Widowmaker in Heroes of the Storm

Hello team!

I have been doing a lot of Hearthstone related content lately so I wanted to take a break from that and let the Old Gods metagame shake out and see how things look then. Instead I wanted to talk about something that bothered me a bit over the last week. Tracer was given to Heroes players who preordered Overwatch and she came with an awesome trailer.

Now I know what you may be thinking. It really stinks that people had to wait a whole week to play with the new Hero because they had no interest in Overwatch. I do agree with that sentiment and I think early access is one of the worst "rewards" to give players. But I don't want belabor a point that has been made for the last week in addition to the last time it happened with Artanis. Instead I want to go with something a little lighter. 

At the end of Tracer's trailer Widowmaker shows up for a cameo appearance. This spurred a bunch of comments across the collective internet claiming that Widowmaker is too similar to Nova so it must be a Nova skin. That sort of thinking is narrow minded and doesn't give Blizzard enough credit for their hero design. Cho'gall remains one of my favorite things to play in ANY game. And heroes like Abathur and The Lost Vikings show how far outside they box they are willing to go when bringing new heroes into the game. In Overwatch Widowmaker can be played in a similar way to Nova, waiting for people to get out of position and kill them quickly. The difference is the tools they each have available to them. I put together a quick break down of what a potential Widowmaker hero could have in her kit. I'm not going to go into detail about damage numbers or cooldown lengths but at least it will be a jumping off point to see some options she could have. 

Trait: Like Tracer, she uses her D to reload her ammunition. The mechanic feels really good on Tracer and allows for interesting talents. 

Q: I went with something different for her Q ability. Having a melee ability doesn't feel right for a sniper character so I thought using her Q as a toggle between her assault rifle mode of her weapon and the sniper rifle version. The assault more works similar to Tracer where it fires on nearby enemies as long as you are in range. The sniper mode slows your movement speed as well as your attack speed but your attacks deal significantly more damage. It's close to Nova's Anti-Armor Shells talent but it is on demand and doesn't force you to commit to a play style for the remainder of the game.

W: Venom Mine is a useful ability for a couple of reasons. First, it's a decent source of damage that can help finish off someone  trying to make their escape. But the way it is more often used in Overwatch seems to work similarly in Heroes. Often Widow will use her Venom Mine as line of defense for the area she has decided to set up shop in. If someone tries to flank her they trigger the mine and alert her that her position is no longer safe. Lunara players use her Wisp ability in a similar way. Toss it into a bush to make sure there is no gank party awaiting you. Use it to scout a mercenary camp or to cut off a potential escape route in a team fight. 

E: Her grappling hook gives Widowmaker some mobility and gives her an escape mechanism when her position has been found out. This ability loses some of it's power when you remove the vertical movement of a first person shooter. One way it could work is if it pulls her to any structure or wall otherwise does nothing. This would include things like tree lines on the battlefield so that she doesn't need to hug her own towers to make use of the ability, but she does need to be extra mindful of her positioning. 

Heroic: I have noticed, in the few games I've played with Tracer, that her Heroic feels really underwhelming. But that doesn't mean it can't have an impact on the game. That got me thinking about Widowmaker's Ultimate in Overwatch. She grants her entire team vision of the enemy team for a short time. I think you could use the same ability in Heroes. It would give you more information on your opponents and they have to be very careful about when they take camps and how spread they are for objectives. Things like Tyrande's Sentinel and Tassadar's Oracle are useful examples of vision and I think having a global version that recharges every 40 seconds or so could be really useful without being a traditional high damage Heroic,

I have no idea what kind of talents she would have and that's the part of a character's kit that really gives them depth. I do really think that a Widowmaker hero is possible in the future with a little flexibility and I'm sure Blizzard could do a much better job than I did here. Let me know what you think!

Thanks as always for reading! Until next time,

Chris

The Nerfs are Real!

Greetings, Travelers!

Finally finally finally. We finally know what changes are coming to Hearthstone's Classic and Basic sets with next weeks expansion. Players have been calling for changes for months and now we get to see what Blizzard decided to change. Let's jump right in and go card by card.

People were predicting a nerf to Ancient of Lore but I wasn't convinced. 5/5 for 7 is under budget so pulling ahead in hand was compensation for not pulling ahead on board. Drawing one card is fine but feels minimal. With another nerf coming up, you don't have the option to draw cards until you find the combo to close out the game. For that reason alone, I'm not sure if this change was necessary.

Casual and Professional players alike can rejoice. Druid combo is dead. Instead of charging trees with a 75 second or less lifespan we get slightly cheaper trees that choose life! Savage Roar will still have the potential to end games more quickly than expected but no longer will we be killed with it from an empty board. It's a good change that I can't really complain about.

This change caught me off guard a bit. I understand Blizzard's desire to tone down the silence effects but I thought the neutral silence minions were the problem. Druid struggles getting the board under control in the early game and Keeper of the Grove helped that problem a bit. Against Zoo you were almost reliant on the 2 damage Battlecry and using the 2/4 body to remove another minion or two over the next couple turns. Part of what I like about Druid as a class in Hearthstone is the versatility cards like Keeper and Ancient of Lore and Wrath offer. But in this case Blizzard might be asking us to pay a little too much for that versatility.

Along the same lines as Keeper, Ironbeak Owl got an adjustment to compensate for the power of the silence effect. I think this change perfect. Making it more expensive will make it slightly harder to find room in decks as a one-of utility minion. It will still see play but we will have to think twice about how much the silence is worth in our deck.

I'VE GOT THE NERF IN MY SIGHTS! This change was suggested by tons of people on Reddit and Twitter and I agree with the reasoning. There need to be answers to the huge powerful minions that come with every set, but the answers don't need to be reasonably strong for their cost when you don't get to use them as removal. Paying 5 mana for a 4/2 minion as a tempo play will never feel good. This change was needed and it feels pretty good in my opinion.

Hunter's Mark getting a 1 mana cost doesn't seem needed but I don't think it changes much. The decks that want a Hunter's Mark now will still want one when this change goes through.

This nerf really confuses me. I understand removing the damage to enemy heroes. Blade Flurry has long been arguably the best Rogue card in the game partially because it could serve as both a way to deal with an opposing board as well as a direct damage spell to close out the game. What I don't understand is the need to double the mana cost to 4. Compare this to Shadowflame which only requires a minion (something most decks have 15 or more of), and it just requires so much more work. You are already reliant on cards like Deadly Poision to get your hero power dagger to an attack high enough to deal with mid-game minions. Otherwise you are spending now 6 mana to deal 1 damage to the enemy board. Twice the mana cost of a card Rogues already have in Fan of Knives AND YOU DON'T EVEN GET TO DRAW A CARD. Rogue has been struggling for multiple expansions now to keep up with the tools that other classes have been getting and now they are getting one of their few crutches kicked out from under them.

The pro community seems to hate this change. Juggler's effect is frustrating because it can lose you the game when you are counting on the damage going one place or another. Like Blizzard said in their explanation, players were shoving this card into any aggressive deck because the stats were really strong on their own and the effect was a huge swing so it was a no-brainer inclusion. The same type of deck will still want Jugglers so maybe the nerf doesn't do anything. I don't know why this card wasn't changed to say "When you play a minion" instead of summon. That way you remove the crazy swing plays with cards like Unleash the Hounds and Imp-losion.

Leper Gnome has been an automatic addition to aggressive decks since day one of Hearthstone. I don't necessarily hate the idea of being a default 1 drop since they tend to have less of an effect as the game progresses compared to something like Piloted Shredder or Sludge Belcher. Blizzard accomplishes their goal of creating more competition at the 1 drop spot in aggro decks, but I think Leper Gnome is still completely viable in those decks. Fine change.

This change makes Arcane Golem basically unplayable. There are other 3 mana 4/4s in the game right now that don't have as big of a drawback and they don't see play right now. The bigger point of this change is the Charge mechanic and the "problems" it seems to cause. In my card game career I have been drawn to combo oriented decks. I love being able to do powerful things and being rewarded for setting up combinations of cards over the course of the game. We have only had combos based around Charge minions to this point in the game and because you can't interact with your opponent during their turn it's frustrating to play against. In my opinion that isn't enough of a reason to eliminate those kinds of decks. If you are going off of Reddit complaints, Mysterious Challenger is a more frustrating win condition than Arcane Golem/Power Overwhelming/Faceless Manipulator. I want combo decks to be a thing in Hearthstone in some form. Whether it's Charge minions or Archmage Antonidas and Sorcerer's Apprentice looping Fireballs. Combos require you to play differently and account for more than just what's on the board and it teaches new players to play around potential cards from their opponents which is a valueable thing to learn if they want to take the game seriously. End rant. RIP Arcane Golem.

People were concerned that Handlock would take over with the nerfs to Druid Combo and Big Game Hunter so this change makes a lot of sense. I think 23 mana would have been ok, but I assume Blizzard tested a lot of different options and I trust them. Players have known for some time now not to put their Warlock opponents close to 10 health and now they have a little more breathing room before they need to worry about a couple 8/8s and some healing or Taunt effects.

The last card change of the day is a bit of a headscratcher. Master of Disguise hasn't seen play yet and we are now going to have a less effective version. Blizzard has brought this card up in the past when talking about cards that have backed them into a corner design-wise and I get it. Minions with strong passive effects are a huge problem when they can't be targeted or attacked. If they felt they were working around this card in the design process for a while then by all means take this opportunity to change it.

Before I wrap things up I do just want to mention a few cards that I am a bit surprised weren't changed. Doomhammer is an essential part of aggressive Shaman decks that won't be losing very much with the Standard rotation. I am a bit surprised something that is so hard to deal with didn't get any changes. Both Innervate and Preparation are mandatory spells for their respective classes so I could have seen Innervate changed to reduce minion costs only and Preparation only reduce spells costs by 2. 

Well that should do it for this post. Thanks as always for reading!

Until next time,

Chris

Whispers of the Old God pt2

Greetings Champions!

Whispers of the Old Gods is inching closer and closer to its April 26th release, and the slow trickle of card reveals is starting to yield some interesting cards. I want to talk about a few that I am really excited about. I won't go over every single card because there are plenty of places you can get that sort of review and I don't want to waste time on cards that I think are underwhelming.

The first 2 cards I want to talk about have me really excited about the future of Shaman. Our totem wielding friend already has a very strong early game with Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem, but midrange versions of Shaman have struggled mightily in the mid game where their Overload cards really hurt them. They have a tendency to fall behind on turns 3-5 then try to rely on cards like Lightning Storm and Fire Elemental to catch back up. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to do that in a world of Piloted Shredder and Dr. Boom. Both of these cards should help create a viable midrange Shaman deck. If this kind of stuff doesn't do it then nothing will. Hallazeal is less impactful partially because it is legendary, but his stats are fine by itself and it has the potential to completely swing the game when paired with Lightning Storm or Elemental Destruction. Master of Evolution could be the best card in the set. 4/5 for 4 is already a fine stat line but we also get to upgrade another minion. Everything about this card fits into what Shaman wants to do. The Overload from Totem Golem has worn off on turn 4 or if you don't have your ideal 2 drop, something like Tuskarr Totemic on turn three into Master of Evolution transforming your 3/2 into another 4 drop really has the potential to run away with the game. The worst case scenario is you "only" get to use it on a totem summoned by your hero power. In that case you are still getting a 4/5 and a random 2 drop which is nothing to scoff at. Shaman has the potential to become the premier tempo deck of Standard in a similar way that Secret Paladin did post Grand Tournament. They look to have strong plays on nearly every turn of the game and can potentially win the game simply by curving out.

Mire Keeper is another example of what a "fixed" Piloted Shredder might look like. For 4 mana you get a 3/3 and a 2/2 or a ramp effect. The strength of this card is that both of the options it gives you are strong at different points of the game. The mana crystal is weaker on turn 4 than turn 2 from Wild Growth obviously, but we have seen powerful Ramp Druid decks in the past that rely on getting 5/10 taunts and other powerful late game minions on the board as quickly as possible. I think it's safe to assume that some aspect of the Savage Roar/Force of Nature combo will be changed, so we may be forced to return to that huge minion play style. Mire Keeper isn't on the power level of Master of Evolution but it is a very fair card at a spot on the curve that Druid has struggled with in the past. I expect to see this card played pretty often.

Cho'Gall is probably my second favorite card that has been revealed to this point. Cards that let you cheat mana have been extremely strong throughout Hearthstone's lifespan. Innervate has been an automatic two-of in every Druid deck since day one. Emperor Thaurissan has enabled dozens of card combinations that would otherwise be unplayable in the same turn from the original Patron Warrior, to Leeroy Jenkins/Power Overwhelming/Faceless Manipulator. People even wanted Mechwarper nerfed because of the strong starts it enabled in the Mech Mage days. Cho'Gall is the next in this line of cards and I expect it to have a similar effect. The two cards I am seeing referenced to combo with Cho'Gall are Siphon Soul and Shadowflame. Siphon Soul effectively lets you kill any minion for only 3 life on top of your 7/7 body. This guy into Shadowflame allows you to deal with almost any board state your opponent has while starting from an empty board. Even something like Bane of Doom gives you a 7/7 and another minion. The big thing to remember about cards like this is it gets better as more cards are released. Cho'Gall will have 2 years in Standard and forever in Wild and it WILL make a splash in both formats.

The last card I want to talk about today is Undercity Huckster. This card is flying under the radar a bit. It's not the type of card that people will be screaming to nerf in 2 months time, but it is a good value card that Rogue stands to gain a lot from in my opinion. Two drop has long been a weak spot for Rogues. They usually end up using their hero power and just waiting to set up for the later turns where they use a Blade Flurry or combination of cards to catch back up. Undercity Huckster gives Rogues a two drop they can play and feel comfortable trading early game and still get some value from. The random aspect of the card is certainly relevant and at times this card will give you a useless card, but there are other times it will give you a Flamewaker or Equality or Nourish. It's cards like this and Master of Evolution that provide a level of randomness that keeps games interesting and different without providing such a huge swing that they will win or lose games on their own.

Well that's all I'm going to cover for today. There are some other cards I am excited about like N'Zoth but I will wait until we see the entire set to make any kind of judgement. I think we are starting to get to the meat of the expansion and have a decent number of cards that will make a splash. 

Thanks as always for reading! Until next time,

Chris