Gamescom pt1

Greetings Travelers,

Gamescom is here and in the interest of brevity I've decided to split my coverage post into two. If you are like me, you woke up this morning to a ton of new information and announcements for almost all of Blizzard's games. We got hero and battleground announcments for both Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch as well as a preview of Allied Commanders for Legacy of the Void. I want to touch on each of those today, and save the Warcraft expansion announcement for another post tomorrow. There are some things I want to add to that post regarding the drop in subscriber numbers from quarter 2 and I don't want to end up with one giant post that no one wants to read through.

Starcraft:
First, and probably the least exciting for me, we got a preview of the new Allied Commanders game mode coming with Legacy of the Void. From what I can tell it seems like co-op version of specific campaign mission types. You escort the payload/supply train, defend the base from intermittent attacks, and other things along those lines, after choosing your commander (aka Race?) and which units to base your army on. I assume the replay-ability comes from the need to customize your choices based on the different missions, but without a more in-depth look, it just looks like 2 player campaign missions with a few limitations to increase difficulty. I've said it a lot before, but Starcraft is by far the game I am the worst at so I doubt this game mode is enough to get me to devote time to anything beyond the campaign. I do like that Blizzard is adding secondary game modes. The competitive ladder is great, and I love watching competitive Starcraft, but these new game modes appeal to different group of players. Those, along with Legacy of the Void being a stand alone game, definitely broaden the appeal of the game.

Heroes of the Storm:

Blizzard dropped a pretty good amount of info for Heroes as well. We already knew the Monk was coming, but now we have a name. Kharazim. His kit seems relatively strong. His trait is chosen at level one and you get the option to have your melee attacks heal, deal extra damage, or regenerate mana. And his heroic abilities are Seven Sided Strike, a multi-strike attack during which you are invulnerable, and Divine Palm, which heals a friendly hero back to life if they lose all of their health while the ability is active. Kharazim may end up suffering from the same issues as Tassadar and Tyrande where he is labeled a support but straddles the line a bit. From what we know about his talents and abilities, he may be able to be built as a true support, but we will have to see once all the details are released.

In addition to the Monk, we are getting our second map, and final bit of content associated with the Eternal Conflict, Infernal Shrines. It's a three lane map with 3 shrines spread across the map that periodically similar to Sky Temple. Once the shrines activate your team can kill the minions that spawn from it to summon a giant demon to push a lane for you. They have one of three different abilities based off of Diablo 3 elites. Who doesn't love a good Arcane Enchanted monster? Sure, why not lets add it to Heroes too! We didn't get any gameplay footage of the map so we don't have the whole picture of how its going to play.

We also got previews of our next two heroes once the Eternal Conflict ends. Rexxar will be our first Ranged Warrior, and Artanis will be our first Starcraft Warrior. Artanis is exciting, but we don't know anything about him other than he is a Warrior and he will be free with the purchase of Legacy of the Void. Rexxar on the other hand, has me so excited. From the looks of it Misha is the actual tank, while Rexxar hangs in the back and throws axes and tosses birds to slow enemies. I'm really interested in the actual play style since having even minor control of two units opens up a ton of possibilities. And I am interested to know what Rexxar's personal health pool looks like if Misha is expected to be the one on the front line.

One concern I have is the release schedule in relation to role. If the hero release schedule remains Kharazim, Rexxar, Artanis, then 4 of the last 6 heroes release will have been Warrior heroes, and that will bring our grand total to 13. Sure, some Warriors like Sonya and to a lesser extent Anub'arak feel more like Assassins. But that is no different than Tassadar and Tyrande being more Assassin than Support, and Kharazim will bring our Support total to 8. The game is in definite need of new Support heroes yet we've gotten 4 Warriors in the same amount of time as 1 Support. This disparity effects not only casual play, where the in-game matchmaker tries to match teams with Supports together, but it also effects the competitive scene. Most tournaments these days are using 2 bans and a common strategy is to try and choke out the other team on supports. I don't like to be the guy who gets an awesome christmas present but still complains about the present he didn't get, but this game is in desperate need of more traditional supports in order for the competitive scene to remain healthy.

Overwatch:
And then we have the game that keeps on giving. Every new thing I see from this game gets me more excited. It doesn't matter if its a fake news story, a hero reveal, or a map fly by. Gamescom didn't disappoint.

Lucio is the latest character to make his debut. Following last weeks article detailing a bit of back story, we got a full reveal and ability preview of the Brazilian DJ. I feel like Blizzard stepped way outside the box with the design of this guy. Between the Jet Set Radio style roller blades, and the sound cannon, Lucio really shows off the kind of unique styles and ability kits we can expect throughout this games lifecycle. His Support kit seems really strong when compared to the other supports we have seen. The versatile effect of his Crossfade auras can have a huge effect on a fight. One mode increases nearby teammates' movement speed allowing you to press an attack, then you have the option to switch modes to provide a passive healing aura once the fight starts. Couple that with his ultimate ability giving everyone on his team a pretty big shield, and you should have the ability to take a team fight decisively. If this is the kind of thing we can expect going forward then we have a lot to look forward to for a long time after the game is finally released.

 

We also got a first look at two new battlegrounds. Volskaya Industries outside of St. Petersburg, Russia, and Numbani, Africa. Our Russian battleground is a factory where Volskaya Industries is manufacturing human-piloted mechs to combat Omnic aggression. And Numbani is a technically advanced city that promotes harmony between man and robot. We didn't see any real gameplay on these maps but they are just another example of how Blizzard is taking areas of the world we are familiar with and changing just enough to make them fresh, I know I say it every time I talk about Overwatch, but I really can't wait to see all this world has to offer.


So far Blizzard has not disappointed with their Gamescom announcements. Here's hoping tomorrow's Warcraft announcement follows suit. WoW players have a lot to be concerned about these days and we can only hope that Blizzard is putting all of their energy into redeeming the game in the next expansion. I'll touch more on it tomorrow after the press conference, but I really hope they impress us.

Thanks as always for reading! Until tomorrow,
Chris