I'm totally okay with a 1 week smaller rotation. That will increase the likelihood of drawing the new map. And that's what I want. I want all the games all the time on Battlefield of Eternity.
I'm totally okay with a 1 week smaller rotation. That will increase the likelihood of drawing the new map. And that's what I want. I want all the games all the time on Battlefield of Eternity.
Curse Hollow is still my favorite out of the original 4 maps.
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I just had an 8 minute game.
Just. Holy shit. It was nearly 7 minutes.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
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The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
What map? I once had an 8:30 game on Garden. We got our first terror at 7:45 and didn't have a single specialist on our team.
+1
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
How did that work, did you just keep azmodan and sylvanas above ground and pushed instead of going for skeletons?
Sylvanas can take an early golem right to the core. Static defenses do most of the damage to early golems, so her trait massively extends its lifetime.
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
How did that work, did you just keep azmodan and sylvanas above ground and pushed instead of going for skeletons?
Azmodan kept his general up and it powered the minions, and sylvanas locked one tower down. We were at the first fort when the mines opened.
Then in the mines, we got 60 skulls and then just pushed. Sylvanas again kept the fort (which slows the golem immensely) locked down, then the 2nd wall, then the 2nd fort.
Their base was at 14% at the 7 minute mark. After we all rezed, we just ran into their base and finished the job.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
The "play 3 games as Support" quest really needs to not be a thing.
It lends itself to poisonous quickmatches.
Assassin or Warrior? Fine. But people that don't normally play support have no business playing support.
Sokpuppet on
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
I generally try to play those games vs. AI if I don't feel confident enough playing a certain character (I.e. a support from a specific franchise to knock out two dailies for example)
The "play 3 games as Support" quest really needs to not be a thing.
It lends itself to poisonous quickmatches.
Assassin or Warrior? Fine. But people that don't normally play support have no business playing support.
I mean, why is support a special snowflake. I like playing support and assassin and some specialists, but I'm generally poo at warriors. I would say I normally have no business playing warriors.
I too just smush AI matches if I don't like my daily combination.
In Sonya news, I just successfully 1v2'd a Diablo & Raynor.
They were a level above me and at full health and I crushed them under my weird looking boot.
It was pcool.
+2
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The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
In Sonya news, I just successfully 1v2'd a Diablo & Raynor.
They were a level above me and at full health and I crushed them under my weird looking boot.
It was pcool.
How the balls did you fight through that much health without dying? Did they forget to auto you for extended periods of time?
In Sonya news, I just successfully 1v2'd a Diablo & Raynor.
They were a level above me and at full health and I crushed them under my weird looking boot.
It was pcool.
How the balls did you fight through that much health without dying? Did they forget to auto you for extended periods of time?
A combination of Block, Ferocious Healing, Berserk, Whirlwind, Spell Shield, Imposing Presence, and a well timed Ignore Pain.
It was a close thing.
I was built hyper-tanky because I'd been Quick Matched with 4 ranged assassin types.
Also, IIRC, Raynor died really fast.
Edit: Watching the replay, I tanked both of their ults, too... 0_0
In Sonya news, I just successfully 1v2'd a Diablo & Raynor.
They were a level above me and at full health and I crushed them under my weird looking boot.
It was pcool.
How the balls did you fight through that much health without dying? Did they forget to auto you for extended periods of time?
A combination of Block, Ferocious Healing, Berserk, Whirlwind, Spell Shield, Imposing Presence, and a well timed Ignore Pain.
It was a close thing.
I was built hyper-tanky because I'd been Quick Matched with 4 ranged assassin types.
Also, IIRC, Raynor died really fast.
Ah, okay, you went full tank. I'm super greedy with damage talents on Sonya.
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
Sonya has this odd ability to both be really survivable and do nuts damage. Slam hits fucking HARD with berserk and rediculously often. That on top of how much self healing you can do with WW vs two heroes while berserked, it takes solid burst to drop her.
Diablo does pretty trash damage. Hes a pure initiator because of flipping people and knocking people around. I guess he has that ult, but its also quite dodgeable especially for someone like Sonya. As for Raynor, if he had 2 blocks and raynor melted that would limit his damage quite a bit.
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The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
Sonya has this odd ability to both be really survivable and do nuts damage. Slam hits fucking HARD with berserk and rediculously often. That on top of how much self healing you can do with WW vs two heroes while berserked, it takes solid burst to drop her.
Diablo does pretty trash damage. Hes a pure initiator because of flipping people and knocking people around. I guess he has that ult, but its also quite dodgeable especially for someone like Sonya. As for Raynor, if he had 2 blocks and raynor melted that would limit his damage quite a bit.
Diablo actually punches pretty hard with that talent at 16 that gives him an AA buff when he W's. He can do a lot of damage 1v1 that way (though you rarely have 1v1s later in the game).
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
How long does it last though, W has a solid CD I think.
But I didn't really know that, the dude might not have taken the talent though.
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The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
Because it provides an objective measure of individual player skill over a long enough game sample.
I appreciate the cheeky response, but if that's truly the case, my instinct is that it's a terrible metric. What it actually measures is the frequency with which an individual is matched with a group of other individuals who happen to play better than another completely random group of individuals. Tracking win/loss will never be representative of individual user skill due to the proliferation of uncontrolled variables that lead to those statistics.
As a format designed with the intent that competetive play is between two teams (and I mean actual pre-formed teams who talk and practice together, not a "team" of five internet randos shoved together), does it really matter when an individual player is able to join a ranked soloqueue mode? In fact, why is there a ranked soloqueue mode at all, when it's not representative of the type of competative gameplay they have built the game to support? Does a solo rank carry intrinsic value when so much of the competative aspects are absolutely reliant upon teamwork and coordination?
Yes, there is a place for solo players in Hero League. Many people feel that the preferred group queue method is to queue with 4 and let fates determine their 5th.
I think you will find that solo queue rank is much more volatile than queuing with a group of consistent people. But it's doable. I'd say playing solo, my win-rate in HL is right around 50%. When I queue with PA folk (Ubel, Fizzy, Invictus, Ketbra, Weasel, and a few others) my win-rate is closer to 85%. Those are the people I play HL with the most often.
This doesn't explain why it exists, though; you just re-affirm that it does. Which is true! I'm also not saying it should not exist, I'm asking what the intent behind it's inclusion is. What is the design philosophy for a solo ranking based on win/loss ratio of games played with a set of random strangers with no controls on level of communication or coordination?
Is the answer "because we feel that it provides an objective measure of individual player skill over a long enough game sample"? Is it "because the other mobas do it and it's expected"?
I'm just curious. It's never made sense to me, on it's face, in any moba.
Because there's a lot of people who don't have friends to queue with.
That's pretty much it. Soloq exists because there are people for whom team queuing isn't an option.
QM doesn't assign a rating, and your MMR is hidden. Some people want a value assigned to their skill, and that's what HL is for.
Also, there is another mode that we haven't discussed. Team League. Team League is specifically a mode in which a coordinated group of the same people come together under a team name to compete. There are not individual MMR ratings in Team League. Everyone on the team shares an MMR and a Ranking.
By contrast, when 5 people queue as a team in Hero League, they each have their own individual MMR and Rankings. I have no earthly idea how the HL matchmaker balances fair matches when there is a possibility for a huge spread in MMR/Rankings. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's just random.
Way back when I was somewhere around rank 45 in Hero League, I queued with @UrQuanLord88 who is a rank 1. I believe we had a few other PA folk with us of varying rank. We ended up against a team of all rank 1s and it was not a pretty sight. Was that because of UrQuan, or just random bad luck? I don't know. And I'd like to think that my skill has improved quite a bit since that disastrous night.
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Tried this game a few days ago, I gotta say, this is so much fun. I've been attracted to LoL for a while, even played a bit, but the meaningless complexity, toxic environment, and stupidity of the last hit mechanic kept me from really investing in it. HotS is so much more my jam. I've only up to my ankle (maybe calf) so far, and I see myself having a long relationship with this game.
First hero owned: Malfurion. I loooove being a healer. Main in WoW was a priest, in TF2 Medic is my second-most-played. A friend and I have played a couple of games together. Let met tell you, an assassin with a pocket healer will drive the other team crazy. Even when we lose, he still tops hero damage by far. Of course this is in low lvl QM, so I don't expect it to be so easy as we level up.
Second hero owned: Sgt. Hammer. I fell in love with being able to pummel towers from afar. It's also fun in teamfights to siege up towards the back and blow up the other team.
I've also played Valla since a few dailies have been assassin themed. I cannot get the hang of her. She is tough as a salted slug, but she must stand still and pew pew to build her damage. She runs out of mana very fast. She does not have any defensive ability besides vault, and that will not help you at all to actually stay in a teamfight. I just may not have the instincts for an assassin. How do people play her effectively?
BattleTag Tinaktu#1670. I would very much like to play some games with the PA folk!
QM doesn't assign a rating, and your MMR is hidden. Some people want a value assigned to their skill, and that's what HL is for.
Also, there is another mode that we haven't discussed. Team League. Team League is specifically a mode in which a coordinated group of the same people come together under a team name to compete. There are not individual MMR ratings in Team League. Everyone on the team shares an MMR and a Ranking.
By contrast, when 5 people queue as a team in Hero League, they each have their own individual MMR and Rankings. I have no earthly idea how the HL matchmaker balances fair matches when there is a possibility for a huge spread in MMR/Rankings. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's just random.
Way back when I was somewhere around rank 45 in Hero League, I queued with @UrQuanLord88 who is a rank 1. I believe we had a few other PA folk with us of varying rank. We ended up against a team of all rank 1s and it was not a pretty sight. Was that because of UrQuan, or just random bad luck? I don't know. And I'd like to think that my skill has improved quite a bit since that disastrous night.
This is kinda the whole thrust of my reasoning. ;-) Why is having an individual score based on solo win/loss in a team game in a mode where teams are constructed by random uncoordinated players a useful or desirable thing? If you want a rank, get a team. If you want to play solo, play QM. What is HL but QM with an inaccurate metric attached to it? Or, alternately, is there a more useful way to track individual performance that makes sense?
I dunno, the question just interests me.
But now I think I'll go play a round.
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The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
As a format designed with the intent that competetive play is between two teams (and I mean actual pre-formed teams who talk and practice together, not a "team" of five internet randos shoved together), does it really matter when an individual player is able to join a ranked soloqueue mode? In fact, why is there a ranked soloqueue mode at all, when it's not representative of the type of competative gameplay they have built the game to support? Does a solo rank carry intrinsic value when so much of the competative aspects are absolutely reliant upon teamwork and coordination?
Yes, there is a place for solo players in Hero League. Many people feel that the preferred group queue method is to queue with 4 and let fates determine their 5th.
I think you will find that solo queue rank is much more volatile than queuing with a group of consistent people. But it's doable. I'd say playing solo, my win-rate in HL is right around 50%. When I queue with PA folk (Ubel, Fizzy, Invictus, Ketbra, Weasel, and a few others) my win-rate is closer to 85%. Those are the people I play HL with the most often.
This doesn't explain why it exists, though; you just re-affirm that it does. Which is true! I'm also not saying it should not exist, I'm asking what the intent behind it's inclusion is. What is the design philosophy for a solo ranking based on win/loss ratio of games played with a set of random strangers with no controls on level of communication or coordination?
Is the answer "because we feel that it provides an objective measure of individual player skill over a long enough game sample"? Is it "because the other mobas do it and it's expected"?
I'm just curious. It's never made sense to me, on it's face, in any moba.
Because there's a lot of people who don't have friends to queue with.
That's pretty much it. Soloq exists because there are people for whom team queuing isn't an option.
Is that not filled by QM?
Nope. There's no draft in QM. Hero League is a near-guarantee of an at least slightly competent team comp.
Also, why are you so against solo rank? The idea that your rank is more of a reflection of your ability to being matched with good teams is patently wrong--people are able to reach high MMR/higher tiers in DotA/LoL reliably, which is an indicator that their individual skill is very high. Consistency across games regardless of who you're matched up against is a perfectly valid measurement of personal skill. Plus it feels nice to have a number hanging around at the end of your games that, over the long run, trends upwards.
Because it provides an objective measure of individual player skill over a long enough game sample.
I appreciate the cheeky response, but if that's truly the case, my instinct is that it's a terrible metric. What it actually measures is the frequency with which an individual is matched with a group of other individuals who happen to play better than another completely random group of individuals. Tracking win/loss will never be representative of individual user skill due to the proliferation of uncontrolled variables that lead to those statistics.
You are on your own team 100% of the time.
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Oh, and we lost a game today when their core was at 4% (no shields).
Fucking. 4. Fucking. Percent.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
Last few days have broken what ever curse that has sat over me and my usual team.
One thing I notice is with my Kerrigan I expect a rather standard reaction to my combo of people trying to move away from the stun so I auto-correct for this. But for some reason I have run into multiple people who don't. Leading to a line of missed stuns early in the game as I sit confused watching them just stand still because I think they will play like I would. Changing positions. Trying to avoid my full combo instead of standing still like a bot. Not dodging is almost better for dodging me I think.
So instead next game my brain for some reason turned on and I went through cleaning up a team with my combo. Still my best real character with a 77% win rate over 22 games.
Because it provides an objective measure of individual player skill over a long enough game sample.
I appreciate the cheeky response, but if that's truly the case, my instinct is that it's a terrible metric. What it actually measures is the frequency with which an individual is matched with a group of other individuals who happen to play better than another completely random group of individuals. Tracking win/loss will never be representative of individual user skill due to the proliferation of uncontrolled variables that lead to those statistics.
Posts
They confirmed it's 1 week on the PTR, then 1 week for live.
XBL: InvaderJims
Bnet: Pudgestomp#11153
I'm totally okay with a 1 week smaller rotation. That will increase the likelihood of drawing the new map. And that's what I want. I want all the games all the time on Battlefield of Eternity.
Battlefield, Spiders, Sky Temple, Cursed Hollow
XBL: InvaderJims
Bnet: Pudgestomp#11153
Curse Hollow is still my favorite out of the original 4 maps.
Just. Holy shit. It was nearly 7 minutes.
What map? I once had an 8:30 game on Garden. We got our first terror at 7:45 and didn't have a single specialist on our team.
Haunted mines. It was hero league, and we were allowed to draft both azmodan AND sylvanas.
It was insane.
Nintendo ID: Pastalonius
Smite\LoL:Gremlidin \ WoW & Overwatch & Hots: Gremlidin#1734
3ds: 3282-2248-0453
Sylvanas can take an early golem right to the core. Static defenses do most of the damage to early golems, so her trait massively extends its lifetime.
Azmodan kept his general up and it powered the minions, and sylvanas locked one tower down. We were at the first fort when the mines opened.
Then in the mines, we got 60 skulls and then just pushed. Sylvanas again kept the fort (which slows the golem immensely) locked down, then the 2nd wall, then the 2nd fort.
Their base was at 14% at the 7 minute mark. After we all rezed, we just ran into their base and finished the job.
It lends itself to poisonous quickmatches.
Assassin or Warrior? Fine. But people that don't normally play support have no business playing support.
I think it would be nice if they let us mulligan one quest per day like HS.
XBL: InvaderJims
Bnet: Pudgestomp#11153
I mean, why is support a special snowflake. I like playing support and assassin and some specialists, but I'm generally poo at warriors. I would say I normally have no business playing warriors.
I too just smush AI matches if I don't like my daily combination.
They were a level above me and at full health and I crushed them under my weird looking boot.
It was pcool.
How the balls did you fight through that much health without dying? Did they forget to auto you for extended periods of time?
A combination of Block, Ferocious Healing, Berserk, Whirlwind, Spell Shield, Imposing Presence, and a well timed Ignore Pain.
It was a close thing.
I was built hyper-tanky because I'd been Quick Matched with 4 ranged assassin types.
Also, IIRC, Raynor died really fast.
Edit: Watching the replay, I tanked both of their ults, too... 0_0
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
Ah, okay, you went full tank. I'm super greedy with damage talents on Sonya.
Diablo does pretty trash damage. Hes a pure initiator because of flipping people and knocking people around. I guess he has that ult, but its also quite dodgeable especially for someone like Sonya. As for Raynor, if he had 2 blocks and raynor melted that would limit his damage quite a bit.
Diablo actually punches pretty hard with that talent at 16 that gives him an AA buff when he W's. He can do a lot of damage 1v1 that way (though you rarely have 1v1s later in the game).
But I didn't really know that, the dude might not have taken the talent though.
http://www.heroesfire.com/hots/talent-calculator/diablo#pAVs
It only lasts 2 seconds, but it's also a movespeed buff and his W is only on a 6 second CD. Plus you can take Battle Momentum for very good uptime.
I appreciate the cheeky response, but if that's truly the case, my instinct is that it's a terrible metric. What it actually measures is the frequency with which an individual is matched with a group of other individuals who happen to play better than another completely random group of individuals. Tracking win/loss will never be representative of individual user skill due to the proliferation of uncontrolled variables that lead to those statistics.
Is that not filled by QM?
Also, there is another mode that we haven't discussed. Team League. Team League is specifically a mode in which a coordinated group of the same people come together under a team name to compete. There are not individual MMR ratings in Team League. Everyone on the team shares an MMR and a Ranking.
By contrast, when 5 people queue as a team in Hero League, they each have their own individual MMR and Rankings. I have no earthly idea how the HL matchmaker balances fair matches when there is a possibility for a huge spread in MMR/Rankings. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's just random.
Way back when I was somewhere around rank 45 in Hero League, I queued with @UrQuanLord88 who is a rank 1. I believe we had a few other PA folk with us of varying rank. We ended up against a team of all rank 1s and it was not a pretty sight. Was that because of UrQuan, or just random bad luck? I don't know. And I'd like to think that my skill has improved quite a bit since that disastrous night.
Thankfully I found some good ol' PAers to battle with.
We threw one game so hard it was hilarious.
We then just rolled the next few games with one or so loss.
Went from rank 47 to 34!
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
Do you change your avatar daily?
Gotta get in on that next time I've got some time yo
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
Everytime you refresh your page.
First hero owned: Malfurion. I loooove being a healer. Main in WoW was a priest, in TF2 Medic is my second-most-played. A friend and I have played a couple of games together. Let met tell you, an assassin with a pocket healer will drive the other team crazy. Even when we lose, he still tops hero damage by far. Of course this is in low lvl QM, so I don't expect it to be so easy as we level up.
Second hero owned: Sgt. Hammer. I fell in love with being able to pummel towers from afar. It's also fun in teamfights to siege up towards the back and blow up the other team.
I've also played Valla since a few dailies have been assassin themed. I cannot get the hang of her. She is tough as a salted slug, but she must stand still and pew pew to build her damage. She runs out of mana very fast. She does not have any defensive ability besides vault, and that will not help you at all to actually stay in a teamfight. I just may not have the instincts for an assassin. How do people play her effectively?
BattleTag Tinaktu#1670. I would very much like to play some games with the PA folk!
He changes it every single time you refresh.
It's almost as if he's looking at you!!
(check the bushes)
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
This is kinda the whole thrust of my reasoning. ;-) Why is having an individual score based on solo win/loss in a team game in a mode where teams are constructed by random uncoordinated players a useful or desirable thing? If you want a rank, get a team. If you want to play solo, play QM. What is HL but QM with an inaccurate metric attached to it? Or, alternately, is there a more useful way to track individual performance that makes sense?
I dunno, the question just interests me.
But now I think I'll go play a round.
Nope. There's no draft in QM. Hero League is a near-guarantee of an at least slightly competent team comp.
Also, why are you so against solo rank? The idea that your rank is more of a reflection of your ability to being matched with good teams is patently wrong--people are able to reach high MMR/higher tiers in DotA/LoL reliably, which is an indicator that their individual skill is very high. Consistency across games regardless of who you're matched up against is a perfectly valid measurement of personal skill. Plus it feels nice to have a number hanging around at the end of your games that, over the long run, trends upwards.
You are on your own team 100% of the time.
Fucking. 4. Fucking. Percent.
One thing I notice is with my Kerrigan I expect a rather standard reaction to my combo of people trying to move away from the stun so I auto-correct for this. But for some reason I have run into multiple people who don't. Leading to a line of missed stuns early in the game as I sit confused watching them just stand still because I think they will play like I would. Changing positions. Trying to avoid my full combo instead of standing still like a bot. Not dodging is almost better for dodging me I think.
So instead next game my brain for some reason turned on and I went through cleaning up a team with my combo. Still my best real character with a 77% win rate over 22 games.
All that noise averages out over time.
Is this when we were dominating pretty well with a 2- level lead and we left a lv 20 boss completely alone to help push with our own lv 20 boss?
-_-'
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
Also, really Blizzard? Daily Quest: Play two games as a Diablo hero, no Diablo heroes on rotation for us sub-12 scrubs. Nice. :P