A pro game on ETS NA with one of the crazier comps I've seen just wrapped up:
VN - Zeratul, Sylvanas, Zagara, Tassadar, Abathur (that's right, no tank and Tass solo support) vs. SL - Kael'thas, Valla, Muradin, Uther, Rexxar
What does ETS stand for? Is there a replay available? I'd love to watch that because I was just going to post to day and say....
I bought Abathur! And I totally don't get how he's any good! Well, that's not completely true. I've seen him in action kicking ass. I found his hat underwhelming. The damage and shield is pretty poor. That jives with my observations playing against him which is that locust and mines builds have been a much bigger threat.
I'll post more about my experience later, but suffice to say: Battlefield Of Eternity and the matchmaker screwed us. Both teams had 2 supports but we had Nova for damage and they had Tychus or Raynor. And I was Abathur on that team.
Hat build really is more of a gimmick and requires certain heroes. It is 100% pure support much in the way Morales is 100% pure healing. And you can't support garbage and make it good.
Aba is all about that soak. He's like 2 Vikings... one to soak a lane and another to be at the teamfight. (Edit - He's 2 Vikings and one has a mapwide teleport. The other slaps a lot and dies easily).
If you have a melee heavy team, or anyone that benefits from attack speed, hat is probably the way to go. Otherwise locusts is probably your best bet.
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
There are very few people that truly benefit from all of the things a hat offers when talents though. And they need to benefit from all of them, because you gave up pretty much everything else if you go hat build.
Illidan is 100% the perfect example because its layers upon layers of benefits to make him into what is now only a solid threat. Not even OP. (basically, its how attack speed pretty much increases everything about him; self healing and evasion with evasion shield then on top of aba shield and the healing from W, and the slow from W to add on to the fact no one runs from Illidan but now hes an impossible to shake AOE slow... etc etc).
Haha, yeah I was behind in posts so I was just reading through and replying as I went.
I guess with Abathur I felt like he was awfully similar to something like a split pushing Raynor... Abathur is less likely to get ganked, and he can sorta teleport and assist in a team fight, but the assistance is pretty mild. I get that if it weren't it would be OP.
Obviously he gets XP for being within normal XP getting range of minions that die. Does he get XP from minions either in range of mines, or that die from mines?
bnet: Supagoat#1884
Switch: 6589-6405-3399
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
You get exp from anything that dies from your damage no matter where it is and what hero.
So mines can get exp if they kill, as well as locusts (that is where most of his exp come from later on as you will drastically lose the ability to be in exp range from like mid game on unless a team fight can cover you.)
However, his assistance in team fights is certainly not mild. It is kind of hard to notice as he is not doing assassin damage. But it is entirely possible to put up top hero damage by virtue of being in every single fight if you want to, never dieing, and being aoe damage heavy.
So mines can get exp if they kill, as well as locusts (that is where most of his exp come from later on as you will drastically lose the ability to be in exp range from like mid game on unless a team fight can cover you.)
I've found this to be very map dependant. On Skytemple or Bbay the map is large enough and there are enough hiding spots that you should be able to move with a minion wave and lane hop to push multiple lanes while being close enough to soak AND have lots of warning if someone is headed your way.
Conversely spider queen is fuggin awful because you're only ever a few moments from having an enemy jump your ass, and there aren't a lot of good spots to hide on the outsides of the map. Most of the hard to see areas are in between the center and outside lanes and are easy to get jumped in.
Tyrael up to lvl 5 finally: I still really enjoy playing him. I wish he did more damage; in QM I keep taking damage talents but it isn't quite enough. Fun though. I could get him and play in two-tank comps I guess?
~3 games as Morales: ehhhhhhhhh. I hate that my only damage is a really weak auto, and that I can't make aggressive plays at all; a stun you can use for peel or engage but the grenade is only for peel. I do like playing a positional healer, but it's not quite fun enough to give up the sense of agency I feel on someone with a few more tools at their disposal.
I didn't notice this in the helpful list that @Bobkins Flymo put together, but was it mentioned how exactly do you get the 2200 gold for sharing Cho'gall? 4 games played or games won? And can they all be with the same person? I plan on sharing him with as much people as possible, but I'm just curious.
Tyrael up to lvl 5 finally: I still really enjoy playing him. I wish he did more damage; in QM I keep taking damage talents but it isn't quite enough. Fun though. I could get him and play in two-tank comps I guess?
~3 games as Morales: ehhhhhhhhh. I hate that my only damage is a really weak auto, and that I can't make aggressive plays at all; a stun you can use for peel or engage but the grenade is only for peel. I do like playing a positional healer, but it's not quite fun enough to give up the sense of agency I feel on someone with a few more tools at their disposal.
p much my feel of morales too. I played 4 games with her and all she made me want to do was play brightwing or li li because they're both positional supports with more playmaking ability.
I didn't notice this in the helpful list that @Bobkins Flymo put together, but was it mentioned how exactly do you get the 2200 gold for sharing Cho'gall? 4 games played or games won? And can they all be with the same person? I plan on sharing him with as much people as possible, but I'm just curious.
4 games won. I don't know if they have to be with the same person. I look forward to joining you for some two-headed madness!
I didn't notice this in the helpful list that "Bobkins Flymo" put together, but was it mentioned how exactly do you get the 2200 gold for sharing Cho'gall? 4 games played or games won? And can they all be with the same person? I plan on sharing him with as much people as possible, but I'm just curious.
So mines can get exp if they kill, as well as locusts (that is where most of his exp come from later on as you will drastically lose the ability to be in exp range from like mid game on unless a team fight can cover you.)
I've found this to be very map dependant. On Skytemple or Bbay the map is large enough and there are enough hiding spots that you should be able to move with a minion wave and lane hop to push multiple lanes while being close enough to soak AND have lots of warning if someone is headed your way.
Conversely spider queen is fuggin awful because you're only ever a few moments from having an enemy jump your ass, and there aren't a lot of good spots to hide on the outsides of the map. Most of the hard to see areas are in between the center and outside lanes and are easy to get jumped in.
Well yeah, this is a thing. I am bad at understanding map layouts and the advantages in them though. Plus the way I figure it, if you are out in the open like that even if you can react to someone heading toward you, it requires you to abandon anything going on to move. Also there are stealthies who hunt you down. Generally you don't want to be out in the open without Z off cooldown or some form of escape route unless the entire enemy team is accounted for, and later on this is pretty much only in team fights. Smart players are pretty much able to know roughly when you are out absorbing exp because they can see the locusts. Of course, you won't run into too many 'smart players' unless you do high level HL or play competitively so...
The issue I really have with it is, in many cases it can be a huge risk. A risk not often worth it if you get killed.
So mines can get exp if they kill, as well as locusts (that is where most of his exp come from later on as you will drastically lose the ability to be in exp range from like mid game on unless a team fight can cover you.)
I've found this to be very map dependant. On Skytemple or Bbay the map is large enough and there are enough hiding spots that you should be able to move with a minion wave and lane hop to push multiple lanes while being close enough to soak AND have lots of warning if someone is headed your way.
Conversely spider queen is fuggin awful because you're only ever a few moments from having an enemy jump your ass, and there aren't a lot of good spots to hide on the outsides of the map. Most of the hard to see areas are in between the center and outside lanes and are easy to get jumped in.
Well yeah, this is a thing. I am bad at understanding map layouts and the advantages in them though. Plus the way I figure it, if you are out in the open like that even if you can react to someone heading toward you, it requires you to abandon anything going on to move. Also there are stealthies who hunt you down. Generally you don't want to be out in the open without Z off cooldown or some form of escape route unless the entire enemy team is accounted for, and later on this is pretty much only in team fights. Smart players are pretty much able to know roughly when you are out absorbing exp because they can see the locusts. Of course, you won't run into too many 'smart players' unless you do high level HL or play competitively so...
The issue I really have with it is, in many cases it can be a huge risk. A risk not often worth it if you get killed.
I'm actually continually surprised by how often people completely don't notice locusts popping out of vents/fog.
I had a Shrines round a few weeks ago where I mined the crap out of a vent and then tunneled to it with the intention of luring in a lowish health tychus that had won a trade in bottom lane and was alone. 4 locusts creeping out of the fog later he FINALLY noticed and raced over to his doom... but man, it took a LONG time for him to notice locusts popping up within a screen of him to help push the lane.
Also Stealthies do make it REALLY hard to be aggressive with Aba. You have to mine likely paths towards your position and be aware enough to see when they pop (you also usually get a quick glimpse of a zera/nova icon pop on the minimap at that location when they get damaged and revealed before the vision fades when the mine(s) pop. Another good tactic is to mine the crap out of your location if you suspect someone is coming and then tunnel somewhere else when they're close. Sometimes you can snag a kill or deliver a heap of damage when they facecheck the bush expecting a free aba kill.
Largely it's the same as anything else in a match. People with good map awareness will make your life miserable and people with poor map awareness can be taken advantage of. Just make sure your icon never pops up on the enemy map. Avoid enemy minion waves and enemy walls left over from downed towers.
Side PSA: you're a total punk if you didn't already have enough wins for it like a month ago
college is hard, man :c
+3
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
I have like 13 wins. I had no idea its been 2 weeks already. Or was it 3, I dont even fuggin know.
Too much shit to deal with irl to put in that kinda time sometimes. Even if you purposely do all AI games that is like 4-5 hours of play. Not chump change and that is only if you choose to devote all your play time to boring vs AI games.
But I guess I am not completionist enough to care about an icon I would never use.
Yeah on BHB top lane is a great place for Abathur because people rarely go there once the fort is destroyed. By then the laning phase is over and it's the super long way around to leave your base that way.
An Abathur skilled at placing mines (especially with the 4 second 50% slow) is extremely effective vs stealthies. I played a Nova once and I just could not go near vents on Infernal Shrines because the enemy Abathur had placed a mine at what seemed like every fucking one. I was very impressed with that Aba.
Side PSA: you're a total punk if you didn't already have enough wins for it like a month ago
I was thinking last night about my "gamer scoreboard" for my last set of days off (4 consecutive days, happens once every six weeks with my shiftset).... I'm glad I vs AI's 25 wins over like 2 days a couple weeks ago.
Days off - 4
Hots matches played - 4, all Sunday afternoon (1 win with PA'ers)
Bathrooms renovated - 1
My wife is happy, but I'm chocking it up to a loss and should probably mail MMMig my gamer card.
people who pick artanis in hero league should be automatically silenced if they bitch about anyone else's hero pick. fucking kill me.
WAHAHAAH Yes I had this experience, too. Our first pick instaselected Artanis. Last pick we needed some dps and the person picked Sylvanas, and Artanis started bitching. I told him he didn't have much leg to stand on since he picked the second worst winrate hero and he said something like "No he isn't." And So I told him according to the stats he is! But then I redirected the conversation to be positive and ensure we could win. And we did. Handily. Artanis had like 3x more deaths than anyone else with 8 since he refused to run away from a fight ever. But we won despite him.
And the worst part is, the truly ignorant that pick him aren't aware of their own ignorance. So they'll basically holding up a sign that says "I don't know how to play, and I'm using a front-line character."
There needs to be a better way of handling rank gains/losses than simply winning or losing- if I have the best score/ least deaths on my team by a wide margin, I shouldn't be punished in the same way.
I can't remember who said this, but one of the sad parts about this game is that one player can't really win you the game, but one player can sure as hell lose you the game.
I haven't played much Hero League lately. I kind of gave up on that after I was placed 47 after the reset, when I was previously 12. But I played one last night. I was rank 31. My team won and I only gained 81 points for the win.
So does that mean that my team was so favored to win that the matchmaker thought it should be a blowout, and they didn't give us very many points?
Very disheartening to have a win and get so few points. At that rate it will take me forever to claw my way back to 12 where I was before the reset.
Lucascraft on
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
That is kind of the thing about HL. It was basically structured to take forever to get a high ranking.
The only way to jumpstart it is to take advantage of the early MMR gains trying to "compensate" for the beginning placement. If you do not get lucky and win like 80% of your first 10 or 20 games, you get to look forward to hundres of games to get a good ranking, no matter how good you are.
The bonus points are literally just the ranking trying to catch up to your MMR. Of course, your MMR should be pretty high if you were 12, but that 12 could have been off too because the ranking system still was silly. Who knows.
I am like 15 I think and I will likely not do HL anymore. I do enjoy the competition and wouldn't mind seeing if I can go higher, but I don't like playing with only one other PAer so that limitation pretty much ruined it for me.
I thought you gained points based on how far away from where the ladder (based on you MMR) thinks you should be. Like I gained a bunch of points getting up to my current rank then just kinda stalled there. I was watching a rank 1 dude play on twitch and he dropped to rank 2 and won a match. It gave him like 300 points and got him right back to rank 1. Who was he playing that could be worth 300 points if he's already rank 2?
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
Exactly, that is what I was saying.
If you played someone significantly better than you and won and got enough points from that to be considered behind enough to get bonus points I could see that? But since even the BEST of gains are in the teens after you pass the trial period, that is near impossible.
People used to think the bonus points were for good personal performance too. That is simply not the case.
I haven't played much Hero League lately. I kind of gave up on that after I was placed 47 after the reset, when I was previously 12. But I played one last night. I was rank 31. My team won and I only gained 81 points for the win.
So does that mean that my team was so favored to win that the matchmaker thought it should be a blowout, and they didn't give us very many points?
Very disheartening to have a win and get so few points. At that rate it will take me forever to claw my way back to 12 where I was before the reset.
Probably you were extremely favored. I jumped back to rank 6 last night with a 140 point win because the other team had 4 rank 1s and a rank 8 vs my team's mishmash of 6-8. That said, if you're low and you win a few games in a row, the game will begin vomiting bonus points on you because your mmr is much higher than your rank. It's a weird system.
I think presently the HL and TL systems are still huge works in progress. It seems l like Blizz is probably still in a phase where they're trying to find a ranking system and point gain/loss system that works well and takes into account multiple factors instead of just win/loss. Browder has admitted that there's internal discussion about moving to a different system entirely (Bronze through grandmaster instead of numbered ranks).
ALSO a big part is that they're working still on a new matchmaker. The basis of any match, be it QM or HL, is that you're being matched against proper opponents and rewarded/penalized points accordingly. It's the foundation of the system. Until the matchmaker gets it's overhaul sometime in nearish future (Browder indicated they're aiming for end of 2015, but no promises) the foundation for any League play is pretty heavily undermined.
This new meta from the PTR has me chomping at the bit to figure out new Nova builds, especially ones that dont rely on Anti-Armor Shells.
what changed with nova. I haven't read the PTR notes and I play Nova all the time, probably much to the detriment of everyone else
Nova didnt change, the game changed around her to favor her outset. Weaker lane minions and buildings.
Yeah I saw those. Nova will be brutal 1-10. Knocking someone out of a lane for 20s+ is some sweet XP advantage for the first 10 levels. Everyone is going to have to be way more careful (stealth assassins or not) in the early game.
edit: especially for stealth assassins cause you don't see them coming
Yes, Twilight Cho'Gall has eyes all over him and other such Lovecraftian-ness - and it also more muscular and lacking the "ogre gut". I'm betting it will probably be a skin later on.
Cho'gall got his "modern" look from a shitty comic, and since he's probably going to be the only ogre in the game for a good while, they want an iconic ogre look.
Also it looked really stupid. They'll probably make it a skin one of these days.
As a gamer, I really hate this time of year. (And love it).
There is just too much new stuff. Tomorrow is Cho'gall day, which I am very excited for. Tomorrow is also Battlefront day, which I am also excited for. And then I've still got Fallout 4 and Legacy of the Void. There is not enough time in the day.
Yeah that's what I was saying before about MMR/HL rank and why I asked how long the seasons are. I'm continuing to climb but I have a 500 point MMR gap between my QM and HL MMR. I've done more HL recently and am enjoying it (and winning a bunch) and am up to rank 28 now. I just literally don't know how high my HL rank and MMR should be since it takes so long to raise them. I'll continue to win and watch where it eventually settles. But I think I'm as good as folks here who are rank 15, so I've got 13 more ranks to go, at 3 wins a rank, or 39 more wins, or roughly 20 hours.
As a gamer, I really hate this time of year. (And love it).
There is just too much new stuff. Tomorrow is Cho'gall day, which I am very excited for. Tomorrow is also Battlefront day, which I am also excited for. And then I've still got Fallout 4 and Legacy of the Void. There is not enough time in the day.
Cho'Gall Day + LotV + Witcher 3 + DA Inquisition + Destiny... and picking up Fallout 4 soon probably.
A pro game on ETS NA with one of the crazier comps I've seen just wrapped up:
VN - Zeratul, Sylvanas, Zagara, Tassadar, Abathur (that's right, no tank and Tass solo support) vs. SL - Kael'thas, Valla, Muradin, Uther, Rexxar
What does ETS stand for? Is there a replay available? I'd love to watch that because I was just going to post to day and say....
I bought Abathur! And I totally don't get how he's any good! Well, that's not completely true. I've seen him in action kicking ass. I found his hat underwhelming. The damage and shield is pretty poor. That jives with my observations playing against him which is that locust and mines builds have been a much bigger threat.
I'll post more about my experience later, but suffice to say: Battlefield Of Eternity and the matchmaker screwed us. Both teams had 2 supports but we had Nova for damage and they had Tychus or Raynor. And I was Abathur on that team.
The damage and survivability from Hat is quite good. You will notice the difference as the person for or against the Hat-wearer. You can pretty easily get near top-level hero damage with it.
But if you buff it, it'll only (obviously) be pretty good. Go a full hat build and you can be a goddamn terror if your Hatties are half-decent. The spike upgrade at lvl7 is especially noticeable. As is the heal and slow on spike burst. You obviously have to give up alot of pushing and harassment power for that though.
In general Abathur is a late-game character. He's not bad early game but his talents improve him ALOT in whatever you push him towards. Late-game mine/locust Abathur is a nightmare to keep under control when played well and will be tearing your shit to pieces while helping his team with hats in every fight. And also possibly slowing and damaging any time you try and go anywhere. And late-game Hat Abathur is terrifying in teams fights as suddenly you are getting double-spiked for nasty damage while the two guys running after you are healing and/or slowing you.
Beyond all this, of course, Abathur soaks well too if you play well and are situationally aware.
If you like mine/locust build, some of the most fun near end-game is to set up in an aggressive position and then basically coat the entire area around you with mines. Then drop a locust nest and just wait for someone to come after you or set up elsewhere and do the same. Either way the minefield + slow + damage will take an enemy out of the fight for a lot longer then it takes you to set this up again somewhere else. It's so fucking annoying to deal with as the other team.
You make a good point about late game aba. I flat out tell pubs it's gonna be rough pre-lvl 4 but it'll start turning around quick. Then I soak ALL THE XP.
And if you've gone full hat, hivemind at 20 is disgusting since the QoL fix that made it re-hat nearby allies.
Posts
Hat build really is more of a gimmick and requires certain heroes. It is 100% pure support much in the way Morales is 100% pure healing. And you can't support garbage and make it good.
Also, dat legendary quad-post...
If you have a melee heavy team, or anyone that benefits from attack speed, hat is probably the way to go. Otherwise locusts is probably your best bet.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
Illidan is 100% the perfect example because its layers upon layers of benefits to make him into what is now only a solid threat. Not even OP. (basically, its how attack speed pretty much increases everything about him; self healing and evasion with evasion shield then on top of aba shield and the healing from W, and the slow from W to add on to the fact no one runs from Illidan but now hes an impossible to shake AOE slow... etc etc).
I guess with Abathur I felt like he was awfully similar to something like a split pushing Raynor... Abathur is less likely to get ganked, and he can sorta teleport and assist in a team fight, but the assistance is pretty mild. I get that if it weren't it would be OP.
Obviously he gets XP for being within normal XP getting range of minions that die. Does he get XP from minions either in range of mines, or that die from mines?
Switch: 6589-6405-3399
So mines can get exp if they kill, as well as locusts (that is where most of his exp come from later on as you will drastically lose the ability to be in exp range from like mid game on unless a team fight can cover you.)
However, his assistance in team fights is certainly not mild. It is kind of hard to notice as he is not doing assassin damage. But it is entirely possible to put up top hero damage by virtue of being in every single fight if you want to, never dieing, and being aoe damage heavy.
I've found this to be very map dependant. On Skytemple or Bbay the map is large enough and there are enough hiding spots that you should be able to move with a minion wave and lane hop to push multiple lanes while being close enough to soak AND have lots of warning if someone is headed your way.
Conversely spider queen is fuggin awful because you're only ever a few moments from having an enemy jump your ass, and there aren't a lot of good spots to hide on the outsides of the map. Most of the hard to see areas are in between the center and outside lanes and are easy to get jumped in.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Switch: 6589-6405-3399
Tyrael up to lvl 5 finally: I still really enjoy playing him. I wish he did more damage; in QM I keep taking damage talents but it isn't quite enough. Fun though. I could get him and play in two-tank comps I guess?
~3 games as Morales: ehhhhhhhhh. I hate that my only damage is a really weak auto, and that I can't make aggressive plays at all; a stun you can use for peel or engage but the grenade is only for peel. I do like playing a positional healer, but it's not quite fun enough to give up the sense of agency I feel on someone with a few more tools at their disposal.
XBL: InvaderJims
Bnet: Pudgestomp#11153
p much my feel of morales too. I played 4 games with her and all she made me want to do was play brightwing or li li because they're both positional supports with more playmaking ability.
4 games won. I don't know if they have to be with the same person. I look forward to joining you for some two-headed madness!
Switch: 6589-6405-3399
From here
"To Give Cho'gall
Win 4 games as one of Cho’gall’s heads with someone who does not yet own this Hero to give them Cho’gall." for the 2200 gold
Seems kinda ambiguous, but I read it as you still get it if you spread all those wins around.
edit - and here's the other part
"To Get Cho'gall
Win 2 games as one of Cho’gall’s heads with someone who already owns this Hero to unlock Cho’gall for yourself."
See, then I'll have to carry OUR Hammer like I did my last 2 games. We lost.
The Hammer refused to do any objectives because "hammer is a specialist".
BTW this occured on both Shrines and Mines.
Well yeah, this is a thing. I am bad at understanding map layouts and the advantages in them though. Plus the way I figure it, if you are out in the open like that even if you can react to someone heading toward you, it requires you to abandon anything going on to move. Also there are stealthies who hunt you down. Generally you don't want to be out in the open without Z off cooldown or some form of escape route unless the entire enemy team is accounted for, and later on this is pretty much only in team fights. Smart players are pretty much able to know roughly when you are out absorbing exp because they can see the locusts. Of course, you won't run into too many 'smart players' unless you do high level HL or play competitively so...
The issue I really have with it is, in many cases it can be a huge risk. A risk not often worth it if you get killed.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
I'm actually continually surprised by how often people completely don't notice locusts popping out of vents/fog.
I had a Shrines round a few weeks ago where I mined the crap out of a vent and then tunneled to it with the intention of luring in a lowish health tychus that had won a trade in bottom lane and was alone. 4 locusts creeping out of the fog later he FINALLY noticed and raced over to his doom... but man, it took a LONG time for him to notice locusts popping up within a screen of him to help push the lane.
Also Stealthies do make it REALLY hard to be aggressive with Aba. You have to mine likely paths towards your position and be aware enough to see when they pop (you also usually get a quick glimpse of a zera/nova icon pop on the minimap at that location when they get damaged and revealed before the vision fades when the mine(s) pop. Another good tactic is to mine the crap out of your location if you suspect someone is coming and then tunnel somewhere else when they're close. Sometimes you can snag a kill or deliver a heap of damage when they facecheck the bush expecting a free aba kill.
Largely it's the same as anything else in a match. People with good map awareness will make your life miserable and people with poor map awareness can be taken advantage of. Just make sure your icon never pops up on the enemy map. Avoid enemy minion waves and enemy walls left over from downed towers.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
college is hard, man :c
Too much shit to deal with irl to put in that kinda time sometimes. Even if you purposely do all AI games that is like 4-5 hours of play. Not chump change and that is only if you choose to devote all your play time to boring vs AI games.
But I guess I am not completionist enough to care about an icon I would never use.
An Abathur skilled at placing mines (especially with the 4 second 50% slow) is extremely effective vs stealthies. I played a Nova once and I just could not go near vents on Infernal Shrines because the enemy Abathur had placed a mine at what seemed like every fucking one. I was very impressed with that Aba.
Switch: 6589-6405-3399
I was thinking last night about my "gamer scoreboard" for my last set of days off (4 consecutive days, happens once every six weeks with my shiftset).... I'm glad I vs AI's 25 wins over like 2 days a couple weeks ago.
Days off - 4
Hots matches played - 4, all Sunday afternoon (1 win with PA'ers)
Bathrooms renovated - 1
My wife is happy, but I'm chocking it up to a loss and should probably mail MMMig my gamer card.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
And the worst part is, the truly ignorant that pick him aren't aware of their own ignorance. So they'll basically holding up a sign that says "I don't know how to play, and I'm using a front-line character."
There needs to be a better way of handling rank gains/losses than simply winning or losing- if I have the best score/ least deaths on my team by a wide margin, I shouldn't be punished in the same way.
I can't remember who said this, but one of the sad parts about this game is that one player can't really win you the game, but one player can sure as hell lose you the game.
So does that mean that my team was so favored to win that the matchmaker thought it should be a blowout, and they didn't give us very many points?
Very disheartening to have a win and get so few points. At that rate it will take me forever to claw my way back to 12 where I was before the reset.
The only way to jumpstart it is to take advantage of the early MMR gains trying to "compensate" for the beginning placement. If you do not get lucky and win like 80% of your first 10 or 20 games, you get to look forward to hundres of games to get a good ranking, no matter how good you are.
The bonus points are literally just the ranking trying to catch up to your MMR. Of course, your MMR should be pretty high if you were 12, but that 12 could have been off too because the ranking system still was silly. Who knows.
I am like 15 I think and I will likely not do HL anymore. I do enjoy the competition and wouldn't mind seeing if I can go higher, but I don't like playing with only one other PAer so that limitation pretty much ruined it for me.
If you played someone significantly better than you and won and got enough points from that to be considered behind enough to get bonus points I could see that? But since even the BEST of gains are in the teens after you pass the trial period, that is near impossible.
People used to think the bonus points were for good personal performance too. That is simply not the case.
Probably you were extremely favored. I jumped back to rank 6 last night with a 140 point win because the other team had 4 rank 1s and a rank 8 vs my team's mishmash of 6-8. That said, if you're low and you win a few games in a row, the game will begin vomiting bonus points on you because your mmr is much higher than your rank. It's a weird system.
ALSO a big part is that they're working still on a new matchmaker. The basis of any match, be it QM or HL, is that you're being matched against proper opponents and rewarded/penalized points accordingly. It's the foundation of the system. Until the matchmaker gets it's overhaul sometime in nearish future (Browder indicated they're aiming for end of 2015, but no promises) the foundation for any League play is pretty heavily undermined.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
Can you right click the username in the chat panel?
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
Yeah I saw those. Nova will be brutal 1-10. Knocking someone out of a lane for 20s+ is some sweet XP advantage for the first 10 levels. Everyone is going to have to be way more careful (stealth assassins or not) in the early game.
edit: especially for stealth assassins cause you don't see them coming
B.net: Kusanku
Yes, Twilight Cho'Gall has eyes all over him and other such Lovecraftian-ness - and it also more muscular and lacking the "ogre gut". I'm betting it will probably be a skin later on.
Also it looked really stupid. They'll probably make it a skin one of these days.
There is just too much new stuff. Tomorrow is Cho'gall day, which I am very excited for. Tomorrow is also Battlefront day, which I am also excited for. And then I've still got Fallout 4 and Legacy of the Void. There is not enough time in the day.
Switch: 6589-6405-3399
Cho'Gall Day + LotV + Witcher 3 + DA Inquisition + Destiny... and picking up Fallout 4 soon probably.
I feel your pain homeskillet.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
The damage and survivability from Hat is quite good. You will notice the difference as the person for or against the Hat-wearer. You can pretty easily get near top-level hero damage with it.
But if you buff it, it'll only (obviously) be pretty good. Go a full hat build and you can be a goddamn terror if your Hatties are half-decent. The spike upgrade at lvl7 is especially noticeable. As is the heal and slow on spike burst. You obviously have to give up alot of pushing and harassment power for that though.
In general Abathur is a late-game character. He's not bad early game but his talents improve him ALOT in whatever you push him towards. Late-game mine/locust Abathur is a nightmare to keep under control when played well and will be tearing your shit to pieces while helping his team with hats in every fight. And also possibly slowing and damaging any time you try and go anywhere. And late-game Hat Abathur is terrifying in teams fights as suddenly you are getting double-spiked for nasty damage while the two guys running after you are healing and/or slowing you.
Beyond all this, of course, Abathur soaks well too if you play well and are situationally aware.
If you like mine/locust build, some of the most fun near end-game is to set up in an aggressive position and then basically coat the entire area around you with mines. Then drop a locust nest and just wait for someone to come after you or set up elsewhere and do the same. Either way the minefield + slow + damage will take an enemy out of the fight for a lot longer then it takes you to set this up again somewhere else. It's so fucking annoying to deal with as the other team.
You make a good point about late game aba. I flat out tell pubs it's gonna be rough pre-lvl 4 but it'll start turning around quick. Then I soak ALL THE XP.
And if you've gone full hat, hivemind at 20 is disgusting since the QoL fix that made it re-hat nearby allies.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6