heroes Kendric's Gamescom 2017 Gameplay Videos

[Stan 5,244]

Gamescom 2017 is over and Kendric has started uploading his gameplay videos of Kel'thuzad and upcoming Hero reworks, where he summarizes new talents, shares his impressions and more.

Kel'thuzad's patch has reworks for Chromie, Jaina, Leoric and Morales. If you'd like to learn more about all changes, we encourage you to check out this article.

Kel'thuzad Gameplay

Supporting Kel'thuzad gameplay video is Kendric's Kel'Thuzad Hands-On First Impressions article from almost a week ago. 

Jaina Gameplay & Rework

In this video, Kendric's playing the new "Dreadlord Jaina" and talks about her talent rework.

Leoric Gameplay & Rework

In this video, Kendric plays Leoric and goes through his talent changes.

Death Knight Sonya Gameplay

No reworks planned for Sonya so far, but it's still nice to see the new skin in action.

[SteveFrost 97]

After all the waiting, excitement and stiffed upper lip, hafta say I'm kinda disappointed by Jaina's rework. Now, before you lynch me, hear me out pls.

When I say disappointed, it's not for the actual changes but rather the size. It looks MUCH smaller in size & scope compared to pretty much every other one before her (and the ones in the same patch as well). That breath of fresh air sure helps her a lot and I like it- the only part I have a small protest for is, the requirement for auto attacks to reduce Blizzard cd can put you in tight spots more often than not (you already jeopardize yourself needing to come close in order to use Cone of Cold). The bonus damage is sure nice however and it'll be very helpful while abilities are down. Personally, I'd be really happy if they gave her some more unique talents (around 2-4) because, if this ships as is, I don't think it's gonna solve her "build carved in stone" problem (the moments you'll think before branching will still be few and far between) & a few quality of life changes (make bonus range talents baseline, maybe Snowstorm a quest that gradually increases its radius the more you hit Heroes with it-rewarding good play on your part). They have revisited Heroes who have been reworked in the past, either doing another equal in size or even bigger rework or just some small changes plus giving them extra unique talents (Kael'thas relatively recently); they may even make changes during the PTR patch so I can be hopeful c:

I know, I know "you annoyed the !@#$%& out of us 'REWORK HER!' and 'REWORK HER!', don't be an ungrateful whiny lamea$$ (insert cosmetic adjectives at leisure)." Well, you see, I try not to :3

I also hope that they give her another skin with different voice lines cause I'm not really fond of that one (don't like it when my favorite characters turn IIIIIIIIIIIVILLLL, inside jokes and memes aside) but she has gotten a ton already so I don't see it happening...:( (in the close future at least). On the other hand, waifu announcer FINALLY C: <333.

 

Edited August 28, 2017 by SteveFrost

[Valhalen 1,484]

1 hour ago, SteveFrost said:

After all the waiting, excitement and stiffed upper lip, hafta say I'm kinda disappointed by Jaina's rework. Now, before you lynch me, hear me out pls.

When I say disappointed, it's not for the actual changes but rather the size. It looks MUCH smaller in size & scope compared to pretty much every other one before her (and the ones in the same patch as well). (...) Personally, I'd be really happy if they gave her some more unique talents (around 2-4) (...) . They have revisited Heroes who have been reworked in the past, either doing another equal in size or even bigger rework or just some small changes plus giving them extra unique talents (Kael'thas relatively recently); they may even make changes during the PTR patch so I can be hopeful c:

Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't even play Jaina, but I was expecting more changes to her. I think her old Talents are solid and work fine, but a tweaking could indeed bring something new to the character (by also removing the generic talents). At least to increase her options and give a wider variations of talent builds.

On the other hand, I don't think that Chromie needed a rework at all. At least not so soon. She works perfectly fine as she is now; annoying as fuck.

[Plergoth 277]

27 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

On the other hand, I don't think that Chromie needed a rework at all. At least not so soon. She works perfectly fine as she is now; annoying as fuck.

My  guess is that with another Support losing Cleanse (Morales rework), they wanted to target Chromie specifically to shunt that early game deleting power that remains consistently strong from start to finish to become more evenly spread out throughout the game. Being a Support main and watching someone in a Time Loop animation with Cleanse on cooldown is bad enough, but having less heroes with the tool actually save them from it is even worse, but at least with the Chromie rework it'll be more manageable from a Support POV when she gets her ult and starts deleting your team at that critical juncture on the race to 10 on smaller maps such as Towers of Doom. 

Edited August 28, 2017 by Plergoth

[KendricSwissh 66]

Hey guys, 

First of all I hope you enjoyed the videos despite the slight audio/video desync issues. 

Here's my personal take on the individual reworks and my attempt to perhaps analyze why they chose the Heroes they chose. 

• Jaina: Jaina has never been a "bad" Hero per se, it was just the lack of protection and/or mobility that made her vulnerable to many Warriors and melee Assassins. So rather than reworking every single talent and ability Blizzard tackled what needed to be tackled: Make Iceblock available earlier without making it ridiculously broken. The 15.000 damage is a decent obstacle, good players will have Iceblock ready around Level 13, which is totally fine! The few talents that were newly introduced/reworked alll feel well thought of. So overall, Jaina was touched very gently, which was exactly what she needed. My score on this rework is 9/10 (bonus points for the awesome Dreadlord skin)
• Leoric: The strongest rework definitely went on Leoric. He was actually a fine Hero before the rework in terms of combat performance, however, his talents were often set in stone, furthermore, his playstyle was not very exciting in my opinion. So Leoric's is different from Jaina's. Jaina was tackled because she lacked competitiveness. Leoric was tackled because his playstyle was sort of unspectacular. The new talents on Leoric are all highly competitive, some of them are clearly too strong! Furthermore, the 50 second cooldown on March of the Black King is ridiculous! My personal score on the rework: 8/10 (felt a bit too strong, needs nerf)
• Lt. Morales: Similarly to Leoric, her playstyle was not very engaging. She's also easier to get into now, as players will no longer have to worry about Mana problems all the time. The grenade build felt very powerful, but is Lt. Morales going to be a top-tier support after the rework? Probably not. Will she be more fun to play? Personally, I do think so. So from a casual point of view the rework is a success, from a competitive one it isn't great but ok, because at least she won't be worse than before. 7/10. 
• Chromie: Out of all the new Heroes I played Chromie the least. Quick summary: felt slightly more powerful than before. Pretty ok rework, but nothing fancy. 6/10. 

[Valhalen 1,484]

Awesome reviews, @KendricSwissh.

What are your thoughts regarding Kel'Thuzad? Do you think the dominant build will be the Death and Decay one?

[SteveFrost 97]

3 hours ago, Valhalen said:

Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't even play Jaina, but I was expecting more changes to her. I think her old Talents are solid and work fine, but a tweaking could indeed bring something new to the character (by also removing the generic talents). At least to increase her options and give a wider variations of talent builds.

On the other hand, I don't think that Chromie needed a rework at all. At least not so soon. She works perfectly fine as she is now; annoying as fuck.

Hopefully :3

Man, tell me about Chromie. Either her dev must be a really high authority figure or Blizz just clearly favors her for some reason. Buffs every 2nd patch for like, 3-4 times. And after that, more buffs- which she DIDN'T need (inb4 Chromie trailer "Don't worry; this is gonna get nerfed" lul). Her rework seems like Jaina's, small things. I have a feeling she's gonna see even more pro play because the change to level 20  18 *cough  broken cough* makes that particular Heroic even more powerful; it's certain death for the selected priority target.

Edited August 28, 2017 by SteveFrost

[Valhalen 1,484]

23 hours ago, SteveFrost said:

Hopefully :3

Man, tell me about Chromie. Either her dev must be a really high authority figure or Blizz just clearly favors her for some reason. Buffs every 2nd patch for like, 3-4 times. And after that, more buffs- which she DIDN'T need (inb4 Chromie trailer "Don't worry; this is gonna get nerfed" lul). Her rework seems like Jaina's, small things. I have a feeling she's gonna see even more pro play because the change to level 20  18 *cough  broken cough* makes that particular Heroic even more powerful; it's certain death for the selected priority target.

Exactly. Chromie has way more tools for punishing her opponents from afar, with a Low Risk X High Reward compared to Jaina, who has to get into mid-range to land her piano combos. Sure, Jaina can wipe out an entire group with well placed abilities, but she put herself at great risk by doing so, and relies on the frontline more than Chromie, who can just spam the shit out of Sand Blast, which now has greater value now with a damage bonus quest as baseline. Chromie also has a powerful control tool with of her Time Trap, and a absurd escape mechanism in the form of Bye Bye!.

Edited August 29, 2017 by Valhalen