Interview with Liquid'Sheth on Heroes of the Storm

Hey there, I've been playing Heroes now for around 2 months. I started off teamless and playing with several teams that were around at the time. I'd subbed for Excellsior and Snowflake quite a bit. Eventually I ended up playing with Snowflake, which has some people you might know on it. Lzgamer and IdrA both play on it. They are absolutely amazing to play with, as well as the rest of the team (Faye and Keylax), but in the end I moved on and right now I'm still looking around. Asking in general how it's been, I'd say it's been a great experience and a game I'm happy to have found (Thanks KadaverBB)..

At the moment I prefer to play either a ranged damage hero or the support role. Support is pretty much anything that heals or has a lot of utility. Basically I like anything that can do things from a good range away. I enjoy dodging and trying to guess where I should put skill shots quite a bit. Anyway either of those I really enjoy.

Um honestly not really. I've had to switch around in roles quite a lot. Many players have 1 or two favorite heroes that they level up to 10, which requires quite a few games, maybe around 70 or so. I have 7 level 10 heroes, so I just try and play a lot and whenever I find a permanent team I'll figure out which of those 7 to focus on and hopefully make it something like a signature hero.

Yeah, I definitely have preferences in maps. I personally enjoy Dragon Shire the most. You can become a dragon and shoot fire which is pretty cool, and there are a lot of objectives to fight over. It just is a map with constant straightforward action. I'm not really sure what my least favorite map would be, but probably either Cursed hollow or Garden of Terror. They can both feel a little bit slower in fights, action and just game play overall.

Yeah the maps that keep things constantly changing and don't lead to stagnant endgames are the ones I enjoy the most. There are a lot of cool mechanics that I'd like to see in the future. Lava rising like in SC2 campaign games, more interactive maps, where a map is almost similar to a raid in WoW, where you have to do the "safety dance" or something similar. Abilities to strengthen keeps or strengthen allies for a short period of time would also be cool. That's just a few basic ideas, there are so many possibilities with this game, and the fact that a map editor will be released for it just adds to those possibilities.

Hm, there are plenty of reasons why being able to choose the map will change the way people pick heroes or value heroes. A basic one, is whether the map will have 2 lanes or 3, or how many minion camps there will be to bribe or merc lord.

Tychus, Tassadar, Uther, Tyreal, and probably Arthas. Tychus has two health bars and can do some insane damage. Tassadar also gains an insane amount of health with his ultimate and his escape is pretty great. Uther is just the all-around best healer in the game at the moment I believe (n some situations he won't be the best, but in general). and Tyreal has a long range initiation and several displacements. Arthas can just be really hard to kill and still deal a solid amount of damage.

I feel like many heroes are in the second tier of heroes. There aren't that many heroes that I think are considerably weaker. Lili is probably one I'd like to see changed, and I'd like some heroic abilities changed, because some heroes only have one really good viable ultimate. I'm sure they will tweak a lot of things, but I think even in competitive play most of the heroes have some situational play.

Well, to play it is definitely challenging and difficult. You can also tell the difference between someone who is good and someone who is great pretty easily once you spend some time watching. There are a lot of small things that you can do that would make you stand out. Just dodging abilities and aiming yours well can be very tough, and there are plenty of other things you have to be worried about too. Watching is also really entertaining at least for me. It probably takes some knowledge about the game, but once you have it, its a lot of fun.

The single biggest difference is communication, which leads to better preparation for team fights and for getting together for objectives. Timing of ultimates to better coordinate who you can all focus is a huge part of this.

If you're brand new to the game, the best way is just to play with someone who is better then you and try and learn from them. Even as you get better, if you can find that person who will help you learn, you should try and play with them as much as possible. Watching streams of players who play the role you are interested in, and who are doing well in competitive leagues would also be great to learn from.

I think it's a fine business model in general. They have a gate that you must pass (level 4) to unlock all of the talents of a hero. in the past they had it where you just had to have your account at a certain level to unlock all of the talents and I think that was the best way of doing it. The business model could have a little bit more gold per win or per quest, but I don't think it's too bad.

Aw thanks for asking. At the moment my hands and wrists are doing better. I can play Heroes for over 8 hours a day without it bothering me much. I've come to grips that there will always be some pain, and I just liken it to having a headache constantly. I will just have to get used to having that headache because I just enjoy playing competitively too much. ^^

The key for me is to play heroes that I can enjoy and challenge myself with, no matter how my team does. Finding heroes that are fun just to play and test your mechanical limits with them, is something I really enjoy.

Just thanks to everyone on TL, and everyone who reads these articles. Come say hi on Heroes sometime and lets play a few games together. : )