What’s wrong with the matchmaking in QM? Compositions? Not much to be done there in the interest of queue times. Obviously one of the things that suffers with a greatly reduced player population is matchmaking.
Super disparate MMR because the matchmaker expands the queue after 30 seconds when it realistically can never find a game in less time than that. Non-meta comps are fine so long as they aren’t super one sided. I just don’t want to see the huge spreads of MMR.
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Ranked also has relatively large mmr spreads. Kind of impressive to see after not playing for three years. I remember when I stopped playing the queue times were getting long. They decided to go in a different direction. Either way there is a sacrifice, and I’m guessing that they’re emphasizing the “quick” in Quickmatch.
There you go, I don’t play D3 at all anymore. It just made me… want to play Gauntlet Legends, which was just it, but better.
Yeah, I’m gonna stick around til they finally drop Blackthorne, or whichever other classic Blizz characters drop, but like… just look at the state of the game. The forums are just a high school cafeteria in terms of discussion, there’s just so few places where it’s not just a derisive rank queening contest. And the game… Updates are few and far and generally just nudge things around. They’ve all but eighty-sixed new brawls and new maps, and we manage two new releases a year with something like three to five reworks in a mix of low and high change. Events seem to be a thing of the past, we just get skins now with no extra fun fluff for these things. Maybe they’ll break that soon?
I don’t know that I’m looking at the right places but they claim the devs use the reddit. All I see are just chirps on memes. They straight up don’t use the forums. They’re stripping away people from the team. They haven’t accomplished anything they set out to do like AI, or regular anomalies. And I’m not necessarily blaming them, as much as pointing out what I see as evidence that they lack resources, time or maybe just the give-a-heck left for it all.
So, yeah. With the way everything is headed, I think it’s best we just temper our expectations instead of taking it out on anyone like has become the norm lately. And I think that’s perfectly okay, and I think even if it’s not, a bunch of angry rhetoric on a forum Blizzard all but ignores isn’t going to change that.
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That’s exactly what I’ve done, I’ve tempered my expectations. HOTS isn’t in a horrible state like D3 was when I stopped playing, it’s just not in a particularly good one that allows growth.
It’s still my favorite Blizzard game, but it is what it is at this point, and me going off the rails over matchmaking (which is really my only grievance with the game) isn’t going to result in anything productive anyway so I may as well just enjoy the game for what it is.
In other words you two have given up.
No, I’ve just realized that yelling at the dev team constantly is unproductive.
I would love for the game to have a better matchmaker, but I also know that’s not going to happen right now without some major concessions to queue times because the game’s population is so low. The game is what it is, and I still enjoy it. Would I like it to be better? Absolutely, but I’m fine with it as it is too.
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Is that what I’m doing?
Sounded like the matchmaking has you on the ropes. And if you’re on the ropes, boy, they call it a downward or death spiral for a reason.
Eh, it’s not going to get better.
Blizzard doesn’t have the talent left to fix it, the population is too low to make it better without tanking queue times, and they squandered their chance countlessly by dismissing the problems as “dunning-kruger” effect.
How does that saying go, wish in one hand, poop in the other?
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Matchmaking is a symptom. Dunning-Kruger is a meme.
I’d rather be that than part of this bizarre namecalling competition of manliness that the forum has become. Given up on what? It’s a free game and I didn’t give up. Activision did. It wasn’t up to me. Or Droth… I think.
We need to stop blaming players.
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lol, it wasn’t up to me either.
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I’m going to reply one more time. You keep saying you have “amazing” ideas, that the “community and Devs are stupid” and then you expect meaningful engagement with the community and Devs you express nothing but contempt for.
I’ll put that aside. To be blunt, none of this would matter so much if your ideas were truly as innovative or as good as you claim they are. To be honest with you, none of them are new ideas that haven’t already proposed or discussed here multiple times. You argue from a place of unearned arrogance, which makes any kind of genuine discussion with you almost impossible.
Despite your claim you see potential in HOTS and you’re looking forward, you spend far more time pointing fingers at the mistakes of the past. You blame a Dev team that aren’t even involved with HOTS now. You blame a community in a disproportionate way, as if they not only have a direct influence in HOTS development, but an extensive one. If the community had influence, we would have a terrible surrender button people keep asking for.
Looking at the past will be of little help now, as the majority of the people involved with the development of the game have moved on. HOTS is also not well funded or has a large Dev team to make grand changes. It’s a sad fact, but HOTS is now considered a Blizzard Classic, alongside Diablo 2.
You can’t seem to accept, temper or adapt your ideas to where HOTS is now. You even cite the almost year old Climate Anomaly as an example the game hasn’t been abandoned, even though the Devs stated in an AMA there will be no more anomalies. Many of your suggestions and ideas (aside from already being suggested and debated) are very unlikely to be implemented due to the current resources and manpower allocated to HOTS. To be clear, the game hasn’t been abandoned, but it’s in “maintenance mode” and is considered a Blizzard classic along side games that are 20 years old. This should be always kept in mind when suggesting changes, they need to be realistic in the current environment for them to be adopted.
Again, I must stress to you and I don’t want to, that none of the ideas you have proposed in your OP haven’t already been suggested and discussed here and on the old forums multiple times. You may feel you are suggesting radical and innovative ideas, but I’m sorry they aren’t. If you don’t believe me, do a forum search of your own.
I would never suggest that just because something isn’t a new idea it shouldn’t be discussed, it should, that’s what these forums are for. The trouble comes with arrogantly stating “my ideas are the best, unique and amazing and you’re all a bunch of Blizz drones and the devs suck”, this is where your unearned arrogance diverts attention away from your ideas and that attention then falls instead to your demeanor.
I wish you well, I have tried to engage with you here in this thread as many of the ideas you have proposed I have also suggested myself over the years. I think you will find most people here share your passion for HOTS, but many of us are pragmatic enough to understand that not all these concepts can be introduced due to the current state and support of HOTS.
Most of us who have been here since launch either on the old forums, Reddit or here know this. It seems Jean simply won’t accept it and inhabits a different reality.
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Hey, I hear the best place to hide is insanity…
I don’t exactly blame him, it’s just sad when he could expend that energy on some game whose devs care about it.
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HotS is doing…ok? At worst it’s going to be Diablo 3, at best who knows. Can we have a tl;dr, asking for a friend. Not that I’ve had half a bottle of vodka and be unable to concentrate.
How the turntables turn. It’s pretty amusing no new content being announced at Blizzcon is where some draw the line. Anyway, as this is apparently the only thread on this forum where ideas are proposed with considerable thoughtfulness I’ll try to fill the gap as JeanFrancois seems to be in a time-out to contemplate his unconstructive posting sins.
Recently I’m seeing posts claiming that the game is failing to generate revenue and further limiting its development. I think focusing on heroes is smart. Being creative with how to get heroes in players’ hands at more reasonable prices serves to both accommodate players who are or would be interested in the game and to improve the chances of the game seeing more revenue. Heroes are the only content that really matters. Both the super-dynamic bundle and the rent-and-buy ideas have promise.
These conspiracy theory parts were wrong. Apparently back in the day gold did not unlock cosmetics, with a few exceptions. So gold being at all usable for cosmetics actually favors players - veterans most of all. The HotS “2.0” changes were not a blatant attempt to milk players but they were certainly beside the point and questionable. Gems appear to also have been Blizzard’s attempt to lower prices, as they introduced a whole bunch of lower level content. Kind of silly, but that also favors players/consumers.
The map suggestions are interesting. It’s certainly true that after a while many maps start to blend into one another. Straightforward five on five fighting over a centralized objective begins to relegate differences to aesthetics. I’ve also been noticing that some maps have been made dimmer? I don’t know if this is another socially sensitive attempt on Blizzard’s part to be accommodating or not but it’s reducing the appeal and range of maps. Players should be given options to dim or should just use the gamma setting.
The reporting system issues go without saying. Something needs to be done, and at this point a reset of the penalties makes sense too. Players need to feel safe being able to voice their frustrations. The line needs to be clearly defined and enforced both ways. If now is not the time for systemic change then at minimum silences need to go back to just being silences. Present-day Blizzard’s overly-sensitive decadent culture is of course the real obstacle.
The most controversial idea here is without question the one aimed at expanding the game’s core gameplay. It may also be the key one, so it needs to be treated seriously. This game is going nowhere without empowering/challenging/rewarding players more. The progression-type power level stuff is the one area that could truly be called antithetical to this game as it biases fighting and is done by the other MOBAs. Expanding core fighting, on the other hand, should fit with the spirit of this game.
So we have:
- Basic abilities application quickened
- Basic abilities effects lasting longer
- Basic abilities ranges extended (casting and skillshot travel distances)
- Basic abilities areas of effect enlarged (includes cones)
- Basic abilities cooldowns cleared
- Basic abilities cooldowns recharge faster
- Dash power
- Teleport power with forced return to initial spot
- Increased movement speed
- Self-cleanse
- Full invisibility not revealed by movement
- Shield
- Regeneration
- Half the Hearthstone effect on the spot
- Life-leech on damage
- All healing and regeneration experienced increased
- Life-link to sustain damage instead of target hero
- Armor activation based on damage sustained
- Healing performed increased
- Basic ability damage increased
- Basic attack damage increased
- Basic attack speed increased
- Basic attack range increased, charge to target for melee heroes
- Basic attacking while moving
There is a large subset of these powers that should be useful to any particular hero. Traits would also have to be included in these powers I believe. The next step would be to illustrate how they would apply in specific cases. The fundamental thinking here is that:
- Due to these powers being short-acting and activatable they present more dynamic choice and execution than the attempt the early developers made at Artifacts. There is also no serious progression component “gating” power. If anyone pulls up the design of Artifacts we could compare and contrast, consider how the gameplay effect could be different.
- While the powers are clearly empowering and “synergistic” counters should be inherent. Gaming fundamentally works in this way.
I think the reality is it’s time to get bold. Get bold or die. The writing is on the wall as clearly as ever for this game. If its developers don’t get smart and aggressive it will indeed become another Blizzard relic. Some people are fond of Blizzard relics but time moves on. Whoever has been cast to work on this game needs to start experimenting, and not on little random Anomalies. Too much talk of passion, not much evidence of it. Some people confuse passion with preservation. That’s how one of the worst movies in the history of movies and a disgrace to its franchise happened - Star Wars Episode VII.
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After an enriching month in bronze and in close consultation with the appraisal offices of Dunning-Kruger my conclusion has been affirmed. This game is too shallow. That’s not to mean that the game is not fun or that the game does not take skill. It means that once you’re familiar with the heroes playing the game is too simple and straightforward. This can lead to boredom and irresolvable frustration. Challenge is one way to get around simplicity. Shooting games are and have been highly popular. Despite their greater simplicity, Overwatch included, they are very engaging as they push the capabilities of players and strongly reward excellence or superiority. Power appears to be another way to get around simplicity. I lack experience with the other traditional MOBAs but it seems a key part of their appeal is that they empower players. There’s a rewarding link between doing well and being stronger. They are also not as simple.
This game asks you to play it because it’s pretty, it has characters people have an attachment to, and seemingly just because it exists. Also because you’d feel better playing it than just staring at a screen or reading. The point is the game has little to no edge. That’s what’s missing. Somewhere along the way - maybe these people just aged or turnover was transformational - Blizzard started viewing games as mellow and comfortable experiences rather than as exciting and spurring experiences. The company lost its spirit and character, and the remnants of its communities are as insipid as their games. Blizzard no longer seems to understand gaming. The loss of edge manifests everywhere, including where things are counted.
As a “team brawler” the one thing I believe is antithetical to this game’s design is going down the road of stacking the fighting odds in favor of those who get ahead. My impression from the past is that the talent tiers themselves conflict with the essence of the game. So directly empowering players over their opponents is something I avoid. This leaves challenge and complexity.
I’m going to start applying the suggested powers to different heroes in trying to consider what effect that idea would have on the game (one of the cooldown powers needs to be altered). I think the other ideas are more obvious, although in this environment nothing is obvious apparently.
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This is the one that needs to be changed because the lockdown and blow-up potential is too high, i.e. lack of interactability.
- Basic abilities cast within the next 4 seconds have at maximum 4-second cooldowns for their next use.
The durations of the last group of powers may need to be reduced but anyway.
By the way, the abusive chat report category may well be ravaging this game as committed players spend a lot of time on it and reports stick, with now seemingly quite few being necessary to trigger punishment. Not only have they made the category more aggressive I’ve been reading that even mild stuff by any standard upholds what are now total suspensions. Blizzard management is absolutely inept in my opinion. Completely out of touch in how to handle a potentially vital issue like this. It would appear that these people don’t have a spirit for gaming.
Does anyone know what the average age of senior people who might be making these decisions is? Have they also undergone some sort of formal recruitment process that has filled the company with meek personalities? Where’s the fire in these people?
By the way, does no one understand the underlying point I’m making? I came back after a three-year absence. Plenty of new heroes to play. I think the developers have done a good job in expanding the tank, bruiser, and healer categories. I’m not crazy about what they’ve added to the damage category but there’s a good deal of choice.
One way I avoid being bored with this game is playing a lot of heroes. But as climbing starts to creep up as a goal and you gain experience the pool narrows while the novelty wears off. In a little over a month of playing I’m recapturing that feeling of how little I’m doing in this game, even when winning. It’s not a question of weight on the outcome but quality of play. For a game that has shaved off a lot in all areas except fighting it hasn’t pushed any boundary or norm in fighting. Eventually the shine wears off and you realize there’s not an awful lot to this game. The characters are quality as are the visuals and sounds but the gameplay is limited. Heroes of the Storm is to MOBAs what Hearthstone is to collectible card games, with MOBAs being exclusively non-physical. I don’t understand how Blizzard is content with becoming Casual Central.
Are there any World of Warcraft arena players here? How does that experience compare to a MOBA? Based on my experience playing PvE in that game I’ve discovered that the number of abilities in that game don’t end up achieving much due to few and fixed spell rotations. Little dynamism.