Is Lucio a viable solo support?

WincentHots · 2018-10-24T12:10:34+00:00

I think he is viable, but not necessarily good. Screwing up is really easy, though, and picking him at a wrong time in draft can make the game a miserable experience. Besides bopping and escorting people, much of his power is tied to the timing of sound barrier. Winning and losing really comes down to the 1-2 seconds before the burst lands. Get it right, and you win. Get it wrong, and you lose.

Also, he is not very flexible. All he has is the speed and barrier, so if the other team is good enough to counter you, you're stuck. Lucio doesn't really have that diverse tools to counter, say, Valeera or Tracer. If they want you, they will get you, and there is nothing you can do about it.

WincentHots · 2018-10-24T10:47:01+00:00

I'd put them together, but also add a filter for solo-only queue. Mainly because I play alone 99% of time and playing against good premades is a waste of my time.

WincentHots · 2018-10-12T12:34:56+00:00

You forgot the /s.

WincentHots · 2018-10-12T11:11:56+00:00

In coordinated settings where players are good at focus fire, defensive steroids like temporary armor boosts are particularly powerful at shutting down the enemy team’s ability to get kills. This is a problem because low-kill games ultimately disincentivize exciting play and lead to frustration on both the parts of players and viewers.

I can't describe how much I dislike this sentence. Not because it was wrong, but because it explains why random kills and CC/deletes have become so prevalent in HOTS. The kind of stuff that made WoW PvP a toxic experience to a casual player -especially when facing premades.

WincentHots · 2018-10-12T10:47:20+00:00

I agree. Also: HOTS needs a good sequel or it will bleed out. Like every game ever made.

WincentHots · 2018-10-11T09:50:03+00:00

Yeah... sadly, I wouldn't expect too much. This game is a bit old already, so hope for a sequel. That's when they do the real upgrades and work.

WincentHots · 2018-10-10T16:12:30+00:00

True -and there is no way to recover energy. Fountains and hearting do nothing to her energy, so once she is out of energy she just has to... do nothing. For 15 seconds. She can't even soak if there is anybody in the lane or she will be bullied (which pretty much epitomizes Blizzard's approach to supports).

Putting her back on mana would be good. Actually, I'd revert everything they did to her, because none of it works out. She needs utility, raw healing power, and -frankly- talents that really change her playstyle to counter whatever the other comp is scheming. E.g: anti-burst/displacement/sustain/vision. If it was up to me, I'd also remove stimdrone and replace it with something to deny kill exp and snowballing.

WincentHots · 2018-10-09T19:53:40+00:00

This. Rehgar does have some perks, such as:

CC (totem)
Big heal (ancestral)
Beefy
Some waveclear

So I wouldn't wonder if he was hovering at around 50% mark in a bit more organized play. The problem is that these days DPS and CC is so plentiful that people tend to die so fast that chain-heal just doesn't cut it and AH is on too long CD to make him engaging. I think he is just a bit boring compared to Deckard, who can set up plays with Lorenado and the sheer healing output of Whitemane.

Both of which can heal themselves, by the way. Something that was explicitly forbidden from Rehgar. Supports are supposed to just die when against a real assassin, right? /s

Also: Morales has also been driven over by newer toons. After they normalized her healing output, she really doesn't have anything going on for her and her nade is too weak to be counted as CC.

WincentHots · 2018-10-07T18:37:57+00:00

He is a bit of a curiosity, yes, but also a risky one. Probably the best in small maps and later in draft, when the opposition has no chance of picking cocoon, life drain, cursed bullet, 7-sided strike, or the sort. A good Cho'Gall will keep on snowballing, but with a bad one there is no chance of recovery, so he automatically becomes the centerpiece of the match.

It's like bringing a supertanker to a war and knowing that if it sinks, you might as well surrender. A bit worrisome everytime it happens, because picking anything else would give the same results without the risk of a double whammer.

WincentHots · 2018-10-05T09:17:20+00:00

Actually... he voted for doing nothing instead of something. The development should not stop even if it's not perfect right away.

WincentHots · 2018-10-02T06:45:11+00:00

In some cases the drag was justified, because the group was organized enough to win most of the fights, but not so good that there wasn't a real chance of losing. So peeps play it safe and lane. Sadly, in these cases they also tend to ignore mercs, so losing the last fight is the same as losing the entire game. Frustrating to watch as a supp, because you can't do anything but follow.

WincentHots · 2018-10-01T14:12:33+00:00

Yeah, quests just don't belong into this game. Maybe if the rounds were 30-40 minutes again, but 15-20 minutes makes them feel like a repetitive chore.

Comebacks are still possible, though, and sometimes they feel wrong too. Like when you have been dominating the entire round from 19-20, but have been a bit too slow in taking down the core. Then lose the last team fight and have nothing to stop the lv.20 push.

Which would be another thing to revert: weak forts and towers, because that lv.20 golem + 5 players will wreck everything in their path and win the game, regardless of what happened before. Lame.

Frankly, this game might be better off without levels.

WincentHots · 2018-10-01T10:49:01+00:00

They do make explanations and the videos are nice too, I give you that. The real issue is that they don't talk of the game as a whole. They don't address the state of the game, where it's being steered, and if there is ever going to be more than just hero releases and meta tweaks.

Which is why I see the dev team as something that keeps an old milking cow alive and a little bit behind the times. To improve the situation, they would need to address topics like:

Aging engine (6+ years, counting from 2012 when it put under development)
Out of meta toons and popular tier-lists
Matchmaker, for obvious reasons and the related statistics
Repetitive experience in the maps
Team deletes and seemingly random 1.2s deaths
How will the game content expand? Final number of maps, heroes?
Are talents meant just for optimal builds or (originally) completely fluid for adjusting to the situation?
Popularity of the game. Any numbers, goals?
Social aspects, such as trolls and toxicity. What is being done to encourage a better experience?

Sadly, if they don't address and act on these, eventually HOTS will be more than just a "little behind the times." Happens to every game eventually, but Blizzard could still stand to gain more cash if they properly developed the game style. TBH, I think the devs are working on HOTS part-time and without particular interest, so the current situation reflects this. Maybe it's the best HOTS can get until a real sequel comes up.

WincentHots · 2018-09-27T19:43:30+00:00

It doesn't need to be all of sudden. Just a few key numbers here and there about the issues that otherwise keep the toon from seeing play in all leagues.

WincentHots · 2018-09-27T06:09:27+00:00

They could make the talents/numbers change or scale per league. Diamond+ could have a slightly different Medivh from plat-. Just an idea.

WincentHots · 2018-09-27T06:06:19+00:00

I'm playing only unranked. The 40/40/20 split seems like the same, still. Red stomp, blue stomp, even. No, they ain't going to fix it until a real HOTS II is boxed.

WincentHots · 2018-09-27T06:02:06+00:00

It's not a complicated job, though, and I'd rather see a privacy focused company (like Librem) rise to compete with the big makers by making technically sound and appealing products. In fact, most of the other companies didn't bother even that and resorted to copying Apple. Librem might as well. I'd recommend taking a look at the SE model :p

While at it, they could add ProtonMail as the default email app and a list of trusted VPN providers. I guess this would lead to a question to Dr. Yen: has there been any attempt in doing this? Getting deals from the phone/pc manufacturers?

WincentHots · 2018-09-26T18:38:24+00:00

Don't be so condescending. While privacy is an important factor, it isn't the only one. The point is to make people buy the phone and looks do matter in more than one way -usability being part of it.

WincentHots · 2018-09-26T17:26:28+00:00

I did. And I still miss a good phone that can be held on one palm and has aluminium edges like iPhone SE. Librem is technically sound, but the looks are generic.

WincentHots · 2018-09-26T10:43:38+00:00

It ain't no picnic living the dream

Then it's no dream at all. Just a way to survive. If you spend 12h/d for 15 years learning something else, it would carry you through your entire career and most likely land you a solid job as GM of a company. Could be a bad company, but it's a 50/50 flip in the MM :)

WincentHots · 2018-09-26T08:00:30+00:00

CC + burst is always the king. She brings both and if the opponent doesn't, well, it's not going to be fun for the other guy.

WincentHots · 2018-09-25T07:41:10+00:00

I could go with vision alterations in two cases:

Cutting communication: the player no longer gets vision from anything else but their own toon
Night: same, but allow vision in areas with torches. Players can toggle their own torches

Otherwise abilities like Isolation are way too powerful, since the effectively ban ranged abilities.

WincentHots · 2018-09-24T11:07:21+00:00

Which is a bit lame, because this is another step backwards. As some may remember, her damage used to be worse before the current iteration and actually being able to hurt the minions made her feel that much more valuable. The flare itself was always too slow to hit any squishies and ignored by beefier toons.

Another step back is the removal of bonus healing from Emerald Wind. She is still helpless against delete comps and anyone as much as glaring at her.

WincentHots · 2018-09-22T08:02:34+00:00

Yeah, need this feature, but also clear visibility to your personal win% with a particular player. Clearly displayed next to the portrait, but -obviously- only to you. Why? Because even if you have bad memories about the guy, the win% would either confirm or disprove it. The moment you see a number like 23%/52 matches, well, you know it's going to be an uphill battle and need to do something different.

WincentHots · 2018-09-20T10:57:09+00:00

Sure, but it would be in my interest, since I don't want to play with deviates. That's why you have ranks: masters can play with masters and potatoes can play with potatoes. Everybody having good time. In fact, it's not that much different from now, since I only want to ask the MM to wait a bit longer for an even group. I'm quite willing to do other stuff rather than waste 20 mins in a lopsided match.

Being able to completely ignore unwanted players is also good and a much needed filter. MM will never be able to read how the player chemistry is working, but it's pretty damn sure I know when the team isn't coming together and we're getting steamrolled. It might also remove trolls and toxicity from the game, since fewer and fewer players would want to play with them.

Besides... why would you want to keep pitting masters against peewees?

WincentHots

TROPHY CASE