heroes Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: Apr 16

[Stan 1510]

Deckard Cain is now available for playtesting and the patch will hit live servers next week.

• Skillshots and other abilities and talents that search for targets, will now pass through Invulnerable targets without granting quest progress.
• The Lucky Piggy Bank Mount will be removed from the game next week.
• A bunch of Genji changes have been implemented in this patch.

Blizzard (Source)

Our next Heroes of the Storm patch has just hit the Public Test Realm and will be available for playtesting until April 23. As always, if you encounter any bugs during your PTR play sessions, please stop by the PTR Bug Report forum to let us know about your experiences.

New Hero: Deckard

An avid scholar, Deckard Cain has dedicated his life to the pursuit of knowledge. He has been an advisor, storyteller, and friend to Sanctuary’s greatest heroes, guiding them through peril time and again. When Deckard speaks, it’s wise to stay awhile and listen.

Trait

• Fortitude of the Faithful
  • When at least 1 other allied Hero is nearby, Deckard gains 10 Armor and his Basic Abilities recharge 50% faster.

Basic Abilities

• Healing Potion (Q)
  • Toss a Healing Potion on the ground that heals the first allied Hero that comes in contact with it for 230.
  • Limit 5 active Potions.
• Horadric Cube (W)
  • Throw the Horadric Cube, dealing 80 damage to all enemies in the area and Slowing them by 40% for 1.75 seconds.
• Scroll of Sealing (E)
  • Unfurl an enchanted scroll, forming a triangle that deals 150 damage to enemies inside and Roots them for 1.5 seconds.

Heroic Abilities

• Stay Awhile and Listen (R)
  • After 1 second, Channel for 3 seconds, putting enemy Heroes in front of Deckard to Sleep while Channeling, and for 2 seconds after.
  • Enemies can only be put to Sleep once per cast, and Sleep’s effects end instantly if they take damage.
• Lorenado (R)
  • Vector Targeting.
  • Create a swirling lorenado that travels in the targeted direction, continually knocking away any enemies that come into contact with it.

Art

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

• Gul’dan: Has received updated visual effects to make his Abilities easier to spot during battle.

User Inteface

Draft Mode

• Hero portraits in Draft Lobbies will now use 2D Base Hero art rather than animated 3D Hero Skin models in order to help make Hero picks easier to differentiate from one another at a glance.
  • For example: It should now be easier to tell whether a teammate has selected Falstad or Muradin during a draft.

Design

Quests

• Skillshots, as well as other Abilities and Talents that search for targets, will now pass through Invulnerable targets without granting quest progress.

Heroes

Assassin

Cassia

Talents

• Level 7
  • Surge of Light (Active)
    • Now has a 0.25 second cooldown between uses.

Fenix

Talents

• Level 1
  • Mobile Offense (Passive)
    • Now grants its Basic Attack damage bonus after any movement, rather than only after unmounted movement.

Genji

PTR Note: Shortly before releasing today’s patch we discovered a bug affecting Genji’s Shuriken (Q). This will likely result in difficult gameplay experiences for those attempting to test Genji’s changes in the PTR. We are working to resolve the issue before this patch is released to the live version of Heroes of the Storm next week. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Stats

• Health increased from 1550 to 1620.
• Health Regen increased from 3.2304 to 3.3750.
• Basic Attack damage increased from 42 to 44.

Abilities

• Cyber Agility (Trait) (D)
  • Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
• Swift Strike (E)
  • Range reduced from 14 to 12.
• Dragonblade (R)
  • Damage increased from 220 to 240.
  • Removed functionality:
    • Killing an enemy Hero who was recently hit by Dragonblade no longer resets Swift Strike’s cooldown.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Agile Dismount (Trait)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 5 to 7 seconds.
• Level 13
  • Double Jump (Trait)
    • No longer increases Cyber Agility’s cooldown.
• Level 20
  • The Dragon Becomes Me (R)
    • Additional Functionality:
      • Now also resets Swift Strike’s cooldown if an enemy Hero dies within 2 seconds after being hit by Dragonblade.

Developer Comment: We’re making some changes to Genji to try and make him less frustrating to play against and give opponents more options to counter him. While we think resetting Swift Strike’s cooldown after killing enemy Heroes with Dragonblade made for cool, flashy plays, it shut down too many other Heroes too often. It also caused too many games to become about how much value Genji was able to get out of Dragonblade. We like the flashiness that Dragonblade resets can provide, so we’re keeping that functionality, but we’re now adding it to his Level 20 Storm Talent version of the Heroic. We’re also increasing his Health and Basic Attack damage, reducing the range of Swift Strike, and increasing the cooldown of Cyber Agility to reduce his mobility while boosting his base stats to compensate.

Specialist

Sylvanas

Abilities

• Shadow Dagger (W)
  • Shadow Dagger now briefly reveals enemies upon spreading to them.

Zagara

Abilities

• Nydus Network (R)
  • The player can now exit Nydus Worms in a direction of their choosing by right-clicking.

Warrior

Blaze

Abilities

• Bunker Drop (R)
  • Players can now exit Blaze's Bunker in the direction of their choosing by right-clicking.
  • The Bunker’s hitbox has been adjusted to more closely match its model. This should reduce situations in which players could unintentionally enter Blaze’s bunker when clicking nearby.

Collection

New Bundles

• The following new bundles are available for a limited time! Be sure to check out the latest In-Development blog for more details.
  • Deckard Heroic Bundle
  • Nephalem Bundle

New Announcers

• Deckard
• Raven Lord
• Grave Keeper

New Skins

• Deckard
  • Afflicted Deckard
  • Angelic Deckard
• Wastewalker Deckard
  • Diesel Wastewalker Deckard
  • Scourged Wastewalker Deckard
• Cassia
  • Soaring Cassia
• Johanna
  • Nephalem Johanna
• Kharazim
  • Nephalem Kharazim
  • Northern Kharazim
• Li-Ming
  • Nephalem Li-Ming
• Malthael
  • Sinuous Grave Warden Malthael
• Nazeebo
  • Nephalem Nazeebo
  • Ceremonial Nazeebo
  • Rain Nazeebo
  • Sunrise Nazeebo
• Sonya
  • Nephalem Sonya
• The Butcher
  • Petrified Butcher
• Valla
  • Nephalem Valla

New Mounts

• Road Chariot
  • Exalted Road Chariot
  • Hoarfrost Road Chariot

Mount Removal

• Lucky Piggy Bank
  • The Lucky Piggy Bank Mount, which can only be purchased using gold, will be removed from the Collection when this patch is released to the live version of Heroes next week.

New Portraits and Sprays

• We've once again teamed up with Carbot Animations to add even more HeroStorm-themed portraits and sprays in their signature art style! Catch a preview in the latest In-Development blog.

Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed a number of typo and tooltip errors across several aspects of the game.

A.I.

• Hanzo: Fixed an issue that could cause A.I. Hanzo to repeatedly Channel and cancel Storm Bow.

Art

• Blaze: Icon art has been swapped for the Adhesive Petroleum and Oil Dispersal Talents.
• Lunar Sylvanas: Fixed an issue causing Lunar Sylvanas to play an incorrect animation on the Most Played screen.

Battlegrounds

• Checkpoint: Hanamura (Brawl): The Brawl Info tooltip now correctly states that Health Packs restore 35% Health and Mana.
• Tomb of the Spider Queen: The left-side team’s bottom Fort can no longer attack enemy Heroes who are just beyond the Gate.
• Try Mode: Tychus’ Dash Talent now correctly grants its Movement Speed reward after using the Complete Quests button.
• Try Mode: Uther’s Silver Touch Talent now correctly grants its second Mana cost reduction reward to Holy Light after using the Complete Quests button.

Heroes, Abilities, and Talents

• Abathur: The number of Minions Absorbed stacks no longer appear inconsistent in the Buff bar after Abathur dies while a Monstrosity is active.
• Abathur: Fixed an issue causing Spike Burst’s visual effects to appear much larger than intended when cast while targeting a Mercenary with Symbiote.
• Alarak: Free Lightning Surge casts granted by the Lightning Barrage Talent now correctly display its cast range indicator.
• Ana: Nano Boost’s duration bar now appears next to, rather than replaces, any existing Ability duration bars for the targeted Ally, like Sonya’s Whirlwind.
• Brightwing: Can now correctly cast Blink Heal on Turrets and Biotic Emitters that were placed by Brightwing herself.
• Cho: Entering a Stasis effect, like Zeratul’s Void Prison, while Surging Fist is charging no longer places Surging Fist on full cooldown.
• Fog of War: Hitting an enemy with certain targeted, ranged Abilities, like Sylvanas’ Shadow Dagger, just before the target enters Fog of War or a Line of Sight Blocker now correctly reveal that enemy.
• Fog of War: Fixed an issue in which attempting to cast a targeted Ability through the Fog of War on a snapshot of a unit that no longer exists could cause the Hero to path into the terrain and become stuck.
• Greymane: Partial progress earned toward the Wizened Duelist Talent’s next attack damage bonus will no longer persist after dying.
• Hanzo: Natural Agility now activates correctly after being hit by Phase Prism near a tower.
• Illidan: Can now correctly cast Dive on Ragnaros in Molten Core form.
• Kel’Thuzad: Phylactery can no longer be activated before its animation completes.
• Li-Ming: Spell Armor granted by the Force Armor Talent is now correctly consumed when hit by Ability damage from non-Heroic sources.
• Rexxar: The tooltip for Misha, Focus! no longer lists a cooldown.
• Rexxar: Switching seats in a Triglav Protector no longer causes Rexxar to become unresponsive.
• The Lost Vikings: Stealth granted by the Spy Games Talent is now correctly applied for 3 seconds after Erik moves.
• Thrall: Killing Minions who were hit by Chain Lightning now correctly causes Echo of the Elements quest progress visual effects to appear near Thrall, rather than allies.
• Uther: Fixed an issue in which Uther could briefly use activated Talents after death, but prior to entering Eternal Vanguard form.
• Uther: The Silver Touch Talent’s quest rewards no longer incorrectly benefit Flash of Light.
• Zagara: The Infest Talent now correctly boosts nearby Ranged Minion damage by 100%.
• Zeratul: After death, Zeratul’s body will no longer teleport to the location of his last Vorpal Blade target.

Sound

• Gul’dan: The voiceover line that plays while idling on Gul’dan’s Hero page in the Collection no longer ends early.

User Interface

• Pings: Fixed an issue in which muting a player would not prevent icons related to that player’s pings from appearing.
• Hotkeys: Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause Heroes to ignore Force Move commands.

[Warper 11]

Is it me or did they give Genji more damage/health as part of his “Nerf”... shouldn’t surprise me I suppose. I don’t know what I’d do without Shimada bros., I guess ban people based on the map or some foolishness. ;)

[Valhalen 969]

29 minutes ago, Stan said:

We’re making some changes to Genji to try and make him less frustrating to play against and give opponents more options to counter him.

Yet they mostly buffed him?

[Amit 12]

Finallyy, now one can exit Nydus anywhere it is needed to go, as it always should have been :d!

[Laragon 189]

30 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

Yet they mostly buffed him?

They took away a massive amount of his mobility. They had to give him a little something. I think if they didn't give him at least the health he'd be unplayable. He's a niche (but powerful) pick as it is now.

[Xhopeon 32]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

Deckard Cain is now available for playtesting

Hey man, just wanted to add, if there is someone like me waiting for Cain forever (although I came back to the game with 2.0), here is a guide that you might add for those that don't have previous PTR downloaded, saves time and ISP limits if one has them! 

Now to check my new main :D 

[ExorionAether 6]

On 16.4.2018 at 8:23 PM, Valhalen said:

Yet they mostly buffed him?

Buffs: 5
- More base health
- More health regen
- More basic attack damage
- Double Jump no longer increases cooldown
- Dragonblade damage increased

Nerfs: 3
- Base cooldown on D increased
- Range on E reduced
- Dragonblade kills no longer reset E

Unchanged: 2
- Agile Dismount cd reduction does not change uptime
- Dragonblade upgrade gives back basic function

Verdict:
I would not call that "mostly" buffed. Yes, more buffs. But you have to put the changes into perspective. A bid more health and damage will probably not compensate for the loss in mobility (cd on D), range (basic E) and Dragonblade lost quite a bit of mobility because of the removal of the second E-refund condition, which now comes 10 levels later.

So I would mostly call it a nerf. Dunno how big this one is in the grand scheme of things but time will tell. Maybe it'll even be a overall buff but I highly doubt that. Most of Genjis damage comes from his abilities, not his autos. And he'll still be a squishy, even with the increased health.

But I suspect these changes are exactly the things most of the community deemed "frustrating": being his mobility and range (D, E and DB) so most ppl will probably be happy about these. Even though I presume these will drop his WR even more.

Ohh well, let's see where this goes, right? I for one am mostly pleased with this patch thanks to the QoL changes for Nydus and Bunker (so much yes for that).

Edited April 18 by ExorionAether
Words

[KSDT 42]

As the recent Tracer Buff/Nerf showed, reducing mobility and uping cooldowns and then buffing health/dmg is generally a net buff.  Genji isn't even getting nerfed anywhere near as hard as Tracer was especially at lower levels of play so to give him dmg/health on top of that?  Yeah this is a buff for most of the HotS community.

[SleepySheepy 29]

7 hours ago, Stan said:

Nydus Network (R)

• The player can now exit Nydus Worms in a direction of their choosing by right-clicking.

Amen to this, finally they fixed it!

[SleepySheepy 29]

6 hours ago, Valhalen said:

Yet they mostly buffed him?

I don't know, his DB 10 is nerfed significantly and his E has less range, worse escape and reach (secure potential). I like those changes.

[gerbercage 7]

8 hours ago, Warper said:

Is it me or did they give Genji more damage/health as part of his “Nerf”... shouldn’t surprise me I suppose. I don’t know what I’d do without Shimada bros., I guess ban people based on the map or some foolishness. ;)

 

6 hours ago, ExorionAether said:

Buffs: 5
- More base health
- More health regen
- More basic attack damage
- Double Jump no longer increases cooldown
- Dragonblade damage increased

Nerfs: 3
- Base cooldown on D increased
- Range on E reduced
- Dragonblade kills no longer reset E

Unchanged: 2
- Agile Dismount cd reduction does not change uptime
- Dragonblade upgrade gives back basic function

Verdict:
I would not that call that "mostly" buffed. Yes, more buffs. But you have to put the changes into perspective. A bid more health and damage will probably not compensate for the loss in mobility (cd on D), range (basic E) and Dragonblade lost quite a bit of mobility because of the removal of the second E-refund condition, which now comes 10 levels later.

So I would mostly call it a nerf. Dunno how big this one is in the grand scheme of things but time will tell. Maybe it'll even be a overall buff but I highly doubt that. Most of Genjis damage comes from his abilities, not his autos. And he'll still be a squishy, even with the increased health.

But I suspect these changes are exactly the things most of the community deemed "frustrating": being his mobility and range (D, E and DB) so most ppl will probably be happy about these. Even though I presume these will drop his WR even more.

Ohh well, let's see where this goes, right? I for one am mostly pleased with these patch thanks to the QoL changes for Nydus and Bunker (so much yes for that).

This already better than sylvanas nerf. She get only 5 dmg and lose all ability to stun building. At least genji get more. That blizzard logic.

 

[EDL666 18]

2 hours ago, gerbercage said:

 

This already better than sylvanas nerf. She get only 5 dmg and lose all ability to stun building. At least genji get more. That blizzard logic.

 

This is incorrect, did a ranked game yesterday, snowballed incredibly hard by stunning buildings with auto-attacks(only abilities don't stun buildings anymore)

[gerbercage 7]

4 hours ago, EDL666 said:

This is incorrect, did a ranked game yesterday, snowballed incredibly hard by stunning buildings with auto-attacks(only abilities don't stun buildings anymore)

I know syl attack still can stun building that why I say lose all "ability" to stun building only.

They should buff her hp and other ability for that.

[SteveFrost 94]

Seems to me this is their first real attempt to nerf Genji. If this is a first step towards stopping Heroes of the Overwatch meta, it'll be clear soon™. We shall see (brother).

It's been a while since last Support release, hasn't it? Deckard seems pretty solid.

[Morcalivan 35]

I don't really see a nerf. Need to be a little more patient but unlike Tracer you still have enormous range. You can still reset Swift Strike on a kill. You can still reset your X heroic on a kill in the later game as well. The resets are really where things go crazy. Similar to Fenix's Warp resets. Similar to Ming, Kerrigan, etc. So I don't really see a nerf here just yet.

[VinsX 28]

The nerf to Genji's mobility and Drangon Blade is definitely more significant than the increase of his stats. I don't believe the increase of his health is big enough to affect his survivability. What we might actually see is probably a shift in playstyle and talent builds. The E build may not be totally unplayable but definitely more difficult in terms of management and much less forgiving for mistakes, and a lot less potential for magical/epic plays.  The Q/D build with X strike just seems much better now. This seems to be making sense since the E build Genji is probably the Genji that Blizzard think is "frustrating to play against"

[EDL666 18]

On 4/17/2018 at 4:23 AM, gerbercage said:

I know syl attack still can stun building that why I say lose all "ability" to stun building

That is not how semantics work