Blizzcon 2016

[Deleted]

stolen from reddit:

Q - Will older heroes, e.g. Murky, be updated/reworked?

A - The team is considering it carefully, and every hero might be reworked at some point if need be. Data is a major point.


They also have interesting numbers vs rank distribution data for the end of Season 1 Ranking:
11% Bronze. 35% silver. 23% Gold. 16% Plat. 14% Diamond. 1% Master.

Bit more silver and less bronze than I would have expected, but no big surprises. Would have love to see added 'activity vs league 'data, but they didn't comment on that as far as I've seen so far.

[Well]

Eh...

No duo queue in HL? Bye game. Seriously.

[RH92]

Eh...

No duo queue in HL? Bye game. Seriously.

Duo or even trio queue in Team League though.

[Well]

Duo or even trio queue in Team League though.

If that's not different, then why change it? "Display solo queue skill"? What's skillful in being paired with random teammates? I will never have enough people for a team, so... not worth even arguing about. If this goes up, I don't know if I will even stick for QMs, honestly. QMs are not enjoyable for me anymore, so it's completely pointless. Just sigh.

[ophion1990]

The removal of the account level cap is pretty damn sweet. It's crazy how much they actually cater to the playerbase instead of just doing whatever the hell they want themselves. If we have skin ideas or stuff like endless account levels, they just put it in. :d I wonder how much they'll redistribute XP, since they don't seem content with how long leveling takes right now (post 10).

HotS, WoW and OW teams are really killing it. Heck, I don't even play OW but was hyped for a the trailer.

[RH92]

If that's not different, then why change it? "Display solo queue skill"? What's skillful in being paired with random teammates? I will never have enough people for a team, so... not worth even arguing about. If this goes up, I don't know if I will even stick for QMs, honestly. QMs are not enjoyable for me anymore, so it's completely pointless. Just sigh.

What is that matter really?

You can still queue with friends in TL and get pure solo queue experience in HL, sometimes it sucks you get two groups against you when your team is full of randoms. With this change, you always get 2+3 team against a same team "composition" or full stack. More predictability in your matches seems good to me.

[Well]

What is that matter really?

You can still queue with friends in TL and get pure solo queue experience in HL, sometimes it sucks you get two groups against you when your team is full of randoms. With this change, you always get 2+3 team against a same team "composition" or full stack. More predictability in your matches seems good to me.

As they stated themselves the difference between solo & duo queue is less than 1%. There's no reason at all to remove the ability to queue in HL as a duo. It is just stupid and needlessly prohibiting of having fun with my duo queue friend, where we many times want a competitive setting which we can tryhard in, and that's obviously not QM. Duo queuing vs 5 queuing though? THAT will be completely trash.

[DesoPL]

Also it is just me, or Dehaka update is too much early for him? I mean look, he was released this year and update? I think Brightwing or even Diablo deserve some changes.

[Frozen Death Knight]

What is that matter really?

You can still queue with friends in TL and get pure solo queue experience in HL, sometimes it sucks you get two groups against you when your team is full of randoms. With this change, you always get 2+3 team against a same team "composition" or full stack. More predictability in your matches seems good to me.

I asked this questions about changing HL to solo queue and TL to 2+3 or full 5 man queue during the last Questions to the Devs on Reddit. I am extremely happy to see these changes, because the game really needs TL to be the go to place to team up with people.

Plus, people need to understand that having duo and trio queues in HL will improve the matchmaking considerably because of the increased population in TL as well as making HL more fair to everyone. Full 5 man teams will still have the advantage, but to me that is better than not being able to play TL on a regular basis. Also, nothing stops you from just joining the same party with the other group after the match is done.

- - - Updated - - -

Also it is just me, or Dehaka update is too much early for him? I mean look, he was released this year and update? I think Brightwing or even Diablo deserve some changes.

Brightwing is actually fairly solid as a Support and is picked or banned pretty often on the ladder. The one downside to her is some of her talent choices not being very good, but she still has build diversity in the form of her Z build and Emerald Wind build.

[apepi]

Brightwing has gotten tons of changes already. She is already at her third or fourth iteration.

[Ryme]

If that's not different, then why change it? "Display solo queue skill"? What's skillful in being paired with random teammates? I will never have enough people for a team, so... not worth even arguing about. If this goes up, I don't know if I will even stick for QMs, honestly. QMs are not enjoyable for me anymore, so it's completely pointless. Just sigh.

It's almost entirely for perception reasons and they've made it clear it's just a test for one season, so if it doesn't work they'll revert.

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Personalised stats look a very nice touch:

[RH92]

As they stated themselves the difference between solo & duo queue is less than 1%. There's no reason at all to remove the ability to queue in HL as a duo. It is just stupid and needlessly prohibiting of having fun with my duo queue friend, where we many times want a competitive setting which we can tryhard in, and that's obviously not QM. Duo queuing vs 5 queuing though? THAT will be completely trash.

You can still tryhard with a friend, but in TL. Nobody is stopping you from that.

I find it ironic you seek challenge, but are scared of fighting a 5-stack or 2+3 teams. Unless you get troll groups, the overall experience should be better. I also think having two independet groups at max is easier to get the cooperation going as people inside those groups are on the same page to begin with.

They are just moving duo queue and reintoducing trio queue in TL, nobody is removing anything.

[Well]

Personalised stats look a very nice touch:

That's so nice. I hope that our stats for heroes won't start from 0 when this launches.

- - - Updated - - -

You can still tryhard with a friend, but in TL. Nobody is stopping you from that.

I find it ironic you seek challenge, but are scared of fighting a 5-stack or 2+3 teams. Unless you get troll groups, the overall experience should be better. I also think having two independet groups at max is easier to get the cooperation going as people inside those groups are on the same page to begin with.

They are just moving duo queue and reintoducing trio queue in TL, nobody is removing anything.

A challenge does not confer an unfair advantage. A team of people playing together as 5 will crush any other variable of a team that is not the same, and I really don't think that I need to say how or why.

And you're completely wrong at all your points, it's self-evident.

[RH92]

A challenge does not confer an unfair advantage. A team of people playing together as 5 will crush any other variable of a team that is not the same, and I really don't think that I need to say how or why.

And you're completely wrong at all your points, it's self-evident.

Okay, okay! You totally changed my perspective with your argumentation, sorry to disagree with you.

[Nerraw]

I'm gonna go ahead and nip this one in the bud and ask everyone to please keep it tactful. This is a weekend for celebration. Let us keep it like that!

[ttak82]

So we have 2 heroes announced, think there's gonna be a 3rd? I think there was one year where Morales was revealed after the initial announcement

Someone leaked the infos on the next 2 heroes after Varian and Raggy:

Zul'jin (Yes, it's this one and not any of the other trolls)
Valeera Sanguinar (although there's some confusion here and this could be Alleria Windrunner as well)

Also Kel'Thuzad is still in the works.

[Nerraw]

They more or less confirmed Zul'jin during the second panel.

[ttak82]

Personalised stats look a very nice touch:

It's a great feature for anyone interested in their performance. They probably have a cloud server logging all replay stats ala internal version of hotslogs. I think this will take time to get released. Blizzard is not even making their HOTS API public for stats. It will also cause some delays after games have ended.

- - - Updated - - -

Also happy at solo queue HL and the TL changes. TL will explode.

[Howard Moon]

dat Terminator reference lol

I loved that so much XD

[Thimagryn]

Someone leaked the infos on the next 2 heroes after Varian and Raggy:

Zul'jin (Yes, it's this one and not any of the other trolls)
Valeera Sanguinar (although there's some confusion here and this could be Alleria Windrunner as well)

Also Kel'Thuzad is still in the works.

I so hope this is true. I know it's an overload of Warcraft heroes, but I LOVE seeing more of em.

- - - Updated - - -

They more or less confirmed Zul'jin during the second panel.

Hrm where in the panel was this? Watching the State of the Game panel, haven't seen any mention yet. Or was it in the Art panel?