Heroes of the Storm, formerly Blizzard All-Stars, formerly DOTA

Big news out of Blizzcon:

Two New Heroes

  • Varian, High King of the Alliance (Melee Warrior)
  • Ragnoros, The Firelord (Melee Assassin)

The former is the first multi-class hero, while the latter can attach himself to a Fort or Keep on defense:

New Brawl Battleground

Blackhearts Revenge, the first to feature attack/defend style mechanics and asymmetrical gameplay:

HotS and Overwatch Rewards

Play 15 games between November 15 and January 4 and receive:

OVERWATCH REWARDS
Oni Genji Skin
Oni Genji Portrait
Oni Genji Spray

HEROES OF THE STORM REWARDS
Zarya
Oni Genji Portrait

Play 30 games and also receive:

HEROES OF THE STORM REWARDS
Auriel
Greymane
Kerrigan
Li-Ming
Orochi Hovercycle Mount
30 Day Stimpack

I don’t own any of those five heroes, so I’ll be playing 30 games!

Watching a stream. Rag and Varian are both really cool.

Rag’s attach to fort thing looks awesome. Wish I knew something about Warcraft so that these heroes had more impact for me.

Varian has an amazing talent tree: http://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/25487-varian-talents-abilities/

Edit: and hero swaps in draft! https://twitter.com/BlizzHeroes/status/794683815696285696

Oh thank Christ. Now when Captain Mutey McAFK is last pick and doesn’t have a tank or support we can just give him something else instead of instantly losing.

PTR out. Varian, new brawl, Zeratul & Kharazim reworks:

Scouting Drone

  • Now also reveals Stealthed/Cloaked Heroes

It’s. About. F’ing. Time!

First time playing in months…I fucking abhor Abathur. I don’t think Aba players understand how much of a disadvantage it is to not have one extra body to soak up damage and/or fuck up an enemy’s targeted spells in a clustered teamfight.

I like the idea of a non-directly-engaging hero, but his upsides are way lower than his downsides.

That’s what Ultimate Evo is for. The bigger problem with a lot of Abathurs is that they don’t leverage their global presence very well. A lot don’t even body soak, so you’re literally down a man all the time. Before 10 they can win the common 1v1 scenarios and the like, so they’re really just about as strong as another body. Come objective time you’ll suffer a bit, but the team needs to know that time is on their side in that situation. Every second spent delaying gets you ahead in XP and push. Instead most people dive in like they’re in a rush and get annihilated.

A good Abathur can win games, but even a good one can’t carry a team that wont play to their strengths. I’d say I don’t mind Abathurs, but so few play well that I’d be lying. It’s a thing that becomes even more painful if you’re decent to good with him. You REALLY notice the mistakes and it becomes extra frustrating.

I dunno … I usually have positive experiences with Abathurs as long as they’re properly drafted. Really good Abathurs are some of the only players I’ve seen that truly ‘carried’ my team. It amazes me to think that ultimate evolution used to get the hero’s ult.

50% Bonus XP Event

December 2, 10:00 a.m. PST (All Regions) – December 5, 10:00 a.m. PST (All Regions)

New PTR:

Personal highlights:

Hero League
Players can no longer queue for Hero League games in parties.

New Hero: Ragnaros

Return of Haunted Mines

Press SHIFT and click a Hero portrait or Hero Role icon during Hero Select or in a Draft Lobby to add a link to that Hero or Role in the chat.
These Hero and Role links can be used to suggest picks and bans in Draft Lobbies.

For periods of time when a hero is considered unrevealable, they will no longer show a shimmer like other stealthed heroes.

Artanis, Diablo, and Dehaka reworks

Sounds fun.

I’ll be checking out the PTR later after work, but I feel like they’ve been doing a pretty damn good job of adjusting heroes and adding nice changes to the game in general. Especially in the last six months.

Artanis seems really good now.

Dehaka also has some insane changes.

Can’t seem to find a streamer who will play Dibbles though. :/

So Chu8’s team qualified for HGC or whatever it is called and it’s the greatest stream ever.

He’s made well over $1k in donations in the last 20 minutes I think.

I love the Diablo changes since most of them augment my playstyle with him already. I can see where it might be a minor drawback if you didn’t focus the same way though.

A lot of people are saying he’ll be top tier in the right comps.

Rag is out.

PogChamp

TWACK! Ragnaros and Diablo are (unsurprisingly) hit with nothing but multiple nerf hammers.

Rag really needed the nerfs. Haven’t seen enough of Diablo to know if the nerfs were called for, but I trust that they know what they are doing when it comes to being too survivable.