#176 - Into the Nexus: “Times Change”
• Kyle • Jeff
Sponsors:
Our Patrons support Into the Nexus at Patreon.com/ITN. If you enjoy the show consider supporting it with 25 cents, a dollar, or however you would like! We thank all our Patrons for their support!
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.
Garrosh on PTR July 31st
As the new warchief of the Horde, Garrosh is a proud and vicious warrior who rules with an iron fist. His hatred for the Alliance burns like wildfire, and he will stop at nothing to destroy them. By his axe, the orcs will reclaim their rightful glory.
Role: Warrior
Trait: Armor Up
Basic Abilities
Groundbreaker (Q)
- Deal 81 damage to enemies in an area. Heroes hit on the outer edge are pulled toward Garrosh.
- Cost: 30
- Cooldown: 8
Bloodthirst (W)
- Deal 156 damage to an enemy and heal for 10% of Garrosh’s missing Health. Healing is increased by 100% against Heroes.
- Cost: 55
- Cooldown: 12
- Stitches 55 mana 20 second cooldown, 319 damage 20% max health heal on anything.
Wrecking Ball (E)
- Throw a nearby enemy Hero, Minion, or Mercenary to the target location, dealing 91 damage to enemies near the impact and Slowing them by 30% for 2.5 seconds.
- Cost: 60
- Cooldown: 16
- Level 7 - [Active] Into the Fray
- Activate to throw a nearby ally and grant them 25 Armor for 3 seconds. Deals 91 damage to nearby enemies upon impact and Slows them by 30% for 2.5 seconds. While in flight, allied Heroes are Unstoppable.
- Level 16 - [E] Earthshaker
- Wrecking Ball Stuns enemies near the impact area for 0.75 seconds.
- Level 20 - [E] Titanic Might
- Wrecking Ball now throws the 2 closest enemies.
Heroic Abilities
Warlord’s Challenge (R)
- Silence nearby Heroes and force them to attack Garrosh for 1.5 seconds.
- Cost: 40
- Cooldown: 50
- Varian Taunt: 1.25 seconds single target. 30% health and 15 armor
- Level 20 - [R1] Death Wish
- Increase the duration of Warlord’s Challenge by 0.5 seconds. If an enemy Hero is killed while affected by Warlord’s challenge, its cooldown is reduced by 45 seconds.
Decimate (R)
Deal 50 damage to nearby enemies and Slow them by 30% for 1.5 seconds. Deals 100% more damage to Heroes, and each Hero hit reduces the cooldown by 1 second. Stores up to 3 charges.
- Cost: 30
- Charges: 3
- Cooldown: 8
- Level 20 - [R2] Deadly Calm
- Heroes hit by Decimate deal 20% less damage for 3 seconds.
Body Check - New Talent System Mechanic - Stacking Talents
Body Check Talent Tree: A level one talent that gives an ability. Later talents allow you to augment this ability, but are only available to those who picked the level one.
Level 1 - [Active] Body Check
- Activate to deal 111 damage to a target enemy and Slow them by 30% for 3 seconds. Damage is increased by 200% of Armor Up’s current bonus, and the Slow amount is increased by 30% if Armor Up’s bonus is above 25.
Level 7 - [Active] Brute Force
- Enemies hit by Body Check receive 50% reduced healing for 4 seconds.
Level 20 - [Active] Inner Rage
- Body Check gains an additional charge, and its cooldown recharges 100% faster while Armor Up’s bonus is at or above 25.
Tank Talents
Level 4 - [Active] Indomitable
- Activate to become Unstoppable for 1.5 seconds.
Level 7 - [Q] Intimidation
- Groundbreaker reduces the Attack Speed of Heroes hit by 40% for 4 seconds.
Level 7 - [Passive] Oppressor
- Basic Attacks against Heroes reduce the target’s Spell Power by 40% for 2.5 seconds.
Level 13 - [Trait - D] Double Up
- Armor Up can be activated to increase its Armor bonus by 100% for 3 seconds.
Links
Pro-Scene Nerfs
Genji
Survivability nerf, mana now breaks even at 22 rather than level 9 with regen. Competitive nerf to stop 80 second ult abuse vs. longer cooldowns. Matches Tormented Soul.
- Health reduced from 1600 to 1550
- Health Regen reduced from 3.3 to 3.2
Shuriken (Q)
- Mana cost increased from 15 to 20
Dragonblade (R)
- Cooldown increased from 80 to 100 seconds
- Mana cost increased from 50 to 75
Level 7 - Dodge (Passive)
- Charges reduced from 3 to 1
- Cooldown reduced from 12 to 8 seconds
Uther
Pro-scene nerf. Only really effects those with high value waves of light.
Holy Light (Q)
- Healing reduced from 380 to 360
- Self-healing reduced from 190 to 180
Holy Radiance (W)
- Mana cost increased from 60 to 70
Big Changes
Xul
10% health nerf to skeletons. Wave clear counters better. Cursed Strike talent incentivization.
Raise Skeleton (Trait)
- Health reduced from 300 to 270
Cursed Strikes (W)
- Cooldown increased from 15 to 16 seconds
Level 1 - Backlash (Trait)
- Damage reduced from 15 to 12% of enemy Heroes’ maximum Health
Level 4 - Grim Scythe (W)
- Cooldown reduction per attack increased from .5 to .75 seconds
- Maximum cooldown reduction increased from 10 to 12 seconds
Stukov
Lurking Arm build nerf.
Healing Pathogen (Q)
- Mana cost increased from 30 to 40
- Stukov has the lowest mana consumption of any hero. This helps bring him down abit.
Flailing Swipe (R)
- Pushback distance increased by 50%
- Hits hat 5/8/11 meters. 3.5 push back, so second swipe isn’t hitting.
- The Level 20 upgrade now actually makes it a buff.
Level 1 - Spine Launcher (Passive)
- Slow duration increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds (now matches his attack speed)
Level 1 - Fetid Touch (W)
- Quest requirements reduced from 20 and 40 Heroes hit to 15 and 30
Level 1 - Growing Infestation (E)
- Added functionality: Now increases the Cooldown of Lurking Arm by 4 seconds
Do you want Early Power spike healing or late game power spike healing
Level 4 - One Good Spread… (Q)
- Spreading requirement reduced from 4 to 3 Heroes
- Mana refund increased from 30 to 40
Level 4 - Vigorous Reuptake (D)
- Healing bonus reduced from 50 to 40%
Nerf from 240 bonus healing to 160 if you were hitting the timing right.
Level 16 - Pox Populi (D)
- Adjusted functionality: Detonating Bio-Kill Switch no longer refreshes heal duration, but instead extends it by 3 seconds
Minor Nudges
Greymane
Cursed Bullet (R)
- Damage reduced from 40 to 35% of enemy Heroes’ current Health
Tychus
Level 4 - Fully Loaded (Q)
- Cooldown reduction increased from 33% (4 seconds) to ~41% (5 seconds)
Muradin
- Health increased from 2633 to 2765
- Health regen increased from 5.5 to 5.8
Rexxar
Level 1 - Flare (Active)
- Cooldown reduced from 25 to 20 seconds
Stitches
Vile Gas (Trait)
- Damage reduced from 18 to 17
Level 1 - Heavy Slam (W)
- Bonus damage reduced from 50 to 40%
Chen
Brew reaches maximum at the same time, just starts higher and climbs slower.
Fortifying Brew (Trait)
- Brew per second reduced from 40 to 30
- Chen will now instantly gain 25 Brew upon activation
Level 1 - Elusive Brawler (Active)
- Cooldown increased from 20 to 25 seconds
- Cooldown reduction from Basic Attacks reduced from 3 to 2 seconds
Nazeebo
Fixed an issue that could prevent Voodoo Ritual from gaining stacks after scoring the killing blow on a Minion.
Links
Developer Tidbits
Samuro could be better
- First off, his talents have a lot of issues. Too much multiplicative synergy makes builds inflexible. AA build outperforms everything else when it should probably be the weakest. E build is underperforming but talent structure needs to change a bit before it can be meaningfully buffed.
- He also has a variety of minor bugs and control issues that add up to make him feel less smooth to play than we'd like. We're gradually ironing these out as we find them. If you encounter any specific issues, please report them and we'll investigate.
- We don't have anything big in the works for the immediate future, but at some point we'd really like to go back and do a talent update.
Dva Talent Diversity Buff Likely Incoming
Devs like where brightwing is
- Healthy balance spot but notes Q talents are under picked and underperforming.
- Shield build was an issue and wont be coming back.
- “I think the feedback that "there's not enough difference between a good Brightwing and a great Brightwing" is really interesting. Aside from her Z, in what other ways might you want or expect to see a Brightwing player be able to distinguish themselves with skillful play?”
Twitch Cheer HGC Cheer
HGC Western Clash starts August 4th in Keiv Ukraine
Eastern Clash starts August 11th Taipei China
A partnership with Twitch has lead to custom cheermotes.
- Select your team to cheer for. This will be where you normally cheer, but will have unique options on the BlizzHeroes channel.
- A portion of the money goes to the team 1 bit equals ½ a cent.
- Cheer for each team will be totalled, and in-game rewards will be unlocked based on how much cheer each team received.
- Loot Chests
- Mounts
- In-game Emotes
- To participate link your Twitch and Blizzard accounts.
- Cheering will be available all the way to the BlizzCon finals.
- Also, Twitch Prime members can expect and upcoming reward along the lines of the Golden Overwatch Loot box.
Interesting to compare to StarCrafts Warchests and developing plans for the Overwatch League:
War Chests are a seasonal feature[1] in StarCraft II. 25% of proceeds will go toward the prize pool of WCS, and after $200,000 any further funds will go to operating costs on the tournament.
- Choose a race, Buy the chest
- Play the game to build up rewards. Skins, Emotes, Decals
- All rewards can be purchased afterwards, but Warchest is the best deal.
Overwatch League:
- Teams will sign players to one-year guaranteed contracts with the option to extend the contract for an additional year.
- The minimum salary for players is USD $50,000 per year.
- Teams will provide players with health insurance and a retirement savings plan.
- Teams will distribute at least 50% of their team performance bonuses (i.e. money from winning playoffs and other League events) to their players directly.
Links
Patreon Mention: Patreon.com/ITN
Thanks to our Patreon producers Declan H, CheezyBob, and Mythdol.
Patron Thanks
Outro
Patreon Shout Out
ITN is supported by our badass Patrons. You can become a ITN Patron by going to Patreon.com/itn.
Thanks to our Patreon producers Declan H, CheezyBob, and Mythdol. ITN coffee mugs and glasses are over at bit.ly/amovestore.
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, Facebook.com/Amovetv, And ITNpodcast.reddit.com.
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
The Angry Nerd
Kyle
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!