#49 - Into the Nexus: “Butt-Tons of Beetles”

• Garrett • Kyle 

Sponsors:

• Doghouse Systems.com

Into the Nexus is proudly sponsored by Doghouse Systems.com.  If you use the code ITN at checkout, you will get double memory on your next Doghouse System!

• Tweaked Audio.com

Into the Nexus is also sponsored by TweakedAudio.com.  The same code, ITN, will get you 30% off and free shipping on your entire order of noise-reducing earbuds from Tweaked Audio!

Intro:  Welcome to Into the Nexus! The Heroes of the Storm podcast!

Gold Purchased Lost Vikings

Quick run down of Garden of Terror and why you’re doing it wrong. Check Episode 40.

News

Reminder, you can go to ITNcast.reddit.com to submit stories or upvote submissions for the next episode.

Kael’thas is the next Hero!

Warning Kyle, prepare for some cheesy echo effects for this:

In the red and gold corner, weighing in at probably no more than 90 pounds, the Sunstrider, former Kirin Tor, Quel’Thalasian Prince, Herbal Essence spokesman for life (and even beyond the setback of death), Kil’jaedan’s biggest fan boy, Prince Kael’thas!

r/heroesofthestorm AMA with John Hodgson and Kent-Erik Hagman May 12th, at 2:30 PM PST

Links

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b215Y8QgA3Y
• http://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/34yziy/hello_rheroesofthestorm_well_be_hosting_a/
• https://twitter.com/BlizzHeroes/status/595642381497552896
• http://www.heroesnexus.com/news/1357-kaelthas-heroics-reddit-q-a-next-week-patch-date

Developer Insight : Patch Preview with Matt Cooper

Healing Ward

Cooper stated that “Healing Ward is one of the most commonly picked talents”, and that since players can position themselves to prevent their enemies from destroying it that some changes are coming in a new patch.

• It will no longer always take 2 auto-attacks to destroy the Healing Ward; instead it will have a scaling health value and can be damaged by area-of-effect abilities. This means placing a healing ward in the center of a massive team fight might not be the best decision, as it’s likely to be destroyed quickly.
• Healing Ward will have a higher targeting priority, so players won’t be able to protect the ward by standing on top of it.

Cooper also gave us a preview of just some of the talents and changes that coming in the new patch.

Diablo

Diablo will have his Storm Shield replaced with a Storm Power called “Lord of Terror.” The ability will be an activated area-of-effect lifesteal that can hit multiple enemy heroes near Diablo. We want Diablo in the middle of team fights, and this new talent allows him to do so effectively.

ETC

ETC is getting a lv. 20 Storm Power, that can be selected regardless of what Heroic ability ETC chooses, called Death Metal. Upon death a ghost of ETC performs an uninterruptible Mosh Pit.

Abathur

The Heroes team aims to combat the increasingly popular Abathur strategy of backdooring the opposing team with Bombard Strain Locusts. “While we encourage Abathur players to be aggressive and attempt risky play for higher rewards, we do feel that this strategy does not offer enough counter-play for the opposing team.”

• Locust range: Bombard Strain Locust will no longer outrange turrets.

• Less overall health for the Bombard Locusts: We’ve repaired a bug, with the Bombard Locust, that gave the Locusts more health than originally intended.
• Stronger Stab damage: We’re hoping to give Abathur a little more bite in damage, so we’ll be increasing Stab damage by a small margin.

Anub’arak

Cooper said: Anub’arak’s win rate was discussed at PAX East and we’ve made some quality of life adjustments and other changes with community feedback and internal data in mind. Those changes include:

• AI changes to how the Beetles prioritize their targets.
• Reduce some pre-cast delays on a couple of Anub’arak’s abilities.

Chen

Blizz mentioned at PAX East that Chen had a lower win rate but that is no longer the case. While discussing Chen Cooper also said that despite community opinion that Illidan is overpowered, that their internal stats show him “still well within our threshold.” So no changes are in store for him (unfortunately no mention of any changes to his stupid running animation).

Murky

With the last Patch Preview, we mentioned some quality of life changes for everyone’s favorite Murloc—Murky. We’re happy to report that the changes have made a much larger impact than we anticipated. The changes have increased his playability and win rate drastically.

While monitoring Murky’s win rate increase, we have noticed the use of his Living the Dream talent (Passively grants 10% Ability Power. Every 5 seconds Murky is alive he gains 1% more Ability Power, to a maximum of 15% extra, totalling 25% Ability Power. These stacks are lost on) has increased. We’ll continue to examine the strength of the talent and make changes if necessary. But, for now, we believe Murky to be in a pretty good spot.

Lost Vikings

Because of their consistent high-win rate, the strength of their ability to soak and Longboat, they’re making changes to both of their Heroics:

• If the Lost Vikings’ Longboat is destroyed, all the Vikings will be stunned for 1.5 seconds. This should allow for coordinated teams to pick off the Vikings.
• For Play Again, we’re adding a full heal to all live Vikings in addition to the current functionality.

Sylvanas

Sylvanas is in a fantastic spot when it comes to her win rate. Currently, she sits close to a 50% win/loss ratio—the benchmark we aim for with our heroes. When looking at her talents, we’re happy to report that we’re seeing a number of diverse builds. However, we have noticed that Wailing Arrow is the clear winner when it comes to her Heroic abilities. We are looking at possible changes and community feedback to make Possession more viable. We’ll be leaving Sylvanas in her current state until we have a better answer.

Links

• http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/18962729/developer-insights-patch-preview-552015-5-5-2015

Interviews with Dustin Browder & Kaeo Milker

• 3:00 "fallen behind release schedule, should be 3-4 weeks per hero release. Goal for the rest of the year"
• 3:25 “Renaming hero categories. Specialists can be supports, burst damage, pusher. Renaming rolls, so we have a wider variety. This is to avoid confusion"
• 4:05 "wrapping up bugs before launch, adding one more hero. Post-launch more stuff"
• 4:30 “The team is not downsizing after release, in fact its getting larger. Currently 100+ people”.
• 9:00 "the meta keeps surprising us, so we won't try to predict much at a new release. We add stuff if it isn't obviously OP and see how it rolls."
• Regarding content: Six weeks between TLV and Sylvanas too long, targeting much shorter release cycles. Longer gap due to resources allocated to getting game ready for release.
• Didn't state any specifics on next content drop regarding when and how much. Have many many heroes and battlegrounds all in various stages of the development process.

Links

• http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/heroes/484574-dustin-browder-interview-at-heroes-of-the-dorm
• http://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/34qrqo/i_did_an_interview_with_dustin_browder_last_week/
• http://www.gamespot.com/videos/heroes-of-the-storm-dev-discusses-possible-new-con/2300-6424688/

Mini News

• Starter Pack Announced
• Heroes spotted at Mayweather/Pacquiao
• Things are going to cost more in Australia
• Fiery Nameplates will be back soon
• This quarter’s earnings report says that HEROES Reaches 11 Million Users

Patreon Mention: Patreon.com/ITN

Patron Thanks

• Spencer S
• Michael M
• Peter B

Strategy

Sylvanas is F2P

• Wailing arrow can (and almost always should) be activated by pressing R again.
• you can hold down your Q-button to release all your arrows stacks in a row instead of pressing it multiple times.
• If solo on Giants - auto attack the giant your Q isn't hitting to keep both chain stunned
• If solo on knights - Kill the mage first, Q another and keep two suppressed until only one remains. Syl can solo Knights pretty early but be cautious as it can take a while at the lower lvls and you should be present for team fights.
• when being chased, cast Haunting Wave in front of you and then run in a different direction

http://www.heroesnexus.com/heroes/47-sylvanas

http://www.heroesnexus.com/talent-calculator/47-sylvanas#vAA

http://www.heroesfire.com/hots/guide/rank-1-player-competitive-sylvanas-introducing-video-2839

Wishlist

Arathi Basin

http://imgur.com/r/heroesofthestorm/iOGNBl2

Emails

Pseudoping

Hello Avid Travelers of Other-Wordly Transportation Devices, I have started listening to the ITNcast since I started messing about with the beta and have been loving both the podcast and the game. However, I have one quick question that I am having trouble actually defining. It has to deal with exp and the decision making around it. Half the time I am not sure if going with my team to do something is correct or if staying in my lane and soaking exp is correct. For this reason I have been naturally attracted to Abathur, yet, as I hear Garrett rage muttered all so often about this character I am concerned that Abathur may just get me yelled at all day.

So my primary question is, how do you get exp effeciently? What is the prioritization in teams? Is at 2v2 middle that is going to stalemate really worth leaving top for especially if they have numerous escapes? How good is pushing towers for exp or should the team fight really be my concern even though I can see it will start going bad before I get there? Stuff like this would help my gameplay out immensely. Thanks for the awesome podcast guys. Abathur4life.

I’d say lets answer this question in multiples parts:

1. As Abathur
2. As a Healer/Tank
3. As an Assassin
4. As a Specialist other than Abathur

PlayboyDave

Hey fellas!

Still the best Heroes podcast in the planet!

So...do you think there will be any more balance changes to current heroes before launch? Do you think some are needed? Are Sylvanas and Vikings OP? Are others UP...is UP even an acronym?

Outro

Patreon Shout Out

ITN is supported by our badass Patrons. You can become a ITN Patron by going to Patreon.com/itn.

iTunes Thanks

• TheSkelephant
• Saint Azrael: “chocolate bunnies of death”
• RatedArr

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.

Follow the show on Twitter @ITNcast

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

A-move Radio

Kylefergusson.com

Just because we aren’t running ads at the top doesn’t mean these codes are any less awesome!

Doghouse Systems.com

Our code, ITN, will get you a free 120gb SSD added to your already amazing Doghouse gaming PC.

Tweaked Audio.com

The same code, ITN, will get you 30% off and free shipping on your entire order of noise-reducing earbuds from Tweaked Audio!