the early game but even out in the late game---- will these heroes become even more powerful, or less powerful? Well, that kind of depends on how the flattening happens.
EPT
