1. #1

    Heroes of the Storm AMA - December 5, 2019

    Heroes of the Storm Live Patch Notes - December 3, 2019

    Heroes of the Storm AMA - December 5, 2019
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
    Greetings, Heroes!

    We’re going to host our next AMA right here on Thursday, December 5th, 2019. The following Heroes developers will join the thread and answer your questions starting around 10:00 a.m. PST (7:00 p.m. CET) until 12:00 p.m. PST (9:00 p.m. CET).

    • Adam Z. Jackson (/u/BlizzAZJackson)
    • Andrew Kinabrew (/u/Blizz_KinaBREW)
    • Brittany Gleiter (/u/Blizz_BGleiter)
    • David Gower (/u/Blizz_DGower)
    • David P Warner (/u/Blizz_DWarner)
    • Kaeo Milker (/u/KaeoMilker)
    • Kevin Gu (/u/BlizzKGu)
    • Kyle Dates (/u/BlizzKyle)
    • Ryan Mills (/u/Blizz_RyanM)
    • Thomas Horwath (/u/Blizz_Thomas)
    • Sergey Morozov (/u/Blizz_SMorozov)

    When posting multiple AMA questions: Please make an effort to post one question per comment. This will make it easier for others to read through the thread, and will help the developers focus on one question at a time. However, please feel free to comment as many times as you'd like in order to get your questions posted.

    You can start posting your questions right now, and we'll see you on Thursday!

  2. #2
    You... gonna add the summary?

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by meganerd18 View Post
    You... gonna add the summary?
    I finished it late last night. It needs to go by someone higher up first, so it might not show up until Monday.

  4. #4
    I hope it is ok that I summarize one of the questions since it was answered after the AMA ended. The question was regarding the lack of season rewards. If you have played ranked before, this answer will probably annoy the crap out of you because of how deceitful it is.

    They acknowledge the lack of meaningful rewards in the latest season but would like to note that this was their first time doing a quest-like progress in Storm League. The rewards will be tweaked over the course of multiple seasons based on our feedback. They plan on discussing ways they can incorporate rewards such as mounts in the system moving forward. They are also aware that they failed to communicate the rewards for the end of the prior season.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucetia View Post
    If people need old items to feel unique and special then they have a problem. Playing a video game in a MMO isn't about looking and feeling special.
    LOL

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Clatratus View Post
    I hope it is ok that I summarize one of the questions since it was answered after the AMA ended. The question was regarding the lack of season rewards. If you have played ranked before, this answer will probably annoy the crap out of you because of how deceitful it is.

    They acknowledge the lack of meaningful rewards in the latest season but would like to note that this was their first time doing a quest-like progress in Storm League. The rewards will be tweaked over the course of multiple seasons based on our feedback. They plan on discussing ways they can incorporate rewards such as mounts in the system moving forward. They are also aware that they failed to communicate the rewards for the end of the prior season.
    How exactly is that answer "deceitful"?

  6. #6
    Do you play ranked in heroes? If you knew how ranked rewards worked in previous seasons, you would understand how the answer is deceitful. I am not trying to sound like a prick by asking that but in all of the threads on reddit and on the official forums, everyone who plays heroes knows why this is the worst answer blizz could have possibly given.
    Last edited by Clatratus; 2019-12-08 at 12:11 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucetia View Post
    If people need old items to feel unique and special then they have a problem. Playing a video game in a MMO isn't about looking and feeling special.
    LOL

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Clatratus View Post
    Do you play ranked in heroes? If you knew how ranked rewards worked in previous seasons, you would understand how the answer is deceitful. I am not trying to sound like a prick by asking that but in all of the threads on reddit and on the official forums, everyone who plays heroes knows why this is the worst answer blizz could have possibly given.
    We knew the team was downsized, we even knew that they didn't even have the mount models ready to go a couple of seasons now and we also know that hero and cosmetic releases heavily slowed down. They're wording it like this because it'd look bad to say "we don't have the resources, sorry", which is the actual answer. That said, it is the first season with the new reward structure, they even asked the community what rewards they'd like to see, so rewards changing was on the horizon.

  8. #8
    Regardless of what the rewards are or aren't, they should be told when the season starts, not after it ended. I'm not even mad if there's nothing special, I just want to know for sure what it will be.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Twen View Post
    Regardless of what the rewards are or aren't, they should be told when the season starts, not after it ended. I'm not even mad if there's nothing special, I just want to know for sure what it will be.
    It's just them being afraid of saying it as it is, they'd rather ask for forgiveness instead of trusting their players to understand the situation. Don't know why it's gotten to that point. Many players know there's been a huge down size, it's understandable... Just say it as it is, that's all we can really ask for at this point right? Honesty.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by spalernTJ View Post
    It's just them being afraid of saying it as it is, they'd rather ask for forgiveness instead of trusting their players to understand the situation. Don't know why it's gotten to that point. Many players know there's been a huge down size, it's understandable... Just say it as it is, that's all we can really ask for at this point right? Honesty.
    Indeed. I just hope it's not a deliberate tactic to try and keep all the people who only play ranked for cool rewards playing the mode just in case.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by ophion1990 View Post
    We knew the team was downsized, we even knew that they didn't even have the mount models ready to go a couple of seasons now and we also know that hero and cosmetic releases heavily slowed down. They're wording it like this because it'd look bad to say "we don't have the resources, sorry", which is the actual answer. That said, it is the first season with the new reward structure, they even asked the community what rewards they'd like to see, so rewards changing was on the horizon.
    Even a touch of honesty would have been better than straight up lying for the entire answer though. Did you know that at the end of their blog post before the season started, they said "We’ll be sharing what ranked play rewards will be in our next blog closer to 2019 Season 3 launch"? They never released this blog and we never found out what the rewards were until we were handed the rewards. If it wasn't for this AMA, they would probably have been completely fine with not acknowledging this.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucetia View Post
    If people need old items to feel unique and special then they have a problem. Playing a video game in a MMO isn't about looking and feeling special.
    LOL

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Clatratus View Post
    Do you play ranked in heroes? If you knew how ranked rewards worked in previous seasons, you would understand how the answer is deceitful. I am not trying to sound like a prick by asking that but in all of the threads on reddit and on the official forums, everyone who plays heroes knows why this is the worst answer blizz could have possibly given.
    An answer that you do not like is not the same thing as a deceitful answer.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Egomaniac View Post
    An answer that you do not like is not the same thing as a deceitful answer.
    Ok fair enough. Tell me why you think this answer isn't deceitful and please feel free to use your knowledge of the ranked system in heroes to the fullest in your explanation.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucetia View Post
    If people need old items to feel unique and special then they have a problem. Playing a video game in a MMO isn't about looking and feeling special.
    LOL

  14. #14
    Honestly, the game is just trash now. Dynamic queue in ranked, boosting, attempting to hide info on premades, ranked rewards etc.

    I had a game against 4-5 guys who did the Morales medivac strat where they just zerg your base down and don't care if they die. A group of solo ques trying to stop them. The game is a full on joke and it shows.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Clatratus View Post
    Ok fair enough. Tell me why you think this answer isn't deceitful and please feel free to use your knowledge of the ranked system in heroes to the fullest in your explanation.
    Why should I answer your question when you still haven't answered mine? You made the accusation that they are being deceitful...back it up.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Clatratus View Post
    Even a touch of honesty would have been better than straight up lying for the entire answer though. Did you know that at the end of their blog post before the season started, they said "We’ll be sharing what ranked play rewards will be in our next blog closer to 2019 Season 3 launch"? They never released this blog and we never found out what the rewards were until we were handed the rewards. If it wasn't for this AMA, they would probably have been completely fine with not acknowledging this.
    What?

    another part of the concern here was that we did not communicate the rewards (or lack thereof) well. Noted, and we'll do better.
    Seems like an acknowldgement of a lack of a blogpost to communicate mount rewards, to me atleast. All other things I mentioned are still valid aswell, including them asking what season rewards people wanted. I genuinly do not understand why you see that response at deceitful.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by ophion1990 View Post
    Seems like an acknowldgement of a lack of a blogpost to communicate mount rewards, to me atleast. All other things I mentioned are still valid aswell, including them asking what season rewards people wanted. I genuinly do not understand why you see that response at deceitful.
    Based off your earlier response, I figured you viewed it as deceitful as well considering you said they worded their post that way to hide the fact that they don't have the resources which is the actual answer. I will give my reasons to you though.

    1. They justified the lack of meaningful rewards by saying this season was their first time doing a quest-like progress in SL. While that is true it is their first time, they knew we wouldn't be ok with doing 10x more work (100 games compared to the 10 in all of the previous seasons) for 1/3 of the rewards.

    2. "They want to discuss ways to include things we all love and covet like the mount." This is deceitful because they there is no need to discuss ways for this to happen. Until last season, they have been given the mount at the end of every season. (Even the pre-season) Suddenly they need to discuss how to do something they have done for multiple seasons now? They only said this because they are pretending to act like they didn't know how to give us the mount in the first place when they clearly did. Right here they could have easily said they didn't have the resources or time but they took this route instead.

    3. I said if it wasn't for the AMA, they would probably have not acknowledged this. For months, they stayed completely silent because if people were told that you were given a single portrait for 50 wins, a lot of people wouldn't have stepped foot in ranked. This last bit wasn't deceitful as much as it was apathetic. They didn't apologize for not telling us that we would get significantly less rewards. Instead, we only got an acknowledgement that they didn't tell us what we were in for. (An acknowledgement is not the same as an apology on the off chance that you go down that route. I am sure you won't but I just want to cover all the bases. Saying you screwed up and apologizing for screwing up are two different things.)
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucetia View Post
    If people need old items to feel unique and special then they have a problem. Playing a video game in a MMO isn't about looking and feeling special.
    LOL

  18. #18
    Pandaren Monk ThatsOurEric's Avatar
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    They need to do 2 major things. Normally, like I've been asking, is for them to improve the match making system, but I
    finally accept the notion that Blizzard does not know HOW to make a good system, so Ranked will always be a shit show.
    Anyway;

    1) Make it so that when you complete the Ranked Quest, you get all the rewards. If they keep it based on the previous system, which
    was based on how high you're able to rank up, it's a big fuck over to the players who are stuck in ELO Hell.

    2) They need to add an "Avoid Player." It is beyond unfair to get unlucky and have a troll on your team cost you the win, only to get
    consistently paired with said player for several games in a row.

    At this point, they might as well try and focus on making more PvE scenarios and games, cause their pvp is as stated, a fucking
    shit show.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Clatratus View Post
    Based off your earlier response, I figured you viewed it as deceitful as well considering you said they worded their post that way to hide the fact that they don't have the resources which is the actual answer. I will give my reasons to you though.
    Deceitful implies something more sinister, I see it more as a harmless untruth but let's not get into semantics.

    Quote Originally Posted by Clatratus View Post
    1. They justified the lack of meaningful rewards by saying this season was their first time doing a quest-like progress in SL. While that is true it is their first time, they knew we wouldn't be ok with doing 10x more work (100 games compared to the 10 in all of the previous seasons) for 1/3 of the rewards.
    You might be making the erroneous assumption that everyone only cares about the carrot that's dangling on the stick. It's a driving factor but ranked will attract players even with more minimal rewards. I, and many others, played D3 (or D2) seasons before the season journey, I played WoW arena when all you got was a title that dissappeared by the end of the next season and lord knows how many BGs I played well past the point where honor was even remotely relevant for me.

    Quote Originally Posted by Clatratus View Post
    2. "They want to discuss ways to include things we all love and covet like the mount." This is deceitful because they there is no need to discuss ways for this to happen. Until last season, they have been given the mount at the end of every season. (Even the pre-season) Suddenly they need to discuss how to do something they have done for multiple seasons now? They only said this because they are pretending to act like they didn't know how to give us the mount in the first place when they clearly did. Right here they could have easily said they didn't have the resources or time but they took this route instead.
    Circumstances have changed, as I mentioned earlier. AFAIK, Qhira was the last thing the old team worked on, everything else is done with the smaller team, this'd include ranked stuff. I mean, Deathwing's launch skin wasn't even ready yet, even though we're getting skin drops a lot less frequently already.

    Quote Originally Posted by Clatratus View Post
    3. I said if it wasn't for the AMA, they would probably have not acknowledged this. For months, they stayed completely silent because if people were told that you were given a single portrait for 50 wins, a lot of people wouldn't have stepped foot in ranked. This last bit wasn't deceitful as much as it was apathetic. They didn't apologize for not telling us that we would get significantly less rewards. Instead, we only got an acknowledgement that they didn't tell us what we were in for. (An acknowledgement is not the same as an apology on the off chance that you go down that route. I am sure you won't but I just want to cover all the bases. Saying you screwed up and apologizing for screwing up are two different things.)
    See my response to point #1. In addition to that, rewards are great but they should never be the driving factor to get players to play a certain mode. If ranked dies because you no longer get a mount, there was something seriously wrong with the mode to begin with. That said, I do agree that an apology may have been in order and I definitely agree that they should have been more open about the rewards well before the season ended.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by ophion1990 View Post
    You might be making the erroneous assumption that everyone only cares about the carrot that's dangling on the stick. It's a driving factor but ranked will attract players even with more minimal rewards. I, and many others, played D3 (or D2) seasons before the season journey, I played WoW arena when all you got was a title that dissappeared by the end of the next season and lord knows how many BGs I played well past the point where honor was even remotely relevant for me.
    Based on the rest of the response, it is to my understanding that we are on the same page and it is just a matter of semantics. but I do want to address this point.

    That wasn't the assumption I was using when making that point. There are people that care about the carrot but there are also those who play it for the mode itself. For those that do care solely about the rewards, a few have already stated on the forums they don't plan on participating in ranked for the lack of rewards and I am sure there are many more. I also know that there are plenty of people who wile are upset with this unfortunate surprise, will still play ranked. I didn't mention this bit though because it wasn't a part of my claim. My main and only objective was to point out how this part of blizz's answer supports my claim that the overall answer was deceitful/untruthful.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucetia View Post
    If people need old items to feel unique and special then they have a problem. Playing a video game in a MMO isn't about looking and feeling special.
    LOL

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