Heroes of the Storm

[Alan]

I went to a LAN center yesterday for Heroes of the Storm night (apparently they do it every Thursday night, which is unfortunately also my D&D night). We had 5v5 custom games which was fantastic.

Game 1 (4v4 since there weren't enough free computers): Tomb of the Spider Queen
My team: Diablo, Lili, Jaina, Zeratul (me)
Other team: Johanna (played by a Twitch streamer who was in town for vacation), Malfurion, Raynor, Nova
Lost a close game. Had more kills but we couldn't control the objectives. Our Diablo and Lili were new players, their Raynor and Nova were new, but the Nova was like a diamond LOL player and was really good. Nova basically just waited for me to come out of stealth to try to take down Malf or Raynor. Johanna was completely unkillable. At one point I got a VP on the rest of their team, and we couldn't even get her to half health before it expired.

Game 2: Tomb of the Spider Queen again (bc they forgot to change the map)
My team: Muradin, Lili, Sylvanas, Nova, Tyrande (me)
Other team: Anub'arak, Butcher, Kerrigan, Zeratul, Murky
This was a completely unbalanced game. We had the streamer, the Nova from game 1, and two new players. The other team were all experienced players. Kills were 34-0 despite them having no healer, bc they basically ganked all early game and built like a 4 lvl lead by midgame. I think I went like 0.25 and 6 or something like that.

Game 3: Dragon Shire
My team: Butcher, KT, Valla, Nova, Uther (me)
Other team: Anub'arak, Kerrigan, Lili, Raynor, Zagara
We won - structurally was close, but we were way superior in teamfights, from mid-game on. The guy sitting next to me was on KT, and we had really strong ganking early game. I was basically tank/support, and it was fantastic to throw DS on Butcher when he went balls deep into their backline.

As an aside, I have no idea how this place makes any money. They charge $6 per hour to play, and I think there's a total of 12 PCs there.

[Alan]

What talents are you using? I usually talent the W but he has a lot of build diversity.

I do the smorgasbord build.

1: Conjuror's, or on two lane maps, Reach
4: Protective Shield
7: Clairvoyance if need vision, Holy Fire if we need more damage, Cleanse if other team has lots of CC. I haven't used the W talent, but could see where it could help
10: Divine Shield
13: Shrink Ray
16: Benediction
20: Redemption

[Alan]

I don't think I've ever actually taken Cleanse though. I feel like there are few situations where I would react quickly enough to use it and have it be useful.

[Jonathan]

I have definitely taken Cleanse, but I can't think of a time when I've used it usefully.

[Jonathan]

I went to a LAN center yesterday for Heroes of the Storm night (apparently they do it every Thursday night, which is unfortunately also my D&D night). We had 5v5 custom games which was fantastic.

Game 1 (4v4 since there weren't enough free computers): Tomb of the Spider Queen

And bots to fill out the teams? That sounds pretty fun!

[Alan]

I went to a LAN center yesterday for Heroes of the Storm night (apparently they do it every Thursday night, which is unfortunately also my D&D night). We had 5v5 custom games which was fantastic.

Game 1 (4v4 since there weren't enough free computers): Tomb of the Spider Queen

And bots to fill out the teams? That sounds pretty fun!

Nope it was just 4v4, we left the 5th spot empty on both teams. It actually makes the game feel a lot different not to have a 5th person on each team.

[Alan]

Just had the best game I've been involved in so far.

Cursed Hollow
My team: Johanna, Muradin, Lili, Jaina, Zagara (me)
Other team: Muradin, Kharazim, Tyrande, Raynor, Zagara

It was pretty close early to mid-game, then we made an ill-advised attempt to cap their boss and were wiped, which let them get our boss too. It stayed in their favor for a while after that, and they took down one or two keeps (don't remember exactly). The pivotal point was when they capped their boss while we were cleaning up our lanes, and then started our boss while we defended against theirs . We jumped them as they were finishing it, and though they managed to cap it we wiped their team while losing just 2 of ours, defended the boss as it brought our core down to 14%. Don't remember if our bot keep was still up at this point or not. We pushed out all our lanes, and got our camps and prepared for the next tribute. We caught Kharazim out of position right before tribute spawned, then got a 4-0 on the next teamfight and rushed core, skipping their keeps completely.

So awesome.

[Jonathan]

I did a
Muradin, Raynor (me), Brightwing, Sylvanas, Zagara
vs.
Muradin, Raynor, Brightwing, Azmodan, Jaina

On Infernal shrines. We stomped 'em, but it wasn't cuz of comp.

Jimmy fan, here. He doesn't have any weaknesses!

[Jonathan]

Oh, so here's a puzzle:

How do you build Valla when the other team is mage heavy?

[Alan]

I would say Q build, spell shield at 13, BfB or extra vault at 16, blink at 20.

Ult depends on your teamcomp

[Alan]

Jimmy fan, here. He doesn't have any weaknesses!

Raynor is pretty strong. He's hard to burst down bc of his self-heal, he has absurd range so he can kite and push people away who get too close, and does a huge amount of AA damage, and has two good ults. He's quickly becoming one of my least favorite heroes to see on the other team.

[Jonathan]

Diablo
Malfurion
Stitches
Valla
Unlocked level 12
Sylvanas
Unlocked level 15
Zeratul

Stitches and Sylvanas to level for me. I mean, I'm not 5 on Zeratul but I don't think I'm going to bother.

I really like leveling vs. Veteran AI, because the AI can actually perform their skillshots. I swear, Vet KT is way scarier than average QM KT.

Are the goblins gone?

[Peijen]

I went to a LAN center yesterday for Heroes of the Storm night (apparently they do it every Thursday night, which is unfortunately also my D&D night). We had 5v5 custom games which was fantastic.

What the hell, do I need to upgrade my wife model or something? how do you find time with a little kid?

[Jonathan]

Most of the nerd dads I know negotiate 1-for-1 nights with their wives. Like, I will leave you alone with kids for a night and you leave me alone with kids for a night.

[Alan]

Most of the nerd dads I know negotiate 1-for-1 nights with their wives. Like, I will leave you alone with kids for a night and you leave me alone with kids for a night.

That's pretty much what we do. Thursday's my night out.

[Alan]

Diablo
Malfurion
Stitches
Valla
Unlocked level 12
Sylvanas
Unlocked level 15
Zeratul

Stitches and Sylvanas to level for me. I mean, I'm not 5 on Zeratul but I don't think I'm going to bother.

I really like leveling vs. Veteran AI, because the AI can actually perform their skillshots. I swear, Vet KT is way scarier than average QM KT.

Are the goblins gone?

Yeah goblins are gone. So sad.

I'll probably play some Valla this week. Might try Stitches but not all that excited for that. I'm going to buy Uther, I really enjoyed playing him last week. I ended up grabbing Leoric yesterday for a pubstomp with Vinny and Zeph. Not sure whether I want Johanna or Nazeebo more for my next purchase after Uther.

On Haunted Mines with Vinny (as Zagara) and Zeph (as Jaina), after we wiped their team and were putting on some damage on their core before they respawned:
Vinny: Wait, Alan, you're still on their core?
Alan: Yup, I'm Leoric. [Proceed to wraith walk and get away scott-free as all 5 of their team try to chase me]

[Alan]

Most of the nerd dads I know negotiate 1-for-1 nights with their wives. Like, I will leave you alone with kids for a night and you leave me alone with kids for a night.

That's pretty much what we do. Thursday's my night out.

Actually to expand on this, I think it's been really important for us both to have an evening to ourselves once a week. It does wonders for helping each of us feel more refreshed for the rest of the week. If you're not already doing it I definitely recommend it. It doesn't even have to be anything big, even just having a few hours to go to Starbucks or something like that is really nice.

[Jonathan]

Stitches really is everything I could have asked for. Except damage. And sane cooldowns. And mana usage. And basic attack range (3/4 of Leoric's!).

I soloed a temple at 20 and couldn't down the main guardian before the temple was done. His dps is sooo bad. He does less dps than Johanna (147+40 vs 196+50 b/c errybody takes Burning). Hell he does less damage than Johanna without Burning!!

[Alan]

Yeah, and I think his Slam is basically the same ability as Leoric's Skeletal Swing except it does much less damage.

Edit: and apparently doesn't slow unless you talent it at lvl 16.

[Jonathan]

Yup!

It used to stun at 16!