This is simply a thread to represent if Blizzard had submitted Orphea to the CDC #7. This was suggested by Efede and Deefe. Of course, the submission will not actually compete for the winner position, but it will serve as a reference point to where Blizzard’s concept would fall.
https://heroesofthestorm.gamepedia.com/Orphea
Total Score - 17/20
Creativity - 4/5
Orphea’s kit is mostly creative, but some abilities fall a little short. Shadow Waltz is an interesting ability with lots of angles, and both heroics are fairly interesting, especially Eternal Feast. However, Chomp and Dread feel bland on their own. Orphea’s trait is also very straightforward.
Cohesiveness - 4/5
Most of the abilities work well together, with Shadow Waltz having a clear synergy with Chomp. Dread feels somewhat out of place, but the slow does set up to make Shadow Waltz easier to land. Orphea’s trait also creates a clear gameplay loop where she alternates between hitting heroes with abilities and landing powered up basic attacks; however, the rest of her kit doesn’t fit the basic attack theme, so it does feel a little bit isolated.
Thematic - 5/5
Orphea’s eldritch-themed magic fits the character quite well. Also, the new idea of Nexus-original heroes does qualify as game changing, and fits into the contest theme.
Interaction - 4/5
Orphea’s abilities all rely on skillshots, ensuring that some amount of counterplay is available to the enemy team. However, the extremely high potential mobility on Shadow Waltz would make a good Orphea very frustrating to play against, especially for other heroes who rely on skillshots themselves.
Overall Score
Creativity - 4/5
Cohesiveness - 5/5
Thematic - 5/5
Interaction - 4/5
Total - 18/20
Creativity - 4/5
The idea of powerful combo mages that are also close range is something that we are lacking right now, besides maybe Jaina, and so it is nice to see you bring a new one. While most of the abilities are interesting, there are definitely some that are less interesting than others. Chomp in particular seems quite simplistic; while it does definitely feed into the gameplay loop and encourages aggressive gameplay, it seems quite plain, and I think it could probably use some more baseline to make it interesting. Dread is also just barely clutching the edge, but I’ll let it pass. Several of the talents are really interesting, such as the Shadow Waltz talents, Backbiter, and Lurking Terror. Some others seem like they could use something more interesting, like Ancestral Strength and Invasive Miasma. Even Insatiable seems a bit plain, though I think it works with the high speed ability kit you can build, dancing around with Allegrissimo.
Cohesiveness - 5/5
The kit works together really well, with all of the abilities chaining together in a seamless manner, but not restricted to dead-set combos. The heroics add into the combo nature of Orphea, and all of the talents come together to encourage fast, active play, interweaving abilities together to annihilate your opponents. Chaos relly cements the kit together, as you need to weave basic attacks in between your abilities to maximize your survivability. Overall, nice job.
Thematic - 5/5
The character seems slightly out of left field, with all of the necrotic magic, chaos, ancestral powers, and evil maw of venom symbiote you have going on; to my knowledge, none of these were really explored in her stories previously. The entire kit does work together with this theme, and the dark nature of her magic makes sense, however, so I will give it a wary slide. Many people have speculated about the introduction of nexus original heroes, and Orphea seems the most obvious first hero in that series. This definitely fits the theme, and I am curious how others would take the idea of Nexus original heroes to heart.
Interaction - 4/5
While every aspect of Orpheas kit is grounded in skillshots, the fast pace of those skillshots, and the easy, point and click nature of her sustain might make her a bit oppressive at times. While her close range definitely makes her susceptible to disruption, I think her fast blinks and high damage could be a point of contention amongst players. I think the most obvious way to fix this would be to increase Chimo’s delay, and reduce the healing of Chaos to an acceptable level.
Orphea’s gameplay style is certainly a refreshingly creative style of Mage, centered around a closer range, unlike most others. A lot of her abilities and talents are also fairly creative, with the dash style of Shadow Waltz being one of my favorite styles of mobility I’ve seen in a while. However, the simplistic nature of two of her basic abilities and even a decent deal of their supportive talents hurts this a bit. Also, the launch skin is amusing.
The kit flows together really well, as has been discussed by some of the Devs(I believe), like this odd dance. The ways of comboing abilities as you flow through combat works really well, and is further complimented more and more through talents and heroics.
While perhaps out of nowhere somewhat, Orphea’s magic doesn’t feel entirely dissonant with what the character seemed to be presented as, and so I’m fine enough with it. On top of that, Orphea being the first Nexus Original provides a unique framework to build upon in the future, and I’m interested to see where it goes.
Perhaps a little touchy to rate Interaction here, but I think the way the kit works is actually fairly designed with how to play against it. Being entirely almost entirely closer range and skillshot based, it makes it easier to counteract what could potentially otherwise be a frustrating kit to fight. None of the talents feel particularly bad to fight, either.
Creativity - 4/5
Cohesiveness - 5/5
Thematic - 5/5
Interaction - 5/5
Blizzard- 95/100
Creativity: 9/10
Cohesiveness: 9/10
Thematic: 9/10
Interaction: 10/10
(+2 Thoughtfulness, +2 Game Fluidity)
Tied for runner up, nice job Blizz! ![:stuck_out_tongue:](https://d3rakab8gpdsa3.cloudfront.net/en/heroes/images/emoji/twitter/stuck_out_tongue.png?v=6" ":stuck_out_tongue:")
I just wanted to comment that I find it funny none of you thought Eternal Feast was a bit much.
I mean, it’s not that bad, but an ability that can potentially repeat indefinitely looks really powerful on paper, I think.
(so I’m saying, it doesn’t seem that bad, but only because you can actually see it in action).
Still, fun little “experiment” to see how an official concept pairs up, so thanks for indulging Deefe and I ![:smiley:](https://d3rakab8gpdsa3.cloudfront.net/en/heroes/images/emoji/twitter/smiley.png?v=6" ":smiley:")
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I’ve actually never seen conditional repeating abilities to be a problem, depending on the speed of repetition and the condition of it. Striking in an area is rather easy to get out of, so the team can end it rather quickly, even if uncoordinated. Cassia’s Ball Lightning is a bit harder to end, but is still possible, which is why the infinite is locked behind a level 20 talent.
If you looked at my Alzarius concept from the old forums, I had an ability that repeated infinitely as long as an enemy was in range, which got some flack from some people, but I never really thought it was a big deal, and Eternal Feast is even less prone to repeating than that. I did not consider the problem with Volskaya Industries, however, and clearly Blizzard didn’t either.