heroes HotS: PTR Patch Notes - March 21, 2016

[Stan 5,248]

A new patch has hit the Public Test Realm, it features Dehaka, the new battleground entitled the Lost Cavern and a lot of balance changes.

 

Brief Patch Overview

 

Dehaka

Primal Pack Leader Dehaka has been added to the game and will cost 15,000 Gold. Click here for abilities preview.

 

Balance Changes

The following Heroes have been affected in this patch with an entire rework:

• Gazlowe (Talent re-work)
• Illidan (Talent re-work)
• Kael’thas (Talent re-work)
• Sylvanas (Talent re-work)
• Tychus (Talent re-work)

Other Heroes not included in this list received minor balance changes.

 

Lost Cavern

The newly added one-lane battleground is exclusively available for gameplay only in Custom Games.

 

Bans

The newest feature is live available for testing in both Hero & Team League games. All ranked games will use the "Mid Ban" method during drafts with two ban rounds per team. The first round begins before a Hero is picked, the second one occurs halfway through the draft.

 

Full Patch Notes can be found here.

 

(Source)

[mnime 17]

They keep nerfing heroes that can actually impact in a game, jaina with no bolt of the storm and ice block moved to lvl 20? I mean come on! You can no longer burst someone down and get away with it, what's the point of calling her an assassin? She will be just a regular mage doing sustained damage after this patch.  

So bottom line the game is becoming "sustained damage" restricted. No burst at all, what could decide the winner? Only "Luck". You get an above average team, you will win the game, you get a bad team or someone trolls, you lose the game, only luck matters. 

Now that you can only duo in hero league, you can no longer enjoy it, only team league could be fun. I lost 12 ranks in hero league the last 2 weeks just because I get trolls, afkers and people with no game knowledge, not even basics.

I started to discuss the matchmaking on hots forums, then I realized not only developers don't care, but people actually love that luck is deciding the winner. I mean at rank 5, you get troll pickers, no tank and no healer or supp in your team and you wonder how did these days reach rank 5? Now I know it's just luck, no matter if you troll or try hard to be at your best to win the game, the "Luck Factor" beats everything.

Patch after patch they are nerfing burst damage, going faster towards just flipping a coin for the winner.

[Dantalian 20]

In general those are really good changes. Illidan got some love, Sylvanas Mindcontrol pretty promising and with that Cleans will be much usefull.

About Jaina, well, dont see any problems there. Blink... well in general if someone mannaged to get to you that means either you are elone or teamfight was lost and encourages to pick Elemental instead of Ring. Same for Ice block, it is usefull to mitigate some abilities but nothing special. In my expirience now it will fit her playstyle.

[ghostdeini 12]

I'm really interested to get my hands on these new reworks; specifically Sylvanus. 

 

As for Jaina, I get why people aren't happy about Bolt of the Storm, but I might actually take ice block now.  I never did before because I liked the utility of Icy Veins so much more at 13.  I guess everyone will just have to pay much better attention on their positioning while playing her now.

[Dantalian 20]

What bothers me are new requirements for Hero League. Things can get ugly there.

[mnime 17]

In this meta where mobility and cc is everything, heroes like Li-Ming with her E, Muradin with his E, Melee assassins with their gap close and many many other abilities that can be used to focus backline, Jaina after this will have no place in the meta. Just like KT that used to be super op when he had that long range Q casts and then got nerfed and kicked out of meta, jaina will be kicked out too, heroes with no mobility or escape mechanism are going to have real problems in team fights against a meta where assassins and tanks can jump on them easily and keep them stunned until killed.

You can check any MOBA games out there, specially league of legends, new breed of mobile carries, specially AP mid laners with some sort of escape dominate the lane, on the other hand old champions in LoL which lack the mobility and escape suffer and have low pick and win rates.

 

Why do you think no one plays Zyra or Cassio or Urgot anymore in competitive scene? which they used to be Gods back in season 2 or even 3, 

Just like Nova in this game, no escape, no mobility, no gap close. nothing. And now jaina is going to be the same. KT is going down every day in pick and win rate charts... it's jaina's turn :)

Edited March 23, 2016 by mnime

[mnime 17]

Now I get down votes everywhere I say this, don't know what people are looking for! But if this nerfing of assassins with good bursts keeps going, even a pro duo can't impact on a game, is this what people want? I was watching heroes of the dorm the other day and I could actually see it coming, in a few month they either have to bring back some of the best bursts we used to have, or let luck decide the winner team (flip a coin and call the winner)

I read here at the overwatch section that Jeff Kaplan talked about matchmaking in Overwatch, someone complaint about losing 8 games in a row or something, jeff answered with this example where he can't set you a date with 4 other guys and be sure tha you're going to have fun, but if you go out with your friends, you will definitely have fun. But I say this is not true, you CAN actually find 4 other persons to be like you, the matchmaking is just a little sloppy, I saw people who ignore team fights, objectives, they ONLY and only push lanes and get merc camps as gazlowe or azmodan at ranks below 10!! This can only mean that the matchmaking can't really realize if this guy is good enough for this rank. Shouldn't this guy be matched up with someone around his skill? ignorant and passive?

There are a lot of ways to figure that out but blizzard is not just responding well about these feedbacks for their matchmaking system.

Edited March 23, 2016 by mnime

[Dantalian 20]

First, no one will down vote you, its just your point of view. About gap closers... well again that Jaina, simple thing lvl 13 Blizzard range (longest range in the game dont count SGT in Siege Mode). If some one want to com ner you and cross that range well he will be lets say in big trouble 1vs4 or 5. I use Jainas build that lets say in the opinion of Guide writers broken, uselees and so on but I am perfectly alive, with good DMG and if someone want to burst me, they die even if I will die also.

 

Problem is not in characters, its playstyle. You can have infinite amount of escapes but, for example if your tank and other members charge in blindly, then even if you wont die, they will and that will bring defeat to the team. Its like Tanks who use DPS builds = useless meat at the end of a game but at the start they may do something. 

Off topic(LoL). it is too early to compare HotS to something else, and in general those are not in competetive play because there are more efficinent and easy to use characters.