heroes Garden of Terror Battleground Rework Announced

[Stan 5,252]

Some gameplay mechanics provide opportunities for frustration for a lot of players and the Heroes of the Storm dev team decided to updated the Garden of Terror map in a future patch. Check out the highlights!

What's Coming in the Next Patch?

• Brightwing Hero Rework
• Kerrigan Hero Rework

Garden of Terror Rework Highlights

• The day/night cycle and the Garden Terror vehicle are both gone.
• A new seed phase has been added to the map.
  • Six seed-spawning locations are spread across the map.
  • A seed will emerge at one of these locations, guarded by a set of Shambler defenders.
  • Once the Shamblers are defeated, the seed can be channeled and gathered by either team (similar to Cursed Hollow tributes).
  • Seeds will continue to spawn until either team gathers three in total, closing out the objective.
  • When the third seed's gathered, three Garden Terrors will immediately spawn and burrow to the front line of the winning team's lanes, bolstering their pushing efforts, just like Webweavers on Tomb of the Spider Queen.
  • The new terrors utilize the Overgrowth ability that disables Structures and a large AoE stomp attack.

What do you think about the changes? Was the map in need of a rework? Let us know in the comments!

[Valhalen 1,486]

I am unsure how to feel about this. It feels kinda like Tomb of the Spider Queen + Cursed Hollow, which seems nice, but at the same time I liked the vehicle mechanic and the day/night mechanic.

On a side note, we'll also get a Brightwing and Kerrigan reworks, according to the video's description. I can't wait to see the changes.

[Myke 42]

7 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

I am unsure how to feel about this. It feels kinda like Tomb of the Spider Queen + Cursed Hollow, which seems nice, but at the same time I liked the vehicle mechanic and the day/night mechanic.

On a side note, we'll also get a Brightwing and Kerrigan reworks, according to the video's description. I can't wait to see the changes.

I think one of the problems was that the Terror was too powerful of a vehicle and trying to tune it down would have potentially made it too weak. And the game is primarily about lane pushing, so it makes sense logistically. This makes me wish they'd rework Dragon Shire.

[Valhalen 1,486]

1 minute ago, Myke said:

I think one of the problems was that the Terror was too powerful of a vehicle and trying to tune it down would have potentially made it too weak. And the game is primarily about lane pushing, so it makes sense logistically. This makes me wish they'd rework Dragon Shire.

Yeah, I know. A vast majority of players complained about the snowballing of Garden of Terror, and I completely agree; if you manage to collect both big Terror seeds, you can essentially summon the Terror twice. Pretty nasty.

Dragon Shire is fine, in my opinion. The Dragon Knight's basic attack don't cleave like the Terror's (although he has AoE in the form of flame breath ability) and you dispute for it in the middle of the map (as opposed of the Terror spawning near each team's core).

[Myke 42]

23 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

Dragon Shire is fine, in my opinion. The Dragon Knight's basic attack don't cleave like the Terror's (although he has AoE in the form of flame breath ability) and you dispute for it in the middle of the map (as opposed of the Terror spawning near each team's core).

It's not so much DK itself as it is the way to activate him. A lot of players don't comprehend fighting over the shrines in my experience.

[Laragon 269]

26 minutes ago, Myke said:

This makes me wish they'd rework Dragon Shire.

I think either Dragon Shire or Towers of Doom are the closest to a "perfect" competitive map that Heroes has. I hope they never touch either map, as they have really unique team comps that are totally possible without being broken cheese or imbalanced. Especially towers of doom, they caught lightning in a bottle with the comeback mechanics but Dragon Shire is also incredibly balanced with how the top HGC teams dance around and delay even when losing members.

[Dejo93 1,023]

39 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

I am unsure how to feel about this. It feels kinda like Tomb of the Spider Queen + Cursed Hollow, which seems nice, but at the same time I liked the vehicle mechanic and the day/night mechanic.

On a side note, we'll also get a Brightwing and Kerrigan reworks, according to the video's description. I can't wait to see the changes.

Not sure about Bright she seems fine, but Kerrigan is long overdue for a rework. Her talents are so outdated it's ridiculous. Still waiting for Vikings though :)

[ArtVandelay 24]

11 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

Not sure about Bright she seems fine, but Kerrigan is long overdue for a rework. Her talents are so outdated it's ridiculous. Still waiting for Vikings though ?

Brightwing needs a rework IMO.  It is barely viable, and only because of the global on certain maps.

Her healing output is on the lower end of supports, especially with Ana and Tyrande getting better.  The only thing besides the Z that makes her a viable niche pick is Poly.  

I would love to see her talents reworked for sure.  Her bribe is totally worthless.  I'd like to see more Q talents also.  The only way you can keep up with other healers is landing Dream Shot with Mystified, which is hard vs most comps.  And if you pick that, you miss out on the level one Z CD reduction, which sucks to pass up. 

I would prefer to have mystified as a baseline part of her trait, so you don't have to pass up the utility of cleanse and phase shield to be a viable healer.  Right now you basically have to choose to play her for utility (and not be a viable sup) or for straight healing, in which case she still falls behind the top tier supports.

 

Edited September 13, 2018 by ArtVandelay

[Valhalen 1,486]

1 hour ago, ArtVandelay said:

Her bribe is totally worthless.

What? She has the best bribe in the game. You can go sneaky sneaky, nab that camp and GTFO with Phase Shift. It is amazing. And she can stack really fast.

She definitely needs a more viable Arcane Flare build, because the ability itself and all related talents are very lackluster.

Overall, I think Brightwing is a fantastic Support, probably the most versatile in the game. Her only true issue is poor healing output against burst-oriented teams.

[Brutalis 166]

By far my favourite map. I’m sad it’s getting reworked. I rather enjoy the vehicle mechanics and being the terror felt so damn awesome... We have more than enough NPC lane pusher objectives so changing it to just webweavers is dull and ruins the uniqueness of the place. Also the day/night cycle was cool, and graphically reminded me of the cycle in other MOBAs.

 

As for the hero reworks? As long as they keep Kerrigan the glass cannon all-in nuker I’ll be happy. Her talents are terrible so it’ll be be wonderful to have her revitalized. All Brightwing needed was tuning though IMO, as opposed to a rework.

[Arcling 898]

It's not too bad. From mainly qm/casual perspective that map was fine, but I guess from competitive perspective it might have seemed rather badly designed, as it was one of the maps that many people complained about. In my opinion, Blackheart's Bay is the one more in need of a rework as that map is too snowbally.

[lChronosl 182]

2 hours ago, Valhalen said:

I am unsure how to feel about this. It feels kinda like Tomb of the Spider Queen + Cursed Hollow, which seems nice, but at the same time I liked the vehicle mechanic and the day/night mechanic.

Yeah, I agree that it was not the most balanced of the maps, but was for me the most fun vehicle. And I don't understand why they had to remove the day and night cycle, since it could just as easily be integrated in the new format, during the seed phase.

I feel sad that it seems we are losing some of the uniqueness and diversity that are the hallmarks of HotS.

[Morcalivan 86]

No more 5% HP strikes on heroes for Terror. ? 

Less All Shall Burn uses on map for taking out Hero/AI Terror. ?

But nuking Non-Hero Waves will have more priority and make Azmodan more popular for the map. :)

So Big Changes for Azmodan on that map.

Mephisto just tears into it too.

It might be getting changed for future new heroes/reworks.

That Hero aspect of it really empowers/weakens certain characters.

Edited September 14, 2018 by Morcalivan

[Androski 5]

I did feel like Garden was a little gimmicked, nice to see we're getting another tribute style map. Just PLEASE Blizz, make the Terrors health decay, I don't want another Alterac where they just keep on pushing. Spiders seem pathetic compared to Cavalry.

Edited September 14, 2018 by Androski

[SirSlapzAlot 28]

Hmmmm I'm not sure how I feel about this change either...
I always thought that there was a BIG difference in who operated it tbh. For me it always had been a case of shine or ruin it and I loved it to be fair. You could have players that could decide a game with a terror and then you have players who just do not know what to do when driving lol.
Then there's also the that it feels like a rip off of cursed hollow and spider queen map.

But ok, we will see when the maps rework is done

[SteveFrost 97]

Yeah, I don't think I'm liking this much. Garden Terror was sure pretty strong, autos really hurting, even on tanks, perma hex and disabling/destroying structures. But being able to control it gave satisfaction and enjoyment to the player and also allowed for error. Web Weavers are the lamest pushing mechanic imho, you need to push the lane a lot beforehand so that they lose the least amount of health possible before they reach the structures and they don't do much until much later (one of the reasons ToSQ is the only map I legit dislike).

I remember them saying they'll look into Booty Bay next, guess plans changed. Sure hope they revamp the maps that are in this state currently (not seeing play) along with some other changes in pro cause currently, maps have the same diversity as Heroes...

[Aasgier 36]

1 hour ago, SteveFrost said:

Yeah, I don't think I'm liking this much. Garden Terror was sure pretty strong, autos really hurting, even on tanks, perma hex and disabling/destroying structures. But being able to control it gave satisfaction and enjoyment to the player and also allowed for error. Web Weavers are the lamest pushing mechanic imho, you need to push the lane a lot beforehand so that they lose the least amount of health possible before they reach the structures and they don't do much until much later (one of the reasons ToSQ is the only map I legit dislike).

I remember them saying they'll look into Booty Bay next, guess plans changed. Sure hope they revamp the maps that are in this state currently (not seeing play) along with some other changes in pro cause currently, maps have the same diversity as Heroes...

I don't think plans really changed - I think they just discounted Garden of Terror because they were already working on it. I feel many players (not just you in particular) underestimate how long it takes to make a big change to a map.

[benOwar 20]

13 hours ago, Valhalen said:

I am unsure how to feel about this. It feels kinda like Tomb of the Spider Queen + Cursed Hollow, which seems nice, but at the same time I liked the vehicle mechanic and the day/night mechanic.

On a side note, we'll also get a Brightwing and Kerrigan reworks, according to the video's description. I can't wait to see the changes.

 

I never really liked the map but I agree that it had a more unique mechanic than it's will have in the future. It feels like they throw their basics together in a pot and see what happens which is a little sad.

Kerrigan rework sounds nice!

[Warper 12]

I think it was a year and a half ago that Brightwing was first pick first ban material, alongside genji and greymane? I love Brightwing, her versatility is up there with Rehgar but yea after her last rework she kinda fell off.

Im a little afraid they’ll nerf her waveclear/ bribe though in exchange the healing.

[Plergoth 277]

I have mixed feelings about Terror being reworked, but I think it's for the better. Too many times I felt the vehicle was misused, barrelling down a lane with no regard to anything else happening on the map, not cleaving and insta killing minion waves, or the sheer overwhelming power it had in chokepoints with a long AoE silence / poly and siege potential, even early on, and the way you could chain two of them back to back and snowball... the issues were many, and not enough was done to ever really make it a viable competitive map. 

Am looking forward to BW and Kerri reworks. Brightwing was very popular for a while following a buff to her Emerald Winds, making her a premier counter to dive comps when heroes such as Genji et all have thrived when combined with her extensive and versatile kit. She is also quite hard to play to her fullest potential. I love Kerrigan. You feel like a beast when she is allowed to shine (or until she runs out of mana) and I'm relishing the chance to play one of the few melee assassins I was ever competent on again ?

[Erathis 53]

I'm in favor of the Garden of Terror rework.  It's easily my least favorite map though not for any really specific reason.  I don't mind how OP the Garden Terror itself is (and it is OP, it makes the Dragon Knight look like a total joke and even the Volskaya mech isn't on its level), it just feels "meh" to play (for me).  So I look forward to seeing what they do with it.

Regarding the reworks, yes to both!  Both character could really use an update (and if they buckle down and just add in Brightwing's updated model, that they've had for forever, I'll be ecstatic).

[Valhalen 1,486]

HOLY SHIT. She will take a huge leap in the tier list with this rework.

[Dax 1]

HOLY SHIT is right. An AOE team cleanse?? Be interesting to see what the cooldown is on that, but that's incredibly powerful. And as shown in the video would straight hard counter something like deckards stay awhile and listen and etc's mosh pit. Large heal on phase shift as baseline plus being able to proc soothing mist in interesting ways will be big buffs to her output as well. Definitely gonna be top tier after this.

[SteveFrost 97]

11 hours ago, Aasgier said:

I don't think plans really changed - I think they just discounted Garden of Terror because they were already working on it. I feel many players (not just you in particular) underestimate how long it takes to make a big change to a map.

Presumably, the same team works on Battleground Redesigns/Reworks-unless they split into smaller teams but I don't think so. So, they couldn't start working on GT, then move and finish Hanamura, then go back and finish GT. I believe what's more plausible is that GT didn't require as much work compared to Hanamura so they squeeezed it in and want to further explore options for Booty Bay.

The actual time is that from ideation to implementation-internal playtests and then PTR (the latter can be skipped as we have seen), don't really count imho, cause the aforementioned change is alrady in; being tested (and possibly scrapped) is another thing.

[SleepySheepy 41]

On 9/14/2018 at 12:51 AM, Valhalen said:

What? She has the best bribe in the game. You can go sneaky sneaky, nab that camp and GTFO with Phase Shift. It is amazing. And she can stack really fast.

She definitely needs a more viable Arcane Flare build, because the ability itself and all related talents are very lackluster.

Overall, I think Brightwing is a fantastic Support, probably the most versatile in the game. Her only true issue is poor healing output against burst-oriented teams.

Reason why it sucks is because it competes with Y(Z) CDR and doesn't add anything else like Falstad's Wingman does.
And not even just burst oriented, her heals right now are just glorified health regenerations, it's that bad.
You can't even keep up with simple poke.

Edited September 15, 2018 by SleepySheepy