It's not just looks, it's how the character feels aswell. Imperius probably feels more like a Varian than Tyrael and Malthael is probably closer to Arthas. Compare that to the D2 pala/Kormac/Johanna etc, they all seem more like 2 sides of the same coin to me.
As for Itherael, IDK. He's probably the least noteable angel since he seems to kinda follow Tyrael's mindset and kinda seems like he was pretty passive aswell. Auriel was mostly unknown aswell and she worked out great though, so we'll see, I guess. :d
I hope for more supports
Last edited by breadisfunny; 2017-02-23 at 07:15 AM.
r.i.p. alleria. 1997-2017. blizzard ruined alleria forever. blizz assassinated alleria's character and appearance.
i will never forgive you for this blizzard.
In terms of looks, yeah, Andariel would be good as a Kerrigan skin...unfortunately Andy's abilities have nothing in common with Kerrigan's, so it would really seem odd to see Andariel leaping at people and generating shields and summoning whatever they replaced the Ultralisk with...
But yeah, Baal doesn't strike me as a warrior. He could be an assassin, but specialist seems a better choice. Now Duriel, sure, he could be a warrior, but not Baal.
A CM stated in a post that they had some more supports planned for 2017. This was the post about the timing of all those Warcraft assassins.
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/hero...ic/20752651047
Last edited by ttak82; 2017-02-27 at 08:25 AM. Reason: added link
Kerrigan/Andariel is another case of Nova/Widowmaker; characters who may not necessarily play the same, but are similar enough to each other to not justify creating a separate slot for them. Even if we ignore the physical similarities, Nova doesn't have an Infrared Camera or Poison Mines, nor does Widowmaker have an Orbital Nuke or Holo-Decoys, yet they were put into the game as the same character because within the context of the Nexus, they were the same role.
Could they have made them different? Yes. Instead of a stealth mechanic, they could have given her a grapple hook escape that would let her climb over terrain, hidden poison proximity mines instead of holo-decoys, an Infrared Heroic that gave her vision of all enemies on the map, etc... And that would definitely have given her a unique play style from Nova, but she'd still essentially be a second Nova; hit-and-run, ambush sniper. Look at the other ambush characters. Other than being ambush characters, they all have different roles. Zeratul is a melee hit-and-run, Valeera is about controlling her target (every CC in the game except root,) and Samuro is about using his illusions to confuse and distract while he chips their health away. Widowmaker would have been another Nova, which is why she became a skin instead of a hero. And I feel the same way about Andariel.
Bare in mind, I'm not saying I don't want Andariel to have her own slot. I do. The more heroes the better. But, looking at it from a design perspective, I'm just not sure she will.
- She's already got a strike against her as she looks very similar to Kerrigan. Every character has to look unique enough to be quickly identified in a fight. Admittedly, it CAN be done (Tychus/Raynor,) so it's not a MAJOR obstacle. But it is one to take into account.
- And then there's the alternative skins to consider. There's only so many variations that can be done with Kerrigan's design alone, but then Andariel would essentially double how quickly they burn through them.
- As for her abilities, what does she offer that would justify a separate slot? If my memory is correct, she didn't exactly have a plethora of attacks in D2. And her most notable one (Poison Nova) is taken by Xul. Didn't she also have a fireball nova? (Been a while since I played D2.) If so, it would basically be Diablo's Fire Stomp. Poison on auto attacks? That's Lunara and Nazeebo. That's not to say they couldn't make adjustments to those to make them usable for her (melee range frontal cone poison arc or fireball skillshot,) but what would she really bring with those? Maybe make her more of a melee mage type character? Most of her damage comes from her abilities, but she fights in melee range? It could work, perhaps.
Didn't mean for this to become a wall of text.
Again, I'm not saying I want her to be a skin. I just see it as the most likely outcome for Andariel. I hope to be proven wrong. But, until then, paint Maelstrom green to give it more of a poison-y appearance and replace the Ultralisk with a Hellhound. Re-skin the blades (E) and claws (W) to more of a Diablo art style and Andariel would be a fine Kerrigan skin.
Last edited by De Lupe; 2017-02-27 at 03:07 PM.
Yeah, I just killed her(200 FCR sorc makes it fast), and I realize Andariel doesn't actually have a lot of abilities. She has a poison spray(basically a cone AOE), poison applied by autoattacks(which would be melee, unlike Lunara and Nazeebo, and should definitely be more potent than Zeebo's), and that's all. No fireball attack, she's actually vulnerable to fire in fact. One of her melee attacks does have her essentially strike with all of her...appendages? Maybe have that apply a slow or something.
Duriel kinda has the same troubles. He's got a charge that knockbacks(which Diablo has), Smite(a melee attack that stuns, which Valeera has), and his Holy Freeze aura that slows and deals small damage to everything near him(which Arthas has), and that's it.
Baal OTOH has a lot of options. He's got a fireball nova, his wave of cold attack that knocks enemies back and slows them, a mana burning melee attack, can apply a curse that causes enemies to pay their spell costs with their life instead of their mana, can teleport, can summon vile tendrils, and can generate a clone of himself. Gives you a lot of options to pull from with him.
I see Duriel being in the same spot as Andariel. Not enough to work with to make his own slot, but he'd make a great Anub skin.
Oh yea. Definitely specialist territory.
Melee Specialist
- Trait - Passive - Mana Burn - Baal's auto attacks burn .5% of the targets maximum mana.
- Q - Fireball - A low damage, cheap mana, quick moving skillshot. Damages minions, but passes through them. Explodes when it hits a hero. Can be talented for additional perks.
- W - Vile Tendril - Baal summons a vile tendril that will flail in an area, damaging all enemies it hits. Deals extra damage against buildings? Can't be targeted?
- E - Life Leech - Enemy target's spells now take half their cost from the hero's health pool instead of their mana pool. Lasts 5 seconds? 20 second CD?
- Heroic - Frozen Nova - All enemies are knocked away and have their movement speed reduced by 50% decaying over 2-3 seconds. 20 upgrade could be 100% slow.
- Heroic2 - Duplicate - Baal clones himself. The clone will mimic Baal's spells at 50% damage, can be re-positioned with R (like the Ultralisk), and lasts 20ish seconds. If Baal is killed while the clone is active, the clone dies in his place and he is healed for 100% of the clone's remaining health. 20 upgrade could up it's damage to 100%.
I'm sure someone else could clean that up a bit and BOOM! Baal is in the Nexus. ^_^
Got one for the Cow King too. He'd make a great Warrior.
Last edited by De Lupe; 2017-02-27 at 05:57 PM.
I think they release the different character types depending on the current meta. Or, maybe if they want to introduce some new metas along the way. Just offtopic, how is Lucio faring along?