#50 - Into the Nexus: “Stamp Him Easy”
• Garrett • Kyle
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Intro: Welcome to Into the Nexus! The Heroes of the Storm podcast!
News
Reminder, you can go to ITNcast.reddit.com to submit stories or upvote submissions for the next episode.
Kael’Thas
- Activate to make your next Basic Ability more powerful.
- After a short delay, deal damage in an area.
- Verdant Spheres (Trait) -- Increases Flamestrike’s radius and damage.
- Damages an enemy over a short time, after which the target will explode, damaging all nearby enemies. Casting a second Living Bomb on an enemy causes the first to explode immediately.
- Verdant Spheres (Trait) -- Removes Living Bomb’s Mana cost and cooldown.
- Stuns the first enemy hit.
- Verdant Spheres (Trait) -- Causes Gravity Lapse to stun the first 3 enemies in its path.
- Launch a Phoenix to target area, dealing damage to enemies along the way. The Phoenix persists, attacking enemies, and dealing splash damage to those near its primary attack target.
- After a short delay, cast a slow-moving fireball that deals massive damage to an enemy, and medium damage to enemies near the target.
According to BlizzJohnzee KT’s Trait went through the most iteration.
- spells being powered automatically depending on how many Spheres Kael had
- the longer the player waited between spells, the more powerful the spell would be.
- They ended up ditching automatic activation, power based on number of Spheres, and some of the more complicated ideas we had for the Trait.
- Phoenix also went through a lot of iterations.
- it used to be a Basic ability... throw out a Phoenix that would immediately die and become an Egg, then use Flamestrike to "cook" the Egg and cause the Phoenix to come back.
- had some play-pattern problems: do you use your Flamestrike to deal damage, or to bring your Phoenix back for possible damage?
Centaurik talked counters
- Tassadar should probably never be targeted by Pyroblast
- Ancestral Healing can work well.
- Any tank with Hardened Shield at 20. Really, as Kael'thas, there are a few heroes who have momentary Invulnerability. You want to be extra careful to not target those heroes with pyroblast. Divine Shield I think will start to see a higher pick rate, leading to more picks on phoenix, then leading back to more divine storms, then leading back to more pyroblasts, then leading back to more divine shields...it will be a fun vicious cycle for Uther and Kael'thas :P (actually what will probably happen is whichever one of them hits 10 first will make the pick that then gets counter picked).
Links
Patch Notes
- You can now enable an interface option to right-click through the minimap.
- Reaching player level 25 will unlock all heroic abilities and talents on all heroes.
- The starter bundle now also includes a 7-day Stimpack. This will reward retroactively.
- Skins now have rarities - Rare, Epic, or Legendary.
- Diablo has a new mount called Terror Charge which lets him run on all fours.
- The following Heroic Abilities will now apply an Invulnerability overlay to the affected player’s screen for the duration of their effects.
- Tyrael -- Sanctification (R)
- Uther -- Divine Shield (R)
General Talents Talents
- The Talents tab has been enabled on end-of-game Score Screens.
Clairvoyance
- Now breaks units within its radius out of Stealth, rather than revealing them
Focused Attack
- Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 50% to 75%
Follow Through
- Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 25% to 40%
Healing Ward
- Can now be struck by Area of Effect Abilities
- Healing Wards now have 50 (+15 per level) Health
Ice Block
- Ice Block can now be reactivated to cancel its effects early
Promote
- Buff duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds
Rework
Centaurik : We really view Warriors as excelling at a few things: Initiating Fights, High Self-Sustain (unlike Supports who are allied-sustain focused), damage that ramps over time, and second best CC in the game. (Supports get best CC)
.
As for the changes to Diablo and ETC, it actually had little to do with the current meta. Those reworks were done on the design side about 5 months ago (well we started 5 months ago, and wrapped them about 4 months ago before going to Art and Sound and QA and etc. etc.) back when they weren't even really impactful in the meta! It was quite funny watching Heroes of the Dorm and thinking "well how about that, they've become the most popular heroes...and our talent revamps for them are in the pipe...well this will be interesting!" Overall, these changes weren't meant to affect the meta necessarily. They were design driven, not balance driven. That being said, our balance designers certainly looked over all the changes very carefully, and we'll be continuing to monitor how it does impact their win rates. Our main goal however, with these revamps, was to fix a lot of the egregious talent pick rates, and let these Heroes have multiple build options available to them!
Diablo
- Health decreased from 1060 (+260 per level) to 1050 (+250 per level)
- Amplified Healing (Talent) removed
- Relentless (Talent) removed
- Storm Shield (Talent) removed
- New Talent (Level 13): Life Leech
- Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 1% of that Hero’s maximum Health, and heals Diablo for the same amount.
- New Talent (Level 20): Lord of Terror
- Activate to steal 10% of the maximum Health of all nearby enemy Heroes
- Maximum Health gain changed from +5 per Soul to +0.15% per Soul
- Endless Death (Talent) removed
- Soul Feast (Talent)
- Health Regeneration bonus increased from 2% to 3% per Soul
- Siphon the Dead (Talent) moved from Level 7 to 13
- Will no longer interrupt movement when activated
- No longer consumes Souls upon activation, and Black Soulstone now heals 15% of Diablo’s maximum Health over 3 seconds
- This Talent has been repurposed and now affects Diablo’s Black Soulstone Trait.
- Now increases the maximum Health gained per Soul from 0.15% to 0.25%
- New Talent (Level 4): Soul Catcher
- Passively generates a Soul every 4 seconds
- New Talent (Level 4): Essence of the Slain
- Gain 10 Mana whenever a nearby enemy Minion dies
- Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
- Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds
- Diablo is no longer Unstoppable during Shadow Charge.
- Stun duration when the target of Shadow Charge is knocked into a wall has been decreased from 1 to 0.75 seconds.
- Crippling Shadows (Talent) removed
- From the Shadows (Talent) has been redesigned
- Moved from Level 13 to Level 7
- Now increases Shadow Charge’s stun duration, inflicted when the target is knocked into a wall, by 0.5 seconds
- New Talent (Level 1): Overwhelming Force
- Increases the range and knockback of Shadow Charge by 25%
- New Talent (Level 7): Devastating Charge
- Shadow Charge reduces the duration silences, stuns, slows, roots, and Polymorphs against Diablo by 50% for 3 seconds.
- Swallowing Flames (Talent) removed
- Molten Impact (Talent) removed
- Fire Devil (Talent) moved from level 16 to level 4
- Damage reduced from 12 (+3 per level) to 10 (+2 per level)
- Firestorm (Talent) moved from level 16 to level 13
- Damage bonus decreased from 150% to 125%
- New Talent (Level 16): Rampage
- Fire Stomp increases Diablo’s Movement Speed by 20% and Basic Attack damage by 50% for 2 seconds.
- Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
- Demonic Strength (Talent) has been redesigned
- Now slows the target by 25% for 2 seconds once Overpower’s stun expires
- New Talent (Level 16): Domination
- Overpower reduces Shadow Charge’s cooldown by 8 seconds.
- Now also reduces Apocalypse’s cooldown by 20 seconds, in addition to its other effects
E.T.C.
- Moved from Level 4 to Level 16
- Pulse damage increased from 10 (+3 per level) to 30 (+5 per level)
- The first pulse now fires immediately, and fires the follow-up pulse after 2 seconds in order to allow for more cohesion with Face Melt and Powerslide.
- No longer affects allied Minions or Mercenaries
- Duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds
- New Talent (Level 4): Hammer On
- Increases Rockstar’s duration by 2 seconds, and reduces the cost of all Abilities by 10 Mana while Rockstar is active
- Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
- New Talent (Level 1): Rolling Like a Stone
- Increases Powerslide’s range by 25%
- New Talent (Level 4): Double-Necked Guitar
- Increases Powerslide’s width by 100%, and speed by 30%
- New Talent (Level 13): Show Stopper
- E.T.C. gains Resistant, reducing all damage taken by 25%, for 4 seconds after casting Powerslide.
- Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
- New Talent (Level 4): Mic Check
- Hitting 3 or more targets with Face Melt reduces its cooldown by 4 seconds
- New Talent (Level 4): Pinball Wizard
- Face Melt deals an additional 50% damage to enemies recently affected by Powerslide.
- New Talent (Level 16): Encore
- Face Melt now leaves behind an Amplifier, which will knock enemies back again after 2 seconds.
- Mana cost decreased from 60 to 40
- Pwn Shop Guitar (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 1
- Mana cost reduction decreased from 50% to 40%
- Groupies (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 13
- Healing provided to nearby allied Heroes increased from 12 (+3 per level) to 30 (+6 per level) Health per second while active
- Guitar Hero (Talent) has been redesigned
- Now heals for 50% of damage dealt by Basic Attacks while Guitar Solo is active
- New Talent (Level 1): Prog Rock
- Permanently increases Guitar Solo’s healing per second by 2 for each Regeneration Globe picked up
- New Talent (Level 7): Just Keep Rockin’
- Reduces the duration of all silences, slows, stuns, roots, and polymorphs against E.T.C. by 50% while Guitar Solo is active
- Death Metal (Talent) has been redesigned
- Upon death, a ghost of E.T.C. will now cast Mosh Pit at his death location
- This Talent may now be picked even if Stage Dive has been selected as E.T.C.’s Heroic Ability.
- New Talent (Level 20): Tour Bus
- Allows E.T.C. to cast Powerslide during Mosh Pit, and doing so increases Mosh Pit’s duration by 2 seconds
- Additionally, casting Mosh Pit now refreshes Powerslide’s cooldown.
- Cooldown reduced from 100 to 75 seconds
- Rock God (Talent) removed
- New Talent (Level 20): Crowd Pleaser
- Increases Stage Dive’s impact radius by 50%, and reduces its cooldown by 15 seconds for each enemy Hero hit
Sonya
- Heal amount per Basic Attack increased from 25% to 30% of damage dealt
- Maximum Fury increased from 150 to 200
- Movement Speed bonus increased from 20% to 25%
- Boon of the Ancients (Talent) removed
- Composite Spear (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 7
- Poisoned Spear (Talent)
- Bonus damage increased from 50% to 75%
- Moved from Level 16 to Level 13
- Now permanently reduces Ancient Spear’s cooldown by 4 seconds in addition to its other effects
- Damage increased from 90 (+13 per level) to 100 (+16 per level)
- Furious Blow (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 16
- Shattered Ground (Talent) moved from Level 7 to Level 4
- Splash damage bonus reduced from 100% to 75% of primary target damage
- Fury cost reduced from 50 to 40
- Duration reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
- Cooldown reduced from 10 to 4 seconds, and now begins once Whirlwind completes
- Heal amount reduced from 40% to 25% of damage dealt, this effect is doubled for damage dealt to enemy Heroes
- Enduring Whirlwind (Talent) removed
- Dust Devils (Talent) removed
- Life Funnel (Talent)
- No longer removes movement impairing effects
- Bonus to Whirlwind healing reduced from +15% to +10% of damage dealt
- New Talent (Level 4): Hurricane
- Casting Whirlwind removes any active slows and roots affecting Sonya.
- Leap has received responsiveness improvements.
- Arreat Crater (Talent)
- Crater duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds
- Wrath of the Berserker (R)
- Anger Management (Talent)
- No longer reduces Fury needed to prolong Wrath of the Berserker
- Now increases all Fury generated while Wrath of the Berserker is active by 50%
Buff
Nova
- One in the Chamber (Talent)
- Bonus to Basic Attack damage increased from 50% to 80%
Raynor
- Knockback distance increased by about 23%
- Attack Speed bonus increased from 25% to 30%
- Allied Attack Speed bonus increased from 12.5% to 15%
- Mana cost reduced from 50 to 40
- Cooldown decreased from 15 to 10 seconds
- Duration decreased from 8 to 6 seconds
- New indicator art has been added that will highlight the Banshees’ current target.
Abathur
- Bombard Strain Locust attack range reduced by 30%
- Damage increased from 44 (+9 per level) to 46 (+9.5 per level)
Azmodan
- Duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds
Gazlowe
Centaurik : So for Gazlowe, this was a chance to fix some of the least picked talents (turret storage for instance), and provide some buffs. I certainly can see how it looks like a mixed bag at first, but what I think is being overlooked a lot is the changes to the Lazer. This ability was oft underused/neglected, and with the new timing changes, it makes it a much more deadly ability that can be used mid combat. As for the cone versus circle, this was a bit of cleanup to make the turrets more reliable. Before, it would pick random targets in a circle around its primary target, but it is now going to be able to hit targets that are close to the turret and are en-route from the turret to its target. This fixed a few issues for us (for instance it could randomly give his turrets extra range which was definitely odd when on the receiving end), and also allowed it to hit targets that were in its prior "dead-zone" in melee range for the turrets.
Ultimately, in playtesting, we feel these are buffs overall to Gazlowe. It will require a little bit of a new approach in playing Gazlowe, using his lazer mid-combat, but we think this will make him a better hero overall.
And of course, if the thousands and thousands of games you guys play gives us data to show the otherwise, we'll definitely respond and keep an eye on it!! :-)
- Mana cost decreased from 70 to 60
- Rock-It! Turret XL (Talent)
- Now acquires targets in a cone rather than a circle
- This change was made to prevent cases where bonus shots could fire farther than the turret’s indicated range
- Turret Storage (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 13
- Maximum Turret charges reduced from 4 to 3
- Long-Ranged Turrets (Talent)
- Turret attack range bonus increased from 25% to 40%
- Damage gained per level reduced from 14 to 12
- Mana cost decreased from 75 to 60
- Cooldown decreased from 15 to 12 seconds, and now begins once Deth Lazor is fired
- Damage now increases at 1.5 second, rather than 2 second, intervals while channeling, and reaches maximum damage at 3 seconds.
- Maximum channel time decreased from 8 to 6 seconds
- Goblin Fusion (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 4
- Damage bonus reduced from 50% to 25%
- EZ-PZ Dimensional Ripper (Talent)
- Slow amount increased from 35% to 40%
- Mana cost increased from 60 to 70
- Kwik Release Charge (Talent) moved from Level 13 to Level 16
- Triggers 0.1875 seconds sooner in order to better align with the Ability’s visual effects
Muradin
- Basic Attack damage gained per level increased from 8 to 9
- Follow Through (Talent) removed
- Skullcracker (Talent) moved from Level 4 to Level 7
- New Talent (Level 16): Give ‘em the Axe!
- Basic Attacks deal 75% additional damage against targets that are rooted, stunned, or slowed
- This is a Muradin-specific version of the Executioner Talent.
- Attack speed slow amount increased from 33% to 50%
- Attack speed slow duration decreased from 3.5 to 3 seconds
- Movement Speed slow duration applied by Thunder Clap’s secondary explosion increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds
- Landing Momentum (Talent)
- Movement Speed bonus duration increased from 2 to 4 seconds
- Cooldown decreased from 50 to 40 seconds
Murky
- Murky now spawns into the game with an Egg automatically placed in the Hall of Storms.
- If both Murky and his Egg are killed, a new Egg will be automatically placed in the Hall of Storms once he respawns.
- Spawn Egg will not be placed on cooldown in either of the above scenarios.
Zagara
- Duration increased from 15 to 30 seconds
Tassadar
- Now reveals enemy units slightly faster
Anub’arak
Centaurik : I think Anub'arak, who was already on the climb as more and more players saw the power of the cocoon, will start to shine. The usabilty fixes to his Q and E are not insignificant, and having the beetles home in on his targets is going to be pretty impactful.
- Beetle A.I. has received several improvements.
- If Anub’arak is attacking an enemy when a Beetle is spawned, the Beetle will also attempt to attack that target.
- If Anub’arak is not attacking anything when a Beetle is spawned, the Beetle will attempt to find a nearby target to attack.
- Beetles will now attack and pursue a target found this way until that enemy dies, or the Beetles lose track of the target (through teleporting away, for example). Only then will the Beetles return to a lane.
- Casting delay significantly reduced
Chen
- Chen’s Brew will now be fully restored after using Hearthstone (B) to return to the Hall of Storms.
- Storm, Earth, Fire (R)
- Chen’s status bar will now be hidden during the period of invulnerability that occurs while casting Storm, Earth, Fire, in order to better communicate this state to players.
Nerf
Sylvanas
- New Talent (Level 7): Remorseless
- After using an Ability, the next Basic Attack within 3 seconds deals 25% additional damage.
- This is a Sylvanas-specific replacement for the Follow Through Talent.
The Lost Vikings
- Jump! (Talent) cooldown increased from 20 to 30 seconds
- Longboat Raid! (R)
- The Lost Vikings will now become stunned for 1.5 seconds if the Longboat is destroyed before its duration ends.
- All of the Lost Vikings are now restored to full Health upon casting Play Again!
Rehgar
- Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds
- Now breaks units within its radius out of Stealth, rather than revealing them
Links
Heroes World Championship
- $1.2 million prize pool
- $500,000 at BlizzCon
- $200,000 to the winning team
Australia and New Zealand, China, Europe, Latin America, North America, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan all have qualifiers coming up soon.
Links
Developer Q&A
BolognaTime : We all know that Rehgar's kit originally belonged to Thrall, but Thrall was re-designed as a more aggressive hero and Rehgar took his place as a Support. Are there any other Heroes (either already released or in-development) who have an interesting shared background like this? Were there any abilities that were "pruned" from one Hero so that they could be re-used on another?
Centaurik : Yeeeep! :P
So Zagara used to have Ultralisk, and Kerrigan used to have Devouring Maw!! GASP!! That'd be a very different world we'd live in if we didn't end up swapping those back a year and a half ago.
Oh also, Azmodan used to have a different [Z] power, that let him port from town to town to be in multiple lanes. This however was lifted into Zagara's Nydus worm!
(For reference, Zagara is one of the oldest heroes in our roster...she's seen a few kits)
It's actually not too uncommon for us to try a Heroic ability on a new Hero internally, and it doesn't fit, and then we lift the mechanics and then use it on another Hero coming up! :P
IllyB84 : Could you briefly explain the process you guys went through to go from character concept to final finished product?
BlizzJohnzee :
Sure, from a design standpoint:
- What Hero are we excited about internally? Who do we really want to see in the game, and for what reason? Does the community really want to see this Hero? If we answer those questions, we've got a good start.
- We begin design. What's the fantasy behind this Hero? How can we deliver on that fantasy for players?
- We iterate on abilities based on lots of gameplay considerations and testing. What's fun about these abilities? Do they feel impactful? Does my moment-to-moment engagement with the game feel good by playing this Hero?
- We work on the Talents. How do we allow this Hero to progress? What are they allowed to do, and what are they not allowed to do? Are their options for different kinds of players and playstyles covered?
- All the while, we balance, lightly at first while things are coalescing together, then much more heavily as we near release. Does the character FEEL overpowered while not actually BEING overpowered? Are some Talents obviously better for the same purpose?
Then we ship. But that's never the end of the story. These characters are very much as alive as the game is, so we're constantly considering balance, design, team role, and so on.
Links
Skins and Crusader Preview
[Q] Punish - 40 Mana Cooldown: 8 seconds Area of Effect Deal 248 ( 58 + 10 per level) damage and slow enemies by - 0.1 *(- 100 ) 6% decaying over 2 seconds.
[W] Condemn - 50 Mana Cooldown: 10 seconds Area of Effect After 1 second, you pull nearby enemies toward you, stunning them for 0.25 seconds and dealing 120 ( 25 + 5 per level) damage.
[E] Shield Glare - 45 Mana Cooldown: 12 seconds Cone Deal 130 ( 54 + 4 per level) damage to enemies and cause them to miss their next 2 Basic Attacks within 4 seconds.
[R] Blessed Shield - 90 Mana Cooldown: 60 seconds Skillshot Heroic Ability Deal 250 ( 79 + 9 per level) damage and stun the first enemy hit for 2 seconds. Blessed Shield then bounces to 2 nearby enemies, dealing 125 ( 39.5 + 4.5 per level) damage and stunning them for 1 second.
[R] Falling Sword - 100 Mana Cooldown: 80 seconds Area of Effect Heroic Ability You leap towards an area. While in the air, you can steer the landing location by moving. After 2 seconds you land, dealing 550 ( 141.5 + 21.5 per level) damage to nearby enemies and knocking them into the air.
[Trait] Iorn Skin - 25 ManaCooldown: 20 seconds Become Unstoppable and gain a Shield that absorbs 1343 (250.5 + 57.5 per level) damage for 4 seconds.
- Kael’thas
- Master Kael'thas
- StormPunk Kael’thas
- Johanna
- Master Johanna
- Centurion Johanna
- Super Sonya
- Mad Martian Gazlowe
- Bikini Stitches
- Golden Tiger Mount
- Hearthstone Card Mount
- Illidan’s Nightmare Mount
- Billie the Kid Mount
Links
Patreon Mention: Patreon.com/ITN
Patron Thanks
Emails
Drshock
Hey guys,
After watching heroes of the dorm, I was kind of shocked just how much I enjoyed it. So I was wondering... do you think collegiate e-sports is what we'll see more of in the future? I LOVED being able to identify with teams based on geography/schools rather than ambiguous team names or individuals. Any thoughts?
I've really enjoyed you guys's show from day 1, and am always looking forward to the next. Thank You!
PS: Any more Amove on the way? :)
Brandon
Hi guys,
New listener and player here. Just curious on your views of the stim packs. I just hit level 10 last night and got a 7 day stim pack. They seem pretty cool but do you think they are worth purchasing?
Outro
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iTunes Thanks
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Into the Nexus is produced by Amove.tv and Declan H. You can see more about this and all the other A-move shows at Amove.tv. You can also email the show at ITNcast@gmail.com or continue the conversation over at ITNcast.reddit.com.
Catch the live show Thursday nights at 8pm Eastern on Twitch.tv/Amovetv. Mobile live stream provided by Alpha Geek Radio. Go to mobile.alphageekradio.com.
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Thanks to Brian Griffith, the musician responsible for our intro music. He can be found at briangriffithmusic.com or @briangriffith on twitter..
Personal Stuff
Garrett
Follow Garrett @GarrettArt
NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.
The Angry Chicken: A Hearthstone Podcast
Kyle
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