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Esports Q/A Recap: Nov 1

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The Q/A on reddit about Esports has concluded and here's a recap of all questions Blizzard has answered about HGC 2017.

Blizzard LogoBlizzard Entertainment

With the HGC being an online league, what will happen to prominent offline leagues such as super league and gold league?

This is a hot topic among the community because of how information was originally presented. To clarify, HGC North America and Europe will be online leagues but Korea and China will have offline elements. Announcements in those regions will come at a later time.

Can we expect an official prediction league (like HotD bracket challenges) or should I start making one? :)

We've talked about this and have ideas of potentially doing it at some of the offline events but we will see... no promises! Feel free to jump in and take this one :p

Crowdfunding. It's awesome. We want more of it.

Can we expect to see more stuff that directly supports teams (or prize pools), like those sweet MVP and Tempest mounts?

We agree! The winners mount was an awesome addition to the program this year and we are actively exploring new ways to do this that involves more teams than just the winner.

In the latest episode of TownHall Heroes, Bakery suggested that instead of having Eastern and Western clash, it would be way cooler to have the clashing regions rotate, so in Spring it would be EU vs NA and the next one could be EU vs KR and NA vs CN. It would benefit the teams which could more frequently encounter teams from different regions. Is it something you considered for 2017 and is it possible that this format will be introduced in 2018 (or even phase two in 2017)?

Bakery brought this up to me as well and I loved the suggestion. We will not be changing how they work in 2017 but we will keep this in mind in the future!

Is the roster instability that plagues the NA and EU regions something on the eSports teams radar of things to attempt to stabilize? I understand that social issues amongst teams is not an easy problem to diagnose and solve (as well as some may argue it is not Blizzard's job to worry about internal team politics) but have you considered anything to incentivize teams to not think that "cutting off the arm" is the only solution if they scrape their elbow in one tournament? Roster change caps or something?

We are aware of the roster volatility that occurred this year. One of the main points we're looking to hit for 2017 is consistency and the most direct way we can do that is by being more rigid with our roster locks. For the 2017 season there will only be one period, in the middle of the year, where teams are allowed to change their rosters.

Do you plan to implement more stats easily available for esport ? And make it available to casters live so we can have a more in-depth analysis than just "Kyocha is probably the best Tracer player in the world" ?

Would be so great to know who land the most storm bolt, who deals the most damage, who stuns the most on average...

This is absolutely something we're looking to level up and are working to do so with the tools currently at our disposal. One of the best things a league provides is constant data that we can pull from to really let our players shine.

Will teams that don't make it into the top3 in their region play in any offline tournament at all next year?

Not in HGC, no.

Will there be rule changes concerning firstpick/ban or Map pick?

Yes.

Will first ban / map bans be more public in HGC 2017? 

In 2016, I had no idea why the map was chosen, or how which team got first pick. I couldn't figure out if loser got first pick. Or if loser got choice of first pick or map choice. Or if there were map bans before hand? The announcers would be just be like "oh man and this map was their map pick!" like halfway through a game. And it was so confusing.

In Starcraft 2 the map bans are part of the pre-match ceremony. And it'd be nice to have more visibility in Heroes.

Yep. We will be addressing this next year and making it visible to the fans.

Is there any talk about limiting the map pool for pro teams for the whole season or parts of it?

We will be limiting the battleground pool heading into HGC 2017. The battleground pool will be set in phase 1(HGC start to Mid-Season Brawl) with the possibility of it changing for phase 2(Mid-Season Brawl to HGC Finals).

Will the limited battleground pool be in effect on public servers as well as HGC events?

It will only be for HGC.

Can you shed some more light on how the open division will work? And on how the teams from LATAM / ANZ / SEA / TW will qualify?

The Open Division will operate as a cup system with teams earning points based on their performance in each cup ultimately leading up to a playoff bracket that will decide which two teams from the Open Division will enter the Crucible. Open Division tournaments will have monetary compensation as well.

Latin America, Australia & New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan will operate as they did in the last year. Each region will have their own program that will provide teams to the Clashes, Mid-Season Brawl, and the HGC Finals.

What format will the weekly matches be in?

All League matches will be best of five.

Basically how will a typical week of HGC look for my favorite team?

Each team will play either once or twice a weekend. A typical weekend in HGC is two best of five matches a day, Friday - Sunday. For fans of HGC Europe and HGC North America there is going to be a lot to watch!

Now that HGC is going to be a formalized league. Will there be a way to watch the games in the client. Perhaps a tab with everything HGC including statistics, vods, and news?

We will have all of that information but it will be on a brand new website instead of in the client. We will continue to push HGC in the client through the Homescreen.

Will casts be in multiple languages?

We won't officially be providing multiple languages outside of what we already do but we will work with reputable community members to provide language streams if the demands are there. 

Will there be something we can buy in the in game shop to show our support and fandom for our favorite HGC team?

There won't be anything at the launch but it is something we are actively working on.

Any chance of posting game replay files online so that players can study the matches and learn from the pros?

Yes, though we are still deciding what cadence we should release these.

As a semi-casual spectator, I find it somewhat difficult to find rosters and dates for upcoming matches and ongoing tournaments. Even the new overview page is so much 'what' that it is hard to find the 'when', when that is the most important part of watching anything. Am I looking in the right place? Would you agree that the current scheduling information isn't quite accessible enough yet to filthy casuals like me?

Still, I love the game, and all the hard work Blizzard is putting into it. Great job to all. Have fun at Blizzcon.

We hear you. This was one, if not the loudest, piece of feedback from our viewers and players alike. We have something pretty awesome cooking in the oven. Stay tuned!

Could we expect more international tournaments outside of those planned ? Such as nexus games or Braxis Holdout/Warhead Junction showmatches. Can we expect more community events such as Bloodlust, do you guys contribute to these events or are they only community managed if that makes sense ?

One of the biggest pieces of feedback that we received from community tournament organizers was that it was very hard to organize a Heroes tournament because how scheduling was handled this year. We will be putting out the complete 2017 HGC schedule in January which will allow organizers the visibility needed to run Heroes events.

Off-season - what are the plans in 2017 for an off-season where players / teams can recharge, make roster changes, take time off / holidays etc.

You never miss a sport more than during the off-season when there are no games going on and you get excited anticipating the start of a season.

Completely agree on the excitement an off-season brings. The official off-season of HGC is November(after BlizzCon) to late January.

This year, summer and fall, european championship were thursday and friday, do you change european schedule for 2017 to have competition for weekends?

HGC League play will target Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Do you have any more details on the Open Division? Like when will the games be played and where to catch them?

There will be an official Open Division announcement later this year with all the details you are looking for.

What rules will you have in places regarding region lock? Is it still the 6 month residency prior to competition?

Our region lock rule for players is that they must reside inside the region that they wish to play in for at least 6 months prior to the day they are going to compete.

Is there a possibilty that teams in less important regions be able to participate on the league if the other teams don't perform well? Eg: Burning rage being able to participate in the NA league

There is not. There is no way to do this fairly with region residency requirements.

Be great to see national teams playing each other in EU, e.g. a Euro championship with teams from wales, England, France etc, any chance of this happening?

We have no plans on doing this right now for Heroes. Our Overwatch team is doing just this at BlizzCon with their World Cup tournament and its awesome. Go Seagull and USA!!!

Do you think the Open Division will supplant things like Chair League and Heroes Lounge? Or is the target player pool really only teams with professional aspirations, and not just "anyone who wants to play in a league"?

I believe the Open Division will supplement these community tournaments, not take away from them.

What was the overall idea to reduce global events from 3 to 2 (with global events I mean western vs eastern aka how BlizzCon and the mid season brawl would be).

Until this Friday(AA vs Dig), the number 1 ranked teams in North America and Europe have never faced off against each other even though we've had three Global Championships. The Clashes are designed to promote regional rivalries and we believe the benefits of this outweighs losing one global event.

As someone that is involved in heroes in his own way. Will replays of these events be publicly available? If so are you still planning to use hotslogs or will you create your own database were we can download these?

We will be releasing the replays but the rate of release and location are still being worked out.

You talked about compensations for the open division, is there any more info you can share, is it like top 8 gets prize money and are there any plans to show these matches too?

We will be releasing a full Open Division announcement later this year.

What are you most excited to see resulting from all the changes to the format?

Personally, I love the roster locks and ideas of more team presence in the game. Having that confident figure to root for will be great!

I want to see some superstars. Leagues offer consistent play for competitors that really lets them test their skills against others. Very excited to look at the HGC over time and see who has improved statistically!

Also, there have been a couple of times this year where I've thought, "man is one team better than this other team?" With the HGC we'll finally know!

How exactly will the compensation for teams work in the Pro Divison and will the announced minimum 100k from January to November be split evenly between Phase 1 (until May) and Phase 2 (until November)? In other words, if a team drops out in May, will it have accumulated the minimum of 50K?

You are correct. Teams will earn at least $100,000 for their participation from January-November but if they get relegated via the Crucible in June they will receive $50,000 and the new team will earn the remaining $50,000.

Are league matches Bo3 or Bo5?

Best of 5.

Is there any talk about timing patches along side International events? Since there is no tournament server, teams will obviously be challenged mid season to adjust to the drastic meta shifts which i think is a good thing and the mark of a great team, but i think this year some patches could of been held until the day after some of the offline events. Given there is so much preparation involved leading up to these big events i believe it's healthy to allow teams to show off how they can master the game in that period of time. 

Side note- I'm referring to major patches only, hoping to avoid something similar to what League of Legends did when they killed the lane swap meta before Worlds. I don't think anyone did a terrible job, it seemed to be a rare occurrence and I'm happy with how 2016 went overall.

Completely understand where you are coming from on this. We have a solution in place for this and will talk about it more at a later time.

Will there be a soccer style league system in the future I.E the EPL. If you place top three in the lower league you get promoted. If you place bottom three you get demoted. I think this well help the amateur scene and help the competitive scene grow as well.

We are aiming to do something very similar to this! The Crucibles serve this purpose. The bottom two teams in the league and the two teams that place highest in the Open Division Playoffs will face off to see who gets to see who will play in the second phase of HGC.

(Source)

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I don't know about anyone else but I'm really excited to see all of the HGC 2017 changes implemented.  Very much looking forward to the future of competitive HotS.

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On 11/3/2016 at 4:11 PM, ghostdeini said:

I don't know about anyone else but I'm really excited to see all of the HGC 2017 changes implemented.  Very much looking forward to the future of competitive HotS.

Agreed. It may not be on the same level of LoL/DoTA yet, but I like HoTS as a game and I want to see it succeed!

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      Arthas has been fully reworked! All abilities and talents will be listed below.
      Base
      Death Coil [Q] Mana: 40. Cooldown: 9 seconds. Deals 164 damage to target enemy. Can be self-cast to heal for 262 health. Howling Blast [W] Mana: 50. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Root enemies within the target area for 1.25 seconds and deals 68 damage. Frozen Tempest [E] Mana: 13 per second. Cooldown: 1 second. Deals 36 damage per second to nearby enemies and Slow their Movement Speed by 10% per second, stacking up to 40%. Heroes hit also have their Attack Speed Slowed by 10% per second, stacking up to 40%. Frozen Tempest's effects last for 1.5 seconds. Army of the Dead [R] Charge Cooldown: 18 seconds. Consume all charges to summon an equal number of Ghouls that last 15 seconds and attack for 20 damage. Ghouls can be sacrificed to heal Arthas for 240 Health. Stores up to 6 charges. Every time an enemy minion dies nearby, reduce the charge cooldown of this ability by 1 second. Takedowns reduce the charge cooldown of this ability by 6 seconds. Summon Sindragosa [R] Mana: 100. Cooldown: 100 seconds. Deals 230 damage and Slows enemies by 60% for 4 seconds. Also disables Minions, Mercenaries, Monsters, and Structures for 20 seconds. Frostmourne Hungers [D] Cooldown: 12 seconds. Activate to make Arthas' next Basic Attack strike immediately and deal 71 bonus damage. Dealing damage restores 40 Mana. QUEST: Killing a Minion or hitting a Hero with Frostmourne Hungers permanently increases its bonus damage and Arthas' Basic Attack damage by 1. Talents
      Level 1 Frost Presence Increase the area of Howling Blast by 20%. QUEST: Root enemy Heroes with Howling Blast. REWARD: After Rooting 15 Heroes, Howling Blast's range is increased by 20% and it hits enemies in its path. REWARD: After Rooting 30 Heroes, Death Coil Slows Heroes hit by 50% for 0.75 seconds. Borean Winds After Frozen Tempest has been active for 2 seconds, Arthas gains 10% Movement Speed. PASSIVE: Frozen Tempest's Slowing effects last an additional 0.5 seconds and its Mana cost is reduced by 4 per second. Rime Every 5 seconds, gain 75 Physical Armor against the next enemy Hero Basic Attack, reducing the damage taken by 75%. Stores up to 3 charges. PASSIVE: While Arthas is Slowed, Rooted, or Stunned he heals 24 Health a second. Level 4 Shattered Armor Enemy Heroes hit by Howling Blast have their Armor reduced by 15 for 4 seconds. Icy Talons Gain 3% Attack Speed for 2 seconds every time a Hero is damaged by Frozen Tempest, to a maximum of 60%. Frost Strike Frostmourne Hungers deals an additional 115 Ability damage in an area and slows Heroes hit by 20% for 2 seconds. Level 7 Immortal Coil Gain the healing effect of Death Coil even when used on enemies. If Death Coil is used on Arthas, it heals for an additional 75% bonus healing and its cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds. Rune Tap Every 3rd Basic Attack heals Arthas for 5% of his max Health. PASSIVE: Each stack of Frostmourne Hungers increases Arthas' Maximum Health by 10. Icebound Fortitude Cooldown: 35 seconds. Activate to gain 25 Armor and reduce the duration of Stuns, Slows, and Roots against Arthas by 75% for 3 seconds. Each Hero Rooted by Howling Blast reduces the cooldown of this ability by 2 seconds. Level 13 Deathlord If Death Coil is used on an enemy Hero, launch an additional Death Coil at a nearby enemy Hero. PASSIVE: Death Coil deals more damage the lower Arthas' current Health is, to a maximum of 50% bonus damage. Deathchill Howling Blast's damage is increased by 2 for each stack of Frostmourne Hungers. Howling Blast deals 100% additional damage and Roots for an additional 0.25 seconds against Heroes under 50% health. Biting Cold Each second an enemy is damaged by Frozen Tempest, it deals 15% bonus damage, up to 75% bonus damage. Level 16 Remorseless Winter Enemy Heroes that remain within Frozen Tempest for 2.5 seconds are Rooted for 1.25 seconds and heal Arthas for 3% of his maximum Health. This effect has an 8 second cooldown per target. Frostmourne Feeds Reduce the cooldown of Frostmourne Hungers by 6 seconds. Arthas heals for 75% of the Basic Attack damage dealt by Frostmourne Hungers. Anti-Magic Shell Cooldown 60 seconds. Activate to make Arthas immune to Spell Damage for 4 seconds and heal Arthas for 25% of the damage prevented. Level 20 Legion of Northrend Reduce Army of the Dead's charge cooldown by 5 seconds. Each charge consumed spawns an additional Ghoul to attack nearby enemies. These Ghouls cannot be sacrificed. Absolute Zero Sindragosa flies twice as far. Enemy Heroes are Rooted for 2.5 seconds, and then Slowed by 60% for 4 seconds. Death Pact Instantly double your stacks of Frostmourne Hungers, but it no longer gains stacks from hitting Heroes or killing Minions. PASSIVE: Takedowns grant 2 stacks of Frostmourne Hungers. Path of Frost Activate to instantly mount with 10% additional Movement Speed. Taking damage does not dismount Arthas from this mount. Lasts up to 5 seconds. When Arthas dismounts, Slow all nearby enemies by 30% for 2 seconds and deal 66 damage. Chen
      Base
      Keg Smash [W] Breath of Fire initial damage lowered from 85 to 40. Breath of Fire duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds. Breath of Fire no longer costs Energy. Keg Smash energy cost increased to 35 from 30. Fortifying Brew [D] Drinking now stops additional commands for a fraction of a second. Talents
      Level 1 Accumulating Flames Moved from Level 4 to Level 1. REWORK: Quest: Gain stacks from hitting Heroes with DoT damage from Breath of Fire. Each stack provides 0.25 damage. At 20 damage, Keg Smash becomes ranged. Mythic Reward: At 75 damage, Breath of Fire lowers enemy armor by 20 and is refreshed from Chen's Basic Attacks. Level 4 Eye of the Tiger Moved from Level 1 to Level 4. Level 7 Elusive Brawler Movement Speed reduced from 30% to 20%. Level 10 Wandering Keg Cooldown increased from 50 seconds to 60 seconds. Level 13 Pressure Point Slow duration increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds. Deathwing
      Base
      Onslaught [E] Cooldown increased from 5 seconds to 6 seconds. Dragonflight [Z] Cooldown increased from 15 seconds to 20 seconds. Talents
      Level 16 Gaze onto Destruction Duration reduced from 5 seconds to 3.5 seconds. Falstad
      Talents
      Level 1 Frequent Flyer Range to receive kill credit reduced from 14 to 8.5. Garrosh
      Base
      Wrecking Ball [E] Range reduced from 6.5 to 6. Search range reduced from 2.5 to 2.25. Talents
      Level 1 Unrivaled Strength Ranged bonus reduced from 20% to 15%. Gazlowe
      Base
      Rock-It! Turret [Q] Turret Health increased from 510 to 600. Mal'Ganis
      Base
      Necrotic Embrace [W] Now benefits double the amount from Vampiric Touch. No longer provides Armor for 3 seconds. Talents
      Level 1 Will of Tichondrius Moved from Level 7 to Level 1. REWORK: Hit Heroes with Fel Claws to gain 0.5 damage. Hit 4 Heroes in the first two swipes to cause the last wipe to provide 2 additional damage. Upon reaching 40 stacks, Fel Claws now steals 4% health from opponents and stuns for an additional 0.5 Seconds. Level 4 Vampiric Aura Moved from Level 1 to Level 4. Self healing increased from 30% to 40% and healing of nearby Allies increased from 15% to 20%. Might of Sargeras Now provides 25 Armor for 3 seconds when using Necrotic Embrace. Level 7 Fueled by Torment Moved from Level 4 to Level 7. Now causes Necrotic Embrace to Slow by 25% for 3 seconds. Medivh
      Talents
      Level 1 Winds of Celerity Movement speed bonus increased from 50% to 75%. Raven's Intellect Bonus increased from 75% to 125%. Level 4 Raven Familiar Slow reduced from 30% to 20%. Level 7 Force of Magic Spell Power increased from 30% to 35%. Level 13 Circle of Protection No longer increases the cooldown of Force of Will. Level 20 Guardian of Tirisfal Now also increases the range of Arcane Rift by 50%. Muradin
      Base
      It's Hammer Time! [Q] Muradin gains 5 stacks if a target dies within 3 seconds of being hit by Storm Bolt. Stack requirement for pierce increased from 40 to 45. Talents
      Level 20 Mountain King Dwarf Toss cooldown increased by 2 seconds. Thunder Clap cooldown increased by 2 seconds. Thrall
      Talents
      Level 1 Crash Lightning Amount stacks lost on death reduced from 6 to 4. Echo of the Elements Damage done by the chain lightning bounces rewarded from obtaining the Mythic Reward reduced from 85 to 70. Tyrande
      Base
      Lunar Flare [E] Tyrande gains 1 stack if the target dies within 3 seconds of being hit. Mythic Reward now also increases attack range by 1. Lunar flare damage from hitting a hero reduced from 4% to 3.5%. Talents
      Level 20 Commander of Sentinels Cooldown of Sentinel increased by 3 seconds. Return to Top
      Bug Fixes
      General
      Fixed an issue that caused Unstoppable targets to not be immune to Blinds. Maps
      General Fixed an issue that caused Bosses to attack Summoned units. Blackheart's Bay Fixed an issue that caused the AI to have issues turning in coins. Heroes
      D.Va Base Defense Matrix [W] D.Va's Mech will now retarget Defense Matrix when controlled by an AI. Deathwing Base Dragonflight [Z] Fixed an issue that caused Dragonflight's cooldown to increase upon taking damage to only occur when the cooldown is below 4 seconds. Garrosh Level 4 In For the Kill Fixed an issue that caused In For the Kill to not completely reset the cooldown of Bloodthirst. Gul'dan Base Drain Life [W] Fixed an issue that caused Drain Life to not always be interrupted if the target leaves its range. Jaina Base Improved Ice Block [1] Fixed an issue that caused Improved Ice Block and Ice Cold to not be used correctly by AI-controlled Jaina. Kael'thas Level 20 Rebirth Fixed an issue that caused Rebirth to not be used correctly by AI-controlled Kael'thas. Li Li Base Cloud Serpent [W] Fixed an issue that caused Cloud Serpent to not be made visible when damaging a target while in the Fog of War. Medivh Level 10 Poly Bomb Fixed an issue that caused Poly Bomb to not be used correctly by AI-controlled Medivh. Nazeebo Level 13 Superstition Fixed an issue that caused Superstition to display a blank ability for the damage dealt by its Corpse Spider. Samuro Base Mirror Image [Q] Mirror Images will no longer move towards Samuro's attack move target point on creation. Mirror Images will now properly have their AI enabled when Samuro has their AI enabled. Thrall Base Feral Spirit [W] Fixed an issue that caused Feral Spirit to not be extended correctly if it is about to expire. Return to Top
      Click here to discuss this post with other players in the official Heroes of the Storm forums.

    • By Elitesparkle
      Blizzard released a new PTR patch for Heroes of the Storm and here are the unofficial Patch Notes with all the datamined changes.
      Map Updates
      Volskaya Foundry
      Objective
      Triglav Protector Damage bonus when both slots are occupied reduced from 45% to 35%. Cooldown reduction when both slots are occupied reduced from 40% to 35%. Triglav Gunner Damage bonus when both slots are occupied reduced from 45% to 35%. Cooldown reduction when both slots are occupied reduced from 40% to 35%. Energy Regeneration when both slots are occupied reduced from 40% to 35%. Balance Updates
      Azmodan
      Base
      Globe of Annihilation [Q] Upon reaching 225 Annihilation, also removes the damage reduction against Monsters. Deathwing
      Stats
      Attack Damage increased from 110 to 117. Talents
      Level 1 Molten Blood Additional functionality: Now grants Form Switch, which can be activated to swap Form. Level 7 Firestorm Cooldown reduction for Deathwing's landing Abilities increased from 2 to 3 seconds. Jaina
      Base
      Frostbite [Trait] Additional functionality: Ice Cold now also gives Unstoppable and immunity to damage over time effects for the duration. Kerrigan
      Base
      Ravage [Q] Minions no longer have to die within 1.5 seconds of being hit by Ravage to grant stacks. Kerrigan now gains stacks when Minions die within 3 range. Time window for cooldown refund reduced from 1.5 to 0.75 seconds. Baseline Quest requirements increased from 85/150 to 100/250. After reaching 100 stacks, enemy Heroes killed grant 14 stacks. Muradin
      Base
      Storm Bolt [Q] Baseline Quest requirements increased from 35/150 to 50/200. Talents
      Level 7 Perfect Storm Additional functionality: The cooldown cannot be reset more than once every 10 seconds. Level 20 Mountain King New: Thunder Clap and Dwarf Toss have an extra charge. Rewind Removed. Tyrande
      Stats
      Mana increased from 450 to 500. Mana Regeneration increased from 2.7 to 3 per second. Base
      Sentinel [W] Mana cost increased from 50 to 55. Lunar Flare [E] Mana cost increased from 60 to 65. Shadowstalk [R1] Mana cost increased from 75 to 85. Starfall [R2] Mana cost increased from 75 to 85. Yrel
      Base
      Divine Purpose [D] Cooldown reduced from 16 to 8 seconds. Zagara
      Talents
      Level 16 Mutalisk Mutalisk's Health decay reduced from 42 to 10 per second. Mutalisk duration effectively increased from 10 to 42 seconds. Bug Fixes
      Fixed an issue causing Doubloon Camps on Blackheart's Bay to be impossible to capture under certain conditions. Fixed an issue causing Anub'arak's Beetles to still have a duration, in addition to losing their Health over time. Fixed an issue causing the Health decay for Azmodan's Demon Warriors to not scale with levels.  Fixed an issue causing Deathwing's Baseline Quest to reset when using Dragonflight. Fixed an issue causing Deathwing's Lava Burst to deal damage after an additional 0.25 seconds. Fixed an issue causing Gazlowe's Rock-It! Turrets to not lose their Health over time. Fixed an issue causing the tooltip for Jaina's Ice Cold to not show correctly. Fixed an issue causing Muradin's Storm Bolt to deal 1 more damage for each stack. Fixed an issue causing the range splat for Muradin's Dwarf Toss to not be visible. Fixed an issue causing Muradin's Skullcraker to Stun before Muradin's post-damage effects happened. Fixed an issue causing the Health Regeneration of Murky's Egg to not scale with levels. Fixed an issue causing Tyrande's Sentinel to not be correctly affected by cooldown reduction effects.
    • By Elitesparkle
      Blizzard released a new patch for Heroes of the Storm and here are the official Patch Notes with all the changes.
      20 February 2026: After releasing a hotfix, Muradin has been enabled again.
      19 February 2026: Muradin has been temporarily disabled due to a game-breaking bug.
      (Source)
      We’ve just released a patch to the live servers in order to apply some balance and bug fixes.
      Quick Navigation:
      Balance Update Bug Fixes Balance Updates
      Deathwing
      Base
      Incinerate [W] Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 7 seconds. Talents
      Level 7 Death Drop Duration of Spell Armor decreased from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Muradin
      Base
      Storm Bolt [Q] Quest requirements reduced from 50/200 to 40/160. Talents
      Level 1 Give 'Em The Axe Bonus Damage reduced from 50% to 40%. Level 4 Sledgehammer Now also reduces the cooldown of Storm Bolt by 1.5 seconds. Level 7 Perfect Storm Internal cooldown reduced from 10 seconds to 8.5 seconds. Now also restores 25 Mana on reset. Level 13 Healing Static Heal per Hero hit increased from 5% to 6%. Murky
      Base
      Spawn Egg [D] Revive Shield duration increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds. Talents
      Level 10 March of the Murlocs Cooldown reduced from 110 seconds to 100 seconds. Level 13 Egg Shell Shield increased from 35% to 50% of Murky's Health. Shield now lasts until destroyed. Level 20 Never-Ending March Will now last a minimum of 7 seconds, even if stopped. Sylvanas
      Talents
      Level 7 Lost Soul Extra 10% damage bonus provided by Lost Soul has been removed. Tyrande
      Base
      Lunar Flare [E] Mythic reward requirements reduced from 45 hits to 40 hits. Return to Top
      Bug Fixes
      Battlegrounds
      Hanamura Temple The Samurai Sentinel camp is now properly displayed with a Bruiser icon. Braxis Holdout Fixed an issue that caused terrain to be rendered incorrectly. Heroes
      Azmodan Level 4 Battleborn Now properly reduces the cooldown of Demon Lieutenant. Level 10 Black Pool Now properly deals reduced damage to non-Heroes. Deathwing Base Form Swap AI can no longer use the removed Form Swap ability. Gul'dan Level 16 Ruinous Affliction Fixed an issue that caused Ruinous Affliction to deal bonus damage on the 3rd and 5th hit, instead of the 3rd and 6th hit. Jaina Base Frostbite [Trait] Fixed an issue that caused Ice Block to not show the correct cooldown value in the tooltip. Fixed an issue that caused Ice Cold to allow Jaina to move through pathing blockers and stationary targets. Muradin Base Dwarf Toss [E] Fixed an issue that caused Dwarf Toss to go on cooldown when used on invalid terrain. Level 1 Dwarf Block Can no longer stack beyond 3 charges. Murky Murky will no longer revive faster than intended. Murky's level 20 talents have been rearranged to match skill order. Base Pufferfish [W] Puffed Up will now display first in the Buff Bar. Fixed an issue that caused Murky to lose his increased size after death. Spawn Egg [D] Fixed an issue that caused Murky to respawn faster than intended. Level 1 Shell Game Shell Game now shows the Trait button for the talent, instead of an Active button. Level 20 Faster Fish Faster Fish now also causes the animation of the Pufferfish to play faster. Faster Fish now shows the W button for the talent, instead of the Trait button. Rehgar Level 20 Elemental Conduit Fixed an issue that caused Elemental Conduit's Shields to not refresh to 5 seconds. Fixed an issue that caused Elemental Conduit's refresh to search for allies to give the Shield around the targets hit, instead of Rehgar's location. Thrall Level 1 Echo of the Elements Fixed an issue that caused Echo of the Elements bounces to bounce to cloaked targets. Level 7 Rolling Thunder Rolling Thunder damage now displays as a crit. Level 16 Alpha Wolf Alpha Wolf damage now displays as a crit. Zagara Base Infested Drop [E] Fixed an issue that caused Roaches melee attacks to launch missiles instead of directly hitting. Fixed an issue that caused Roaches to not display correctly in the death recap. Click here to discuss this post with other players in the official Heroes of the Storm forums.

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