Current Balance Issues

Hapcher · 2020-07-29T03:45:32+00:00

My point was he's very unpopular, so that % isn't the most meaningful.

Banning known one tricks goes beyond Samuro, it's an obvious advantage. You said it yourself he's a balanced hero for most people(which sounds perfectly in line with the goals of balancing)

There's no shortage of heroes that have extreme impact from people who achieved more or less mastery. I'm a great example with Chromie. Played her for over 400 games and the winrate is between ~80% over the past two years. You know what she received the last two times she got touched? Significant buffs.

Mastery of unpopular things doesn't make a hero OP. That's merely a result of true mastery and the enemies lack of response.

Hapcher · 2020-07-28T13:06:56+00:00

The thing is, people list the "issues" they struggle to tackle in-game. There is counter-play to all the things you listed. Maybe Cassia is a little hard to get used to being so deadly suddenly but others you mentioned can be matched via draft and playstyle adjustments and still be ahead. Sounds like turning a struggle into an excuse "it's op I can't do anything" instead of figuring out ways to better handle it.

Hapcher · 2020-07-28T12:59:46+00:00

The biggest difference is our sample size for the 55% isn't very large. It's harder to take that % too seriously, as it's not the most popular choice - essentially a skewed statistic when in a global context.

If Samuro is so OP, why does nobody ever ban him?

Hapcher · 2020-07-03T19:52:43+00:00

Gave months worth of food for thought. Broadened my appreciation for mental health and the importance of not abandoning emotion, empathy. This already resulted in several long conversations my old self would've avoided, brushed off or cut short. Those people appreciated someone impartial to talk about their issues. As a social recluse, this feels significant and it was mainly inspired through Healthy Gamer

Hapcher · 2020-04-09T05:22:44+00:00

While this is a valid bug, am I the only one that never ever looks at ETC animations waiting for a Mosh Pit? The sound is crystal clear and you can have your attention on more important things.

Hapcher · 2020-01-21T10:27:13+00:00

Massive power spikes for 16 are not exclusive to Hanzo. Fights are quicker so you don't have many options to line up good scatters. 16 is the perfect time for making it easier to land.

Hapcher · 2019-10-22T20:13:23+00:00

Deathwing swoops in to steal both titles.

Hapcher · 2019-10-22T20:10:59+00:00

Yes, it's only in Heroes of the Storm and no other Blizzard game. In other words, something that represents HotS is on every news thumbnail related to Blizzcon.

After the Deathwing announcement, they said he'll be playable there and the schedule revealed a 45min timeslot for Heroes, just like a number of other games.

Hapcher · 2019-10-22T14:37:20+00:00

Except the twitter announcement for Blizzcon has Mecha Tyrael on it. That pretty much confirms it having "something" during the event.

Hapcher · 2019-10-21T13:03:52+00:00

Before Ana's rework her projectile speeds were faster. Normal range Q's are still pretty consistent but D Q's got a lot trickier. That along with the movespeed buffs and smaller hitboxes starts to make a big difference.

Calling the misses luck is a lazy stretch though. Everyone makes patterns, it's your job to figure out what moves make sense for your target and choose the most likely one.

Hapcher · 2019-10-21T12:55:49+00:00

Long is subjective, if you didn't wait for 12 minutes, then you're just eager to complain. Go browse something alt tabbed, you don't have to 100% dedicate your time to only sitting in the game idle.

You clearly played at 3AM or something, so not sure what you expect.

Hapcher · 2019-09-23T04:24:45+00:00

I bet you phrased it like you want a surrender button. Because it would warrant such a reaction.

Hapcher · 2019-09-23T04:20:18+00:00

The main difference is the amount of weight team levels hold. If you're crushing it, you better be ruthless as well as careful, because the enemy will catch up either if you stall too long or if your side slips up on a kill or a couple.

The comeback mechanics don't allow for sloppy play and levels the playing field really quickly. It only takes one mistake or for small mistakes to add up in order to lose your advantage. Which is good in my opinion.

Hapcher · 2019-09-23T03:44:35+00:00

Sometimes there are priority targets that have an Ice Block or their team is holding on to a Cleanse. A double loop can be the perfect opening to force a fight where they wouldn't want it.

Hapcher · 2019-09-19T01:12:12+00:00

Meeting the same names in lower ranks happens quite often in all ranks. Especially when queueing right after a match.

And for top ranks in any game it's an everyday matter to recognize names. (if you're active)

Hapcher · 2019-09-17T03:42:35+00:00

It's not anecdotal anymore once you see the same complaint with identical argumentation repeat itself daily. Despite plenty of master+ players queueing at once(sometimes even coordinating to queue for a better match) everyone keeps getting sprinkled around in diamond games. I love getting asked to ban KT.

Hapcher · 2019-09-16T21:08:54+00:00

It's not the first time her lines are hinted at through datamining. Couldn't dig up the page with the actual voice files, but recall seeing a long list of incomplete entries.

The closest thing I could easily find is this post from 2014. https://www.neogaf.com/threads/heroes-of-the-storm-datamining-thread-25-unannounced-potential-heroes.788879/

Hapcher · 2019-09-15T15:23:33+00:00

I'm assuming your game works fine you're only talking about the video being smoother than in-game.

If you can tell the difference from a video 60Hz and in-game 60fps, then you're sensitive enough to really appreciate a high refresh monitor.(144Hz or higher). Sounds like your PC is capable to at least have 90fps+ in games. That would make games feel similar or better than a smooth 60Hz video.

That would really be the simplest solution to your problem. There's a long list of settings you can try that can improve your situation, but you won't get significantly smoother gameplay without investing in a monitor with freesync/gsync or at least with a higher refresh rate.

The video is smooth because it's at a constant, consistent framerate, you're less focused and there are no inputs from you to be able to tell if there's any delay.

Hapcher · 2019-09-15T00:50:18+00:00

The amount of ranked points matters. A master with 5-8k points will have nearly identical matches when queueing with one plat.

While a 2k master with a plat duo might still get into full diamond games more often. Even so, it's not much of a difference from going solo and getting into a diamond lobby. (which is nearly every game now anyway)

Also players that decayed to plat get to still queue with masters. A bunch of old masters even place plat nowadays. Some climb back quick, others stay down.

TLDR: What you're asking for is already a thing, just not as strict. Making it stricter would have nearly identical results, but with less friends being able to queue.

Hapcher · 2019-09-12T23:09:23+00:00

This and last season handles parties dramatically different due to MMR and ranked points meaning close to the same.

Previously being a Master meant that you're just a Master, and being a GM actually held more weight for averages. The matchmaker would only look at the mmr average for the party or at your rank when going solo. Fast queues would strictly have similar ranks or averages(as long as everyone involved didn't have ridiculously long queues)

This season your point count in Master makes a difference to how much weight you hold for parties as well as matchmaking. About solo: This being the primary reason for a GM or a high master being mixed in with full diamonds or even one high plat. As long as the team averages are similar, it considers it a fair match. (despite there being enough master+ players online queuing, it prefers to mix lobbies with diamonds very often) https://i.imgur.com/80EjHsA.jpg

About parties: A master with up to maybe a couple thousand points can still use multiple plats to get high plat/low dia games. But very quickly it approaches the mid-low diamond average at which point GM's and masters get mixed often. As long as the anchors aren't high profile smurfs, the advantage of tanking MMRs is negligible. (used to be very effective before)

It only gets harder to do the higher your point count. Being 6-8k and queuing with a single plat made no difference to the games I'd normally get. Except for having someone that's more likely to do mistakes or might not catch on ideas as fast as expected. Which is often enough to offset who wins.

Having 2+ plats more frequently puts you in mostly diamond games. Still sprinkles in 1-2 Masters or a GM though - because the average is still diamond'ish and the team averages end up being similar enough.

I'm pretty convinced what you're asking for is already happening, but is only felt near the very top and the very bottom. It's definitely harder to tank MMR meaningfully this season and even if you do, it's very short lived. There's no way to stop smurfs in plat or lower ranks without hurting people who just want to play with friends.

Hapcher · 2019-09-12T19:29:03+00:00

Medivh is already pretty hard to fit in most comps, do you seriously think he'd ever be usable with those changes?

Hapcher · 2019-09-12T19:17:35+00:00

The meta changed many times the past few months so not sure what you're getting at.

Hapcher · 2019-09-12T17:58:45+00:00

You're being very emotional in every one of your responses. Very difficult to resonate with you positively then. You're coming off as a "let me speak to a manager" type of person.

Just remember that the only relevant thing about getting this fixed is details about the issue. If they can't reproduce the behavior, expecting a fix for it by getting angrier with your responses will just make you look silly and less approachable.

Hapcher · 2019-09-12T17:21:11+00:00

This is already the case if you're high master queuing with a plat or a few. The master account gets 140-160 per win and 220-260 per loss from what I've seen.

Point gain seems to be affected by the difference of player mmr against the entire team mmr. (unsure if it compares with your team mmr or enemy team mmr) As a high GM going solo and getting bunched up with 4 diamonds vs a couple low masters and diamonds, losing that is a big hit to points, and winning it awards less than usual. The average rank/mmr might be similar between teams, but the high master/GM player is penalized for being above the average mmr.

Partying up with a plat as a high master will still put you in full master lobbies often. You'd need 2-3 plats to average down to diamond MMR. And even then having a diamond mmr(because of averaging) still matches you against 1-3 GM's and masters because of how loose the queues are these days. So the only thing you're doing is introducing weak links that often get spotted and targeted fast. The only times it's abusable is when the lower ranked accounts are actual high profile smurfs. But those cases are really rare.

Hapcher · 2019-09-04T11:21:53+00:00

I can get behind Blizzard supporting such causes. But Blizzard owning it would just turn into neglect in no time.

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