#386 - Into the Nexus: “Dragon Something”
• Garrett • Kyle • NotParadox or Guest
Tracking Link:
https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/
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Intro: Welcome to Into the Nexus! The Heroes of the Storm podcast!
It’s Into the Nexus! Garrett and Kyle have been duoing, stories to tell. Garrett wants to play nothing but Zagara, Kyle is on a Mephisto kick. Hanzo rears his handsome head. We have a cryptic Blue Post but otherwise it's on to our project: 2 Outa 2. That’s right, the Kofalt Test is back. “Does it Sound Exciting, Is It Fun”. Follow that by our new segment Eye on Blizzard.
Patreon / Content Update
You’re going to be getting more Garrett and Kyle! We will be spinning off our more editorial news coverage into its own upload each week.
Patron Bonanza Next Thursday!
Patreon Mention: Patreon.com/ITN
Thanks to our Patreon producers Declan H, CheezyBob, Chris K, Shawn B, & Mike R!
Patron Thanks Doc for keeping track
Producer slot open!
News
Reign of Zagara Continues
Only heroes with above 50% win-rates against her are
Links
Blue Comments
How do I know what build to run on Valla?
BlizzKofalt: Don't mind me - just commenting to bait out more replies from Valla players.
Valla is still doing pretty well
39:56
Sponsor: Bombas - Yes this week
Blog Blurb:
Give a pair of Bombas socks when you buy a pair, and get 20% off your first purchase at Bombas.com/nexus. Definitely check out their performance socks for maximum comfort while working out!
2 outa 2 Continued - From 381
Kofalt Rules: Sounds exciting. Isn’t broken.
Gabriel - Illidan
Are these a 2 out of 2?
Give Illidan Immolation level 1 at level 0, and maybe substitute it with something evasion focused (he 2 evasion talents and they even compete with one another). Yes Immolation baseline would make stacking Unending Hatred quicker, but I don't feel like that's too much
OR
Give Illidan Hunter's Onslaught automatically at 4 (or at level 0 what the heck, maybe toned down a little) and again, put an evasion talent there in place.
I would even go as far as put battered assault at level 0 and not immolation, and that would wildly change Illidan gameplay, but I would find it extra-fun
Honestly any level 1 Illidan talent can be made baseline
Evasion suggestions: evasion grants extra move speed
Evasion grants attack speed (but you would exchange this with one of his 13 evasion talents, maybe elusive strike, toned down).
Reduce the cooldown of evasion by x, but you do not get CDR from auto attacks for Evasion
Carlos - Wrote in with a ton. We’re focusing on Dehaka Lv.16
Dehaka:
Level 16 - Elongated Tongue
Level 16 - Tunneling Claws
Level 16 - Pack Leader
ImStuck - Multiples. Let’s start with Naz & see how much time we have
Nazeebo:
Greymane:
Rehgar:
Eye on Blizzard
Jesse Mcree, Diablo 4 Director No Longer At Activision Blizzard
Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga, Blizzard lead level designer Jesse McCree, and World of Warcraft designer Jonathan LeCraft were let go from Blizzard on Wednesday, two sources with knowledge of the move told Kotaku.
The news was delivered to development teams today but has not yet been officially announced. A source confirmed to Kotaku that the three developers’ names are no longer visible in Blizzard’s internal directory or Slack. Activision Blizzard did not immediately return a request for comment.
Luis Barriga
Jonathan LeCraft
One source who learned of the news said Activision Blizzard did not give a reason for the departures, but they come as the company reckons with a California lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment and disclination at the Overwatch and Call of Duty publisher.
Jesse McCree
Frances Townsend steps down as head of Activision-Blizzard-King Women's Network
Overwatch League loses sponsors
Blizzard/Activision has lost almost half of it’s monthly active users
Finally, in 2019, Blizzard enacted a “two-drink maximum” at after-work functions to stave off some of the problems and cut down on drunk driving.
However, a recent revision to the performance review system forces managers to give more frequent negative reviews, which will result in less generous bonuses and profit share for Blizzard employees,
Seeking better pay August 5th 2020
Emails
Frollino95
I have a question for the show! Me and my duo buddy recently found a third friend interested in playing the game, in particular tanking. he's not completely new to the concept of MOBAs, he was one of the poor souls that were playing paragon, but despite his previous experience with the genre we find it particularly difficult to explain his role and what he should mechanically do in fights and whatnot, without dumping info on him like a waterfall of "stay in that bush while we do the camp" and "we lost the fight, rotate bot to grab some exp and wait for us to come back alive". What do you think is the best, easiest or most important stuff a new tank should know? and in what order do you think it's better to explain them to him?
https://gamestoday.info/pc/heroes-of-the-storm/cavalierguests-art-of-the-tank-2-0/
Chad - How to Fix Haunted Mines
I know I’m in the minority but Haunted Mines never really bothered me. I always felt it was a wild, chaotic, fun match going up and down the mines.
I’m torn between two different ideas. The first is during the skull phase all players are forcibly teleported into the mine. There is no way out and the exits are blocked by rubble or magic from the Raven Lord and/or The Grave Keeper. However, you can hearth back to the hall of storms to heal and then teleport back into the mine. You cannot leave the hall of storms, there is simply a portal inside the hall of storms back to the mine and you cannot exit. I’ve also thought of several ways the players can be arranged during the mine teleport phase:
- Randomly placed
- Pseudo-randomly placed (There are 10 pre-determined locations)
- Each phase teams are placed on opposite sides apart from the other team
Another mechanic is to add minecarts that travel on predetermined tracks. Imagine Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It would be fun to see teammates flying by above and below you, going underground briefly and appearing again. This is another movement assisting mechanic such as the portals on Towers of Doom and Warhead Junction or the moving tracks on Volskaya.
Once all 100 skulls are collected players can now leave through several different exits that are now unblocked, or just hearth.
The second idea is to discourage pushing cheese during the skull collecting phase. Once the skull phase begins all merc camps disappear. Towers, Forts, Keeps and the Core gain 25% range and their damage is doubled. I’ve thought of maybe even adding 20 armor to all structures. This would definitely discourage attempting to push during the skull phase. You could still do it, but likely not advised.
Let me know which version you like better, or if there are any other improvements I missed.
TL;DR
Option 1 - A forced, inescapable thunderdome in the mines until the skulls are collected.
Option 2 - Towers, Forts. Keeps and Cores are buffed so much you might as well just go into the mine. Merc camps disappear too.
*Edit - A few things slipped my mind. (It's been what, 4-5 years since it's been in rotation?)
Suggestion by u/Senshado - Both lanes should not get a golem at the end of the objective. The first to 50 skulls get the golem the other team doesn't get anything. I like that. Or, all the skulls need to be collected and it affects how strong the objective winning teams golem is, similar to BoE. There would have to be 99 skulls to avoid a 50-50 tie though.
There's also been some comments on the golem scaling or the golems not being strong enough. Ok, then let's tweak the numbers and make them stronger.
Ben
Firstly thank you for making a fantastic show. Keep up the great work you guys do in both this podcast and all the others you are part of.
Secondly, in the most recent episode Garrett mentioned he was concerned about the competitive scene with Pokemon Unite as he doesn’t trust Nintendo and I’m writing to clear something up as someone who’s played both the TCG and VGC (Video game championship) as well as the less commonly seen Pokken. You don’t have to trust Nintendo as all of this side of things will be handled by The Pokemon Company International (TPCI for short) who have been running the world championships for both the regular video game and the TCG since 2014. It’s a yearly event held in the summer (missing the last two years for obvious reason) with Blizzcon level of streaming and casting, usually by community streamers/casters so they know what they’re talking about, currently (needless to say the further back you go the less fidelity but they have consistently advanced along with technology).
If you need more reassurance feel free to youtube some videos from previous years, as for the worry of kids playing, don’t worry they have always had 3 age brackets for all of there games/competitions (juniors 3-12, seniors 13-17 and masters 18+) with hefty prize support handed out, generally merchandise and scholarships (which are exchangeable for cash prizes for masters).
The next world championships is due to be held in the summer of 2022 here in the UK in London.
Much thanks and keep smiling
Outro
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Thanks to Gorath for our intro music and briangriffithmusic.com (@briangriffith) for our outro..
Personal Stuff
Garrett
Kyle
Carlos - For future episodes
Level 20 - Essence Claws
Level 20 - Apex Predator
Tyrande:
Level 10 - Shadowstalk
Level 20 - Eyes of the Huntress
Greymane:
Level 1 - Perfect Aim
Level 4 - Insatiable
Level 7 - Incendiary Elixir
Anduin:
Level 13 - Push Forward!
Level 20 - Light of Stormwind
Level 20 - Varian´s Legacy
Artanis:
Phase Prism [E]
Level 1 - Amateur Opponent
